If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Rat Majesty Tori Amos covers seem few and far between. Maybe it's intimidating to cover such an iconic and revered artist, or maybe musicians are just hesitant to make any changes to her songs. Hooked Like Helen have taken on Amos' beloved "Winter," and the Ohio based husband/wife duo have done an amazing job. They decided not to fix what isn't broken and delivered a very true to the original cover. Hooked Like Helen went slightly more modern pop than the original, but not by much. As vocalist Nikki Stipp says of the cover,  “With the piano in place, we wanted to bring a modern feel to the vocal delivery ." Is a gorgeous cover of a gorgeous song that pays homage to the original while slightly updating it. You can watch the video for Hooked Like Helen's cover of "Winter" below. For more on Hooked Like Helen, check out their website .

Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It's the only time of the year when visiting old cemeteries isn't "weird." It's "festive." That also means it's time for our annual Halloween playlist. Every year we try to avoid the usual "Monster Mash" and "Thriller," and instead bring you a playlist reflective of the kind of music we listen to all year round. We have classic alternative (Beat Happening, Dinosaur Jr, Tori Amos), neo-folk/country (Jason Isbell, David Wax Museum, Marlon Williams), classic rock (Bob Dylan, The Jam), some hip hop (Ghostface Killah, Swet Shop Boys), old school punk (The Cramps, Dead Milkmen, Ramones), and even some metal with Dead Cross. At just over two hours, it's perfect for Halloween parties, to put on during trick or treating, or to play during work to drown out your co-workers playing "Wereworlf of London." Happy Halloween!

I've been a little cold on the last few releases from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Nothing has really hit me the way their self-titled debut album and EP did. That being said, their new cover of Tori Amos' "China" is amazing. "China" might be the Tori song I always seem to forget about, but once I hear it again I wonder why I ever listen to anything else. It's a home recorded demo of the song, with very minimal instrumentation. Gone is the indie pop and shoegaze normally associated with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and in it's place is a sound very similar to Buffalo Tom's more laid back covers. It's something you absolutely should listen to today. Listen to "China" below. For more info on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, check out their website .

This week's new release slate is really all over the place. Mirah - Changing Light : I'm embarrassed to admit that my first reason for listening to Mirah back whenever I first heard of her was because I thought she was the artist Nick Hornby constantly wrote about. Not only is that a questionable reason to get into a band, but he was also writing about Marah with an A, not Mirah with an I. Regardless, I never thought much of it again until her 2009 album (a)spera , which was a beautifully haunting melodic piece from start to finish. Changing Light shifts gears a bit for her on a whole, being more raw and straightforward without losing a lot of the tone that we've gotten used to with her. Whether this album will have the staying power for me that (a)spera had remains to be seen, but it's certainly the best release of this week, one of the more interesting listens of recent releases, and worth a try for you. I Saved Latin! A Tribute to Wes Anderson : I've t...