Arab Strap, (the Scottish band named for a contraption which harnesses a cock, keeping it hard) are known for their dark songs about relationships and sex, thickened with a Scottish brogue. The type of brogue which flings burrs soft as a lover's tongue into your ear where they nestle in for a good, long ride.
With sex being such a frequent subject of their own songwriting it should come as no surprise they would be attracted to the blues based sex-drive of AC/DC's 'You Shook Me All Night Long' and cover it on their ep The Shy Retirer. On first listen you may laugh if you aren't an Arab Strap fan, but this is no joke - these Scotsmen are as serious as a man in a kilt carrying a sword - and by songs end you should be enjoying this as much as I do. Aidan Moffat's delivery of the lyric is what makes this song work. Alongside acoustic guitar strumming and the most basic percussion - his vocal is perfect.
The Guelph, Ontario band Royal City haven't covered a classic, but a song by one of the most media-saturated bands in recent memory - The Strokes.
Beginning with a slowly picked banjo soon joined by a weary, bleary vocal, the song, for me, takes on a sweet lullaby quality as the other instruments join in. Give it a listen, you can find it on the above link to Three Gut Records.
Sorry - the link to the Arab Strap song is no longer good.
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