Listen to Talker's searing take on Foxing's "Heartbeats" from No Earbuds' new compilation series

Last spring, rising L.A. rocker Talker flexed her muscular blend of guitar pop on The A.V. Club’s House Shows series. Now, the songwriter otherwise known as Celeste Tauchar returns with a whole host of exciting performers on Earbudz, the first volume in a new compilation series featuring artists from the West Coast-based No Earbuds roster covering each other’s songs.
Volume 1, which is due out on Friday, features DIY outfits like Into It. Over It, Future Teens, and Maggie Gently and covers of tracks by The Wonder Years, Dogleg, Bartees Strange, and Jeff Rosenstock. Talker’s contribution is a sweeping take on Foxing’s “Heartbeats,” a standout from the St. Louis band’s genre-bending 2018 offering, Nearer My God. Tauchar honors the original’s shadowy pop while also piercing it with searing licks of electric guitar. The escalating, undulating chorus, meanwhile, serves as the perfect complement to her wrecking-ball vocals.
Hear it ahead of the compilation’s release below:
EARBUDZ: Volume 1 arrives on February 5, the latest Friday in Bandcamp’s ongoing Bandcamp Fridays, when 100% of the site’s proceeds go to the artists. No Earbuds, meanwhile, will donate 100% of the compilation’s proceeds to The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit dedicated to cannibis-related criminal justice reform.
Pre-order it here and check out the full tracklist below.
1. Roger Harvey & Anika Pyle – Voicemail (Antarctigo Vespucci)
2. talker – Heartbeats (Foxing)
3. Caracara – Mustang (Bartees Strange)
4. Proper. – Kokopelli Face Tattoo (AJJ)