Ball Park Music nail their Like A Version cover of Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’

Ball Park Music are on this week’s Like A Version with a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android‘ and they absolutely kill it.

Doing a cover of any Radiohead song is a bit of a thankless task as there will always be something “off” when compared to the original tunes.

So for Ball Park Music to not only cover a Radiohead song for triple J’s Like A Version but to do their own rendition of ‘Paranoid Android’ no less, that’s gutsy.

Happily, Ball Park Music actually did a great job that’ll silence the critics.

Rather than add their own “spin” or any extra bells and whistles to an already bonkers song, the Brisbane-based quintet offered up a surprisingly literal take.

The instrumentals are faithful to the original song, right down to the bonkers guitar solo in the middle, and singer Sam Cromack does a pretty damn good Thom Yorke impression, right down to the falsetto bits at the end of ‘Paranoid Android’.

We’ve heard some great interpretations of classic bangers in the Like A Version studio this year, such as CXLOE’s take on The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’ and Polish Club’s reinvention of Doja Cat’s ‘Say So‘, but Cromack say the band have “this policy in the band where if we’re covering something we just start by playing it, almost just imitating the existing recording, and if we like it we sort of don’t change much.”

“We’re not much into really brand new re-imaginings of songs, unless they naturally evolve.”

This cover of ‘Paranoid Android’ marks Ball Park Music’s fourth time on Like A Version, having previously covered Powderfinger’s ‘My Happiness’ in 2017, Vampire Weekend’s ‘Diane Young’ in 2014, and The Flaming Lips‘ ‘Do You Realise??’.

It wasn’t just Radiohead covers though as the Brisbane indie-pop favourites also performed a new song ‘Cherub‘, which is taken from their latest self-titled album. It’s perhaps the opposite of ‘Paranoid Android’ in terms of style but like that Radiohead masterpiece, ‘Cherub’ sounds as good like as it does on the album.

Check out Ball Park Music cover Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’ on Like A Version:

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