Looking California and Feeling Minnesota: RIP Chris Cornell

I'm a Soundgarden fan, and I have been since the beginning. Back when my radio career started at CKUL way back in 1989, I remember when Louder Than Love came into our station. That album was passed around through many hands of the serious music fans there. This was long before the internet, when you shared music by actually sharing it. We'd say, "You have to hear this album!", and we listened to this album, which didn't sound like anything we had ever heard before.

Soundgarden, along with Green River, were the first band I'd heard from the up and coming grunge scene in Seattle. The heavy guitar sound mixed with the punk leanings of the band appealed to my ears at the time, given my interest in punk at the time, and the use of feedback in the guitar sound had never really been done before. Nirvana, of course, would take this sound even further in a couple of years, but for the time, Soundgarden were unique. Louder than Love got the crap played out of it at CKUL in 1989, at least by those who were digging into the underground. It was because of Louder than Love that I dug into the grunge scene and became a huge fan, both of the mainstream acts, and lesser known bands like The Treepeople, Tad, The Fluid, Naked Raygun and more.

Soundgarden were the first grunge act to sign to a major label, in 1989, to A&M Records, but were one of the last grunge bands to really make waves in mainstream music. In 1987, they released their first single, "Hunted Down" for the fledgling Sub Pop label, and Sub Pop used it as its hold music on its phone lines, allowing them to get discovered by A&M. With that came the seed to make Sub Pop into an actual record label, which, of course, spawned the entire grunge explosion.

Their first full album, Ultramega OK, actually came out in 1988 on SST Records, a legendary punk label home to bands like Black Flag. Chris Cornell said that SST didn't really understand the grunge sound, and produced the band like a punk band. They had a heavy punk sound, like the Stooges, but filtered through a Sabbath-esque guitar virtuosity, and the unique addition of feedback to the guitar sound. The album is an anomaly in their catalogue, a truly punk sounding album that sticks out oddly in their catalogue. Strangely, for me, as a fan, I didn't hear Ultramega OK in it's entirety until the late 90s.

Of course, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, The Screaming Trees and other hangers on like the Stone Temple Pilots came next. Soundgarden put out Badmotorfinger in 1991, and with the rise of other grunge bands, they began to get some play on radio and on MTV. "Rusty Cage", "Outshined" and "Jesus Christ Pose" were the stand out singles, though MTV banned "Jesus Christ Pose" for it's controversial religious imagery. This lead to a stint at Lollapalooza in 1992, and a re-release of Badmotorfinger with the EP Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas, which remains a holy grail of sorts for my collection, since it's hard to find and has a Devo cover on it that I really want.

It wasn't until 1994's Superunknown that the band really became well known. "Black Hole Sun" was a huge hit and the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album charts. The album was compared to Nirvana's In Utero, which was released the same year, in terms of darkness, lyricality and the albums' struggles with themes of depression and death. Ironic given that Kurt Cobain killed himself soon afterwards, and Chris Cornell took his own life just last night.

Down on the Upside came out in 1996 and saw the band moving away from heavier guitars and into more textured, melodic hard rock. They did a stint at Lollapalooza in 1996 after being invited by Metallica, then broke up in 1997 due to internal tensions and "being eaten up by the business", again, much like Nirvana was.

Chris Cornell released a solo album in 1999 called Euphoria Morning, then formed the supergroup Audioslave in 2001, with three members of Rage Against the Machine. They released three albums until Cornell left the band in 2007, leading to the band breaking up. Cornell released his second solo album, Carry On, in 2007, and the strangely out of character album, Scream, in 2009, which was produced by Timbaland, of all people.

Soundgarden reunited in 2010. A compilation came out called Telephantasm, with a new song called "Black Rain", which also debuted on Guitar Hero (member Guitar Hero?). In 2012, the album King Animal came out. By this time, Soundgarden had a real mainstream rock quality to their music, and this album didn't appeal to me at all. It's the only Soundgarden album not in my collection.

2014 saw a three CD rarities collection called Echo of Miles came out, and the band began working on their new album. Cornell also released another solo album, Higher Truth, in 2015.

Chris Cornell committed suicide on May 17th, after a show in Detroit. He was found with a band around his neck in his hotel room. He was 52.

Best of 2016 #2: Factory Floor - 25 25 (DFA Records)

It came down to the wire for my #1 and #2 albums of the year. I remember picking them both up in Red Cat Records in late 2016, then listening to both repeatedly. I loved both albums, but Factory Floor ended up losing out. But it's still my second favourite album of 2016.

London's Factory Floor formed in 2005. 25 25 is only their second full length album, and the band has sported numerous remixes and 12 inch singles since they formed. Their style is a mishmash of electronic styles, most of which just aren't featured in modern electronica. First, it draws pretty heavily on hedonistic rhythms of 70s disco, and on their polar opposite, the artistic and dadaist styles of 70s krautrock. Furthermore, the late 80s house and early 90s Detroit dance styles also influence this band quite heavily. Both driving and repetitive, artistic and empty, Factory Floor defy easy categorization.

Some have called the band "post-industrial" and I can get my head around that style. It's nihilistic and hedonistic, it's fun and destructive the same way The Prodigy were. If they were a pure industrial band, they'd be close to Chris and Cosey, a goth-tinged rave-up style of dark electronica.

DNTTA Playlist for April 7, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Did You Die - Vulnerable* - Did You Die/Hollow Giant split EP (Independent)
Echuta - Heirloom* - Morning Figure When Absolutely Calm (Independent)
Bright Brown - January Child - Soft Landings (Independent)
Century Egg - Teleportation* - Quarter Life Crisis (Mint)
All Hands on Jane - Blackout* - Sorry I Set You on Fire (Independent)
Japandroids - Midnight to Morning* - Near to the Wild Heart of Life (Arts and Crafts)
Diner Drugs - Flow Chongo* - Diner Drugs EP (Superbob)
Biznaga - Los Cachorros - Sentido del Espectaculo (Slovenly)
Violent Femmes - Good Feeling - Violent Femmes (Slash)
Echo and the Bunnymen - Ripeness - Crocodiles (Korova)
Gum Country - Pills* - Gum Country (Lolipop)
The Pixies - Stormy Weather - Bossanova (4AD)

DNTTA Playlist for March 31, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Ohama and Dolly Sillito - Beginning of Fall* - Grrlz Monosynth Tower (Independent)
Homeshake - Every Single Thing* - Fresh Air (Royal Mountain)
Fleece - What You've Done* - Voyager (Independent)
Hilotrons - Lovesuit* - Happymatic (Kelp)
Gen Gorman - The Odds* - For a Friend (Independent)
Dream Whip - Hopeless Romantics* - Dream Whip (Independent)
Ladyshark - Riot - Monsters (Amitville)
Gun Control - City of No* - Volume One (Independent)
Girl Band - In Plastic - Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)
Mellt - Ocean* - Mellt EP (Independent)
Enon - Matters Grey - Believo! (See Thru)
Public Animal - Storm Song* = Palace Arms (Yeah Right)
KMFDM - Thrash Up! - UAIOE (Wax Trax)

Best of 2016 #3: White Lung - Paradise (Domino)

Watching Vancouver's White Lung mature into the band they have become today has been satisfying. Coming up from a scrappy, sloppy punk band from small town BC to the international acclaim they now enjoy is a great story, and it's come with some great music to boot.

Starting out in 2010 on the small, but influential, label Deranged Records, based out of Gibsons, BC, an isolated community on the BC Sunshine Coast, White Lung started as a pure punk band. In 2014, they jumped to the UK based Domino label. With the label's backing, White Lung took on a more mature sound, keeping the driving anger of a punk band, and melding it with melodic sensibilities. Today, they sound like a post-punk band along the lines of Savages or early Sleater-Kinney.

Paradise is every bit as heavy as 2010's It's the Evil, but vocalist Mish Way-Barber finding a more melodic and direct way of singing. It's not as rough around the edges as a punk band, but instead has the driving insistency of post-punk, a need to be heard, to have the listener to sit down and listen to every note of this album, no matter how difficult it might be to hear.

Best of 2016 #4: Duchess Says - Sciences Nouvelles (Bonsound/Slovenly)

I'm gathering material to get my blogging back on track, and I have a couple of ideas in the can. In the meantime, I'm shooting for a regular Wednesday updates, dear readers. We're getting there, we're getting there...

Montreal's Duchess Says combine the confronational early days of punk, blasts of noise and angular new wave. They've been making music in the always fertile Montreal music scene since 2003. Their first two albums were released on the always diverse and strange record label, Alien8 Records, home to other musical weirdos like Picastro, Nadja, Mecha Fixes Clocks and more. This is their first for the more indy styled label Bonsound, and their first for California's Slovenly Records worldwide.

Slovenly makes a perfect home for this band, where they're right at home with other electro-punkers like Puff and fellow Montrealer's Red Mass.

Simply put, this band blurs musical lines, and are difficult to categorize, but they are firmly planted in the weirder ends of the 80s electro movement.

DNTTA Playlist for March 24, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Aquarius - Mystery* - Chalice (Independent)
Dye Pack - Make a Mess* - Make a Mess (Party Sauce)
Dye Pack - Krispy Kat* - Make a Mess (Party Sauce)
Dye Pack - (My Kind of) Pipes* - Make a Mess (Party Sauce)
Shrimp Ring - Nothing Good (Ever Happens to Me)* - Humanity's Last Hope (Party Sauce)
Jaguar Knight - Confusion* - Jaguar Party Edits Vol. 2 (Party Sauce)
Parallels - Ocean, Moon and Tide* - Metropolis (Marigold)
The Free Design - Harve Daley Hix (Stereolab and High Llamas mix) - The Now Sign Redesigned (Light in the Attic)
Colours - Monster - Ivory (Victory)
Icicle - Don't Twist My Mind* - Resonance (Herd)
Melisande - Le Ruban Bleu* - Les Millesimes (Borealis)
Borg Queen - This is Real* - Sex Drugs and Shiny Brass Poles (Independent)
The Bats Pajamas - Meteor* - Uh Oh! (Independent)
Ministry - So What - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (Warner)