Gwen IMs me and tells me to turn on KUT. I start KUT’s stream and listen. Some Indian-influenced spacey dance music with a twangy sitar. Fun. I don’t recognize it at first, but after 20 seconds or so, there’s an unmistakable hook.
Turns out the track I’m listening to is “From Rusholme with Love” by Mint Royale, but the sound is straight from a 1971 number called “Zoom” by the late Volker Kriegel, which I recognize from the compilation Bombay Jazz Palace.
Usually, when a band does a cover, they keep the same name on the song, or at least tip their cap in the original artist’s direction. No sign of that here. Does that make it a cover or a ripoff?
Hmm, sounds a bit lacking in artistic courtesy to me.
Just visited Mint Royale’s website. Very well-done website (both visually and from the standpoint of a band trying to promote its music).
You liked their website? I thought the flashturbated “whack-a-mole” navigation was infuriating.
And they’re signed to Sony Music UK–not exactly scrappy little underdogs.