Spain’s indie has a festival of its own, Dia de la Musica is still young, and on June 21st it will celebrate its fourth edition with a lineup to drool for. Now with full financial support from El Pais and Heineken, the two leading trademarks along with Canal + for Spain’s entertainment, they have built enormous attention as they are compiling a set of covers by some of the artists set to perform. There are covers for TV on the Radio (by The Requesters & Tachenko) , MGMT (by Cohete & Remate), Morrissey (by Dorian), Gnarls Barkley (by Templeton & Alondra Bentley), Devendra Banhart (by Joe Crepusculo & Nudozordo), CSS (by Cuchillo & Klaus y Kinski), Joe Crepusculo (La Bien Querida & Manos de Topo) among others.
They’re releasing a single song every day and it stays available for download for only 24 hours. Truth is, you’re not missing much. Despite the bright idea and the attractive lineup of artists, most of these covers are horribly weak, some even laughable (particularly that MGMT cover). There are still 3 more tracks to go, but for the moment, I’ve saved only one track that although it’s not entirely great, it’s the big standout so far. Surfjan Stevens’s “Chicago” is covered by Christina Rosenvinge and Vetusta Morla; I love the vocals and its warmth, but it’s too stiff at times, quite uncharacteristic of two acts that have proven to transcend in beautiful melodies like “La Distancia Adecuada” and “Copenhague.”