Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[Monkey_Driven]

UK crew needs to step up their review game. This is a poor showing so far.

they're drunk

[VinylGuy]

I totally agree with what Ed said about the Swifties.

me too

Swift (and Beyoncé, funnily enough) have both been able to build a following around them unlike most artists are able to now

yeah, and it kinda reminded me of PJ crowds specially in the late 90s too. The fact that Taylor plays different acoustic songs, how she interacts with the crowd. In the show i went most of the pit had some sign for her and it reminded me of the breathe campaing in 1998.

[Ms Harmless]

I totally agree with what Ed said about the Swifties.

me too

Swift (and Beyoncé, funnily enough) have both been able to build a following around them unlike most artists are able to now

yeah, and it kinda reminded me of PJ crowds specially in the late 90s too. The fact that Taylor plays different acoustic songs, how she interacts with the crowd. In the show i went most of the pit had some sign for her and it reminded me of the breathe campaing in 1998.

yeah, that's super cool

[oneway23]

This thread is crazy. Someone should expose its inanity, maybe on a website somewhere.

You broke my heart, Fredo

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Strat]

Ed's quote about Taylor Swift concerts being comparable to punk rock has really bugged me the last few days, but I haven't formed very coherent thoughts about why.

I think it speaks to a kind of blinkered incuriosity that's common to people as they get older, where Ed's frame of reference for what's happening in the world is through the lens of what his kids are into, but it's particularly disappointing to see from an artist who should expect more from himself. I can't imagine Jeff saying anything that boneheaded.

The engaging of Watt on both Earthlings and this record seems kind of related to the same thing: a growing uncritical comfort with those chart-friendly pop sonics combined with a kind of disingenuous lack of acknowledgement that he's definitely chasing (or hoping for) greater commercial success through that approach.

This seems like quite the projection

I'm fully Team Spenno on this.

But for me, I'd say it's less a projection, more an evaluation based on my own values. It gets tricky when some of my core values were heavily influenced by Ed, and now I feel myself more committed to them than it seems Ed is himself.

Well, to be fair, when Ed was your age he was way cooler than you are and still very committed to his ideals!

So, lets circle back when you are 60!

[VinylGuy]

haha
Trag please Ed did more for his values and different types of communities than most of us

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

haha
Trag please Ed did more for his values and different types of communities than most of us

so what? he gets to abscond them now?

well, everyone "gets" to, even if you prefer they didn't

[VinylGuy]

he can do whatever he wants dude.

are you fifteen?

[Leatherhead]

I'm glad this album is sounding like it does. I can't afford expensive listening equipment. Fuck all you rich fucks.

[Ms Harmless]

musical tastes, values, ambitions, preferences, they're fickle and they change a million times as we grow; I know mine have

I don't care about Ed's as long as he's still making music that I find entertaining; the only consistency I need from Pearl Jam at this point is that they don't think trans women are monsters

[Birds in Hell]

Two points:

1. I think the impact of Beth on Ed’s 90s stances, persona and art is widely under examined and appreciated; and

2. I don’t really care about Ed’s values, and never did too much, I just think his current approach seems destined to make bad (or pretty mediocre) art.

[Ms Harmless]

I'm glad this album is sounding like it does. I can't afford expensive listening equipment. Fuck all you rich fucks.

oh god I'm so glad you said this

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

haha
Trag please Ed did more for his values and different types of communities than most of us

so what? he gets to abscond them now?

well, everyone "gets" to, even if you prefer they didn't

of course, but we're just trying to articulate viewpoints here

WELL I WISH YOU WOULDN'T

[Leatherhead]

I'm glad this album is sounding like it does. I can't afford expensive listening equipment. Fuck all you rich fucks.

oh god I'm so glad you said this

$500 headphones goes against punk rock values anyway.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[stip]

I think what I'm coming to is I wouldn't otherwise go for the sort of music PJ makes anymore, and at this point my fandom is more a habit than a true love affair, so I approach the music with an extremely critical eye...

I'd be more forgiving of this absolutely shitty music they're turning out if the business practices behind it were highly ethical. But they're not. So absent any sort of ideological bent I can attach my heart too, all I'm left with is the music, and I mostly hate it.

This is midlife crisis music from a band with multiple vacation homes.

its also midlife crisis fandom for the vast majority of us, even if we all manifest it differently

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now