SOUND BITES

KAREN O, TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS Immigrant Song From: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (soundtrack) Released: December 27 Cover songs can be a dicey proposition at the best of times.  Artists who take them on are faced with the daunting task of paying tribute to not only a song, but also every piece of legend that comes along with that song and the people who originally brought it into the world.  The risks are usually high; for every song, for every band, there's someone who holds them at such esteem that to attempt a recreation of any kind is nothing short of blasphemy.  To cover a song is to accept the fact that you cannot hope to improve on the subject of your tribute, and certainly never make it your own; it's not your emotion to convey, not your words to speak.  Very few are those who have wrestled a song from all association to its creator, and the vast majority who try are destined to fail miserably.

I've been purposefully preventing myself to watch the original Swedish film trilogy that starts with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ever since I saw first mind-blowing trailer for David Fincher's upcoming remake.  That trailer, in addition to looking freaking awesome, was soundtracked by a most interesting snippet, that being the cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame.  Now, that track is available in full for your listening pleasure below. The film's soundtrack is epic, to say the least.  Written and (mostly) performed by Reznor and Atticus Ross (whose score for The Social Network was pretty amazing in its own right and won a metric shit-tonne of awards), it clocks in at a double take-worthy three hours, and is in reputable record stores (as a 3-CD set) on December 27.  You can snag yourself a six-track sampler by submitting your email address (also below).  Also, if you're into the iTunes thing, pre-or...