ALBUM REVIEW: Baroness – Stone


 

Since the music of Baroness has been unlike any other band to me, and more akin to a spiritual experience since I first got into them in 2007, I set the mood for myself before listening. I turned the lights down low, cracked the window open to get a nice breeze going, and heard the sound of large late summer raindrops filling my ears. The city’s heartbeat in the deep background was the only other sound besides my breathing. I just stared at the new album artwork for five straight minutes. At peace for a change, in the still and calm of myself, and by chance, present in the city of my birth for a few days, I hit play on the promo and then let the first notes hit me. 

Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Oozing Wound – We Cater To Cowards 


 

Judging by the name, Oozing Wound should be a run-of-the-mill Death Metal outfit with all of the daft connotations that come with the genre. Thankfully the band is signed to the excellent Thrill Jockey Records, so safe to say this is not the case. What it does demonstrate, however, is a band not afraid to annoy overly serious music journos like me, and artists are supposed to stick it to the man, who in this case would be me. Ahem. 

Continue reading


Courtney Love is Nearly Finished with Her New Solo Album, Has Penned a Song for Kurt Cobain of Nirvana


In a new interview with Marc Maron for his WTF podcast, Courtney Love has revealed she is nearly finished with her long-in-the-works new solo album, eyeing a 2023 release. This would be Courtney’s second solo album under her own name, following her 2004 debut, America’s Sweetheart. Rather than studio albums or EPs, she has focused on standalone singles, movie soundtracks, and collabs for her solo work, and sporadic work and albums with Hole (2010’s Nobody’s Daughter album was basically a Courtney solo album under the Hole banner). In a wide ranging interview about her career in music and acting (she was nominated for a Golden Globe for The People vs. Larry Flynt in 1996) she discussed making music, humbling herself to open for Lana Del Ray (now one of her closest friends) moving to London, rejecting all social media as an artist, the choice to retire her most popular song “Violet” permanently, and her many public and private relationships under the magnifying glass of celebrity for 35 years. She also mentioned writing a new song “Justice for Kurt” for her late husband and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, calling it a “2 minute earworm.” She also said she is omitting it from the album, because it will overshadow the rest of of the album. Maron is a brilliant interviewer, comedian, and actor (Almost Famous, Joker), so it’s worth a listen. 

Continue reading


Nirvana’s “Something In The Way” is Featured in “The Batman” Movie


The new Batman movie The Batman has been released this weekend to much acclaim and crowds back at movie theaters. As teased in multiple trailers, Nirvana’s deep cut “Something In The Way”  is prominently featured throughout the film. Released by  Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures, and based on the Batman Year One and The Long Halloween, story by Frank Miller, the trailer features some of Batman’s rogues gallery of villans. The song was the final track on Nirvana’s breakout 1991 album Nevermind (Geffen Records) which just turned 30 years-old in 2021. The Batman was directed by Matt Reeves’ (War For The Planet of The Apes), with a script by Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) and stars Robert Pattinson as The Dark Knight, Jeffrey Wright Commissioner Gordon, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone; Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler, Alfred, and Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham District Attorney Gil Colson. Continue reading


The New Trailer for The Batman Features More of Nirvana’s “Something In The Way”  


The new Batman movie The Batman shared another trailer for its highly anticpated March 2022 release via Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures. As with the previous trailer, Nirvana’s deep cut “Something In The Way”  is prominently featured throughout the trailer. Based on the Batman Year One story by Frank Miller, the trailer features a rogues gallery of villans. The song was the final track on Nirvana’s breakout 1991 album Nevermind (Geffen Records) which just turned 30 years-old one month on September 24th. The trailer was shown during the highly anticipated panel for Matt Reeves’ (War For The Planet of The Apes), with a script by Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) and stars Robert Pattinson as The Dark Knight, Jeffrey Wright Commissioner Gordon, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone; Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler, Alfred, and Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham District Attorney Gil Colson. Continue reading


Nirvana’s “Nevermind” 30th Anniversary Editions Due Out This Fall


Nirvana’s Nevermind was released on  September 24, 1991 and set off a revolution culturally and musically. Beginning November 12, 2021, Geffen/UMe commemorates the 30th anniversary of Nevermind with several multi-format reissues. A total of 94 audio and video tracks–70 previously unreleased–will be made available across configurations ranging from Super Deluxe Editions to standard digital/CD and single disc vinyl with bonus 7-inch. In all formats, Nevermind is newly remastered from the original half-inch stereo analog tapes to high-resolution 192kHz 24-bit. Pre-orders are live at the link below. 

Continue reading


Nirvana’s Iconic First Hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Hits 1 Billion Streams on Spotify


 

Nirvana’s career-breaking hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, making it the band’s first song to reach that mark. There are many pop and rap songs with over a billion streams, but relatively few rock songs. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the lead track of Nevermind (Geffen/UMe), their second album, 30 years ago and went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide. The single made its radio debut on August 27, 1991 and the video also has over 1 billion plays on YouTube.Continue reading


Thou Releases New Nirvana Covers Album As a Digital Release 


Thou rules, and if you are not aware, they do lots of covers. Mainly they do inventive takes on classic songs. Over the years, Thou has released a whole lot of covers and especially Nirvana covers. Sometimes, those covers have been relatively easy to find, as with the version of “Floyd The Barber” on the 2016 Bleach tribute album Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach. Some of those covers have been pretty hard to track down. Today, though, Thou has put them all together. Now they have released Blessings Of The Highest Order, a new digital collection of all the Nirvana covers that they’ve released over the years. The album showed up mysteriously on Spotify last week, with no advance warning and no social-media alert from the band. Now it’s on Bandcamp and out via Robotic Empire. Check it out! Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Diarchy – Splitfire


There’s a South Asian Metal renaissance afoot at present, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Stoner and Desert scenes. Splitfire (Unherd Music), the second long-player from Bangalore duo Diarchy, is the first release from new Indian label Unherd Music and gives the promise of an Eastern mysticism to some heavy grooves.Continue reading


The Video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana Approaches 1 Billion Views on YouTube


Nirvana’s star-making video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which catapulted the band to rock superstardom is approaching one billion video views on YouTube. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was the lead track and single from Nirvana’s breakthrough release Nevermind (Geffen/UMe) which hit No. 1 around the world, selling more than 30 million copies worldwide. The single made its radio debut on August 27, 1991.Continue reading