Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

I think seeing the rebuttals and who they came from confirms my opinion. In my ten years of lurking, I always thought Stip was one of the most dedicated people on this message board with the consistently worst musical positions. I guess it takes all types…

Pearl Jam is at their most average when they’re most accessible. I understand simple arrangements and obvious melodies in familiar time signatures are apparently some people’s bread and butter on this forum. I just think there’s other artists who do that type of thing superior to this band.

Now, you take a 5/8 time signature (or 25/8 if you take all verse measures as one) and butt it up next to a 4/4 chorus crescendoing back into an atmospheric verse that sounds like the whole song could come apart at any second and yet doesn’t despite all the disjointed pieces and you have the Pearl Jam that did these types of things better than any of their peers. Sleight of Hand is song only Pearl Jam could make. Dark Matter, for as successfully as they pulled it off, is essentially generic pop with PJ flavoring.

Lol

[Ms Harmless]

also, Pearl Jam almost *always* worked in 4/4 or 6/8

[BoltofLightning]

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t need to hear Pearl Jam’s version of La Villa Strangiato. Just give me straight ahead rock with original riffs, solos, and melodies.

[liebzz]

I’m not gonna say I don’t want Pearl Jam to get weird, but I think their definition of that is very different from a Radiohead. Sometimes Pearl Jam can get a little too by the numbers and become a carbon copy of themselves, like on Lightning Bolt, but Dark Matter doesn’t have that feel - this is a band flexing a bit on their own strengths. I got no problem with that.

[Ms Harmless]

I’m not gonna say I don’t want Pearl Jam to get weird, but I think their definition of that is very different from a Radiohead. Sometimes Pearl Jam can get a little too by the numbers and become a carbon copy of themselves, like on Lightning Bolt, but Dark Matter doesn’t have that feel - this is a band flexing a bit on their own strengths. I got no problem with that.

yep, same

[Strat]

Ill take any band that can deliver me songs like alive, who you are, happy when im crying, whale song, sleight of hand, grievance, scared of fear, running, something special etc..etc..

PJ has given me all

[Strat]

and its also okay that lightning bolt was an elementary school play version of a pj we've already heard.

[VinylGuy]

I’m not gonna say I don’t want Pearl Jam to get weird, but I think their definition of that is very different from a Radiohead. Sometimes Pearl Jam can get a little too by the numbers and become a carbon copy of themselves, like on Lightning Bolt, but Dark Matter doesn’t have that feel - this is a band flexing a bit on their own strengths. I got no problem with that.

fuck yeah

i wish Radiohead, if they are still a band, would do the same on their next album. Just quit the whole get weird and do a direct album again. Maybe thats why i like The Smile last album so much, because it kinda feels like that.

[mattyv1908]

Stip, I should apologize. I wasn’t trying to suggest that you’re in any way incapable of understanding more challenging time signatures. I wouldn’t do that. If you took that as an insult I’m sorry.

I am also not suggesting PJ are in any way super progressive or technical in the execution of their sound. I do think they have a knack for sonic dissonance that separates them from some of their contemporaries. For example, the ending of All Those Yesterday’s and the way they lose a beat every other measure coupled with that melodic yet jarring Gossard riff. The outtro of Not For You is another example. The musical bridge in Light Years is another. While I don’t think any of those songs are musically challenging from a music theory perspective, they do play around with using parts/melodies/rhythms that don’t resolve naturally on their own yet manage to create musical resolution in spite of it not being supposed to work.

I prefer those moments when your brain is expecting one thing, and then is met with something that is intentionally meant to not compute. There were very little if any of those moments on this record. In fact, the songs on this record seem to all follow a predictable path for the listener musically. I think that’s why it’s being well received, because the songs sound so “familiar” not in the sense that they’ve been done before, but that the listener can so easily predict what should happen next. When done correctly (which this album does) it creates an extremely pleasant listening experience. In some ways it’s incredibly similar to Back Spacer, and while I really do enjoy that album I find myself not needing to revisit it as often as there’s not much left to discover. This record has me feeling the same way, and it’s only three weeks old.

[Jorge]

The little touches of textural "weirdness" / experimentation we got during the middle years just add that extra little bit of spice. A few years ago someone told me to add a few dabs of hot sauce when I'm making my sauce mixture for homemade cheeseburgers, and let me tell you, it really works. Yes, you're eating a cheeseburger, it's not supposed to be super spicy; and yes, non-spicy cheeseburgers are still very good. But that extra bit of kick that's "not supposed to be there" makes it downright magical. I haven't thought this analogy through enough to defend it so don't poke at it

[Kevin Davis]

The little touches of textural "weirdness" / experimentation we got during the middle years just add that extra little bit of spice. A few years ago someone told me to add a few dabs of hot sauce when I'm making my sauce mixture for homemade cheeseburgers, and let me tell you, it really works. Yes, you're eating a cheeseburger, it's not supposed to be super spicy; and yes, non-spicy cheeseburgers are still very good. But that extra bit of kick that's "not supposed to be there" makes it downright magical. I haven't thought this analogy through enough to defend it so don't poke at it

What else is in this sauce mixture?

[Jorge]

Mayonnaise, dijon mustard, dill relish, sweet relish, brown sugar, white wine vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, (secret ingredient) BUTTER POWDER, and a few dabs of hot sauce (my favorite being Secret Aardvark Habanero sauce)

[stip]

Mayonnaise, dijon mustard, dill relish, sweet relish, brown sugar, white wine vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, (secret ingredient) BUTTER POWDER, and a few dabs of hot sauce (my favorite being Secret Aardvark Habanero sauce)

have you done it without the hot sauce? That's an impressive list regardless

[stip]

Stip, I should apologize. I wasn’t trying to suggest that you’re in any way incapable of understanding more challenging time signatures. I wouldn’t do that. If you took that as an insult I’m sorry.

I am also not suggesting PJ are in any way super progressive or technical in the execution of their sound. I do think they have a knack for sonic dissonance that separates them from some of their contemporaries. For example, the ending of All Those Yesterday’s and the way they lose a beat every other measure coupled with that melodic yet jarring Gossard riff. The outtro of Not For You is another example. The musical bridge in Light Years is another. While I don’t think any of those songs are musically challenging from a music theory perspective, they do play around with using parts/melodies/rhythms that don’t resolve naturally on their own yet manage to create musical resolution in spite of it not being supposed to work.

I prefer those moments when your brain is expecting one thing, and then is met with something that is intentionally meant to not compute. There were very little if any of those moments on this record. In fact, the songs on this record seem to all follow a predictable path for the listener musically. I think that’s why it’s being well received, because the songs sound so “familiar” not in the sense that they’ve been done before, but that the listener can so easily predict what should happen next. When done correctly (which this album does) it creates an extremely pleasant listening experience. In some ways it’s incredibly similar to Back Spacer, and while I really do enjoy that album I find myself not needing to revisit it as often as there’s not much left to discover. This record has me feeling the same way, and it’s only three weeks old.

no worries. It was fine. I posted that during a frustrating meeting and it was bleeding in

[sweeper]

In my ten years of lurking, I always thought Stip was one of the most dedicated people on this message board with the consistently worst musical positions.

Whoever writes Stip's obituary when that unfortunate day comes should definitely lead it with this line.

[Jorge]

Mayonnaise, dijon mustard, dill relish, sweet relish, brown sugar, white wine vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, (secret ingredient) BUTTER POWDER, and a few dabs of hot sauce (my favorite being Secret Aardvark Habanero sauce)

have you done it without the hot sauce? That's an impressive list regardless

Yes, for years I did. It all started as an attempt to recreate the In-n-Out sauce, and over time modified the ingredients to my own taste, and this is what I landed on.

[RockPusher]

Stip, I should apologize. I wasn’t trying to suggest that you’re in any way incapable of understanding more challenging time signatures. I wouldn’t do that. If you took that as an insult I’m sorry.

I am also not suggesting PJ are in any way super progressive or technical in the execution of their sound. I do think they have a knack for sonic dissonance that separates them from some of their contemporaries. For example, the ending of All Those Yesterday’s and the way they lose a beat every other measure coupled with that melodic yet jarring Gossard riff. The outtro of Not For You is another example. The musical bridge in Light Years is another. While I don’t think any of those songs are musically challenging from a music theory perspective, they do play around with using parts/melodies/rhythms that don’t resolve naturally on their own yet manage to create musical resolution in spite of it not being supposed to work.

I prefer those moments when your brain is expecting one thing, and then is met with something that is intentionally meant to not compute. There were very little if any of those moments on this record. In fact, the songs on this record seem to all follow a predictable path for the listener musically. I think that’s why it’s being well received, because the songs sound so “familiar” not in the sense that they’ve been done before, but that the listener can so easily predict what should happen next. When done correctly (which this album does) it creates an extremely pleasant listening experience. In some ways it’s incredibly similar to Back Spacer, and while I really do enjoy that album I find myself not needing to revisit it as often as there’s not much left to discover. This record has me feeling the same way, and it’s only three weeks old.

Sounds like you are a Stone fan (he is the one person in the band who seems to enjoy that Johnny Greenwood "make it broken just a little bit" thing). Also, while I agree that this is a very accessible, pop-adjacent album, I disagree about the songs' trajectories being predictable. The first time I heard this album, it was surprise after surprise. If anything, I'd been conditioned to expect PJ songs to go certain ways, and this blew those expectations out of the water. I've listened several dozen times at this point to the whole thing and it's still feeling fresh, so chalk it up to different strokes I suppose.

[RockPusher]

In my ten years of lurking, I always thought Stip was one of the most dedicated people on this message board with the consistently worst musical positions.

Is it too much to ask that people on this board learn to recognize musical opinions can never be right or wrong- they are merely expressions of personal taste.

[Jorge]

In my ten years of lurking, I always thought Stip was one of the most dedicated people on this message board with the consistently worst musical positions.

Is it too much to ask that people on this board learn to recognize musical opinions can never be right or wrong- they are merely expressions of personal taste.

Seems like they are expressing their opinion of Stip's opinion

[liebzz]

I agree with RockPusher that there is an element of surprise. Most of the songs here would be subject to either a fade out or abrupt ending well before they are done germinating. Yet here, the songs are all given their space to roam, and except for me maybe Won’t Tell which compared to the rest of the album doesn’t linger around. Even Running in its 2 minutes manages to find spaces to kick around (see the bridge). I like that about this album and it is what makes this thing constantly fun to listen to. And they don’t cheapen out on the epic payoffs, which are surprises in that they would have shied away from that on nearly any other album.