On December 15, 1992 (December 14 in Europe) Nirvana released its compilation album Incesticide. Too often considered an underdog in Nirvana discography, this album is an excellent work by the band.

After the astonishing success Nevermind acquired with its release in 1991, expectations on Nirvana were set very high. The work on the band’s next studio album In Utero was taking quite long, so Nirvana offered the fans a compilation of tracks, most of which were already circulating in bootleg versions among the fan community. According to Charles Cross’ book ‘Cobain Unseen,’ Kurt Cobain agreed on releasing the compilation only after he was assured to have complete control over the art cover, which was entirely drawn by him.

1992 was a relevant moment for the band, which reached the top of the music world in 1991, changing music history forever; moreover the entire grunge movement had become a huge deal. This was reflected on the industry in a pushing need for a new Nirvana album, playing as a bridge between Nevermind and the announced In Utero: here comes Incesticide. The tracks contained were mostly outtakes, demos and covers, accompanied by some unreleased songs.

Incesticide turned out to be a pearl in Nirvana discography. It surely did not have the impact Nevermind had on masses, nor on the industry, nevertheless it is a very good mirror of who Nirvana was. The album in its entirety describes the complex spirit behind Nirvana. With its mixture of different momenta in music inspiration, Incesticide has a unique soul expressing the Seattle band’s geniality. Kicking off with Dive, a hard and straightforward amazing song, it also contains catchier tracks with a more popular oriented spirit, such as Sliver and Molly’s Lips. Punk is well defined by the amazing covers of Turnaround and Son of a Gun; the last song of the album, Aneurysm, is a strong, energetic track that can hardly be defined by words. Big Long Now is an obsessive repetitive song which results in perfection, and deeply touches the spirit of the listener; Beeswax has a peculiar construction and is probably the real pearl of the album, just to name a few.

The variety of the tracks well represents the multiple personality shades that Nirvana was able to express. Incesticide goes back and forth between the singular components of the complex musical mind created by Cobain and Co.. In every album, the band’s poetry is modeled through a selection of soul and inspirational movements, which are able to take form through simplicity. Putting together something so complex and passing it through with the kind of simplicity Nirvana was able to achieve in composing is surely one of the highest levels the music craft can reach. Incesticide explains exactly that.

The anniversary was celebrated on Record Store Day on November 23, with the release of double LP limited to 4000 copies. The anniversary edition features recompiled and remastered tracks from the original analog master tape and recording sources by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. It was pressed on two 180 gram virgin vinyl discs and cut at 45 RPM vinyl.

No fancy celebrations as for last year’s Nevermind 20th anniversary and it is comprehensible. Nevertheless, big excitement should be expected for the piece of excellence that Incesticide is. A must have for all Nirvana and grunge fans of course, but also for those who are interested in understanding the many faces this band had.

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Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and ex-Nirvana drummer, and Krist Novoselic, ex-Nirvana bass player, have been working with infamous producer and Garbage drummer Butch Vig, on the soundtrack for the Sound City Movie, the documentary project that has been carried on by Grohl.

Recently, Vig, who produced both Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and Foo Fighters’ ‘Wasting Light,’ tweeted “The last 24 hours have been surreal! Had a great gig at the El Rey last night, and spent today recording with Dave, Krist and special guest!”

This was enough to create big excitement in the web about the nature of the work, also generating all sorts of guesses about the special guest who could have possibly participated in the recordings. It was then soon clarified that the project the three musicians have been working on is the Sound City Movie soundtrack.

Butch Vig gave an update to NME.com, about the work and the time of the future release “We’re not really sure how it’s all gonna end up at this point but its been fun. There’s still quite a bit more work to do and we hope to finish up in the next three or four months, and try get it all mixed and completed some time in the fall.”

The Sound City documentary will feature the glorious studios of Los Angeles, CA, where some of the greatest rock masterpieces, including Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind,’ were born.

After its closure as a commercial studio in May 2011, Grohl decided to pay tribute to the place where many of the most famous rock albums were recorded. Grohl told Rolling Stone some time ago “When Sound City closed last year, it was a very sad day. That place was like a church. The list of people that recorded there reads like a virtual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… We recorded Nevermind there back in 1991. That funky old place had the best drum room in world. The drum sound at the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit – that’s Sound City.”

Some jam sessions and co-operations for the documentary, with several artists, have already been announced by Grohl himself(read Toonari Post’s article on the Sound City Movie), and we are sure the rock star is working on surprising fans even more. The collaborations, also expected in the album, are one of the reasons why the soundtrack of the documentary has been much awaited. The now-announced participation of Novoselic in the project spices things up even more.

After Kurt Cobain’s death and the subsequent Nirvana break-up, Novoselic has not been very active in the music scene, dedicating his efforts mainly towards politics, although he played bass on Flipper’s latest album, released in 2009. Grohl and Novoselic recently got back together for recording a track, ‘I Should Have Known,’ for the latest Foo Fighters’ album ‘Wasting Light,’ released in 2011, which has already become a milestone of rock.

What is sure is that Grohl, Novoselic and Vig are a great musical combination, since whenever they have been together, they created musical masterpieces, first with Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind,’ and recently with Foo Fighters’ ‘Wasting Light.’ Very high expectations are then set for the Sound City Movie soundtrack.

Image Courtesy of   ant217

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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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Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and ex Nirvana drummer, has presented another of his projects, revealing to the world the first teaser of his upcoming documentary. The documentary will feature the glorious Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, CA, where some of the greatest rock masterpieces were born.

Lately Grohl seems to have made a special connection with screen entertainment; after the release of Back and Forth, the Foo Fighters documentary, and the musician’s appearance in movies, such as ‘The Muppets’ last year, it has been announced that Grohl will be the executive producer of an upcoming rock-band-based sitcom for the FX channel.

Since its beginning in the early seventies, the Sound City Studios has witnessed the creation of infamous albums such as Nirvana’s Nevermind and Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled album, before its closure as a commercial studio in May 2011.

Artists of the caliber of Neil Young, Tom Petty, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down, Johnny Cash and Motorhead have entertained the world with recordings that took shape at the Sound City Studios. That is probably the main reason why Dave Grohl was interested in directing a documentary on this piece of rock‘n’roll history.

“When Sound City closed last year, it was a very sad day. That place was like a church. The list of people that recorded there reads like a virtual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… We recorded Nevermind there back in 1991,” Grohl told Rolling Stone magazine in a recent interview. “That funky old place had the best drum room in world. The drum sound at the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit – that’s Sound City.”

Although not many details on the specifics of the documentary are available, the musician from Virginia recently explained in an interview with Rolling Stone: “I decided to make a film about that feeling when you put five guys in a room, hit “record” and the hair on the back of your neck stands up. Expect some epic jam sessions.” This should giving an idea of the documentary’s mood.

Besides pre-announced jam sessions with Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick, and members of hair metal band RATT, it can be extrapolated from the teaser that interviews with artists who experienced the magic of the Sound City Studios will be featured, including Krist Novoselic and Tom Petty.

The teaser also lists a series of musicians who contributed to the history of Sound City, without giving any further indication of what to expect from their contibution. Some of the mentioned artists are Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures), Butch Vig (musician for Garbage and notorious producer), and Frank Black (The Pixies).

No release date is given for the documentary yet, but according to the Sound City Movie website it will be ‘coming soon’.

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Foo Fighters is one of the most popular Rock bands in the music scene since years, being active since 1994. The band is led by Dave Grohl (ex Nirvana drummer), and composed of Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, and Pat Smear.

Although Foo Fighters’ success is not new, what this band accomplished this year is unbelievable. Their 7th studio album “Wasting Light” debuted as number one in the Billboard 200 chart upon its release on April 12 this year, sold 235,000 copies only in its first week, becoming soon a Gold record in the U.S., as well as in other countries. In some others it even became Platinum record. As Dave Grohl declared, although they were big before, mainly in some parts of the world, this album made them huge.

The record comprises other artists’ participations, including the ones of Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) and Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar). The album has been recorded in Grohl’s garage completely analog to tape, and was produced by Butch Vig, the same producer of Nirvana’s “Nevermind”. As Dave Grohl recently declared referring to the producer “Together, we made the album of a lifetime. Again.”

The record sound is raw, powerful, loud, aggressive, sweet, melancholic, and angry, it explores all of the aspects of Rock. It is the heaviest record belonging to the band so far as well as the “grungiest” one. The lyrics come as emotional waterfalls on the perfectly melt sounds. It goes from the screaming hard rock of “White Limo” to the deep and intriguing “I Should Have Known” where Novoselic’s performance gives goosebumps due to its perfection.

Besides the album release, the documentary “Back and Forth,” which explores the development of the band, came out in April; in the same month the band released the limited vinyl “Medium Rare,” a covers album, for Record Store Day. Furthermore this year their video for the track “Walk”, which is a parody of the movie “Falling Down,” won the prize as Best Rock Video at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

After recording the latest album in Grohl’s garage, the Foo Fighters also started touring in some garages. The band, indeed, performed from New York to Seattle in garages belonging to their fans who participated to a dedicated contest. Moreover the band played secret gigs in small clubs. Then, they started the world tour, touching Europe, North America, South America and Australia. Japan and other countries are coming next year. They played in arenas, festivals, stadiums. In July they played two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in the U.K to over 140,000 fans. The band just owns it all.

Foo Fighters started in 1994 as a solo project by frontman Dave Grohl, after the death of the late Kurt Cobain and the consequent disappearance of his band Nirvana. What Grohl had for Foo Fighters at the time was only a tape, not even a band. During those seventeen years a lot happened to Foo Fighters. Musicians have come and gone, motivation seemed to be lost for a moment, but what always stayed was Grohl’s determination.

The guy who gained the title of “The nicest guy in Rock,” due to his particularly considerate and respectful personality, seems to be also the toughest guy in Rock, in the best sense of it. He had a dream and did not let anything corrupt it. He did not just try, he did it. Not even when Foo Fighters gained the big scene he let the business corrupt the music. He came back to his garage with a finally solid and sound group which expressed its cooperation in the highest level possible, recording the album on tape where everything sounds just real.

Foo Fighters’ history shows that probably the most remarkable characteristic of Grohl’s personality is his respect to music, and to Rock in particular, beyond any boundary. Let’s not forget this guy, twenty years ago, changed the music scene forever together with two friends of his. Listening to Foo Fighters one can feel the same attitude is still all there in Mr. Grohl.

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In 1991, a band belonging to the counterculture changed music forever. On September 24 of that year, Nirvana, the band composed by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl, released its second album (first one with Grohl as a drummer) ‘Nevermind’. What was, and what is ‘Nevermind’?

Nirvana started playing in 1987, developing within the grunge scene taking shape in the Seattle area at the time, where several bands experimented this enhancement of punk rock. Nirvana was shown to have that little more, which led them to change music history. With the release of their first album ‘Bleach’ in 1989 with Sub Pop Records, Nirvana sold a decent amount of records and started touring, getting the success that pertained to good bands of the grunge scene.

Then, in 1991, something changed. The musicality of the group, although keeping that honesty that has always characterized Nirvana, had been slightly modified. They mixed strong sounds with pleasant melodies, screamed anger, pain, and pure irony. Many think that the most popular records cannot be a piece of art, except in this case. ‘Nevermind’ has been the most meaningful record ever since its release in 1991. Its biggest power was the ability to reach everyone, while saying something meaningful, something true, something deep, and playing hard.

The sound of ‘Nevermind’ explodes very strong, yet very fragile. The power of Grohl’s drums, the perfection of Novoselic’s bass, along with the lyrics and the extraordinary voice of the late Kurt Cobain, a voice which instantly reaches the deepest part of an open soul, created something splendid. The deepness of the record is hard to explain; it has to be lived.

The band was able to send a message using unusual sonorities along with good melodies, expressing what nobody had before or has done afterwards. This created a phenomenon that ran all over the world and seemed impossible to catch, leading an underground band to be one of the most important and relevant creations of music history and surely the most significant change in the music scene in decades. As Krist Novoselic once said, “Nirvana didn’t go to the mainstream; the mainstream went to Nirvana.”

The enormous success of ‘Nevermind’ made it possible for bands from the counterculture to play on MTV, to be heard on mainstream radios, and to sign with major record labels. Nirvana changed the rules in the game with an album that contains very differentiated tracks, each one able to play every single chord of that dark inner soul Nirvana has.

Nobody was prepared for the huge success of ‘Nevermind’ back then, not even Geffen Records, the major record label with whom Nirvana signed before the final production of the album. The record label initially pressed 40,000 copies of the album, which instead sold a million within six weeks. Geffen had to stop pressing any other record in order to meet the demand.

In a music scene dominated by hair metal and superficiality, Nirvana was able to break through that thick peel of an uncaring society and give voice to all those people who were feeling forgotten by the world. Those people had been waiting, and Nirvana gave them what they needed and what they probably still need. Nirvana has often been said to be the voice of a generation, but this is not precise, and it is very reductive.

They have always given voice to the people who feel rejected, disappointed, hurt, frustrated, abandoned, and as Everett True said in his book about the band, the ones who know how it feels not to be loved. Those people unfortunately do not belong to a single generation, they belong to our society.

This is as well demonstrated by the fact that after twenty years from its original release, the reissue of ‘Nevermind’ hit the UK Top 5 right after its release. ‘Nevermind’ has been reissued in several formats, including a limited super deluxe edition. All of the formats received significant success and created a lot of excitement within the people who still feel represented by grunge and Nirvana, and the ones that are simply passionate about good music.

All around the world, there has been a lot of celebration on the twentieth anniversary of the album, starting from the opening of the exhibition “Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses“ in Seattle, as well as “In Bloom: The Nirvana Nevermind Exhibition“ in London, which was accompanied by “Territorial Musing: a Nirvana Q&A and Album Playthrough” by Classic Album Sundays and Linn.

The website www.nevermind20.com conquered the net. There was also a screening during this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals of the recorded 1992 Nirvana performance live at Reading, a tribute concert at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, a night tribute with artists performing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ 144 times in a row in Toronto, and magazine special editions, just to cite some.

What made Nirvana and ‘Nevermind’ so special back in 1991, besides the peculiar characteristics of the music, was that the band and the record had a lot to say and said it with pure honesty. Given the reaction to the anniversary and the reissue of the album after 20 years from the release of the record and 17 years after the passing of the late frontman Kurt Cobain, Nirvana and ‘Nevermind’ still have a lot to say.

Twenty years later, indeed, ‘Nevermind’ appears to have done exactly the same thing it did back in 1991: hit big all over the world and unify outsiders and music lovers, who currently have to face a music scene which too often seems to forget what music is really about.

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