Elisapie, courtesy Leeor Wild.

This week, Sundressed made a song so good it made me ignore the vertically filmed video, The Pearl Harts channel a musical great, Ari Abdul strikes the right chord, The Clientele continue to go strong, GOZU makes the requisite metal appearance and Elisapie makes me want to learn Inuktitut.

Elisapie, “Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)” — I’m a fan of a good cover, but my definition of “good” is very specific. First, and most importantly, the artist has to make the song their own; Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” for example. Second, even if it’s not better than the original, it needs to improve on it in at least one way. Elisapie’s “Taimangalimaaq,” a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” meets the first qualification by being in Inuktitut and having a clear Inuk influence. It meets the second by being a better song than the original. And I snuck a listen of the rest of the album—all the covers are this good.

The Pearl Harts, “Baby Chaos” — Usually when it’s my turn to write Tuesday Tracks, I pick a new song by an old-school band making a comeback. This time I didn’t, but that’s because “Baby Chaos” is old-school in the best way. Lots of bands are fans of Bikini Kill but very few actually pull it off, and The Pearl Harts join the Linda Lindas in matching their energy and their vibe. Matching one of the best to do it is a lot to ask, of course, but it’s impressive to even be recognizably close.

The Clientele, “Blue Over Blue” — I know I said I didn’t include any old-school bands this time, and I stand by that. Because if an indie pop band founded in 1991 is old-school, that would make me old, and I don’t accept that. I’m young and spry as I ever was! Where was I. Oh! “Blue Over Blue” is a really good pop song from industry veterans using their experience in the best way. And in the video, they’re wearing suits of armor while playing, which is honestly impressive. I know they aren’t actually playing, but drummer Mark Keen is close enough to wow me.

GOZU, “CLDZ” — Everyone needs some metal in their life on a regular basis, so if you don’t regularly partake, you’re welcome for bringing you “CLDZ” by GOZU, which is a lot of capitalized sets of four letters. Either hard rock influenced metal or metal influenced hard rock, the song is two great tastes that taste great together. Do yourself a favor, put it on, turn it up, and forget about the dystopia for about seven minutes. Your head will start bobbing right away, then go harder around the four-and-a-half-minute mark. Let it.

Sundressed, “Fuck It Up” — I don’t know why this video is age restricted, it’s just of a hand writing, and in the chorus there’s a swear. This great song is somewhere between pop-punk and emo. Highly recommended. But I almost didn’t put it on the list for one big reason: The music video is shot vertically. I get it’s probably to streamline putting it on TikTok, since that’s the new music discovery hotspot, but do we have to encourage this? Can’t it just be shot normal with an eye toward a vertical crop? This is the second appearance in Tuesday Tracks by Sundressed.

Ari Abdul, “You” — The whole point of this is that I pick six new songs from up-and-coming or under-the-radar artists and write why I like them. Easy enough, right? I write for a music site, that’s my whole deal. But sometimes, I run across a song like “You” that I really like but for the life of me I can’t explain why. I’ve been struggling for a while to describe why this resonates with me and I’ve got nothing. But I consider that a very, very good thing, because that means it’s good on its own merits rather than because of any specific good piece. Give it a listen, you’ll see.

Danny’s pick: This week is tough because in addition to these six songs there were around 12 more that easily could have made the list and probably would have in any other week. But the best of the best is Elisapie’s “Taimangalimaaq.” It’s so hard to perform a cover that surpasses the original, especially an original that’s stood the test of time since the ’80s, and especially when you’re translating it to a very different language but keeping the same rhythm and cadence. Just a fantastic achievement.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.