Idolator

A few years back, my pal Kate Silver played me a record I loved pretty immediately. The group was the Thing, a skronk-jazz trio featuring reeds player Mats Gustafsson (from Sweden), bassist Ingebrigt H. Flaten, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (both from Norway), and the song was their cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Art Star." If you're familiar with "Art Star," you'll know it doesn't take much work to reimagine it in this form (it hops up and down rhythmically during the verses and then turns into spazzy noise on the refrain). I've kept less of an ear on the Thing's other work, though I've liked what I've heard, but I'm thinking of checking out the new four-CD box reissuing some older titles. "Art Star" makes an appearance on one of the discs in a live version, and in that spirit, here's a clip of the Thing playing it live in Sweden. [YouTube]