If It's Too Loud...

I know, I know. Mash-ups are very early 2000s, and entire albums of rap/rock mash-ups peaked with The Grey Album in 2004 no so self-respecting music journalist would ever cover them. However, I still unashamedly love them, and I stumbled on The Wu-Tang Zeppelin earlier this week and could not resist bringing this to you all. Put together by Beats Rhymes and Remixes out of the UK, The Wu-Tang Zeppelin obviously combines the legendary classic rock of Led Zeppelin with the groundbreaking hip hop of Wu-Tang Clan. You'll know if this is for you right from the album opener which mashes "Whole Lotta Love" with "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" entitled "Whole lotta chessboxin.'" For me it's a interesting mix since Wu-Tang are one of my favorites dating back to high school, and Zeppelin are a band I rejected as an indie rock snob and have only started accepting the last few years. But, if you still have a love for mash-ups, you'll want to check this ...

Last year's Rock and Roll Rumble winners Set Fire have released a cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter." The Boston trio have definitely made it their own. This is no huge 70's cinematic hard rock song. The cinematic quality is still there, but this version is reimagined as a hardcore metal song meets 80's power ballad. For a casual Led Zeppelin listener like myself, I would have never picked up on it being a cover if I hadn't read it was. The song is an absolute killer, and even if hardcore metal meets an 80's power ballad doesn't do it for you, the screeching guitar solo is impossible not to love. You can listen to Set Fire's take on "No Quarter" below. It's currently available as a single via their Bandcamp. For more on Set Fire, check them out on Facebook . No Quarter by Set Fire

One of my favorite things about Matt Pond is the frequency that he releases cover songs. For Thanksgiving he decided to give us all an early gift (even though he's been spoiling us recently by offering us free downloads of his first and brand new albums) and cover Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" with Chris Hansen. I've been developing an appreciation for Zeppelin late in life (most of my college years were spent despising anything that could be considered classic rock because I just had to be that guy...), so this cover is right up my current alley. The Matt Pond & Chris Hansen version of "Thank You" is shockingly close to the original. Pond even does an amazing Robert Palmer on the vocals. They do inject the dreaminess that we would expect from anything Matt Pond related, so it's basically everything we ever want in a cover song. You can listen to Matt Pond & Chris Hansen's cover of "Thank You" below. It's also available...