Gigaton: Official album thread

[Jorge]

He's never let me pay for a drink

[DissidentRival4]

I had an interaction on Facebook with someone I know IRL who is a huge Pearl Jam fan, and I asked him what he thought of Gigaton

Not great. 2 songs that I like. Rest is not growing on me at all. Too much of a departure for me.
I don't think they have had a good studio album in a long time. Not sure I care. Follow the Rolling Stones model: Release an album if you like. But play your hits and bring the A game when you tour!

I hate this kind of attitude

Out of curiosity - what are the two songs he likes?

[Jorge]

I didn't ask

[Ms Harmless]

I think I'd take with a pinch of salt anything from a "Follow the Rolling Stones model" kind of guy

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Monkey_Driven]

I will say that while I think this is a great album, it's also very dense and heavy, and I don't think I'll listen to it nearly as much as, say, Vs, Yield, or Riot Act, all of which feel looser and breezier in their execution. This is more like Ten, Vitalogy, or Binaural in that the layers of sounds, lyrics, and emotions work together to create something that is a bit too weighty for casual everyday listening.

Riot Act as looser or breezier?

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[RockPusher]

I will say that while I think this is a great album, it's also very dense and heavy, and I don't think I'll listen to it nearly as much as, say, Vs, Yield, or Riot Act, all of which feel looser and breezier in their execution. This is more like Ten, Vitalogy, or Binaural in that the layers of sounds, lyrics, and emotions work together to create something that is a bit too weighty for casual everyday listening.

Riot Act as looser or breezier?

1) I don't think Ten, Vitalogy and Binaural have much in common in their sound.

2) I actually get the comment about Riot Act, at least with the song "Thumbing My Way," which sounds very loose and live and sparsely produced in the best way.

3) One of the things I love about Gigaton is that it has moments like that ("Comes Then Goes" is the obvious example, but there are others)

[Monkey_Driven]

I will say that while I think this is a great album, it's also very dense and heavy, and I don't think I'll listen to it nearly as much as, say, Vs, Yield, or Riot Act, all of which feel looser and breezier in their execution. This is more like Ten, Vitalogy, or Binaural in that the layers of sounds, lyrics, and emotions work together to create something that is a bit too weighty for casual everyday listening.

Riot Act as looser or breezier?

I think it's considerably so, yes. Even if the content is just as heavy (if not heavier), the vibe of the thing feels so loose and casual that the 15 tracks(!) blow right by.

I find this record to be considerably more hopeful and assured in lyrical content, but musically dense. Whereas, Riot Act is the opposite. Kind of wash between the two.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Kevin Davis]

I know what Trag means, I think. Yield and Riot Act are probably the most natural-sounding Pearl Jam records to me, maybe why they're my two favorites. There's a modest sense of experimentation on both of them, but they also just feel like the band going into the studio and playing together. There's an effortlessness about them, no sense of overwork at all, that keeps me coming back to them over and over again.

In a lot of ways Gigaton feels like their most "produced" record ever. It's not like Backspacer or Lightning Bolt where it's produced in all the wrong ways, ordinary arrangements and songs polished up needlessly, but genuinely using the studio as a creative tool a lot. Records like that can exhausting on the ears. I haven't personally experienced it with this album, but I have with others (Kid A springs to mind as the most obvious example for me).

[Monkey_Driven]

I know what Trag means, I think. Yield and Riot Act are probably the most natural-sounding Pearl Jam records to me, maybe why they're my two favorites. There's a modest sense of experimentation on both of them, but they also just feel like the band going into the studio and playing together. There's an effortlessness about them, no sense of overwork at all, that keeps me coming back to them over and over again.

In a lot of ways Gigaton feels like their most "produced" record ever. It's not like Backspacer or Lightning Bolt where it's produced in all the wrong ways, ordinary arrangements and songs polished up needlessly, but genuinely using the studio as a creative tool a lot. Records like that can exhausting on the ears. I haven't personally experienced it with this album, but I have with others (Kid A springs to mind as the most obvious example for me).

It absolutely does, but yet, it also sounds like Pearl Jam.

[VinylGuy]

Blasting Who Ever Said right now

[VinylGuy]

Blasting Who Ever Said right now

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[VinylGuy]

fuckkk this album start is strooooong

[liebzz]

VinylGuy did not give up on satisfaction.

[Norah]

I know what Trag means, I think. Yield and Riot Act are probably the most natural-sounding Pearl Jam records to me, maybe why they're my two favorites. There's a modest sense of experimentation on both of them, but they also just feel like the band going into the studio and playing together. There's an effortlessness about them, no sense of overwork at all, that keeps me coming back to them over and over again.

In a lot of ways Gigaton feels like their most "produced" record ever. It's not like Backspacer or Lightning Bolt where it's produced in all the wrong ways, ordinary arrangements and songs polished up needlessly, but genuinely using the studio as a creative tool a lot. Records like that can exhausting on the ears. I haven't personally experienced it with this album, but I have with others (Kid A springs to mind as the most obvious example for me).

Did you just call Kid A exhausting to listen to?

[PHATJ]

chud with zero ability to understand nuance.

[Rob]

I agree that Kid A is not a casual listening experience. For most anyway, I assume.