Real Estate – “Plastic Bird” (Galaxie 500 Cover)

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Real Estate – “Plastic Bird” (Galaxie 500 Cover)

For the past few weeks, the Guided By Voices/Yoko Ono manager David Newgarden has been presenting a whole series of Galaxie 500 covers from the band’s peers and admirers, all leading up to the Record Store Day vinyl reissue of Galaxie 500’s live album Copenhagen. Thus far, we’ve posted Galaxie 500 covers from people like Thurston Moore and Stephin Merritt, and the series has also included recent entries from old-school indie names like Calvin Johnson and Versus. Today, we get to hear Real Estate take on one of Galaxie 500’s classics.

Galaxie 500 may not have originally been a direct influence on Real Estate, but the two bands have always had a similar sound — dreamy, gauzy guitar wanderings, all built on top of a strong sense of wistful pop melody. For their entry, Real Estate have covered “Plastic Bird,” from Galaxie 500’s 1989 sophomore album On Fire. It’s a warm, fond, faithful read on the song. And while other artists have shared videos of themselves playing the songs live, Real Estate’s cover seems to be a studio version, paired with old footage of car stunts. Check it out below, along with the original.

In a statement, Real Estate write:

In the early days of Real Estate, people often assumed that Galaxie 500 were a big influence on us. In hindsight, I can definitely hear it, but at the time, I for one had never listened to them. Anyway, I’m glad for the comparisons because it led me to actually check them out, and they became a favorite band of mine. So now I can say unequivocally that Galaxie 500 are indeed a big influence on us. Not that it matters! Wonderful band. Have a nice day.

Real Estate’s newish album The Main Thing is out now on Domino. You can keep up with the 20-20-20 cover series here.

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