OH MY GOD YOU GUYS THE REPLACEMENTS ARE BACK! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER! EVERY BAD THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME IN MY LIFE IS OKAY BECAUSE OF THIS!

Whoa, got a little carried away, but still, this is great news. The much-beloved Minnesota band has reunited to release an EP of covers called Songs For Slim, in honor of the band's former guitarist Slim Dunlap. The first track from the EP was released yesterday, a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "I'm Not Sayin."  The band sounds as tight as ever on this track, and the promise of four new Mats tracks to come is all the more enticing. Let's hope this leads to the band finally making a new album of material, which hasn't happened since 1990.

The track was released on Pitchfork yesterday. Check it out here.

Well, this is an odd one, but timely given that Purity Ring recently announced an upcoming performance in Buffalo. For this week's cover, the duo cover "Grammy" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. Meanwhile, did you know that his full stage name is, in fact, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em? I did not.

Anyway, the song features lead singer, Megan James (whose top ten of 2012 for Pitchfork was a list of house plants) matching Soulja Boy's vocals, and doing admirably considering. Not a bad cover and especially  given my initial expectations were for the sonic equivalent of this:

Monica Birkenes, otherwise known as Mr Little Jeans, is a Norweigan indie-pop musician who began her career as a struggling artist, couch surfing her way around Los Angeles and traveling to various countries. Even with mostly cover songs on her repertoire and a soon-to-be released debut album, Mr Little Jeans has still built some weight on her name. This 5'2'' brunette babe is one to keep an eye out for.

Have a listen to her cover of the Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs." Not only does she do the tune justice, but her sultry vocals and reworked instrumentals with additional bass and reverb gives it a more spacey and heart-stricken dopey feel.

Dev Hynes, better known as Blood Orange, has recently produced some great songs by Solange Knowles and Sky Ferreria. On each of these tracks, Hynes' production is sunny and hazey with pop tinged hints of melancholy.  Solange's "Losing You," was an especially great track that came at the very end of 2012.

For today's "Uncovered Covers," we have Blood Orange's home recorded cover of Kindness' 2012 standout single, "Cyan." Hynes has made into a piece of sultry electro-soul at times reminiscent of Prince. As always, enjoy!

So, I had every intention of finding a new cover that was not holiday related. However, almost every cover floating around this week is a holiday cover, so I relented. The question is, which holiday cover to choose? If you are me, you cover them both! Bonus content!

First up, we have Woods covering Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here." Woods obviously make it very, well, woods-y by turning the piano driven track into something more low-fi and psychedelic.

Next up, we have the second greatest Christmas song of all time, Wham!'s "Last Christmas." Now before I tell you about The XX's cover, I have a few things I want to say about this song. One, it is great, don't argue with me on this one, the original is great stuff, seriously. Two, I feel like, looking at the lyrics, George Michael is just asking for the same problem he had the Christmas before. You would think, given what happened to him, he would be way more cautious in giving his heart to someone during the holidays. He basically establishes that he isn't the best judge of character so how do we know if it is really "someone special" this year. Sorry, I am just concerned.

Anyway, The XX's cover is underscores the emotional devastation at the heart of this sad tale, mostly because it is sung by the XX who have made this song much more sparse and icy. All in all, a good cover.
So, there you have it, a holiday edition of "Uncovered Covers." I leave you with this photo of myself, in case you ever wonder what the writers on this site look like. Happy Holidays!