If It's Too Loud...

"Happy Xmas (War is Over)" is a very divisive Christmas song. I'm personally on #TeamHappyXmas, so I was thrilled to see that indie rock vets Dean & Britta had released a cover of the classic holiday song. We all know the original, and if you're familiar with Dean & Britta (or their work in Luna and Galaxie 500) you're going to be able to figure out what their cover of the song is going to sound like. It's a dreamy, swirly indie rock song slowed down just slightly from the original. Both Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips' vocals perfectly capture the hopeful feeling of the original but let some melancholy in, too. This is the kind of song that you already know if you're going to love or not. For one, I'm fully in. You can listen to Dean & Britta's version of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" below. The song is available as a single with an original song ("Little Altar Boy") via Bandcamp . All proceeds will go to The Sled...

This one slipped by me back in 1998 despite being an obsessive Sonic Youth fan. As members of Sonic Youth are spending quarantine digging up rarities, Lee Ranaldo has unearthed his 1998 release AMARILLO RAMP (for Robert Smithson). This release ends with a cover of John Lennon's "Isolation." This song suddenly has new meaning in 2020, so Ranaldo decided to make a new video for the song. Lee Ranaldo has this to say about the song and video:  "During this time of enforced global confinement – the ‘planetary pause’, as I’ve been calling it, I’ve been sorting thru some old releases, and came across my version of John Lennon’s ‘Isolation’, which was recorded back in 1991 and released on the 1998 album Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson). Our dear, departed friend Epic Soundtracks (Swell Maps, These Immortal Souls, Crime and the City Solution) played drums on the track, and I’ve always loved both the original and the version of the song we made, almost 30 years ago no...