Watch Speedy Ortiz Cover Blur’s “Bugman” Acoustic

Speedy Ortiz NME session

Watch Speedy Ortiz Cover Blur’s “Bugman” Acoustic

Speedy Ortiz NME session

Knowing your audience is an underrated skill, but it’s a skill that Boston DIY punks Speedy Ortiz seem to have down pat. During a recent UK visit, the band sat down to record an acoustic in-studio session for NME, and they had the very good sense to find the Britpop moment that most fit with their whole aesthetic, covering Blur’s “Bugman.” That song comes from Blur’s 1999 album 13, the moment where Blur was most invested in adapting shaggy and off-kilter American indie rock — shaggy and off-kilter American indie rock like the kind that Speedy Ortiz play — for U.S. audiences. The Speedy Ortiz version is likably laconic, and it features drummer Mike Falcone locking in and going for it, in a way that drummers usually don’t do when they’re playing acoustic in-studio sessions. Watch it below.

Speedy Ortiz’s recent Real Hair EP is out now on Carpark.

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