Sam Gendel – “Old Town Road” (Lil Nas X Cover)
The Los Angeles musician Sam Gendel is an in-demand jazz saxophonist who has played with people like Vampire Weekend, Perfume Genius, and Moses Sumney. (He recently assisted on Sumney’s cover of T-Pain’s “Can’t Believe It” from our very own Save Stereogum: An ’00s Covers Comp.) But there’s no saxophone on Gendel’s new solo album DRM. Instead, Gendel’s new LP is a collection of warped, woozy tracks made on vintage electronic instruments. There’s also a cover of a song that you might recognize.
For the only cover on DRM, Gendel took on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” the country-rap juggernaut that utterly conquered the pop charts last year. (Remember that? That was fun! Things used to be fun sometimes!) For his version of the song, Gendel plays the “Old Town Road” melody on a vintage German analog synth, turning it into a dazed instrumental psych amble while triggering a weird nostalgia for the extremely recent past.
Gendel also has a video for his version of “Old Town Road.” Director Marcella Cytrynowicz captured Gendel dancing around a remote desert landscape at sunset. Can’t nobody tell him nothing. You can watch it below.
If you like, you can also stream the rest of DRM below.
DRM is out now on Nonesuch.