Remix Sunday: Emilie Simon vs. David Bowie

Bowie covers are a dime a dozen; for every Seu Jorge-calibre unique take on one of the Thin White Duke's classic cuts there are literally hundreds of lame renditions waiting in the wings.

Thankfully, this version of 'Space Oddity' by Montpellier-based musician Émilie Simon definitely does not fall into the latter category. Her powerful voice is layered and backed by just the right amount of organic strings, beats, and gentle glitched-out electronic effects to create a track that takes the original concept just a bit further without losing what made it so amazing in the first place.

Mme Simon composed the original soundtrack for the 2005 documentary March of the Penguins, but this version was not featured in the North American release of the movie (except in Québec) as the producers were afraid it would be "too challenging" for audiences there. Her third studio album will be released in early 2009.

Émilie Simon - Space Oddity

Bonus cover of 'Come As You Are':

And Justice was served en francais.

Justice absolutely beat up a capacity-crowd at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom this past Saturday night. Lucky for us we had tickets because the line of people trying to get in will-call was down the street. The last show I saw was Daft Punk in the summer and this was a totally different type of show. Don't get me wrong, people were going crazy for both sets and I understand the comparisons being thrown around about the two. Justice is just a little more rough, with those massive Marshall stacks replacing Daft Punk's orchestrated triangles. While Daft had Montreal bopping and dancing to their pop-py melodies, Justice blew smoke in Vancity's face and kicked us into the ground with their grittier, pounding beats. It was incredible. And they actually did smoke on-stage for the whole set - so French of them. So much for those non-smoking rules across Canada.

The French duo brought along Australia's Midnight Juggernauts for a spacey dance rock opening set. Good stuff, definitely BTA-recommended, and the singer even sounds a little like Bowie (check out 'Into The Galaxy' below and tell me I'm wrong). I was right up front for the whole set and didn't stand a chance at releasing the amateur photographer in me, but I tried. Here's a clip of how Justice kicked off their set and got us hooked on religious iconography.

Midnight Juggernauts - Into The Galaxy

Justice - Stress

-AW