Old Ugly

Download of the Week – Old Ugly Christmas

Cover songs have a lot in common with Christmas gifts – they are both hugely unnecessary and are completely devoid original sentiment about 95 per cent of the time.

And that’s being generous.

As if Christmas wasn’t depressing enough, nowadays it seems like Canada’s most unlikely suspects – obscure regional indie acts – are churning out their own takes on holiday classics.

Thankfully some acts out there actually manage to take songs from a season associated with depression, bad music and consumerism and churn out some halfway decent songs. And in the case of the Edmonton-based label Old Ugly, most bands on this yuletide compilation are actually pretty good.

The best track is found at the end, submitted by hip-hop wunderkind The Joe, spitting rhymes that would melt that stupid skating rink at the West Edmonton Mall.

Although why they buried what is arguably the best track at the end of this compilation is beyond me. Maybe because the last present that you open on Dec. 25 is the best, most memorable one?

Humbug.