I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
What SAAB do you drive?
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
I heard Jeremy on the radio yesterday and stayed in the car to see if there would be a two for Tuesday surprise in Dark Matter. There was not, but they did say you could go to their website and stream it if you want. Perhaps the way to drive demand is to stream it from radio station sites.
Heard Even Flow today on the radio.
Neither were a classic rock station, they were the "modern rock" options in my area. If they want airplay for a new song these days it needs to be a Just Breathe or Sirens type song to get on the soft rock type stations.
This is right. Pearl Jam's most likely avenue for radio airplay in 2024 is on Triple-A stations (Adult Album Alternative), and it won't be with a loud, fast song. It would be with midtempo ballads like the ones you mention.
I am definitely enjoying this more as time goes on and it gets in my head. I think not playing it 100 times and forcing myself to like it has actually made it more enjoyable. I think it will be great listening with the rest of the album. Can't wait for more!
Dark Matter is great, especially for a Star Trek fan for myself.
What's weird is that Star Trek (the original series) takes place in the 23rd century but no one ever mentions dark matter. Does this mean we still won't know what it is by the 2200s? (I have always understood Star Trek to be a documentary series.)
They mention anti-matter a lot on Star Trek, but I'm not sure how often they mention dark matter. There are between 600 and 700 total episodes of Star Trek, so I'm fairly certain dark matter factors in there somewhere.
They mention anti-matter a lot on Star Trek, but I'm not sure how often they mention dark matter. There are between 600 and 700 total episodes of Star Trek, so I'm fairly certain dark matter factors in there somewhere.
I know. I'm just making a joke about the original series.
Just wanted to share my review for theskyiscrape.com
It’s been almost four years since we’ve gotten new music
from Pearl Jam. We’ve had an election, a
pandemic, existential threats to democracy and the planet, a few small tours,
and an avalanche of side projects. And
now, finally, Dark Matter’s eponymous
first single has arrived.
The choice of lead single is always revealing, though exactly
what’s revealed can’t be known until we have the full record. There are times Pearl Jam will showcase
something out of left field – a Who You Are, Nothing As It Seems,
or Dance of the Clairvoyants.
Sometimes these songs are essential for unpacking the DNA of the album (Who
You Are or Nothing As It Seems). Sometimes they are just a chance to
showcase something they’re proud of (Dance… is a full stop masterpiece but
something of an outlier on Gigaton). But
usually the single is a guarantor for the album - a declaration of purpose
(every single since Given To Fly, with the exception of Dance)
and an approximation of the feel and sound of the record.
Pearl Jam is also an older band with a rich legacy. They defined an era, have been memorialized
in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in fact, a quote from Light Years is
up on the walls in the museum), and still immediately sell out shows anywhere
in the world. But that Pearl Jam has endured and thrived creates challenges of
its own. Each new piece of music is forced to grapple with the legacy of what
came before. It forces us to ask why, for all their success, doesn’t Pearl Jam
feel like it did when we were younger?
Sometimes it’s music. The criminally underrated Lightning
Bolt explored aging and mortality and legacy, wearing its heart proudly on
its sleeve, and is generally considered to be one of Pearl Jam’s lesser works. But
it wasn’t the themes. Gigaton explored the same ideas, albeit with less overt
sentimentality. However, the production felt more intimate, the performances
looser, the experience more organic. And Gigaton remains well regarded
within the fan community.
But sometimes it is the expectations we have for music. Most of us, as we age, don’t consume new
music with the imperial ferocity we once did.
And even if we do, new bands will rarely hit quite as hard as the ones
who were the touchstones of our youth – the songs and artists that soundtracked
our transformation from who we were into who we are and might still be. Over time those artists we depended on break
up, or worse. Their music ends. And so what
music remains shoulders a heavy weight. We ask it to not only recapture the feeling
of our youth, but, in a way we are rarely conscious of, to also validate our
journey from then to now. When an older
artist finds a way to speak to us, in language simultaneously familiar and new,
we feel confident that our past experiences were all necessary steps on the
road that led us here. It's not that the music makes us feel young again as
much as it connects past and present in a way that makes us feel richer,
fuller, timeless, and alive.
All of this ran through my head, even if I didn’t realize it,
as I stayed up until midnight for the release (like I did when I was younger
and will ONLY do for Pearl Jam). I’m not just eager to hear new music, and to
get a sense of what the album will sound and feel like. I’m anxious to discover
what Pearl Jam means to me now– to see if they are still capable of embracing
my past and present, and can keep building the bridge between them.
Seems like they are.
Pearl Jam writes albums, and it’s hard to get a full sense
of what a song means without placing it in conversation with the songs that
surround it. But this also gives the
lead single a temporary purity. It gets to stand on its own, for a little
while, as a complete thought. And with
the caveat that the experience of Dark Matter may change in the context
of the album, lets dive in.
Dark Matter is a three-and-a-half-minute song that
feels longer and yet not quite long enough.
It is simultaneously new and recognizable, and weirdly fresh. A song
that could have only come from Pearl Jam while lacking a direct 1-1 analog with
anything that’s come before. Producer Andrew
Watt is a huge Pearl Jam fan and the deep knowledge of their music he brought
to the recording process is fully on display.
The vocals feel like the 2000s era rerecording’s of Brother and Alone
– applying Eddie’s more weathered and grounded range to older songs he would
have once belted into space. There are vaguely electronic flourishes to the
guitars reminiscent of You Are, and some of Riot Act’s road weariness is present. The deep, thunderous groove is reminiscent of
Temple of the Dog. It has some of
the fragile precision of Dance of the Clairvoyants and at the same time
feels like it could fall apart at any moment in a way reminiscent of No Code.
And yet the swing for the fences bombast of Ten
and Vs is all over the song. Underneath
it all, hints of Binaural’ s atmosphere.
All coming together in a way that feels familiar and comforting without
being repetitive or safe.
In some ways, this is the song Can’t Deny Me very much wanted to be, but never was. It’s angry, but the anger doesn’t feel
performative. It’s running through some
of the same critiques embedded in Gigaton,
but while Gigaton was noteworthy for
its inward, reflective focus and surprisingly non-judgmental tone, there is a
fierce urgency to the performances in Dark
Matter, even when its playful. It embraces a clarity of purpose while
letting go of the guilt haunting Gigaton.
If Gigaton quietly recommits you to a
cause, Dark Matter feels like a
rally. It looks outward, fosters solidarity (that chorus feels organically huge
and enveloping and should elicit a natural, rather than engineered, reaction
live), and howls at the structural but still contestable unfairness in the
world – a stance that has been at the heart of their best music since Pearl Jam
began.
Dark Matter is not
the most innovative song they’ve ever written, but it is elevated by some
ferocious performances. Matt is given
the space to drive the proceedings and gives the song an immensity to help it meet
the moment. Mike and Stone play sharp
and angry with an angular ferocity, and Mike’s solo rises from that space to
wrap its claws around Dark Matter’s
throat. Jeff is a little buried in the
mix, but there are moments where his chunky playing pushes through in a way
that calls to mind classic performances like Why Go. The deceptively
simple structure hides many exciting flourishes – something new revealed with
each listen.
Eddie sounds great, but his voice is pushed back into the
mix. The music drives the song, and Eddie is contributing his instrument in
critical ways, rather than the band serving as his background players. The end result feels collaborative – a band
playing together, feeding off each other’s energy. Eddie sounds weathered and wounded, but he has
wrapped himself around his voice, keeping it in a controlled and protective
space, and when he lets it off the leash we get intense punctuation that avoids
drifting into the screechy territory that defined his work on S/T or Backspacer. He sounds vulnerable, but not like a victim,
and sings like someone who has uncovered the wisdom and power and confidence at
the heart of vulnerability.
The longer Dark Matter
goes on the less measured and more unhinged it becomes. There is a rising
intensity that gets angrier the longer it goes on. The music and lyrics feel
almost extractive. A blunt drill powered
by brute, wrenching force. Painful, destructive,
outrageous. The performance captures the
experience of living in a world not designed for living well. This is not
presented as a revelation. It plays instead like a confirmation of known grievances
that must nevertheless be named. The central ‘dark matter’ image makes sense in
this context – the hidden substance that makes up our world is injustice. The
source of our profound alienation from each other. Oppositional and totalizing,
but only so long as it remains invisible.
Dark Matter is not
a youthful song. It’s not trying to recapture that energy. That’s why it’s successful. As we get older we learn that context and
compromise define what it means to live in the world. Gray mutes the bright, sharp colors we saw
with younger eyes, and life inevitably forces us into choices that are no
choice at all. This is both true and terrible, and to pretend the world is
otherwise would be dishonest. It’s why
mid and late life attempts to capture the energy and worldview of our younger
selves so often rings inauthentic and insincere.
Instead, Dark Matter
redefines what it means to age, and understands that, fire is not the sole possession
of youth. We never stop needing light,
heat, and potential. We just burn a different fuel to get it. Dark Matter owns what we’ve learned, and
refuses to surrender to the dark, not in spite of the gray but because of it.
I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
What SAAB do you drive?
SAAB? I would never drive a Swedish car.
Don't be like this.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
What SAAB do you drive?
SAAB? I would never drive a Swedish car.
Don't be like this.
Smiling while playfully teasing one of the world's most admirable nations?
I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
What SAAB do you drive?
SAAB? I would never drive a Swedish car.
Don't be like this.
Smiling while playfully teasing one of the world's most admirable nations?
Uhhh, I think you might be biased? Aren't you guys about to vote Trump in again?
I just heard the song on the radio for the first time (at 12:50 a.m. on Alt-98.7 in L.A.) and I have to say it sounded pretty awesome in my car on the radio.
What SAAB do you drive?
SAAB? I would never drive a Swedish car.
Don't be like this.
Smiling while playfully teasing one of the world's most admirable nations?
Uhhh, I think you might be biased? Aren't you guys about to vote Trump in again?
Biased in favor of Sweden because I'm American? I don't follow you. But am I biased in favor of Sweden? Guilty as charged, although "bias" implies that it is somehow unfair. To the contrary, Sweden has earned my admiration with its peace, prosperity and attention to the common good.
Speaking of guilty as charged, let's wait and see if those words apply to Mr. Trump before we go making any assumptions about an election that is nine months away. He's still the guy who has yet to reach even 47 percent of the popular vote nationally, and that was before he tried to steal an election, foment an insurrection and got charged with 91 felony counts.
Comments
Missoula 6/20/98
Alpine Valley 6/26/98 & 6/27/98
Alpine Valley 10/8/00
Champaign 4/23/03
Alpine Valley 6/21/03
Missoula 8/29/05
Chicago 5/16 & 17/06
Grand Rapids 5/19/06
Summerfest 6/29/06 & 6/30/06
Tampa 6/12/08
Chicago 8/23/09
Indy 5/7/10
Alpine Valley x2 2011
Wrigley 2013
Milwaukee 14
Telluride 16
Went well with dudes being hit into the boards
Nuclear fission
Few more weeks
ISO DM EPK!
Speaking of guilty as charged, let's wait and see if those words apply to Mr. Trump before we go making any assumptions about an election that is nine months away. He's still the guy who has yet to reach even 47 percent of the popular vote nationally, and that was before he tried to steal an election, foment an insurrection and got charged with 91 felony counts.