The first Flowerland release in 15 years comes on October 16 and is bringing back the old school energy of the 90s. Flowerland formed in New Haven, CT, in 1991, and is presenting the original line up composed of vocalist Roger Guimond, guitarist Steven Christofor, drummer Jon Lichatz, and bassist Jef St. George. The band has now returned to the scene with The Caffeine Disk EP, containing six Flowerland classics  remixed by John Agnello, producer of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Kurt Vile just to name a few.

Core part of the East Coast independent music scene in the 90s, Flowerland stays faithful to the counterculture releasing the EP via the independent record label ‘Gypsygarden records.’

Opening with the roaring ‘Crazy Horse,’ the EP instantly feeds the listener with raw and outflowing energy. The record goes on with ‘Glass i,’ which maintains the magnetism already expressed in ‘Crazy Horse’ adding a darker feeling to it, with vocalist Roger Guimond delivering an admirable performance.

‘(Jim Brown’s) Military Country’ starts off on the same page as the previous tracks, and then develops a sweeter touch, which cuddles your more instinctive feelings from the first two tracks. The highly adrenalinic vibes are taken back by the agitated ‘Low’.

‘Kill Alice (slowly)’ might be the best track of the EP. Angry, violent, but with sparkles of a fragile attitude, it brings the listener into a hypnotic atmosphere. The bass awakes the deepest thought of the listeners, Christofor’s guitar is magnificent and Lichatz’s drums exceptional, almost delirious.

Finally, the track ‘Flow’ becomes the perfect closing to the EP as it wraps up all the agitation and bass of its predecessors and releases the build-up although keeping the power.

Clearly influenced by the Grunge movement of the 90s, Flowerland mostly takes from it the punk instinct and its raw and natural inspiration which translates into passionate creation. The band then mixes this with a more classic-oriented rock approach, creating a delightful result.

The EP is easy to listen to, almost half an hour of genuine hard rock. It goes on smoothly and does not get old; it seems to acquire quality after each listening instead. It is a tornado of emotions, surely not a record to play as a background activity. It wants and deserves attention, and easily gets it. The biggest merit is probably to be able to show how relevant those sonorities still are.

Rating:  EXCELLENT 4/5

http://youtu.be/Pkw59s6JjdQ

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For every music style it is possible to identify the milestone tracks or bands that made possible for it to develop; this kind of classification can often be a source of discussion, with people identifying the turning point of a musical movement with different bands and songs. Hardly with grunge.

Although grunge is a very diversified music style, with fans’ preferences spread around several bands and approaches, it is acknowledged worldwide that there is a record label, an album, and a track of that album, which made grunge one of the most influential music movements of rock history.

The record label is Sub Pop Records, the album is ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana, and the song is the first single of that album, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ Neither Nirvana nor Sub Pop started the grunge movement, but they made it what it has been since their creation.

Grunge developed in the state of Washington, U.S., mainly in the Seattle area, during the second half of the ’80s. It is indeed often referred to as ‘The Seattle Sound.’ Grunge reached the peak of its commercial success in the first half of the ‘90s; it has often been defined as the last rock revolution. As it usually happens when a musical innovation takes place, the sound development was accompanied by a strong social movement.

Musically speaking, the aim of grunge music was to take the sincerity of punk, and to mix it with the sludge sound that pertained to metal bands such as Black Sabbath, and the structure of popular melodies pertaining to bands like The Beatles. One of the main features of grunge music, although it presents itself in very differentiated shapes depending on the bands, is the raw, dirty, sound, full of heavy guitar distortions, along with angry, disappointed, and profound lyrics.

In 1986, Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman founded in Seattle the independent record label Sub Pop records; the label was interested in the local bands that were developing at the time. Pavitt and Poneman worked to create a proper sound identification for the label, carrying a promotion of the Sub Pop product itself.

They associated that image to the Seattle sound, signing several artists of the area. Sub Pop is the record label that first signed bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, who then became central acts of the grunge scene.

By Nirvana is the most influential track of the Seattle Sound: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ Although probably not Nirvana’s best song, the track, together with the album ‘Nevermind,’ changed the music scene forever; it became an icon for the grunge movement and for an entire generation. Developed around the idea of young people’s mixture of angst and apathy, the song presents itself extremely catchy, with intriguing lyrics along with a powerful sound.

‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has been defined as the anthem of a generation at the time, and has become, ever since its release in 1991, the anthem of people who look at the world in a specific way.

The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, portraits the band performing in a school gym, together with anarchic cheerleaders, and kids who end up destroying everything around; Cobain said he had been inspired by The Ramones’ video for ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School’. The ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video won Nirvana the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Group awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1992, and it has also become a milestone of music history.

‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ announced the upcoming rock revolution. It is the first track of the album ‘Nevermind,’ the record responsible for the redistribution of power between mainstream and counterculture in the music industry.

When it was released on September 24 in 1991, not even Geffen Records, the major record label Nirvana had moved to, was prepared for the huge success of the album; the label initially pressed only 40,000 copies of ‘Nevermind,’ which instead sold a million within six weeks. Geffen had to stop pressing any other record in order to meet the demand.

The huge commercial success of ‘Nevermind’ led bands pertaining to the counterculture to sing with major record labels and to gain visibility in the commercial channels, and took grunge on top of the music world; according to various artists of the scene, record labels would sign any band coming from the Seattle area at the time, just to be part of the grunge movement.

As Krist Novoselic, bassist of Nirvana, once said, “Nirvana didn’t go to the mainstream; the mainstream went to Nirvana.” ‘Nevermind’ is not only considered the most influential album for grunge, but also one of the most influential and meaningful albums of all times.

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After the success of the ‘Nevermind’ commemorative editions released in 2011 for the album’s 20th anniversary, Nirvana fans around the world are wondering about a deluxe edition of ‘Incesticide,’ the album which was released by the band in December 1992, turning twenty this year”.

Although no indication is given yet about the ‘Incesticide’ commemorative release, Nirvana fans will soon have something else to keep them entertained. Smokin’ records will, indeed, release a new Nirvana live album on March 12 in Europe, and March 20 in the U.S..

‘Feels Like The First Time’ is a compilation of some of the live performances played by Nirvana in 1992 and 1993, and broadcasted by different TV and radio stations. The performances of twenty one tracks originally included in ‘Nevermind,’ ‘In Utero’ and ‘Bleach’ are contained in the album.

The most notable feature of the record is part of the set that Nirvana played on December 13, 1993, at Seattle’s Pier 48 warehouse. The band played on that day a concert for MTV, well known as the ‘Live And Loud.’ The concert also featured The Breeders and Cypress Hill.

The ‘Live And Loud’ performance became legacy for Nirvana, being one of the most notorious live shows of the band, along with the ‘Live At Reading,’ ‘Unplugged In New York’ and the ‘Live At The Paramount,’ the latter recently released as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of ‘Nevermind.’

The second live set included in the ‘Feels Like The First Time’ album, is the Triple J Broadcast of the band’s performance at The Palace, in Melbourne, Australia, held on February 2, 1992. At the time, the band had recently released their masterpiece ‘Nevermind.’

To complete the Nirvana live experience, the album features four tracks performed during two appearances of the band at the Saturday Night Live show, in 1992 and 1993.

The album is available for pre-order. Here is the full track list:

1. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
2. Drain You
3. Breed
4. Serve The Servants
5. Rape Me
6. Heart Shaped Box
7. Pennyroyal Tea
8. Scentless Apprentice
9. Lithium
10. Endless Nameless
11. About A Girl
12. Come As You Are
13. Breed
14. Polly
15. Lounge Act
16. Love Buzz
17. Lithium
18. Smells Like Teen Spirit
19. Territorial Pissings
20. Rape Me
21. Heart Shaped Box

Tracks 1-10 Live And Loud Broadcast, Seattle, December 13, 1993
Tracks 11-17 Triple J Broadcast, The Palace, Melbourne, February 2, 1992
Tracks 18-19 Saturday Night Live, January 11, 1992
Tracks 20-21 Saturday Night Live, September 25, 1993

Watch the ‘Drain You’ performance at MTV ‘Live And Loud’

Image Courtesy of   http://www.myspace.com/nirvana

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Foo Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, reached out to his fans to talk about music and its meaning and to clarify some of his statements at the 54^th Grammy Awards show.

Foo Fighters had an exceptional night on February 12 at the Grammy Awards; the band took home five awards: Best Rock Album with their ‘Wasting Light,’ Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance with ‘Walk,’ Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for ‘White Limo’ and Best Long Form Music Video with their documentary ‘Back and Forth.’

While accepting the award for Best rock song, Grohl gave a speech about Foo Fighters latest album and the importance of the human element in music, explaining how this issue was addressed in the making of Foo Fighters ‘Wasting Light.’ He said:

The human element of making music is what’s most important. Singing into a microphone, and learning to play an instrument, and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do. It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct; It’s not about what goes on in a computer, it’s about what goes on in here [heart] and what goes on in here [head].

When the speech time finished, the musician was clearly not done talking; he tried to say something and ended up screaming ‘Long Live Rock ’n’ roll!’ when it was clear Foo Fighters had to leave the stage.

His speech has caused a host of reactions, going from those who got very excited about the statement about his recording approach and Grohl’s attitude, to some electronic music fans and artists who interpreted Grohl’s speech as an accusation that their style of music is insincere.

To clarify, Grohl got back in touch with his audience through the Foo Fighters facebook page, explaining what he really meant and what was left to say on Sunday night.

In the message, he talks about his love for all kinds of music; “Electronic or acoustic, it doesn’t matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with.”

He then specifies: ‘The ‘human element’. That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became “bad” things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily “fixed”.

The end result? I my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place. And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance.”

After making clear he does not think of himself as the best musician ever, he goes on saying; “I try really f***ing hard so that I don’t have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that’s what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.”

He concludes by mentioning Skrillex, an electronic musician who makes a real craft out of his music in Grohl’s opinion, even if he uses different tools in respect to rock‘n’roll. Dave Grohl explains; “if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?).” His last hint refers to the well-known criticism of Grohl’s former band Nirvana, whose technical simplicity has been considered a negative feature by some, albeit never succeeding as a conclusive argument against enjoying Nirvana’s music.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dave-Grohl-and-Foo-Fighters/75847266013

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Fans of the nicest man in rock must be thrilled knowing that Dave Grohl is back in the studio. Butch Vig, the man who infamously produced Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” wrote on Twitter a while ago that he and Grohl spent an entire day together at studio 606 in late December listening to some of Grohl’s new material.

From being the drummer of Them Crooked Vultures to collaborating with glam metal band RATT, Foo Fighters’ frontman has never shied away from side projects during his career. So the question is; where does this upcoming work belong?

In 2011, the release of “Wasting Light,” another production by Butch Vig, proved a successful start on the new decade. The April album release was followed by a world tour, international recognition and six Grammy nominations, and its successor is supposedly on its way so it would not be a long shot to assume that the new material could be destined for Grohl’s primary project Foo Fighters.

The announcement of an upcoming record came from Dave Grohl himself; he wrote a note to the fans, thanking them for their support in late December and letting them know a new album would come out soon. The note read, “And to all of you…..we’re not finished yet. There are still more shows to play, more songs to write, more albums to record, for years to come. I mean… If you would have told me 17 years ago that, in 2012, I would be writing songs for our eighth studio album… well…”

On the other hand, fans of Them Crooked Vultures, with Dave Grohl on drums, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age as lead vocalist and guitarist constituting a super band, are also very excited. After a successful self-titled album released in 2009, the band has not released anything else.

Since 2010, there has been much talk about a second album, which was supposed to be release in late 2011, but never made it, according to some sources. One of the main reasons for the delay has been Grohl and Homme having been too busy with their respective bands. So with the news of Dave Grohl working on new material, and considering the timing, there is a real chance that Them Crooked Vultures are the benefactor and will be releasing their second album soon.

However, as mentioned, Them Crooked Vultures is not Grohl’s only side project. Recently, a collaboration between RATT, and the Foo Fighters frontman was announced by RATT themselves.

This is bound to be an interesting project as Nirvana, Dave Grohl’s former band, is considered to be responsible for the ‘defeat’ of glam metal in the 1990s through their introduction of grunge. RATT singer, Stephen Pearcy, has said that the song they will release together, “will not be a new RATT song, but just something cool Dave wants to do.”

Hence, the new material could turn up in any direction, from his Foo Fighters base to any of Grohl’s side projects, even new ones. After all, he is a music explorer. What is certain is that Grohl’s choice of Butch Vig as a collaborator is destined to create a musical firestorm and keep interest soaring for his new project.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/DaveGrohl.FF

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Alice in Chains, one of the most admired bands from the Seattle grunge scene, plans to release a new album soon. After some rumors about a new record, the guitarist and vocalist of the band, Jerry Cantrell, ended Alice in Chains’ set at their only gig last year by saying, “Time to head back to the studio and finish that record.”

Furthermore, he recently told ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine that the band started writing last year and that the break they took after the release of their latest album in 2009 was not intended to be so long.

One of the reasons for the long break was that Cantrell had to recover from shoulder surgery, which took some time. When interviewed by ‘Rolling Stone’, he added that they kept on writing and working on new material even during his rehabilitation. However, no time indication has been given so far about the release, though it is known that the band is planning to record in the early part of the year, giving hope to those who expect the album to be released in 2012.

The band does not seem to be pressured for a deadline. At the beginning of December 2011, when asked about a time frame for the record via ‘Grunge Report’, Jerry Cantrell replied, “Whenever we’re done. Schedules in music, I know people have done it and say you need an album out by this date, and you’re talking about album tour, it can burn you out quickly.

It did with our band. We’ve been fortunate to be partnered up with companies that respect the process. We’re never really forced to make music. If it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t. We’ve been writing a lot. I also had shoulder surgery earlier this year. I’m at the tail end of rehabbing that. That put us back a little bit. But we have some stuff. We’ll do some writing. Hopefully we’ll have it out next year. We’ll put it out when we feel that it’s worth putting out.”

Another question regarding the new album is the role of William DuVall. The new singer, who is also the frontman of the rock band, Comes with the Fall, will probably cover a more prominent role than in ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ of 2009, maybe having a wider influence on Alice in Chains’ sound.

‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ was the first album released by Alice in Chains after the passing of their late former singer, Layne Staley, who was then replaced by DuVall. The record has been addressed by band members to be celebrative of the legacy of the late band member and the band’s goodbye to him.

Staley died in 2002 from a lethal drug mix after struggling with severe drug addiction for years. He is one of those figures in music, and unfortunately particularly in grunge, who left the scene too early. He remains profoundly loved by fans and respected by the music scene.

‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ was a record which stuck to the typical Alice in Chains sonorities, fully respecting the band’s usual musical approach. It will be interesting to see if they will keep the new album on the same level or if DuVall’s presence will bring a slightly different set of sonorities to the group this time.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/aliceinchains

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The year that marked the twentieth anniversary of one of the most meaningful progressions in rock history and of some of the most influential masterpieces like Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Achtung Baby” by U2, just ended. Twenty years after 1991, what is the state of rock music?

2011 was in itself a good year for rock: “Wasting Light” by Foo Fighters, “Endgame” by Rise Against, and “I’m With You” by Red Hot Chili Peppers are just few of the good releases that signified the past year and the presence of the beautiful diversity of rock. However, to make a comparison between the state of rock in the contemporary music scene and the one of 1991, seems unfair.

Twenty years ago, the rise of grunge not only brought to life a new musical style, expressing alternative sonorities and meaningful messages, it also changed the roles in the game of the music industry, making the counterculture mainstream. It is undeniable that almost all rock bands have been influenced ever since by what happened twenty years ago, so in some ways this revolution is still present.

“Never lose faith in real rock ‘n’ roll music … Never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it is always going to be there” said Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and ex Nirvana drummer, when accepting the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video for Foo Fighters’ “Walk.”

What surprises most people nowadays is exactly what Dave Grohl said: you have to look harder to find ‘real’ rock. After rising to power twenty years ago, the contemporary music industry seems to be ruled by a kind of pop music that does not really care about content or sonorities, but rather gossip, fashion and superficiality instead.

Many newer singers and bands seem to care more about impressing instead of touching people, even to the extend of not doing it through music. Lady Gaga, with her multiple costumes and creation of an alter ego, seems to be more concerned with what to wear rather than what to play; child stars like Justin Bieber, who relies on his looks rather than his voice, make provocative declarations like “I feel like the Kurt Cobain of my generation,” in order to make people talk about him, but the mere statement shows that he has no idea who Kurt Cobain was as a musician.

Rihanna has a sexy pose for every word in her songs but who can be sure it’s her real voice in the haze of voice effects and computerized distortions. Furthermore, a new type of music worker is forged through television today. Reality shows will throw any wannabe with any camera appeal to the audience, and the audience seems to blindly enjoy it.

Music charts of 2011 were often dominated by well-advertised groups created by TV standards. For example, since 2005, the UK Chart’s Christmas No. 1 has always been a song from the winner of some reality show, with the exception of 2009 when Rage Against The Machine won after a Facebook campaign against reality shows.

These few examples merit the proposition that what is really missing in the music industry is real music, real artists. Some of the most successful artists are so focused on building their imaginary characters that they forget to actually make music, relying on computerization rather than authenticity. The music industry supports this and the audience buys it all. Meanwhile, great rock bands who carry on their projects and make good music are almost lost in the scene.

“Music the great communicator,” sing Red Hot Chili Peppers in their song “Can’t Stop,” but thinking about the message that current mainstream music is communicating, nothing good comes to mind. In this scenario, there is no sign of a revolutionary and innovative rock movement about to explode. It is true that twenty years ago, nobody saw grunge coming.

On the other hand, the situation is different now. Music gets everywhere through the internet, everybody has the chance to be known somehow, and it should have gotten easier to distribute something with as much potential as grunge had in 1991 and punk in 1976.

“It’s sad to think what the state of rock ‘n’ roll will be in 20 years from now. It just seems when rock ‘n’ roll is dead the whole world is going to explode” said Kurt Cobain in an interview a few months before his death on 1994. Rock is not dead, at least not yet, but Cobain prophesied correctly: it is quite sad to think what Rock has come to today.

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