Kevin Bronson on November 19th, 2019

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We arrive at your doorstep with another 12-pack of the weird and wonderful: the third installment in our Versionists series. What’s weird, you ask? How about Medicine covering the Monkees? Or Milo Greene doing Boston?

Other L.A. luminaries herein include Sego (Daniel Johnston), KOLARS (The Undertones), Freedom Fry (Elton John), Samantha Sidley (Ry Cooder), Mynabirds (Portishead), James Supercave (Gorillaz) and Meg Myers (Kate Bush). And a few others that caught our ears when they were released the past few months.

Press play below, and find background on the releases beneath the player.

KOLARS, “Teenage Kicks” — Just past the 40th anniversary of its release by Northern Irish punk-rockers the Undertones, the husband-and-wife duo of singer-guitarist Rob Kolar and tap-dancing drummer Lauren Brown give the tune their own brand of giddy-up. KOLARS headline the Lodge Room on Dec. 13.

Medicine, “Listen to the Band” — What on earth are the legendary L.A. shoegazers (once signed to Creation Records) doing making a covers album? Well, being Medicine. “Scarred for Life,” released in October, finds mastermind Brad Laner tossing songs by Neil Young, Judee Sill, Scritti Politti, Miles Davis, Bob Welch and more into his sonic wood-chipper. When they come out of the other side, they mostly are barely recognizable. But cool. Really, stream the whole thing. We chose a Monkees cover for this playlist, just because. And in other Medicine news, diehards will be happy to find the new release “Falls,” a collection of tracks either previously unavailable digitally or previously unreleased. Get it here.

Sego, “Walking the Cow” — The art-punks’ album “Sego Sucks” is one of our favorites of the year, but since its April release the band has been kicking up dust with some well-chosen covers (see Versionists, Vol. 2). Here, in collaboration with the Moth & the Flame and Pinguin Mofex, they pay tribute to the late Daniel Johnston. Sego plays a “surround sound” (with four members playing on different stages around the club) show at the Hi Hat on Saturday night.

Meg Myers, “Running Up That Hill” — The L.A. singer’s cover of the Kate Bush gem is getting attention on the charts, and its video (featuring hand-colored frames by 2,130 children from across the country) is at a million views and counting.

The Mynabirds, “Glory Box” — Of her cover of the Portishead song, Laura Burhenn says: “‘Dummy’ was my all-time favorite make-out record in high school and is in my permanent top ten, period. That Beth Gibbons slid that feminist anthem into my teenage brain — that song completely rewired me.”

Samantha Sidley, “Drive Like I Never Been Hurt” — Sidley’s remarkable talents have been on display for years as a side player/backing vocalist for a host of artists, and this fall she released her solo album “Interior Person” [more on that later]. Last week, she released a cover of this 2008 gem by Ry Cooder. “I heard ‘Drive Like I Never Been Hurt’ for the first time on a long drive out of town,” she says. “This song to me is about saying ‘f*** you’ to all and any oppressive obstacles life throws at you. You don’t forget pain, but you learn to accept and move through it. Sometimes that feels like you are driving down the road in a convertible, tears streaming down your face, you don’t even know where you are headed but that doesn’t matter. You trust the destination. Even when you can’t see it.”

Freedom Fry, “Your Song” — The prolific French-American husband-and-wife duo of Marie Seyrat and Bruce Driscoll released a bunch of covers this year. (In fact, they released a lot of music, but more on that later). There’s something about hearing the Elton John classic en français. It reminds one of the French version of “To the End” that Blur made (and then re-made with Francoise Hardy). Freedom Fry performs Wednesday at Desert Nights at the Standard.

James Supercave, “Rhinestone Eyes” — The L.A. trio has a wild time with the Gorillaz song. That is all, party on.

Milo Greene, “More Than a Feeling” — “This one’s for all the dads and granddads out there, especially our own,” the L.A. dream-pop trio writes. Marlana Sheetz takes lead vocal duties on this Boston staple, and, no, there are no laser-guided guitars here. Thankfully, grandpa has locked those away.

Nomad & Lola, “Similau” — What would our covers playlist be without something from deep in the annals of history? This L.A. duo recently released a covers EP titled “Noir,” the highlight of which is this haunting take on the song Peggy Lee originally released in 1949 (and which got a new life a couple years ago when Samsung used it in an ad campaign).

Ryan Pollie, “No Woman No Cry” — After releasing two albums as Los Angeles Police Department, Pollie this year released a heart-rending solo album. This tender version of the Bob Marley staple sounds so fragile you feel it might blow over if you exhale.

Ninet Tayeb, “Woodstock” — The L.A.-based Israeli singer-songwriter, who toured opening for the Zombies this summer, takes on the Joni Mitchell classic. She has acoustic dates coming Dec. 3 and 10 at the Hotel Café.