Electro-pop outfits YACHT and LCD Soundsystem are among the latest to pay tribute to Prince following the genre-bending pop icon's untimely death at the age of 57 in his Minnesota Paisley Park Estate earlier this week. Both bands honored the Purple One with covers of Controversy tracks: YACHT offered up their own version of "Annie Christian" whereas LCD Soundsystem paid their respects by covering "Controversy" at Coachella.
YACHT started recording their "Annie Christian" cover while working in the studio on their 2011 album Shangri-La, but never finished it. After learning of Prince's passing, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans finally finished work on the song and shared it to their band's SoundCloud accompanied by a purple, crying rendering of their upside-down smiley face logo.
The dance-punk duo attached this statement to the SoundCloud post: "'Annie Christian' has always struck us as one of the weirdest Prince songs, a loose narrative of dark true stories from 1979-1981: John Lennon's assassination, the Atlanta murders, and the FBI's Abscam corruption sting. [He] was wounded by the evil in the world, and did a great deal both privately and publicly to bring the light," Stereogum reports.
Give YACHT's version of "Annie Christian" a listen below.
Meanwhile, LCD Soundsystem offered up a riveting live version of the title track off 1981's Controversy. Watch James Murphy et al take the track in an especially funky direction below.
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And they're not the only members of the electronic music world to pay tribute to the "Purple Rain" singer. Flying Lotus, The Black Madonna, Nile Rodgers, Richie Hawtin and Ben Klock are just a few producers and DJs to share memories, favorite songs and other messages of tribute across social media platforms, Resident Advisor reports.
Diplo and Skrillex of Jack U joined countless other artists like Ellie Goulding, Sufjan Stevens, Gallant, Joey Bada$$ and others in turning their Coachella Weekend 2 sets purple. After bringing AlunaGeorge out as their sole guest of the night earlier in the set, they concluded their dance party with a Prince montage as their lightshow turned everything purple and cast the star's iconic symbol on the stage's led screens.
