Bittersweet: The Mexican Institute of Sound and "Sinfonia Agridulce"

Today's random tune is a cover of The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony by the Mexican Institute of Sound called Sinfonia Agridulce. MIS, as the group is also known, is Mexico City-based producer and DJ Camilo Lara's electronic music project. Fusing Mexican folk music with modern sounds, MIS is part of a growing movement in Mexican music. Lara started with mixing music for holiday mix tapes, and after getting enthusiastic receptions for his creations, began making musical collages under the moniker Mexican Institute of Sound while relying on samples of Mexican classical music. He has released four albums, with a fifth due next year. Sinfonia Agridulce is from his 2009 CD Soy Sauce.

Portuguese Baby Blue: Gal Costa and "Negro Amor (It's All Over Now, Baby Blue)"

Today's random tune is a Brazilian cover of a Bob Dylan tune. Negro Amor (It's All Over Now, Baby Blue) is by Gal Costa, a popular Brazilian singer. She first got interested in music at age 14 after listening to João Gilberto's Chega de Saudade, cementing her interest in bossa nova, and later she worked in a record store to be closer to music. At 18 she was introduced and became lasting friends with Caetano Veloso. She began her musical career at age 19, performing in a concert with Veloso, Gilberto Gil and others, and she released her first album three years later in 1967. In 1968 she joined the Tropicalismo movement, which encompassed music, poetry and theater and encouraged the fusion of Brazilian artistic endeavors with foreign influences. Her 1969 album Gal Costa is considered a classic of Tropicalismo, balancing Brazilian music and psychedelia. She was also controversial - the cover of her 1973 album, India, was censored due to the revealing nature of her red bikini. Negro Amor (It's All Over Now, Baby Blue) can be found on her 1977 album Caras e Bocas and her on 1982 album (re-released in 2001) Minha Voz, Minha Vida.

I Nodi: I Califfi and "Ti Giuro è Così"

Today's random tune is an Italian throwback cover. You'll recognize the tune immediately as a cover of The Kinks You Really Got Me. I always thought of The Kinks as the forgotten fourth band of the British Invasion. Not that they were really forgotten, because they weren't. But they just seemed to me to be in the shadow of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. But for me, they put out the most memorable riffs and guitar hooks. When You Really Got Me or Lola begins to play, you immediately know what it is and are ready to take up the song as soon as the lyrics come around. Their songs, especially the early ones, didn't aim for any fanciness - they were simple tunes with lyrics that were easy to remember. That doesn't mean that the songs themselves were somehow lacking - what they didn't have in musical artistry they made up for in pure raw power and emotion. Even their later songs, as the band became better songwriters and practitioners, seemed to me to keep simplicity at the forefront. Come Dancing, for example, is a great tune masquerading as a simple melody, the lyrics concealing pain and loss behind an uptempo dance beat. No, to me The Kinks were the real deal.

The Italian band who covers the song, I Califfi, was formed in 1965 by musicians Franco Boldrini, Giuseppe Maffei, Marco Bracci and Carlo Felice Marcovecchio. It was their first experience in a rock band, though Boldrini had played bass previously in professional orchestras that toured abroad. They were influenced early in their career by such bands as the Spencer Davis Group, The Animals, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Boldrini stated in an interview that in the 60s, the musical skill of Italian bands was very low and everyone imitated someone else. The band went through several lineup changes through the 1960s and 70s, and disbanded for a while. However, Boldrini has resurrected them and also has started a solo career, with the most recent I Califfi album released in 2010. Ti Giuro è Così (You Really Got Me) was initially released as a single in 1966.

Under the Covers: Albert Pla and "El Lado Mas Bestia de la Vida"

Today's song is one I really like. I liked the original version, performed by Lou Reed, but I like this one too. One reason is that it is not just a cover from someone who is trying to piggyback off someone else's work. From what I read about Albert Pla, the artist who performs this cover, he chooses songs often based on their content and especially likes taking on controversial subjects. Walk on the Wild Side is about people doing self-destructive things, but it is also about drawing attention to the people who hurt in our society. The song doesn't necessarily exhort us to "walk on the wild side" but it does urge us to have a bit more understanding of those who do, and to have some level of compassion for them. At least that is how I interpret the song.

Albert Pla is a Spanish performer who sings in both Spanish and Catalan. He swings from controversial music to music that is very whimsical. His songs often touch on the choices between participation or leaving, whether that involves a relationship with a girlfriend, deciding who owns a piece of property, choosing to participate in a radical political group with a terrorist agenda. He is also an actor, having acted in films and on stage and his song Suffer Like Me is on the soundtrack of Pedro Almodóvar's movie Live Flesh. El Lado Mas Bestia de la Vida is on Pla's 1995 album Assumes Fonollosa and can also be found on Putumayo's Cover the World compilation album.