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"Get to the point" wheezes Vedder in the excrementally bad Got To Give. I wish the band would follow their own advice. The Bon Jovi of Grunge have farted out another album of meandering tuneless slop.
Joined: Mon March 30, 2020 11:59 pm Posts: 1710 Location: sleep sac in a bivouac
Assuming Pitchfork does actually review this, I’m guessing uncharacteristically high. I think they’ll like the infusion of pop sensibilities into Pearl Jam.
_________________ Be mighty...Be humble...Be mighty humble...
likes rhythmic things that butt up against each other
Joined: Wed February 26, 2020 8:43 am Posts: 774
lecherouslittlestump wrote:
Pitchfork review is out. 2.1 lol
Quote:
"Get to the point" wheezes Vedder in the excrementally bad Got To Give. I wish the band would follow their own advice. The Bon Jovi of Grunge have farted out another album of meandering tuneless slop.
Joined: Mon March 30, 2020 11:59 pm Posts: 1710 Location: sleep sac in a bivouac
stip wrote:
I think RS did have one but it was paywalled
Also it didn't even mention your favorite song from the record. I didn't see an actual rating when I read it, but someone chimed in that they gave it 4/5 stars.
_________________ Be mighty...Be humble...Be mighty humble...
Also looking for the possible reviews of Dark Matter from Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, PopMatters, Consequence of Sound, and such.
Really appreciate everything you've added to this thread over the past couple of weeks. Thank you.
_________________ We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
Pearl Jam Dig Deep and Find a New Light on ‘Dark Matter’
The group worked with producer Andrew Watt for its rocking, reflective 12th studio album, and made one of its best LPs ****
BY JOHN LONSDALE
APRIL 17, 2024
IT KICKS OFF with a big emotional bang: “We used to laugh/We used to sing/We used to dance/We used to believe,” Eddie Vedder sings on “Scared of Fear,” the rocking opener from Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album, one of their best and most personal records ever. When it came time to work on their follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton, band members headed out to Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu and worked with versatile producer Andrew Watt, who helmed Vedder’s 2022 solo album, Earthling, and has worked with everyone from Iggy Pop to pop superstars like Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, and Post Malone.
Gigaton was a Trump-era statement that showed how well PJ could keep their trademark anger feeling fresh and relevant close to 30 years after they began their run. But here, the band has mostly traded the lengthy, politically charged grunge of Gigaton for something a little more introspective, vulnerable, and often, surprisingly poppy. After more than three decades in the game, here are middle-aged men grappling with life and trying to make sense of it all — one anthemic chorus and seething guitar solo at a time.
“We’re still looking for ways to communicate,” Vedder told listeners at an L.A. preview of the new tracks. “We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful, and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
Dark Matter is jam-packed with fist-pumping rockers, stunning songwriting, and melodies tailor-made to be shouted with the windows down. Heavy-hitting thrasher “React, Respond” keeps the momentum at full blast, with punchy guitars and head-banging percussion that nearly combusts as Vedder delivers a maniacal, almost Ozzy Osbourne-size laugh before the song even considers releasing its grip. The band introduced fans to the new project with two lead singles: the thrilling title track and the two-minute punk banger “Running.”
“Something Special” is a sweet, easygoing rock lullaby with lines like “If you could see what I see now/You gotta know I’m looking up, oh so proud/The one I used to hold is oh so special.” Then comes “Got to Give,” which opens with peaceful acoustic strumming before it kicks into a proper uptempo Who-esque send-off. “Let’s get to the point we can believe that we are better together, you and me,” Vedder pleads, reaching his breaking point and ready to move forward as the music swells around him. “Can take on anyone/If you can see/Something’s got to give.”
Dark Matter ends on a meditative note with “Setting Sun,” a hopeful, transcendently gorgeous nightcap that feels like the band took a drive down from Shangri-La at the end of the day to sit in the sand, and reflect for a while as they watch the waves crash along the PCH. “May our days be long until kingdom come,” Vedder howls. “We can become one last setting sun/Am I the only one hanging on?/We could become one last setting sun/Or be the sun at the break of dawn/Let us not fade/Let us not fade.” But with Dark Matter, the band has rarely sounded more essential.
The Album of The Week is Pearl Jam’s twelfth studio release, Dark Matter.
A process that only took three weeks, the alt-rock icons recorded Dark Matter at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios and teamed up with producer Andrew Watt, who worked with Eddie Vedder on his last solo album. For this new album, the band mixes their signature sound with thirty-three years of experience into some of their hardest hitting work in recent years. With slicing riffs, lofty guitars and cutting lyrics, Dark Matter is unmistakably a Pearl Jam record. The rocking and reflective release is stacked with fist-pumping rockers, stunning songwriting, and melodies made to blast with the windows down.
Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter is The Current’s Album of The week.
A few weeks ago, I watched Eddie Vedder wax lyrical at the Lafayette in Kings Cross about how rejuvenated Pearl Jam felt making their 12th studio album, Dark Matter. Moments before he started doing shots of tequila with the crowd, Vedder declared: “No hyperbole. I think this is our best work”.
Dark Matter certainly feels like the Seattle grunge titans are kick starting a new dawn: it’s loud and boisterous, as expected, but the influence of producer Andrew Watt – best known for his work with popstars Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus, as well as rock stalwarts like Ozzy Osbourne and The Rolling Stones, he has proudly declared Pearl Jam to be his all-time favourite band – signals a welcome sonic shift, from pure nostalgia to experimentation.
Made up of 11 taut tracks, the highlights come thick and fast: Scared of Fear opens with the sharp crack of a pool cue (apparently shot by Vedder’s close friend Sean Penn) before giving way to Mike McCready and Stone Gossard’s swaggering guitar riffs, Vedder going on a trip down memory lane as he roars “We used to laugh / We used to sing / We used to believe”. React, Respond sees Vedder’s vocals constantly switching between crooning and angsty growl, backed by Matt Cameron’s pulverizing drums. It’s gloriously, unapologetically noisy – while you’re listening, imagine being back in your teenage bedroom, cranking up the sound while ignoring shouts from your parents to shut the hell up. They’re sure to be stand-outs – alongside classic tracks such as Black, Yellow Ledbetter and Even Flow – at the band’s massive stadium shows this summer.
Waiting for Stevie, meanwhile, would have made for a far better lead single than the eponymous title track: a thudding ode to the power of live music (a medium which helped to make Pearl Jam household names even amongst rock novices, thanks to their well-publicized battle with Ticketmaster) that features McCready’s best guitar solo in years – standing at almost 90-seconds – and Cameron bringing the emotional intensity of his Soundgarden days to the electric drums, it’s a knockout. Something Special is off puttingly sentimental, but it’s a rare dud on an album that signals Pearl Jam are actually enjoying making new music again. “Let us not fade,” Vedder begs at the end of closing track Setting Sun. I don’t think he needs to worry. Poppie Platt
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