Uminski : Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Philippe Uminski is a French artist who I don't know much about.  There's nothing in Wikipedia to help me out and precious little on his last.fm page.  But that's okay.  We're really here to talk about his cover of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".

Considering that the awesomeness of the original lies primarily in its jazzed up funk based on Edwin Birdsong's killer riff and use of vocodered vocals as the main instrument, this rock cover should fail.  It has no funk, and there's nothing jazzy about it, instead opting for a straight-ahead four-on-the-floor hard rock riff straight out of a 60's garage, with power chords that would make Pete Townshend weep with joy.  There's clearly no synthed-up vocals, or synths of any kind.  Instead the lyrics are shouted with a ferocity and intensity that turns them into a punk rock call to arms.  Plus there's those background "Wooooooo!" vocals that can't help but make you smile.  At the halfway point, there's a bit of a reprieve with a little Deliverance sample and a tasty funk intermission, but then it's right back into the fray, non-stop to the very end.

It really shouldn't work, but it really does.  This awesome cover can be found on Uminski's 2005 release, Sain & Sauf.  I have no idea where you could buy it from.

[You can listen to Uminski's cover of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by navigating to the post "Song093" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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