since this past january, i’ve been blogging about derek webb’s latest innovative project called democracy vol. 1. earlier this year, fans could cast votes for up to 12 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 12 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the album has been in the process of being recorded over the span of 2010, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. over the past 9 months, webb released the first nine tracks. here’s the current track listing:

1. the beatles: while my guitar gently weeps
2. coldplay: fix you
3. bob dylan: the times they are a-changin’
4. gnarls barkley: who’s gonna save my soul
5. sufjan stevens: chicago
6. u2: where the streets have no name
7. huey lewis and the news: power of love
8. the beatles: eleanor rigby
9. simon and garfunkel: the sound of silence

instead of releasing the the full list of tracks, webb is revealing each track month-by-month. and today a couple weeks ago (yeah yeah, i’m a little behind…), we found out the tenth one.

october’s track is was radiohead’s karma police.

interestingly, upon my very first listen, i was a bit unsure of how i felt about the track. i’m not a huge radiohead fan, but you quickly see how good they are when someone else tries to re-interpret their song. BUT, as i began to revisit the track multiple times, it began to make more and more sense to me and i found myself really liking it. webb’s take on it is really interesting because i could see it—if it was a bit more fully realized—fitting in on stockholm syndrome. it’s a little more bouncy than that album’s tracks, but in terms of its sonic nature and lyrical content, i could see it as a good b-side to something like jena & jimmy or even becoming a slave (maybe??).

all in all, it’s a great addition to an already great compilation of covers. but, don’t take my word for it. check it out for yourself. here’s the track.

derek webb / karma police: