Hanging By a String Quartet

Weirdly, I've always had an affinity for off beat instrumental covers of songs. Evidence: Jazz group The Bad Plus's awesome version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." (Because if there are two things that go together, it's jazz and grunge.) Also, I'd like to submit The Section Quartet's cover of Postal Service's "Such Great Heights."

That said, I have more glad tidings. Whilst screwing around on Turntable.fm, I came across something called The Vitamin String Quartet. In short, they're from LA and they put together tribute albums for groups like Death Cab for Cutie, Oasis, Foo Fighters, Interpol, Radiohead and many others.

Their cover of "The Sound of Settling" is great, partly because with strings it sounds like the melancholic song that it probably should be, and that's fascinating because I can't think of a time when I've been gloomy hearing it.

Also, The Vitamin String Quartet outdoes themselves on Journey's "Don't Believin'." (Yeah, got your attention now, don't I?)

In any case, let me direct you to the Rhapsody Player on the Yahoo music page. It has a nice sampling of their work. Also, check out the video above. It's "Don't Panic" by Coldplay, and man was it hard to chose which video to post. It seems like they've covered everything (and yes, that includes "Hallelujah," lest you be concerned.)