The Rub ‘n’ Tug edit of Chicago’s cover version of I’m a Man by the Spencer Davis Group, rocks the disco in New York City…..

So, after the best part of 8 years of working online, whether at a chain of Australian internet cafes, an online magazine covering marketing and new media, or my current job at a large B2B publisher where I specialise in SEO, I’ve finally decided to start a blog.

From my early ventures on to the web in the late 90s, I knew that writing about politics would just result in lots of abuse. So, instead I’ve decided to write about my 1st true love – music.

I wanted to call this blog Under The Covers, as I intend to focus on my growing obsession with cover versions but that was already taken. So the title I settled on, points to the fact that my obsession also includes samples used in songs, and the classic tunes – often undiscovered gems – that they came from.

I recently got back from New York, where I had a number of excellent nights out. One of the best was undoubtedly at a club called Hiro where I saw James Murphy, of DFA Records and LCD Soundsystem fame, DJ. He dropped a couple of fantastic covers, one of which I have been able to root out, one of which remains a mystery.

The former was a cover of the Spencer Davis Group classic “I’m A Man“, performed by jazz rockers Chicago. The particluar version played was the Rub ‘n’ Tug edit. Its on a mix album the Glimmers have done in the DJ Kicks and you can also listen to it here – you’ll need to fast forward to about 3 minutes.

The latter, which I’m still trying to find, was a cover of On The Road Again by Canned Heat. It sounded as if it might have been done by LCD Soundsystem, used some heavy vocoder, but I’m still trying to find out.

That’s it for now. 2nd half of an undoubtedly boring FA Cup replay beckons. If you’re still bored, you can also find me at Trackfeeder which aims to bring lost classics to the masses – I’m the one banging on about hip hop and Gilles Peterson!

Having some problems with Technorati – hopefully this Technorati Profile should sort that out.