If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Jason Rothenberg October 2 will see the release of Contra-ICA Vol. 1: ICE OUT , a benefit compilation put together by Build Art Make Change. It's a whopping forty-seven tracks long, and the first single is out now. It's from Katheen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin), who teams with Ad-Rock (Beastie Boys), Money Mark, Fredo Ortiz, and Frank Figueroa. I would expect it to be a highly political song, but instead it's a cover of Justin Bieber's "Let Me Love You." I'm completely familiar with the original, but this cover is a lot of fun. It's the kind of song that people will first listen because they're fans of the artists involved, or just curiosity, but they're going to stay since it's a fun song. I doubt the original is as disco centered as Hanna and friends' version, but it also doesn't have the same indie cred. BAMC founder Dali Colorado says of the upcoming compilation: “ Contra-ICE is not only an album. It is...

To say Yoko Ono isn't my thing is an understatement of epic proportions. However, her video for "Bad Dancer" deserves some attention, just because of the guest stars it features. I'll take any peek into what Ad Rock and Mike D of the Beastie Boys are doing, and when you add Ira Glass of This American Life, Questlove of the Roots, Roberta Flack, and others into the mix, you'll want to watch it at least once. The video features Ono and her cohorts all dancing badly, which sounds (and is) super cheesy, but it also ends up being a lot of fun, which isn't a side of Ono you get to see a lot. Will the song make anyone's best of 2013 list? Nope. Is it worth checking out in between cat videos on a Tuesday morning? Yeah, sure. Why not?

I've never gotten the whole Yoko Ono thing, but some people do. And apparently Ad-Rock and Mike D get it. Yoko One Plastic Ono Band have an album coming up on September 17, Take Me to the Land of Hell, which features a ton of collaborations including ?uestlove, tUnE-yArDs, members of Wilco, Cibo Mato, and more. You can stream "Bad Dancer" with Ad-Rock and Mike D over at Pitchfork . It's definitely not my thing, but it has the surviving Beastie Boys on it, so here you go!