so, it was definitely a bizarre and head-scratching moment when, at the movies several months ago, in a pre-movie verizon commercial, there was chris cornell singing over some made-for-radio timbaland beat. word came out that cornell and timbaland were working on an album of some sort and i will be the first to admit, upon hearing that news, i believe i used the words, “sell out.” ouch. how could one of the fathers of seattle grunge—everything that stood against the polished mainstream—suddenly be singing over hip hop beats? i couldn’t reconcile those two things.

then i actually heard the music.

(inserting crow in mouth.)

as strange as it seemed to me, i heard the music earlier today, and i’ve been listening to it all night. it really makes sense. true, if you’re one of those hardcore fans who’s still wearing flannel shirts, torn jeans and combat boots listening to soundgarden, you’re probably going to reject it, but beyond that, it’s really good.

one of the great things about the aforementioned euphoria morning was that it showed off a soulful side of cornell. it sounded like if a rocker went and soaked up the memphis blues scene and then made a record. it was innovative and soulful and his new music has hints of those things again. obviously, in this case, the soulful rock vibe is over beats from a drum machine rather than guitars, but it still somehow works.

the new material will be released february 3 and is called scream. i’m really looking forward to it and will plan on making a purchase that day. so far, 6 tracks have been released and i thought i would post a couple: 1 video and 1 audio track.

yesterday, cornell released the first (real) video and single, which is the title track, scream. here’s the video:

here’s another track called two drinks minimum. cheesy name…really good song. this shows the soulful sound i was talking about (of course, admittedly, this song’s much different than the other material, showcasing much less of timbaland’s beats…although it’s still his production).