-Soundgarden! On January 1, Chris Cornell, the former singer for the Seattle grunge legends, tweeted that the “Knights of the Soundtable ride again.” While I doubt such a dumb phrase will ever catch on, I’m glad Soundgarden has returned. After the twin failures of Audioslave and Chris Cornell’s solo career, it’s time for Cornell to return to the band that made him sound good. There don’t seem to be any new album plans in the works, but you can be sure Soundgarden will be making the rounds at the usual summer festivals.
-Swans! The New York noise-rock legends have also gotten into the reunion game, with band leader Michael Gira announcing the first band activity since 1997. Gira made the announcement through MySpace, also uploading an acoustic demo of a new song, “Jim”, intended to be fleshed out on a new, upcoming Swans album.
Finally, on a sadder note, Tennessee punk rocker Jay Reatard died on January 13. He was only 29 years old. His cause of death has not yet been determined. While I may not have liked Reatard’s music (or personality) very much, I know that 29 is far too young to die. May he rest in peace.
