Just….like….that.

Sometimes I’m a music snob, and sometimes I’m a music purist; at times the two shake hands firmly. One of the arenas where this happens most is in the case of cover songs. About seventy percent of the time I will wail, “Why, oh WHYYYY did they do that?” about a given cover, because many of them are poorly done or lack a special spin that made covering the song worthwhile.

Every now and again, though, I’ll run across one that is just so spot-on and so dings my bell that I can’t not listen to it over and over. This is the case with Hot Chip’s (very bloody awesome) spin on Sexual Healing by the unfortunately deceased but forever smoooooth Marvin Gaye. This version first ran across my ears at three in the morning on a whirlwind road trip; I was predisposed to be annoyed by it but its yumminess kept creeping up on me slyly. By the end, the track’s fractal quality interwoven with bleeps and solid beat (not to mention the clean simplicity of earnestly-delivered vocals) had cemented it solidly in the That Wot I Like A Great Deal column.

You can find the empeethree –along with several other Hot Chip offerings– in a quick-read review over at kissatlanta.com. Listen and love.

Other exceptional covers:

Erasure’s A Little Respect as done by Wheatus

Guided By Voices’ Smothered In Hugs as done by Local H

Cat Stevens’ How Can I Tell You as done by Liz Durrett

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man as done by the Deftones

Frank Sinatra’s If You Go Away as done by Emiliana Torrini

Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall as done by Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

You should go dig all of them up….and if you are so inclined, you can drop your own favorite covers in the comments section.