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  • First Listen (Kinda): New MJ

    My major prediction for 2010? TONS upon TONS of unreleased Michael Jackson music is going to hit the internet and the airwaves. The first example of this is “Another Day”, a song that’s leaked all over the interwebs. It represents a collaboration between Michael and rock star Lenny Kravitz. Lenny acknowledged working with Michael at one point, and honestly speaking, it would have been cool to see what the two could have done together.

    If the song itself sounds familiar, that might be because after Michael decided against using it, Lenny kept it for himself and released it on his album “Baptism”, renaming the song “Storm” and adding a verse by Jay-Z. It was probably the only worthwhile thing on that entire damn album.

    “Storm” wasn’t a particularly big hit, so it’s definitely feasible that the MJ version can be released and be huge. Michael definitely sounds like he was giving his all on the track vocally. Stay tuned. I’m sure there’ll be much more to come.

  • SonicClash News Break: Soundgarden Reunites

    Break out your flannel shirts, ladies and gentlemen, ’cause Soundgarden is back. One of the seminal bands of the grunge era, Soundgarden may not have sold as many records as, say, Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but their influence can’t be denied. Not to mention the fact that they produced Chris Cornell, who, despite his propensity for making not-so-good solo records, is the best rock singer of his generation.

    The band will be hitting a few festivals in 2010, but they’re trying to figure out tour routing, since drummer Matt Cameron is now also Pearl Jam’s drummer-and THAT band will be touring this year as well. A Soundgarden/Pearl Jam double bill sounds good to me. Add in the new Alice in Chains and I think fans of early Nineties hard rock will all simultaneously cream their pants.

    My initial thought was that this reunion was a reaction to the critical and commercial slaughtering that Cornell’s last solo album, the Timbaland-helmed “Scream” received last year. However, Cornell was discussing a Soundgarden B-sides release and a potential box set in Rolling Stone magazine last summer before “Scream”‘s release. So you skeptics can quiet down.

    Me? I’m excited. I caught the Soundgarden train late in their career, but was immediately taken by Cornell’s voice and definitely feel like he needs a whole lot of LOUD in order to maximize the use of that voice. Having 2010 start with news like this hints that this might be a better year for music than last year was.

  • Happy New Year: DJ Earworm’s 2009 Mash Up

    Here’s a pretty creative mash up mix of 2009’s Top 25 singles by DJ Earworm. Despite my ambivalence for most of the songs included here, I’ve gotta give props to DJ Earworm for being able to string all of these songs (and their corresponding videos) together.

    Enjoy the video and have a very safe and happy New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day!!