If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Niki Pretti Photography Oakland's Middle-Aged Queers are set to celebrate Valentine's Gay with a pair of shows, and have released a new single to get everyone ready. It's a cover of Mazzy Starr's iconic "Fade Into You." Gen-X's favorite make out song (which Gen-Z finds incredibly depressing) has been reimagined as a raucous punk song. It's loud and noisy, and sounds more like classic late 70's/early 80's punk than anything released this century. It's also a shockingly faithful cover to the original despite the complete change in genre. I never thought "Fade Into You" could work as a straight up punk song, but Middle-Aged Queers pull it off perfectly. Frontman Shauners says of their latest single: “When our bassist, Josh, came to us with the idea of covering this song, I was incredibly skeptical. He then upped the ante by persuading us to let him sing it, with me relinquishing lead vocal duties in exchange for playing bass...

Photo by Devan Skaggs Victoria Bigelow has been compared to Mazzy Star quite a bit in her career. She decided to lean into it with a cover of their immortal track "Fade Into You." Covering such an iconic song can be tricky, but Bigelow pulls it off perfectly. Her love of the song is obvious, but she does change it up slightly. It's a little less dream pop or shoegaze, and instead has more of a rootsy/Americana feel. That's not to say this is a folk version of "Fade Into You," but she does inject a little bit of twang into the song. As someone who considers the original an example of a perfect song, Victoria Bigelow delivers a fantastic rendition. Victoria Bigelow says of  “I’m a huge Mazzy Star fan and Hope Sandoval is one of my most important musical influences. The decision to cover this song was a last minute thing but it feels all too serendipitous with this year being the 30th anniversary of  So Tonight That I Might See . It was produced by my husband, ...

Photo via Facebook If you're of a certain age and disposition, you probably have roughly a thousand memories associated with Mazzy Star's iconic "Fade Into You." You know that it's one of the greatest and most beautiful songs of all time. However, it doesn't seem to get covered as much as you'd (or at least I'd) expect it to. As part of their streaming talk/variety show Bunker Buds , Walter Alice Sickert recorded a solo cover of the song. It's just Sickert and their guitar, and it's spectacular. I don't think any vocals on "Fade Into You" could top Hope Sandoval's, but Sickert does a fabulous job, and this cover is quite simply stunning. With the theatrics and bombast of the Army of Broken Toys, it's easy to miss how spectacular of a vocalist they can be. "Fade Into You" helps remind us all of Sickert's talents. You can watch Walter Alice Sickert cover "Fade Into You" below. For more on the artist, ...