Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[Fattie_Vedder]

I’m not even up to date on this stuff, I assume Amazon music and Apple Music are paid subscriptions? I’m clearly not going to pay as already have Spotify but if I can listen once or twice for free and hear the difference that’d be great.

I wonder if they have free trials? Alternatively, could you just purchase a digital copy of the album?

[Fattie_Vedder]

Today marks 5 years since losing my mom. I remember Avocado came out right when my dad passed, the mailman handed me my copy as the ambulance took my dad away... The band always seems to be there just at the right times... I just balled all the way through Dark Matter... My mom would have loved this album so much. Thanks for letting me vent for a moment.

[Coach]

Can anyone post a link to the Stern performance / interview?

[lvc]

I like parts of Wreckage better as a political song. "I no longer give a fuck who is wrong and who's right" is an incredible political statement for someone with Eddie Vedder's intensely partisan history to make. I would receive that as a "let's learn to live alongside our neighbors instead of using national political policy as a proxy" kind of sentiment.

[VinylGuy]

Can anyone post a link to the Stern performance / interview?

https://we.tl/t-GCt1VAnEpM

[Kevin Davis]

I always thought Gigaton just felt like a bunch of pieces that a producer Josh Evans cobbles into s album with out much involvement with the band. It has zero live feel. In many ways there are alot of songs that just feel like pieces of solo work . Alright Never Destination Buckle Up Comes and Goes RiverCross. This has zero of that. Something Special maybe you could say that about, but I really enjoy Mike and Jeff on the track I don't get that with Comes and Goes.

This points to the different approach. With Gigaton, they each brought in cherished demos and the rest of the band essentially helped them turn them into songs. While Gigaton comes across as a lot less creatively stale than its predecessor, this approach still is limited by the band members' egos, and what you get are a number of songs that sound like they came from a particular member of the band. I think it's to PJ's credit that they did a lot with that, and there are some great "full band" moments on Gigaton regardless.

Dark Matter was apparently rooted in ego destruction from the start, as no demo was safe from being taken apart and re-created live by the band on the spot through critical jam sessions. I think the results show the success of the process. It seems the best way to be more than just the sum of its parts is for Pearl Jam to be a living organism together in the creation of its songs.

I think my favorite PJ albums feature a combination of both approaches -- there is something synergistic and mysterious about the band writing and creating together that you don't get from the individual band members writing on their own, but I think it would be limiting to always have the whims, quirks, and stray impulses of five different individuals constantly steered back toward the same democratic center. My favorite era of PJ music (1996-2003) features a lot of songs that probably wouldn't exist as they do if they'd all been forced through the same full band creative filter. I'm glad we have "No Way" and "All Those Yesterdays" in all their Stoney quirkiness: "Evacuation" and "In the Moonlight" all their sideways Matt-ness; "Pilate" and "Low Light" exactly as Jeff conceived them. Those records are better for those unique voices (and the catalog richer for having those obscure colors out on the periphery), but tied together and anchored down by the things the band (or various band members) did together -- "Do the Evolution," "Brain of J," "In Hiding," "Light Years," "Save You," etc. -- and by the fact that the band always adds their voices to the finished product anyway.

No issues with them shifting the focus to one side or another for an album or two -- Dark Matter works great as a piece because of the way it was made -- but I hope there are still some more weird Stone/Matt PJ songs in the future. I am sure Stip will agree.

[mikejasond]

I like parts of Wreckage better as a political song. "I no longer give a fuck who is wrong and who's right" is an incredible political statement for someone with Eddie Vedder's intensely partisan history to make. I would receive that as a "let's learn to live alongside our neighbors instead of using national political policy as a proxy" kind of sentiment.

It would be an incredible political statement for Eddie because he would never say that.

[Kevin Davis]

Today marks 5 years since losing my mom. I remember Avocado came out right when my dad passed, the mailman handed me my copy as the ambulance took my dad away... The band always seems to be there just at the right times... I just balled all the way through Dark Matter... My mom would have loved this album so much. Thanks for letting me vent for a moment.

I lost my dad last month, WB, so I am feeling you on this -- not sure he would have really cared about DM, but it's hard to not hear any new music through this lens.

[Coach]

Can anyone post a link to the Stern performance / interview?

https://we.tl/t-GCt1VAnEpM

cool thx will check that out when I get home

[Ms Harmless]

I like parts of Wreckage better as a political song. "I no longer give a fuck who is wrong and who's right" is an incredible political statement for someone with Eddie Vedder's intensely partisan history to make. I would receive that as a "let's learn to live alongside our neighbors instead of using national political policy as a proxy" kind of sentiment.

It would be an incredible political statement for Eddie because he would never say that.

lol yep

[VinylGuy]

Today marks 5 years since losing my mom. I remember Avocado came out right when my dad passed, the mailman handed me my copy as the ambulance took my dad away... The band always seems to be there just at the right times... I just balled all the way through Dark Matter... My mom would have loved this album so much. Thanks for letting me vent for a moment.

[DDWJMUVW]

I have no issues to my untrained ears, however I feel like I can’t hear Jeff at all

What version are you listening to? Jeff is particularly buried in the Spotify mix, but he's more clear on the Apple Music version (both Atmos and no Atmos).

Guys - PSA

Make sure you have playback at highest quality and select an EQ option then tweak it to your liking (you can control from top to mid to bottom at through frequency spectrum - 60 to 150k Hz)

Doesn't improve audio file quality but WILL improve your listening experience if even just a bit.

[liebzz]

Today marks 5 years since losing my mom. I remember Avocado came out right when my dad passed, the mailman handed me my copy as the ambulance took my dad away... The band always seems to be there just at the right times... I just balled all the way through Dark Matter... My mom would have loved this album so much. Thanks for letting me vent for a moment.

I lost my dad last month, WB, so I am feeling you on this -- not sure he would have really cared about DM, but it's hard to not hear any new music through this lens.

Same as I lost my mother not two months ago. Hang in there.

[dprival78]

For the divorce gang:

https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinso ... alki-beach

ed wore a hat

[stip]

I always thought Gigaton just felt like a bunch of pieces that a producer Josh Evans cobbles into s album with out much involvement with the band. It has zero live feel. In many ways there are alot of songs that just feel like pieces of solo work . Alright Never Destination Buckle Up Comes and Goes RiverCross. This has zero of that. Something Special maybe you could say that about, but I really enjoy Mike and Jeff on the track I don't get that with Comes and Goes.

This points to the different approach. With Gigaton, they each brought in cherished demos and the rest of the band essentially helped them turn them into songs. While Gigaton comes across as a lot less creatively stale than its predecessor, this approach still is limited by the band members' egos, and what you get are a number of songs that sound like they came from a particular member of the band. I think it's to PJ's credit that they did a lot with that, and there are some great "full band" moments on Gigaton regardless.

Dark Matter was apparently rooted in ego destruction from the start, as no demo was safe from being taken apart and re-created live by the band on the spot through critical jam sessions. I think the results show the success of the process. It seems the best way to be more than just the sum of its parts is for Pearl Jam to be a living organism together in the creation of its songs.

I think my favorite PJ albums feature a combination of both approaches -- there is something synergistic and mysterious about the band writing and creating together that you don't get from the individual band members writing on their own, but I think it would be limiting to always have the whims, quirks, and stray impulses of five different individuals constantly steered back toward the same democratic center. My favorite era of PJ music (1996-2003) features a lot of songs that probably wouldn't exist as they do if they'd all been forced through the same full band creative filter. I'm glad we have "No Way" and "All Those Yesterdays" in all their Stoney quirkiness: "Evacuation" and "In the Moonlight" all their sideways Matt-ness; "Pilate" and "Low Light" exactly as Jeff conceived them. Those records are better for those unique voices (and the catalog richer for having those obscure colors out on the periphery), but tied together and anchored down by the things the band (or various band members) did together -- "Do the Evolution," "Brain of J," "In Hiding," "Light Years," "Save You," etc. -- and by the fact that the band always adds their voices to the finished product anyway.

No issues with them shifting the focus to one side or another for an album or two -- Dark Matter works great as a piece because of the way it was made -- but I hope there are still some more weird Stone/Matt PJ songs in the future. I am sure Stip will agree.

My breakthrough realization a number of years ago, that really opened up almost all parts of the catalog for me, was really treating each moment as a piece of a larger whole, rather than a stand alone document. It lowered the stakes, and made it easier for me to appreciate each song and album on its own terms, and for the depth it added to the larger picture.

I wouldn't say no to another Dark Matter as this album is incredible and I think/hope will hold up. There are definitely some Pearl Jam lanes I enjoy traveling down more than others. But I like having options. I like having pieces that take us down directions we haven't traveled that much. And even if there are songs that don't fully land for me (evacuation, in the moonlight), the artistic space needed to create those songs and bring them to the band is also where we got Get Right and The Fixer.

Pearl Jam also has close to 200 songs at this point. So if something is a swing and a miss, that's okay. I'm decades past needing every song to be the best song ever written. I will put the ones that really sing to me in heavy rotation, and the other songs will be things I only revisit on occasion - and maybe THIS is the time it clicks. If not, almost every pearl jam song has something in it I enjoy that makes it worth the brief visit.

[RockPusher]

Just listened to the Broken Record interview. Jeff and Stone sound so at peace and happy with where things are and the new album. Really great to hear that.

[Antelope]

Just listened to the Broken Record interview. Jeff and Stone sound so at peace and happy with where things are and the new album. Really great to hear that.

They both sounded authentically excited for the present and future of the band.

[DDWJMUVW]

For the divorce gang:

https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinso ... alki-beach

ed wore a hat

and didn't even plunge w Jill.

well, I'd say papers are definitely being drawn up by attorneys as we speak. look how unhappy he seems in the pic.

[DDWJMUVW]

can't keep the vacation house

what marriage annulment? (W.M.A)

unfaithful

[WaitingForBluey]

So let me get this straight... people are in a frenzy because we didn't get an album full of Future Days happy sappy?