Song of the Week: Black Flag - 'Nervous Breakdown'

Every decade has had a movement of its own in music. The 60’s saw Beatlemania and later to find the psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix; the 70’s brought punk, 80’s brought metal, 90’s brought grunge, and the 00’s, well, brought Biebermania, unfortunately. Nothing hit the spot and sent shockwaves longer than punk, and still has a significant relevance in music today. Black Flag came out with Nervous Breakdown EP in 1978 and with that released it's eponymous single.  Here we have a lovely introduction into Black Flag and my eternal love for the group.  Have a punk-filled weekend!

Song of the Week: Hole - 'Violet'

Recently I've caught onto Hole fever, especially with the song 'Violet.'  Taken from the album Live Through This, the song holds some magical lyrics that I forever replay in my head.  Not going to lie, if the chorus was more similar to the verses, I'd love it more, but I still love it anyway.  Take a listen to 'Violet' below, 'and the sky was filled with amethyst.'

Song of the Week: The xx - 'Chained'

Nothing today is on par with the three untouchables that are The xx.  They exploded onto the scene in 2009 with their debut eponymous album which shook the earth with their infectious drum machine beats and soothing vocals.  They're back in 2012 with one of the most anticipated albums of 2012 - Coexist.  If you haven't had a listen to the album, I suggest you run out to your local HMV or pop onto iTunes and get it - it's not as beautiful as their first album, it's better.  Even the album cover is hypnotising!  Here we have 'Chained', a short but sweet introductory as to what you have yet to experience.  Have a taste of 'Chained' below and I dare you to tell me you didn't binge on Coexist.

Book Review: Nirvana: The Recording Sessions

Title: Nirvana: The Recording Sessions
Author: Rob Jovanovic
Release Date: August 2012

Rob Jovanovic returns with a new, updated version of his 2003 copy, Nirvana: The Recording Sessions.  Since 2003, the Nirvana estate has sold previously unreleased material in the form of demos, bootlegs and tracks that hit the cutting room floor.  Unfortunatley for Jovanovic, the Nirvana estate released another boxset this year making this book an ongoing process. But he still managed to account for Nevermind's 20th anniversary, making this as close to up to date.

Jovanovic steers away from atypical Nirvana biographical books.  He focuses on what Nirvana wanted the world to focus on: the music.  In this book, Jovanovic thoroughly rummages through every single Nirvana track, provided details such as date of release, record label, producer and format.  The book is a goldmine for Nirvana fanatics, wannabes and cover-bands.  This isn't the life and death of the band, lead singer Kurt Cobain, as to which authors such as Everett True, Charles Cross and Michael Azzerad have deemed important; this isn't a glorification of the bands significance; this is the legacy of Nirvana, their recording sessions dissected into one exhaustively researched book.

To stress the extraordinary research Rob Jovanovic has done, he examines back to before that infamous Fecal Matter demo that created Nirvana, but to some never released demo tapes that Cobain recorded where he was the guitarist, not the vocalist back in 1982; a rare gem never to surface, Jovanovic covers it.  The book starts from this period of the evolving into what became Nirvana, right up to the current time where boxsets such as With The Lights Out and Sliver: The Best of The Box are now covered, unlike the books previous edition.  In this book you'll find everything from the story behind each song, when and where it was released, the format, producer as well as compilation albums featuring Nirvana and Nirvana's concert history.

Nirvana: The Recording Sessions is the bible of Nirvana, as ironic as that sentence is.  Jovanovic shows and tells what no other author can possibly do, nor wants to do; explore how Nirvana exploded, and what helped hinder that explosion.  This isn't another washed down story that shamefully glorifies Cobain's suicide: this is what mattered to that band, the music.

Nirvana: The Recording Sessions is available now.

Question: 

"Is there something you would like Nirvana to be remembered for?"

Kurt Cobain: 

"Writing good music, good songs.  That's all I could say, because that's more important than anything else."