When Pearl Jam Get Dark About Matters, Things Get Great

April 18, 2024 8:51 PM

First we got the title track, Dark Matter thick and meaty, grown out of a drum riff. Something was a'brewin'. Something more powerful than in the recent past, with a blistering guitar solo. Running was the second single, maybe even more intense than the first. Then the miracle review: Pearl Jam Dig Deep and Find a New Light on ‘Dark Matter’ [Rolling Stone] But the band is also excited:

The SPIN Interview: Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard Inside the making of the Seattle rockers' Andrew Watt-helmed 12th LP, 'Dark Matter [Spin]

The thing is, the more it’s arranged and you’re attached to it, the harder it is to work other suggestions in. The way we were working really was, everybody in the room, let’s pull something out and really work it over together. In general, you were better off having a sketch than you were a complete idea. People getting invested in a song and, reacting and then hearing their own parts in it was the alchemy making these songs come to life.

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready talks all things vinyl, 'Dark Matter,' more McCready, a big fan of Record Store Day from the very beginning, talks about his love for vinyl prior to 2024’s Record Store Day event. [Goldmine]

I had put together a band that had the late, great Taylor Hawkins in it, and it had [Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer] Chad Smith, Molly [Sides] and Whitney [Petty] from Thunderpussy and Stefan Lessard from Dave Matthews Band and Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses. And Andrew came along with Chad and Taylor. So I got to meet him early on, and he was just kind of the hyper kid. And he was a pop producer that I didn’t know much about, because I’m not really following that world as much. But he was a friend of theirs, and he wanted to jam. So I let him play guitar on a song or two, and he just had this cool, infectious energy to him. And that was my meeting with him. That was about three or four years ago. And I think our manager, Mark Smith, helped facilitate getting Andrew to Ed for his Earthling album; I don't know how that happened exactly, but he was on Ed’s radar. But we were all aware of him, because of the successes that he had had in the pop world, and I think that it sealed the deal when he did the Earthling record with Ed.

Eddie Vedder discusses the 'power' behind Pearl Jam's new 'personal' album, 'Dark Matter' Vedder credits producer Andrew Watt’s passion for music for bringing out the best of the band [Audacy]

“He can remember a take that [guitarist] Mike McCreedy soloed 10 days ago, and he can remember that it was take number three,” Eddie continues. “He found the perfect occupation to put this kind of savant-like connection to music… he's using his powers for good. It’s pretty stunning and it bodes well for keeping things moving. Momentum is huge, and it also turns into positivity and confidence and flexibility… and then it's the ability to create an atmosphere where you feel like you can experiment, or try something, or, work harder to make it better. You’re not like, ‘OK, I think that's good enough.’”

“John Paul Jones is one of the only musicians I’ve been around where I was starstruck. I asked him some stupid questions about Achilles Last Stand… but he was very kind!” Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament names 11 bassists who shaped his sound From Dee Dee Ramone to Eric Avery, fretless to 12-string bassists, Jeff Ament believes all his influences can all be heard on the latest Pearl Jam album Dark Matter

“The amazing thing about being down the road a-ways is that I feel like I’ve dipped into all of those styles,” he says. Those inspirations have impacted every era of a 40-year career, from Montana hardcore kids Deranged Diction through proto-grunge icons Green River, glam-dappled Mother Love Bone, Seattle supergroup Temple of Dog – and, of course, Pearl Jam.

Matt Cameron has thus far not commented.

However, The SPIN Interview: Pearl Jam Dark Matter Producer Andrew Watt How a lifelong fan wound up writing songs with and producing an album for his childhood favorite band

It wasn’t some big conversation or arm-twisting thing. What was communicated was, come with nothing and don’t even bring a guitar. Andrew’s got everything. Just bring a riff and a B-section. Don’t develop anything further than that. Everyone was in a circle, and it would be like, who’s got a riff? Stone would say, I’ve got one, and start playing it. Ed had a mic right there and started vibing off of it. Stone is kind of like the weird painter of the band. He puts things that aren’t in 4/4 over a 4/4 beat. His riffs are oddball. Jeff takes what Stone does and sometimes plays in literally an opposite direction. He makes beautiful chord symmetry out of Stone’s wacky stuff, which has made it sound special ever since Green River. That started happening, and Mike McCready would solo over all of it. That was the process of how every single one of these songs was made. Because of that, it has a lot of live feel. Once everyone knew the song and the take was finished, that was our last take. We didn’t then go again. As it was figured out, that was the take we used, when it was a little uncertain and a little fresh. That’s why the improvisational energy stayed.

The third single released just before album release is Wreckage, which shifts the tone considerably.

posted by hippybear (18 comments total)

Once a full album playlist is posted, I will put it here.

I have heard the entire album and it's the first PJ album I've felt excited about in a while. There are great bits here, and I hope anyone might agree!
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on April 18

Here's the whole album as a playlist, except for Track 9, Something Special. Zero clue why it's not in the playlist when it's right there online, but there's the album! Enjoy!
posted by hippybear at 9:39 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]

The last time I was pleasantly surprised listening to a new Pearl Jam album was when the self-titled one came out, and that was apparently 18 years ago.

This sounds great. I'm not sure if it's the '90s nostalgia kicking in, but whatever they baked into this new record is working for me.
posted by FarOutFreak at 11:23 PM on April 18

Absolutely Awesome
posted by robbyrobs at 2:58 AM on April 19

In loosely related, I'm reading Everybody Loves Our Town and it's hilarious!
posted by ovvl at 10:11 AM on April 19

Running really has a bit of a Bad Religion feel. I could totally hear Greg Graffin singing that one.
posted by tclark at 10:54 AM on April 19

Related, but if you are a fellow old who occasionally revisits the grunge years, make sure any time you give to Pearl Jam's Ten is spent with the "Redux" version, remixed by Brendan O'Brien, as it far, far superior. It's as striking a difference as it is to listen to the original Butch Vig mixes (aka the Devonshire mixes) of Nirvana's Nevermind. Ten Redux hjas far better dynamic range, separation of channels/instruments, and you can actually tell Jeff Ament is on the record! Recommended.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:18 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]

So I just today found out about the Live On 4 Legs podcast/YouTube channel. They are reviewing shows across Pearl jam's career. They have a few hundred videos and I went through their list and found several shows I've attended that I'm eager to listen to.

I don't have anyone in my life that goes to Pearl Jam shows, so this podcast might be a bit of comfort food while I await my show in Missoula in August.
posted by hippybear at 1:37 PM on April 19 [1 favorite]

Can I just say...

When I linked that Live On 4 Legs Podcast channel...

I didn't realize how deep this channel would go.

Like, if you listen to this, you realize all these things go much deeper than anyone considered.

I went through the list and pulled out all the shows i've seen but I think maybe once I've done that I might just listen through them all because, this is about a band and their fans and how they interact and it's much deeper than you might consider at first.
posted by hippybear at 2:57 PM on April 19

I’m a Pearl Jam agnostic, but every time I see “Watt” listed as producer I think “they got MIKE WATT to produce their album?” And then I get sad.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:47 AM on April 20 [2 favorites]

ovvl - "Mark Yarm is a former senior editor at Blender magazine. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Bonnie, and is in no way related to Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm."

Hahahahaha
posted by 41swans at 8:46 AM on April 20 [1 favorite]

So I've listened to this album a bunch of times now and I have to say, it's sort of like when Simple Minds did their first few albums and then had their Breakfast Club hit and then suddenly recorded Once Upon A Time. It's a great album, I find zero fault with any of its tracks, I even own a surround sound version of it! But it is so different from what came before.

And comparing this Pearl jam album to the few which have come before it... it's sort of on that level. Like, Pearl Jam did an Arena Rock album? Who would have expected that?!?!? But that's honestly how it feels.
posted by hippybear at 9:00 PM on April 21 [1 favorite]

One of my most vivid memories is sitting in my friends house, alone, 13 years old, no father, and the video for Alive premiers on MTV. I'd been steeped in 80's hair bands since I was 8, but they felt so alien to me. It was just music. But when Eddie started singing, I thought god had created a song, a band, an everything just for me.

I devoured everything PJ. Interviews. Ordering t-shirts from the UK. Joining the fanclub and playing Angel over and over again. Pearl Jam catapulted me into being a teen, into the grunge scene, into dying my hair purple and wearing flannel I stole from goodwill. But I didn't follow the band past Vitology. I guessed we both changed in ways that didn't relate to each other.

Sometime last year I started revisiting them. Unplugged is still one of my favs. I will listen to Footsteps on repeat forever. I still skip Evenflow.

When the singles came out for this new album, it was the first time in a long time that I felt that same zest, that wanting to listen. I've had Dark Matter on repeat for a few days. I am not fond of how it's mixed, but the songs echo VS in some parts and Ten in others in a way that isn't just nostalgia, it seems part of a cohesive work that just took many years to get together.

One of my biggest dreams is to one day see them play in Seattle, but looking at the Stubhub pricing, that's not happening. This is the first time in years I find myself a little bummed by that reality.

Great post, hippybear.
posted by haplesschild at 2:24 PM on April 22

I've seen them in Seattle a couple of times now... you'll find the experience more pleasant if you go to someplace they don't play often that isn't Seattle. I have tickets for Missoula and am super stoked about it.

Apparently this is going to be the first tour where they're doing more of a modern concert production. I'm not sure how I feel about that because I've always really liked their old school "here's a band on stage and some lights shining on them" approach to their shows, but I dunno... maybe?

Interesting that Vitalogy is where you broke with them, as that's the first one that grabbed me.
posted by hippybear at 2:39 PM on April 22

Let me say, if they do play the baseball stadium again and you can get GA tickets on the field and end up standing right around second base in the center of T-Mobile Park to watch the show... that is one of the most remarkable things I've ever experienced in my life. If you're a normal person, you don't really get to see the view from the middle of a baseball field.

I will say, the night the guy stole the jet and flew it all over the Seattle area before finally not landing it successfully, that was the night I was at that concert, and we saw the jet fly over the open roof of the ballpark and it was a wave of remarking amongst the crowd in attendance to see that airplane there. It was unusual. It wasn't until after I got out of that concert that I learned what the truth about seeing that plane actually was.
posted by hippybear at 8:03 PM on April 22

I’ve been listening to it for the last couple days, and it’s growing on me, but I’m also, I don’t know, a little burned out on the band? I absolutely loved them in the 90s, but also probably over-listened to them a bit.

I’m liking it, though. Several of the songs have bits and bobs that seem vaguely familiar, but all except one are still just out of grasp. The one that clicked though, is Wreckage. It’s got some solid later day Tom Petty-rock-anthem stuff going on there, and I’m digging it.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:19 AM on April 24 [1 favorite]

Pearl Jam: The ‘Dark Matter’ Interview | Apple Music [1h] has Zane Lowe sitting down with all five members of the band in their clubhouse, a space never filmed before. It's a really great interview, and one I recommend to any PJ fan.
posted by hippybear at 2:39 PM on April 30

Annoyingly it looks like Eddie has had some work done? So he's not carrying around his normal face. I don't know what this means overall, but it's a bit odd.
posted by hippybear at 3:06 PM on April 30