Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[Ms Harmless]

me too

[McParadigm]

Sounds a bit like maybe I wanna hear a record I dunno fellas

[oneway23]

Gotta mix it up after 34 years...Wotman writing and playing is basically their equivalent of a sex swing.

[Strat]

That Stone interview was great, it's always enjoyable to hear him talk about the band and their musical process.

I also found this funny:

We’ve been so fortunate that our fans have been so open to our whims and experimentations, even if sometimes they wish we’d play ‘Jeremy’ and instead we play a B-side not very well (laughs).

That said, it did nothing to heighten my low expectations of the album. Sonic issues aside, I'm really not encouraged by Josh K writing a tune, nor Watt jamming along on guitar while the band are writing, or encouraging a bunch of 60-or-pushing-it guys to be 'aggressive' and harken back to what they did 30+ years prior.

The co-writing stuff grates as I think one of the only consistently enjoyable elements of the latter day Pearl Jam records is being able to still identify the idiosyncrasies of each member's writing style, even where I don't like the end result very much. I'm not really interested in hearing a Pearl Jam song where Josh or Watt wrote the chords or riff and the other guys added bits and pieces later on.

Well, sure, but it sounds like that happened for two very minor parts.

[Ms Harmless]

I've never had an issue with them collaborating with other artists in principle, the problem is when it results in horribly shoehorned in parts that don't belong

[Mike]

Song sounds kinda cool but everything is so cold and harsh just like Dark Matter. I feel no human touch in this. Even at their angriest Pearl Jam always had a very warm sound. This sounds like angry robots playing angry robot instruments.

[RockPusher]

I've never had an issue with them collaborating with other artists in principle, the problem is when it results in horribly shoehorned in parts that don't belong

Brendan Fucking O'Brien on the fucking piano

[RockPusher]

Song sounds kinda cool but everything is so cold and harsh just like Dark Matter. I feel no human touch in this. Even at their angriest Pearl Jam always had a very warm sound. This sounds like angry robots playing angry robot instruments.

???

Did you accidentally listen to some Kraftwerk demos?

[Ms Harmless]

I've never had an issue with them collaborating with other artists in principle, the problem is when it results in horribly shoehorned in parts that don't belong

Brendan Fucking O'Brien on the fucking piano

exactly

I mean, Future Days aside, I don't even hate the Unthought Known piano anymore

someone else jamming on guitar? it's fine

[Mike]

Song sounds kinda cool but everything is so cold and harsh just like Dark Matter. I feel no human touch in this. Even at their angriest Pearl Jam always had a very warm sound. This sounds like angry robots playing angry robot instruments.

???

Did you accidentally listen to some Kraftwerk demos?

No, to some very annoyingly produced modern rock music. But I will now stop complaining about the production as I think all of the album will sound like tihs.

[Ms Harmless]

"modern rock" as a term is being used in 100 different ways here

if you're listening to a rock band in 2024 you're listening to modern rock

[Mike]

Sorry, I meant modern production

[Mike]

I think we ran the production discussion into the ground so I don't want to start it again. I just can't help myself as this actually makes me a bit sad and upset. I know lots of you guys don't care about the production as long as the songs are good but it is really irritating me a lot and dampens my enjoyment of what could be good songs. Pearl Jam is still one of my favorite bands and I look forward to each album so this is a real issue for me.

[tommy]

I'm just happy we're past the bad songs/bad production phase

[RockPusher]

The level of audiophile snobbery is getting out of control. It's a fucking Twitter clip full of artifacts. It's not album level sound. THERE IS NO FLAC.

[digster]

That said, it did nothing to heighten my low expectations of the album. Sonic issues aside, I'm really not encouraged by Josh K writing a tune, nor Watt jamming along on guitar while the band are writing, or encouraging a bunch of 60-or-pushing-it guys to be 'aggressive' and harken back to what they did 30+ years prior.

It's always been interesting to me that this is something they've felt the need to come back to, as if worried that if they can't still make a loud rock record that can compete with whatever their perception of what's popular, they've lost a central part of their identity. It crops up a lot, from S/T to stuff like Mind Your Manners and at least so far with the new stuff. I never liked the assumption that age meant your music had to lose its aggression or volume, but they really seem convinced that they need to prove they can still rock in this particular way.

I'm not really even framing this as a bad thing, per se; according to their interviews, that fueled a lot of S/T, and I've come to really like that record. But it's always been odd to me that it's such a preoccupation for a band whose first decade and identity was really defined by its desire not to be pigeonholed or seen one way, even if it resulted in a dip in their popularity. It just feels like they've had a bit of midlife crisis as a band in terms of how they feel about aging (and what that means for their music) for about two decades now.

[tommy]

The level of audiophile snobbery is getting out of control. It's a fucking Twitter clip full of artifacts. It's not album level sound.

I think it's a safe bet that the production of the rest of the album will be consistent with Dark Matter

[Mike]

The level of audiophile snobbery is getting out of control. It's a fucking Twitter clip full of artifacts. It's not album level sound. THERE IS NO FLAC.

Did not want to come across as an audiophile snob. I'm really far from one. I couldn't tell the difference between 320 mp3s and a flac.

[RockPusher]

The level of audiophile snobbery is getting out of control. It's a fucking Twitter clip full of artifacts. It's not album level sound.

I think it's a safe bet that the production of the rest of the album will be consistent with Dark Matter

I think it's a safe bet that the production of the rest of the album will be consistent with Earthling, an album many people here really like. Never once have I listened to Earthling and thought, "Man, that production sure is inhibiting my ability to enjoy these songs."

[Mike]

It's okay that you are not bothered by the production and it's okay that I am. But I will shut up now as it always comes to exactly what is happening right now