Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[VinylGuy]

yeah, its awesome really.

Mike´s solos are great.

[DDWJMUVW]

After 9 months, the way I characterize DM is:

Tied w Ten for the best collection of tracks on an album.

There is nothing below 4 stars on this record for me, w the majority 5 stars. I just don’t know that I feel that way about another effort outside of Ten.

Vs could belong here as well - maybe it’s a trio. But not Vitalogy, despite some amazing tracks. The No Code - Binaural era has many highlights, and yield is a stellar album, but I think it’s been supplanted by DM for me. ST - Gig; too many flaws on those records to contend, even if they each had a handful of great tunes. Except LB. The trough of the pj catalogue. Every day I wake up trying to forget they made it.

[VinylGuy]

I still need more time with it, but its been a steady 4th for me with Vs and No Code always being 1 or 2 back to back and Gigaton being in third place since it came out basically.

[Kalevi]

I think it's a pj classic/epic album, along w ten, vs, vitalogy, yield. There are several that I have not listed here that I prefer over DM though

[stip]

happy holidays, all.

this album was probably my highlight of 2024

[blueviper]

happy holidays, all.

this album was probably my highlight of 2024

I agree with this.

And happy holidays to you as well.

[dimejinky99]

It won’t suffer any recency bias either.

That’s the magic

[McParadigm]

Billboard’s end-of-year rock radio chart: Wreckage #11, Dark Matter #12

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jaeti]

It's gonna be great.

[Matters]

Goddammit they’re gonna keeping working with these pop chodes until they die

Who would you like to see them work with?

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jaeti]

This is basically a 10-track album for me. I virtually always skip Something Special. I thought by now I might be more interested or willing to let that one play, but rarely is that the case.

[Kevin Davis]

After 9 months, the way I characterize DM is:

Tied w Ten for the best collection of tracks on an album.

There is nothing below 4 stars on this record for me, w the majority 5 stars. I just don’t know that I feel that way about another effort outside of Ten.

I still need more time with it, but its been a steady 4th for me with Vs and No Code always being 1 or 2 back to back and Gigaton being in third place since it came out basically.

I think it's a pj classic/epic album, along w ten, vs, vitalogy, yield. There are several that I have not listed here that I prefer over DM though

These are fascinating takes to me -- for me, both Gigaton and DM made it abundantly clear how impossible it's going to be for any new PJ album to crack the tier occupied by their first 7 albums, which to me are just an entire universe away from anything they're making now. Some of that is sentiment and familiarity, sure, but...some of it isn't. Gigaton and DM were both good records, but whether it's me or the band, there's just something that's missing, and feels gone forever. Last time I did the "rank the albums" exercise, I put DM second to last, and I didn't even feel like that meant I didn't like it -- it's just queueing up behind a lifetime of stuff that means so much more to me.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Birds in Hell]

The nice thing about Lightning Bolt is that every other album gets to at least be better than Lighting Bolt

It's rubbing shoulders with Dark Matter.

Gigaton was a surprise package in that I'd rank it a few spots higher - better than Backspacer, not as good as S/T.

In any respect, no disagreement with Kevin that whatever magic juju the band relied on to create the classic records seems long gone. They haven't made a really strong record without any caveats since Yield.

I still think they have it in them to pull together interesting songs but their current process with Wotman is almost by definition not going to facilitate that happening.

[daft twat]

The nice thing about Lightning Bolt is that every other album gets to at least be better than Lighting Bolt

It's rubbing shoulders with Dark Matter.

Gigaton was a surprise package in that I'd rank it a few spots higher - better than Backspacer, not as good as S/T.

In any respect, no disagreement with Kevin that whatever magic juju the band relied on to create the classic records seems long gone. They haven't made a really strong record without any caveats since Yield.

I still think they have it in them to pull together interesting songs but their current process with Wotman is almost by definition not going to facilitate that happening.

All that’s sacred comes from youth. Non-millionaires without families are always going to be more urgent and creative.

I’m not with you on this, though. I love DM. I think it’s the best record multimillionaires with families could make.

[VinylGuy]

After 9 months, the way I characterize DM is:

Tied w Ten for the best collection of tracks on an album.

There is nothing below 4 stars on this record for me, w the majority 5 stars. I just don’t know that I feel that way about another effort outside of Ten.

I still need more time with it, but its been a steady 4th for me with Vs and No Code always being 1 or 2 back to back and Gigaton being in third place since it came out basically.

I think it's a pj classic/epic album, along w ten, vs, vitalogy, yield. There are several that I have not listed here that I prefer over DM though

These are fascinating takes to me -- for me, both Gigaton and DM made it abundantly clear how impossible it's going to be for any new PJ album to crack the tier occupied by their first 7 albums, which to me are just an entire universe away from anything they're making now. Some of that is sentiment and familiarity, sure, but...some of it isn't. Gigaton and DM were both good records, but whether it's me or the band, there's just something that's missing, and feels gone forever. Last time I did the "rank the albums" exercise, I put DM second to last, and I didn't even feel like that meant I didn't like it -- it's just queueing up behind a lifetime of stuff that means so much more to me.

For me music is mostly about what it makes me feel.

That changes all the time and specially with PJ, my perception of their albums have always changed with time. Gigaton was the soundtrack i needed at the time (pandemic) with some very eerie lyrics about it too. Like No Code or Vs were at the time too. DM also felt like that when it came out, so the band keeps grabbing me like in the old days really.

Songs like DM, Wreckage or Setting Sun speak to me in very profound ways at this time of my life, and the older material is still untouchable but i dont have the urge to listen to it as much as the new stuff.

I do not feel this way for LB, the only PJ album i truly dont connect to and the one i kinda felt, yeah this is not on the same level as the other ones.

[Buby]

Goddammit they’re gonna keeping working with these pop chodes until they die

Who would you like to see them work with?

Alan Moulder
Flood
Adam Kaspar
Tchad Blake

In that order

Agree on Flood, that'd be interesting AF.

[Buck Chunt]

I still haven’t gotten around to listening to this bad Larry, is it any good?