The Year That Was 2019... In Music!

Alright. Let's get down to it!

There are only a few more hours left in 2019, and I wanted to take a few minutes (or more accurately 2 and a half hours) to share with you some of my favorite new music this year.

For convenience, I've created an Apple Music Playlist. (Although for whatever reason, it doesn't always save all the tracks. So you may have to add them yourselves, and I encourage someone on Spotify to create this Playlist.)

There's also a You Tube playlist, but let's save that for the end of this blog!

Let's go over the track listing, and then I can delve into each track individually.

Here we go, the year that was 2019... in music!

1. Bulls On Parade by Denzel Curry
2. Medicate or Stimulate by Minutes Til Midnight
3. We Are The Dead by Fake Figures featuring Jonah Matranga
4. Destroy All Humans by Deadly Avenger
5. Higher Education by Cory Kilduff
6. Ripples by Alone In The Woods
7. Mother by Brass Against featuring Liza Colby
8. Sabotage by Brass Against featuring Sophia Urista
9. Lateralus by Brass Against featuring Samuel Hope
10. Invincible by TOOL
11. Unsainted by Slipknot
12. Come For Me by New Years Day
13. Stadium West by L7
14. Anthem by Michael Abels from the motion picture US
15. Pet Sematary by Starcrawler
16. Heart-Shaped Box (Orchestral) by Ramin Djawadi from WESTWORLD Season 2
17. Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain) by Thom Yorke
18. Ill Wind by Radiohead
19. Ice Cream Party by Modest Mouse
20. You Had Your Soul with You by The National
21. The Best by The Muffs
22. Manic Monday by Prince
23. Ring by Carl Sagan from the motion picture IMITATION GIRL
24. My Friends by MaryLeigh Roohan from the motion picture IMITATION GIRL
25. Enough by Tygersounds from the motion picture IMITATION GIRL
26. Interroband by Bayside
27. Scars by Life Of Agony
28. Outshined (Live from the Artists Den) by Soundgarden
29. Iris by TR/ST
30. Stalker by Mr Eff
31. The Self We Keep Hidden by Mr Eff
32. Nun With A Motherf*&*ing Gun by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross from WATCHMEN
33. Seven Years Of Bad Luck by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross from WATCHMEN
34. Life On Mars? by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross from WATCHMEN
35. Opinion (Band Version) by Nirvana
36. I'm Still Standing by Taron Egerton from the motion picture ROCKETMAN

Pretty intense, huh?

At the beginning of the year, hip-hop rapper Denzel Curry blew all of our socks off with this cover of Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade." RAGE is apparently finally getting back together this year, and Crom knows we need them, but up until now I was dreaming of a Denzel Curry or Sophia Urista fronted RAGE for 2020. (Have you heard her version of "Wake Up?!") Bang your head to this!



The next two were introduced to me as opening acts to Jonah Matranga, who performed at the Hi Hat club in Los Angeles on December 14th, so these are newbies to me! But great tunes. The thing I love about a service like Apple Music is I can immediately dip into the discography of all the opening acts. Medicate or Stimulate by Minutes Til Midnight reminded me a bit of early MUSE. And Fake Figures was a totally rockin' heavy band in line with early FAR. "We Are The Dead" is the title track on their brand new EP and Jonah sings on it! Can't go wrong with those!



One of the great joys of 2019 was getting to work closely with Darren Page and Gary Dimes, the two madmen behind the UK record label Burning Witches Records. Yes, thanks to them, we got several soundtracks released on vinyl, including our most recent batch: SATANIC PANIC, TALES OF HALLOWEEN, and CANDY CORN. But I'd already been a fan of the artists they showcased, so these next few are from their roster. Deadly Avenger is one of my favorite electronic acts, and as if intended just for me, they released the 3D album "Your God Is Too Small." This track, "Destroy All Humans" should kick off every giant monster movie.



Cory Kilduff's "Higher Education" is my fave track off that album "When It All Gets To Be Too Much." And Alone In The Woods is also stellar music. Listen to "Ripples."



A year or two, I discovered the cover-band BRASS AGAINST, a mostly brass band that does primarily covers of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE songs, but this year, they grew bigger and better than ever expanding their singers and output! Here's Liza Colby doing her best Glenn Danzig with "Mother," Sophia Urista channeling her inner Beastie Boy for "Sabotage," and Samuel Hope giving Maynard a run for his money in this beautiful and energetic version of TOOL's "Lateralus."







And speaking of TOOL, after a 12 year absence they've finally returned with an epic new album "Fear Inoculum" where not a single track is under the 10 minute mark. I've chosen "Invincible" as my pick for this mix, because it's pretty darned awesome.



Keeping it heavy, we've got a new one from Slipknot, a band I loved when they first made their debut but now find kinda silly. Regardless, it'd been years since I listened to anything by them, but this first single "Unsainted" was pretty darned good. Then I saw them in the video with their masks on and found them silly again. Here's that video.



Here's a random new discovery from Apple Music. The band is New Years Day and this is the opening rocker from their album "Unbreakable," called "Come For Me." The "official" music video is new and kinda eh, so I'd recommend this lyric video instead.



L7 returned this year after a few years reunited with a brand new album and here's the second single "Stadium West," which isn't as heavy as some of the other tracks, but just quirky and catchy and different!



In the soundtrack world, one of my favorite genre movies this year was the ambitious sophomore feature from writer/director Jordan Peele, US. And Michael Abels' theme, simply titled "Anthem," evokes the creepy classic theme of something like THE OMEN. Love this one.



Then there's the new cover of "Pet Sematary" by Starcrawler from the new 2019 remake, and a stripped down version of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box," which came from WESTWORLD Season 2. Followed by a handful of indie favorites: Thom Yorke, new Radiohead, Modest Mouse, and The National.

I was shocked and saddened that we lost the mighty Kim Shattuck from The Muffs. Hands down, my favorite voice in punk rock. And although I didn't know her, I got to interview her for my upcoming documentary project ANALOG LOVE, and she was sweet, energetic, and hilarious. "No Holiday" is the final Muffs album, all recorded while she was sick these last 2 years. I've spun it 2 or 3 times, and I still find it difficult to listen to. I'll share what I consider one of the albums most bittersweet and beautiful tracks, no doubt for her husband, "The Best."



It seems we're slowly but surely getting a ton of incredible stuff from the Prince estate, including the collection of songs "Originals." How'd I never realize that Prince wrote "Manic Monday" for The Bangles?! Here's the demo and video version.



Man, I know I'm biased, but I love the soundtrack for IMITATION GIRL, the directorial debut of Natasha Kermani. I say biased because I acquired and put out IMITATION GIRL in 2018, but I also helped Burning Witches Records get this one out on vinyl. The score itself by Kermani and Kevin Hufnagel is somber, ethereal, and beautiful, but what I really love are the opening 3 pop songs. Seriously, give them a listen below. Watch the flick on Amazon Prime. And look for LUCKY, Natasha's latest feature, written and starring Brea Grant and produced by yours truly, sometime in 2020!



If you want to get things heavy again, you can't go wrong with the first track off Bayside's latest album "Interrobang." New York's finest Life Of Agony returned with "The Sound Of Scars," a loose sequel to their original debut masterpiece "River Runs Red," and their first studio album with powerhouse drummer Veronica Bellino. We may have lost Chris Cornell in 2017, but this year saw the long awaited release of Soundgarden's flawless live performance as part of "Live At The Artists Den." "Outshined" is my personal favorite and you won't find a better live version of it anywhere!



Getting back to some electronic music, there's "Iris" from the band TR/ST, and also, another victory release from Burning Witches Records, "Eyes Down" by Mr Eff. My personal faves from that (which feel lifted straight from the grungy streets of NYC circa 1985) are "Stalker" and "The Self We Keep Hidden." I'm working on a film project now and this has been our unofficial soundtrack to get us inspired.



Holy smokes! Who would've thought that a sequel TV series to an 80's graphic novel masterpiece would end up being the best series of 2019, but it's true! WATCHMEN on HBO was a flawless victory. And on top of the strategically planned top-notch writing, it gave us a 3 volume score from NINE INCH NAILS' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. And also, an unexpected instrumental cover of David Bowie's "Life On Mars?" which hit us at a seminal moment in the shows conclusion!







As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, another incredible discovery was a You Tube account that took some of Kurt Cobain's demos and added Dave Grohl's drum stems to them, hence reuniting Nirvana! This one you'll only be able to find on You Tube, so below is "Opinion."



Last, but certainly not least is a tune from one of my favorite films of the year, ROCKETMAN. Yes, the musical fantasy based on the true, unbelievable life of Elton John had me in tears by it's end, and a big part of it was the way they used this track "I'm Still Standing." Look, I was going through a lot at the time, and the movie and this song gave me the courage to take some big leaps of faith which vastly improved my life, so I'm glad for the inspiration.



I loved the movie so much, I went to see it on the big screen a second time, this time dragging as many friends as I could convince to join me, including my buddy Christian James Hand who swore this off after the disappointing falsities of BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. But he relented, and I bought his ticket. He was shocked when I told him "I'm Still Standing" was my favorite Elton John song, but look - I grew up in the 80's! This was the song and video I most remembered on MTV! And again, the way its used in the movie only solidified my love for it. So, he was kind enough to dedicate his "break-down" of that song on the radio to me. Listen to that right here!



And as promised, if you want to watch all these videos in one shot, I created the following You Tube Playlist for your convenience.



And here's my Apple Playlist version, although again, it's missing a few tracks, in particular the Deadly Avenger and Cory Kilduff tracks, and of course, the unofficial Nirvana track "Opinion."



With a few hours to spare, I hope these tunes help guide you into a prosperous, inspiring, and amazing 2020!

LOST NIRVANA - What Could and Should Have Been...

Back in the tail end of 1995, The Beatles had begun releasing their "Anthology" collections; 3 double disc volumes that featured many unreleased demos, studio sessions, live recordings, and more. And while it was beyond cool to hear all of that new stuff, the real highlight of the entire project were the 2 brand new songs.

John Lennon has, sadly, been gone since 1980, but the surviving Beatles were gifted by his widow Yoko Ono two long-lost demos, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." I could be mistaken, but I don't think a reunion like this has ever happened before or since.



If you're not a stranger to this blog, then you already know how much I love Nirvana. I've written several blog posts about them over the years. (And will link them again at the end of this article!) When the self-titled greatest hits collection NIRVANA hit stores 10 years after Kurt's death, it featured a never-before-heard finished track, "You Know You're Right." I can't even begin to express the mix of emotions I felt when I first heard that song.

You have to remember that the core time period of Nirvana-mania was very, very short lived. Nevermind came out on September 24th, 1991 and completely changed popular music, practically overnight. About a year later, to satiate demand for more Nirvana, the collection Incesticide dropped on December 14th, 1992, with their proper follow-up In Utero landing on September 21st, 1993. I attended the live taping of the Unplugged show in New York on Thanksgiving weekend of 93. And by April of 94, a mere 5 months later, Kurt Cobain was gone forever. All of Nirvana was only roughly about 3 years. (People also forget that the entirety of The Beatles was only about a 7 year stretch.)

The reason I bring this all up is because after the release of "You Know You're Right," I was afraid that was the last we'd ever hear of Nirvana. Sure, a box set of rarities called "With The Lights Out" was released, but I'd honestly already heard every rare track in that set on various bootlegs I'd collected over the years. After a 10 year gap, "You Know You're Right" immediately made me realize everything that was missing from music since Kurt died, and then it bummed me about because I knew that was it.



Then last month, my friend Padraig Reynolds pointed me over to a You Tube user named TheBeginningOfMusic. He's a sound engineer, and he took it upon himself to take rare acoustic tracks from various Nirvana releases, and add Dave Grohl's drum stems from other Nirvana songs. The first one I heard was "Opinion," which to the best of my knowledge was a song that Kurt only played once on a radio show. I've never heard or seen a mention it of it elsewhere in their career. And sure enough, on this version, when Dave's drums kick in, and the distortion pedal hits for the chorus, it feels like magic. I'm hearing new Nirvana again.



I couldn't believe it.

This wasn't like the surviving Beatles reuniting to finish John Lennon's tracks. This was something in the hands of a fan; an extremely talented fan who decided to take matters in their own hands while honing their own engineering skills. He reunited Nirvana... just because!

I skimmed around to see if there was anything nearly as strong as that feeling "Opinion" gave me. Sure enough, another acoustic demo from "With The Lights Out" that I loved was Do Re Mi. Now, we can only imagine what direction Nirvana would've gone in had Kurt survived. I think the Unplugged show was a clear indication of what Kurt wanted to do, and his love of R.E.M. is well documented. Hell, at the time of his death, he had studio time booked with Michael Stipe! But even with all that in mind, I couldn't imagine what a band version of Do Re Mi would sound like. And now that we have it, I can't hear it any other way.



I've put together a little playlist; a mix if you will of "Lost Nirvana." A lot of the other tracks are from the "Montage Of Heck" documentary, which I still have mixed feelings about. As a fellow musician, I listen to the album that was released and I cringe at the private demos because I know Kurt probably wouldn't have wanted such raw ideas to go out into the world without proper development. Then again, this die-hard fan was able to find some cool snippets and add Dave's drums to them. Who would've thought "The Yodel Song" could be cool if it just had a band backing it?!

Here's the track listing, which includes an unrelated "band" version of something called "Burn The Rain." That one's OK. It has a weird guitar solo that doesn't sound like anything Nirvana would've done, but I included it anyways because it fits with the rest of the random tracks. Oh, and I closed it with "You Know You're Right," because that song still gives me chills.

LOST NIRVANA:
1. Opinion
2. Do Re Mi
3. Clean Up Before She Comes
4. Desire
5. Burn My Britches
6. Poison's Gone
7. The Yodel Song
8. What More Can I Say
9. Burn The Rain
10. You Know You're Right

Here's the Playlist on You Tube:



I never thought I'd hear any new Nirvana material, and then someone online surprised me by taking matters in their own hands, and I consider it a beautiful gift.

Who knows?

Maybe there are other surprises waiting for us in the near future.

Fin!