Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

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.

I was about to post something similar.

[Leatherhead]

Mayonnaise

Gross.

[digster]

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.

I do think that tension actually works in PJ's favor, and it's one of the things that galvanized their best albums for me (particularly in that 94-2000 period). I think they have the dual urges to try things that are off the proverbial deep end, but also feel self-conscious about always remaining the kind of band that could comfortably exist in a club between other guitar-based acts; I think there's a desire to experiment and to be 'just' a rock band.

Maybe there's times where that trips them up, but I think being pulled between those two poles is what makes records like No Code, Yield and others what they are. To be honest, I'd rather not choose between those poles, and considering the last two records have each leaned in opposite directions, hopefully the band doesn't want to choose, either.

[Ms Harmless]

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

yeah, that's definitely OK

[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.

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.

I feel like A Moon Shaped Pool was that in many ways; structurally back-to-basics Radiohead even where it was more mellow and folky

[Ms Harmless]

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.

I think there are more of those moments of unpredictability on Dark Matter than you're giving it credit for, and you're not looking for them because you don't like it

[Ms Harmless]

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.

I'll push rocks with you any day of the week!

[Ms Harmless]

Pearl Jam are still surprising people or being "off-putting" whenever something sounds not like you expect Pearl Jam to sound (because the song goes in a "poppy" direction when you expected rawk, or whatever); you may not like it as much but it's still playful

[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.

I feel like A Moon Shaped Pool was that in many ways; structurally back-to-basics Radiohead even where it was more mellow and folky

yes, of course. The Smile album is way more direct and wants to rock.

[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.

I think there are more of those moments of unpredictability on Dark Matter than you're giving it credit for, and you're not looking for them because you don't like it

I would appreciate it if you could give me an example of what you would consider to be unpredictable, as I think we could be talking about two different things.

For example, the most “unpredictable” moment on the record in my opinion is the drop to half time after the long intro of Upper Hard.

Musically it’s the difference between Puzzles and Games and Light Years. The demo was still good, but the final song is something greater because of the changes that were made musically that created a bit of sonic dissonance.

[stip]

at least for me that dissonance undercut the emotional integrity of the song and greatly lessened the impact.

[stip]

Long Road is more straightforward, but more
emotionally affecting

[Ms Harmless]

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.

I think there are more of those moments of unpredictability on Dark Matter than you're giving it credit for, and you're not looking for them because you don't like it

I would appreciate it if you could give me an example of what you would consider to be unpredictable, as I think we could be talking about two different things.

For example, the most “unpredictable” moment on the record in my opinion is the drop to half time after the long intro of Upper Hard.

Musically it’s the difference between Puzzles and Games and Light Years. The demo was still good, but the final song is something greater because of the changes that were made musically that created a bit of sonic dissonance.

there's plenty for me, and I'm tempted to list one per song but it's midnight here so maybe I'll get back to you

[Strat]

I think the bridges in DM and Running are excellent detours

[Ms Harmless]

indeed, there's two

[WaitingForBluey]

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.

Would you say it's a hallucinogenic recipe?

[WaitingForBluey]

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.

I feel like A Moon Shaped Pool was that in many ways; structurally back-to-basics Radiohead even where it was more mellow and folky

yes, of course. The Smile album is way more direct and wants to rock.

I'm flabbergasted by this take. The Smile has been Thom and Johnny's open invitation to be as weird as they want to be.

[Birds in Hell]

I like Radiohead's late period records but everything I've heard from the Smile has bored me to death.

[Jorge]

Mayonnaise

Gross.

It tastes nothing like mayo. But like a lot of burger sauces it uses a mayo base to provide a creamy texture and aid in emulsification

[Lmdmusic]

edited