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Q-Tip ft. Prince, “Vivrant Thing” [Live]
During a recent Las Vegas Q-Tip show, Prince jumped onstage to peel off a few fiery licks during “Vivrant Thing,” coming as a surprise not only to the audience, but apparently to Tip as well. Immediately after, he ran down the block and did the exact same thing at a performance of Arvo Part’s “Kanon Pokajanen,” but the reception was not nearly as warm.
Hot Chip & Robert Wyatt, “Made in the Dark” [Reinterpretation]
Dance kings Hot Chip team up with art god Robert Wyatt to transform their “Made in the Dark” into a quiet, aching ballad. Midway through the session, Prince burst into the room and just started jamming.
Wham!, “Last Christmas” [Rynecologist Remix]
Hey, look! It’s Rynecologist again! The best remixers with the worst name in the world! This time they’re slicing up and speeding up and basically reconfiguring timeless Wham! stocking stuffer “Last Christmas.”
Death Cab for Cutie, “It’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” [Darlene
Love Cover]
We always knew there was a broken heart at the center of this Darlene Love classic, but it took Death Cab for Cutie to push it front and center. How do they do it? How do they instill everything with the magic power of sad? We’d love to turn them loose on the Louis Prima catalog and go, “Try saddening *that* up, smartasses!”
Denison Witmer, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” [Bonnie Raitt Cover]
And speaking of sad: our favorite underrated singer-songwriter turns this timeless Bonnie Raitt weeper into something deeply stirring and affecting. If Denison and Death Cab ever joined forces, we’d imagine the whole world would be instantly surrounded by a big, rolling grey cloud. Out of which would leap — you guessed it — Prince, with a guitar, to jam us all back to life again.
