Click>>> Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt - Album Review
I reviewed Lightning Bolt when it came out in 2013. My feelings on it havnt changed much. I think Lightning Bolt lacks some cohesiveness but not in the natural artistic way that albums like Vitalogy and No Code had offered, but rather Lightning Bolt almost sounds like a mini Lost Dogs or record of B-sides. For example Pendulum is a Backspacer B-side and the title track Lightning Bolt sounds like a Backspacer B-side. Even Eddie Vedder said this during the Backspacer era that leads me to think maybe that song was written then. “If it’s not gonna happen quick then I don’t wanna do it, because it means there’s another one out there that is gonna happen quick, and is gonna hit you like a lightning bolt.” Other songs seem pulled from other sources as well like “Swallowed Whole” possibly an Into The Wild B-side and “Sleeping By Myself” a track originally released on Vedder’s other solo record Ukulele Songs, a song that sounded better as a uke solo anyway. After 4 years i didnt expect B-sides to fill the record… Other songs like “Let The Record Play” and “My Father’s Son” dont seem to fit anywhere. Lightning Bolt is easily my least favorite Pearl Jam album. With that said I think “Sirens” is up front a power ballad, but i think its their most complex and technical composition that they have written. “Pendulum” is a droning moody track that features McCready playing the bow on the guitar and “Infallible” has the best lyricism on the album and great melody. The song “Mind Your Manners” has the most punk rock balls ive heard on any PJ album and sounds like Dead Kennedys meets Kiss, “Yellow Moon” marries Neil Young and Pink Floyd and Future Days has a Springsteen Tom Waits sound that features some beautiful piano and violins, but arguably as cliche as “Just Breath”. Lets face it Pearl Jam are a band of middle aged family men that dont have much to prove anymore. The bands age and success as now a “classic rock” band play a big part on the records sound. Again aside from the song “Ole” there were no announced B-sides. A Lost Dogs 2 has to be in the works… If you like Neil Young, Bruce Spingsteen, Pink Floyd, RNDM, Tom Waits, The Who, Mad Season, The Walking Papers, Tres Mts, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox, The Rockfords, Hater, U2, Gov’t Mule, Green River, Mudhoney, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Aerosmith,Counting Crows, Dead Kennedys, Deranged Diction, The Doors, Mother Love Bone, Kiss, Off!, Brad, Three Fish, The Beatles, Wellwater Conspiracy, R.E.M., Skin Yard, Temple of the Dog, or Foo Fighters you will love this album.
Backspacer is the ninth studio album from Seattle’s greatest alternative rock band, Pearl Jam. The band returned to their famed producer Brendan O‘Brien. Despite Brendan O’Brien mixing their recent record, this would be the first record to be produced by O’Brien since 1998′s Yield. Backspacer also is the most glossy, produced, accessible and dare i say poppiest record since Yield and even more so than that record and most successful record since No Code. Its the shortest, most upbeat and lyrically optimistic record in their entire discography especially compared to the preceded Riot Act and self titled records, which was due to the recent election of President Barack Obama and singer Eddie Vedder becoming a family man, raising two daughters now. This record is the first record to be released independently under their own label Monkeywrench Records with physical copies of the record sold exclusively at Target and some independent record stores. The bands music video for “The Fixer” was used on a Target commercial promoting the record. This lead to a bit of controversy within the fan base where the band was called “sellouts” for working exclusively with a major retail corporation. To be honest the choice didnt sit well with me either not to mention the bands promotional deal with Verizon especially when similar companies like AT&T have censored their music. This is the same band who wrote songs like “Blood”, “Not For You”, “Do The Evolution”, “Soon Forget”, “Ghost” and “Green Disease”; but its like singer Eddie Vedder said about The Who offering their music to commercials and tv shows, the band uses their profits to donate to non profit charities. They arent like some artists out their pimping their music for another lambo or yacht. Pearl Jam is the same way and now Eddie has two daughter’s futures to think about not to mention the other band members and their children. Backspacer was the first record from the band to receive an exceptional amount of promotion and a TV spot. Its the first time since Vitalogy or No Code that the band made a huge directional shift, but quite the opposite shift this time. Gossard said that Backspacer is “what we could have done for the last five records, in terms of re-engaging with the roots of why this band works”, and that “there’s plenty of ballads, too… and there’s some shifts in how Jeff and Matt and I are all relating—I think this record’s got a chance to sound significantly different.” Pearl Jam is now a band kind, peaceful, love seeking, and eco friendly family men and those traits play huge part in Backspacer’s direction.
Sonically the songs, as I said, are more accessible with their shorter and upbeat poppy structures, similar to early Devo, Buzzcocks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, X, R.E.M., The Kinks, The Knack, Split Enz, Guided By Voices, U2, and Oasis. This is due to producer Brendan O’Brien having a bigger hand and voice on the direction of the records sound. Guitarist Mike McCready said “It’s a really quick record, but I like that element to it. I like the sparseness of the songs and the way that Brendan pulled us together and made us play as good as we could.“ Frontman Eddie Vedder said “At this point, I think we’re willing to let somebody cut the songs up a little bit… In the past, Brendan would say, ‘It’s a great song, but I think you should do it in a different key’, and we’d say no, but now that we’ve heard Bruce [Springsteen] has listened to his suggestions, I think we will too.” Bassist Jeff Ament said this about O’Brien “He brings a brutally honest approach to what he thinks is working and what isn’t, and it really moves things along… We don’t get weighted down with ideas that maybe aren’t even that good. He’s one of the few people outside of the band that we trust with our music, and we’re really, really looking forward to making this record.” The band even left Seattle for extensive amounts of time to work with Brendan O’Brien at his studio in Los Angeles. McCready said, “We got together with Ed and it really started getting more cohesive, we took that momentum down to Los Angeles with Brendan… It was a great idea to get us out of Seattle. You’ve gotta get out [of] your comfort zone, and we’ve talked about doing that for the past ten years and kind of haven’t, so we trusted Brendan’s judgment.” Backspacer sounds like a record written with touring and live performances in mind. The uptempo song structures seem to really draw a lot of crowd participation with the claps and “yeah yeah yeahs” especially on the lead single “The Fixer” a song that has an energy to that of Split Enz’s “I See Red” and The Police’s “Truth Hits Everybody.”and “De Do De Da” on the tracks riff and rhythm. Its easily the bands most poppy and most accessible song even more so than “Better Man.” Gossard said “At one of our gigs, without flashpots and electricity, there’s only so much room for those difficult listening songs. That’s one reason we kept the arrangements lean.” This song was written by drummer Matt Cameron, which explains the odd timing. The song starts in 5/4, then switches to 6/4 for the verse, while the chorus and bridge are both in 4/4. Gossard stated, “It’s relatively straightforward, but it has Matt’s love of odd time. It also breaks back down to something very three-chord and fun. We need that. If Pearl Jam is thinking too much, we’re not very good. We’re much better when we’re not thinking.” The band treads in new waters, shifting musical direction. Even organist Boom Gasper starts playing more keyboards rather than just the Hammond organ like his piano parts on “The Fixer”.
Backspacer is a bit of contrast from their previous work that doesnt sit well with longtime old school Pearl Jam fans, with its glossy production, accessible upbeat song writing and promo use. In the bands defense though, they served this movement well and retained many of their core values. The sound comes off more natural and showcases the band simply have fun and reminding people that they are still here. This shift is quite similar to indie rock band Guided By Voices’ Do the Collapse record. some of the bands side work brought new colors to the Pearl Jam palette. Stone Gossard said “There’s a couple of great things that Ed brought in that could be real departures for us.” One of those songs is “Just Breathe” a song that is what you might call a “cliche love song” or the bands first love song. While Pearl Jam have written unique and sparse love songs like “Oceans” and “Thin Air” this song is a bit more direct, less ambiguous and more sappy. Eddie’s folky, acoustic, arpeggio riff in the song resembles the same pattern played in “Dust In The Wind” by Kansas and is very similar to “Tuolumne,” a song off Vedder’s Into The Wild record and features some sweet violin and Boom playing a tonal key melody. “Whatever wave Ed caught with Into the Wild has taken him to different places,” Gossard stated. Other acoustic songs are “The End”, a somber but beautiful melody that features for the first time an orchestration and “Speed of Sound” the albums downbeat that was released in its early demo acoustic form before the record dropped and I have to say how much more timeless and more beautiful it is when compared to the recorded Backspacer version. Some of the faster songs like “Gonna See My Friend” and “Supersonic” are possible B side tracks from the self titled record that sound like Chuck Berry meets Ramones, while “Got Some” has an early period of Devo’s “Gut Feeling” meets The Police’s “Its Alright For You”. Matt Cameron is at his best on this record with his Stewart Copeland like energy barrelling through the songs meshing Jazz beats with punk speed and intesity controlling every start and every stop and every tempo shift. Many songs on the record like “Johnny Guitar”, sound like something from The Knack’s debut record and find the independent and free band just having fun. “Amongst the Waves” and “Unthought Known” are great mid tempo tracks with the band shifting into half time on the first track and building with a climactic crescendo in the second. Pearl Jam sounds tighter and more professional than ever before and its not just the production. Backspacer is the first time the band had rehearsed pre written songs before going into recording since Ten. The song writing process was quite similar to their debut record too and like Ten, Vedder wrote all the lyrics.
“The Fixer” is a song that Vedder calls “a reminder song to me, to stop fixing.“ It seems to be written in result to Vedder’s feelings as hes become both a father and a husband with feeling the need to fix or correct things. Vedder said, “Men, we all think we can fix anything. It’s not necessarily a good thing. In a relationship, a woman will say ‘This is wrong,’ and we’re like, ‘I’ll fix that, don’t worry about it, we can fix it.’“ Gossard stated, “There’s some retrospective moods on this record, where Ed is looking at both his past and his future.” Lyrically Pearl Jam approached Backspacer with a positive outlook rather than the moody political angst that the band had become known for. We’ve made a couple of political and pointed records, the last two in particular, and just to move away from that is great, because it allows you to go back to that when you need to and it refreshes everybody, and it comes down to a beat and a melody and your friends and a lyric and a poem and something that’s important to you.” Many songs seem to have an underlying theme of drug use. The song “Gonna See My Friend” is about recovery, while “Got Some” is presented in a way that suggest dealing some kind of drug but like the concept used on “Spin The Black Circle” that drug again here is Rock n Roll. Like a drug, music can energize you lifting you up when you are low. Both “Got Some” and “Supersonic” are a reminder to live life to the full and are simply Vedder again expressing his love for music and needing to turn it up loud. Vedder said, “It’s a tangible thing that gives you as much energy as a drug. It can change the shape of your mood" “Just Breathe” is about taking a moment to appreciate love and life and “Amongst The Waves” marries love and surfing and again mentions feeling high (almost like a drug) on life while surfing. “Unthought Known” uses some fantastic imagry and is a simple but beautiful and philosophical song that reminds me of “Wishlist” that, also like that song, has Eddie stuck in his mind pondering and thinking. Its sort of the feeling you might have while day dreaming on the west coast after the sun has set and youre the last one on the beach. The song “Force of Nature” is my favorite song on the record about being a rock in a relationship. Vedder said, "The person in the song is the lighthouse for the other person caught in the storm.“ “Speed of Sound” and the last song on the record “The End” are the more deeper and sadder songs on the record. The first being about regrets and living so long in the past that you neglect the present and forget to care about your future. The closing track is the darker love song on the record and is a final goodbye message from someone who has made mistakes in his life.
Backspacer was named after the historical name of the backspace key on typewriters that went out of use in the 1950s. The title may represent deleting a previous error, ethos, opposition or formula, to reword or rewrite it over again. Vedder said, “Backspacer [means] actually you kind of have to go back and look at your mistake.” The art work on Backspacer was done by underground, political, editorial cartoonist, Tom Tomorrow and features 9 otherworldy, comic-esque, reimagined images inspired from pop culture and history. Images of Vern running from the train in the film “Stand by Me,” Guilligan’s Island meets Lost In Space, Johnny Guitar Watson, Evelyn McHale from the historical photo known as “the most beautiful suicide”, Ed White in space on the Gemini 4 flight playing Keith Moon’s drumset, the great magician Howard Thurston, a mannequin of the human anatomy, the brain of Morbius from Dr Who, and Esther Williams in a Seattle aquarium. On the limited edition vinyl the typewriter keys, that spell out BACKSPACER, glow in the dark. On the exclusive target CD the outer sleeve pulls out revealing the single brain in a jar to be connected to each of the band members. Not sure what the cover art represents but it definitely represents something. There are 9 pictures and this is the bands 9th studio album. Each image could possibly represent a record in some way. The astronaut would be a good place to start its clearly Binaural. The rest is up to you to figure out. I think thats what I like most about this artwork unlike the record its much more complex and ambiguous or it could be as simple as inspirations for each member in the band. Its a colorful bright record like the record itself.
Critically, Backspacer lacks some depth present on their previous records, its got personality but not much depth. It also offers more strained vocals from Vedder who sounds like hes struggling within the key of the heavier tracks. The strain plays off well at times and at others not so much. The drums and rhythm section sound better than ever but the guitar parts, licks and leads probably lack the most creativity here and not in the intentional way that was present on Vitalogy or No Code. Backspacer is admittedly the first Pearl Jam record that has a couple tracks that still have not grown on me and that id skip over, such as “Johnny Guitar,” the bands weakest song lyrically stealing The Who’s “Pictures of Lilly” concept. Backspacer is simple upbeat record, but provides some of the best melodic rock in their entire catalog. I have many memories of taking trips to the beach in San Diego and Huntington while listening to it. The record itself has a very bright and sunny oceanic sound. At the time I was in a place where I probably would have related more to broken hearted music but I think the optimism of this record was what I needed. I certainly wasnt in love with anyone but I loved Pearl Jam, I loved my friends and family and I loved the air i was breathing and ocean i was swimming in. I think there was plenty in life to still be thankful for and I think thats what this record is about and it helped remind me of that. I think the record sounds great, at times i think a little too good, but even punk rock bands like Ramones had their glossy pop driven records. With the band now approaching 20 years together, Pearl Jam have definitely established their name as an experienced band that lives for their fans and their live shows. Like their self titled record, not much is known of the tracks that were left off the record other than at least 6 songs were not included on Backspacer. At least one of those songs was included on the bands next record. Other known songs are “Santa Cruz”, “Santa God”, and the McCready sung “Turning Mist”. Hmm.. Seems the band is saving these tracks for something My favorite tracks are “Gonna See My Friend”, “The Fixer”, “Amongst The Waves”, “Unthought Known”, “Force of Nature”, “The End”. If you like Ben Harper, Mad Season, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, Brad, X, Foo Fighters, Candlebox, Hater, The Rockfords, U2, The Knack, Guided By Voices, The Police, Buzzcocks, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, R.E.M., Split Enz, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Skin Yard, Ramones, Joe Strummer, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Buffalo Tom, Devo, Temple of the Dog, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Counting Crows, Soul Asylum, Our Lady Peace, The Who, Kansas, Van Halen, John Doe, Three Fish, or Wellwater Conspiracy you will love this record.
Pearl Jam is the Seattle alternative rock band’s eighth studio album released in 2006 and the first and last with Sony owned J Records. The band came into the studio with no pre written songs, but rather just ideas that were hashed out into songs once the band jammed in the studio together, similar to Vitalogy, completing ten songs in just one week. Something the band hadnt attempted or accomplished since Vs. or even Ten. The record was described by the band as very Democratic with its collaborative contribution and its fair communication with all members of the band contributing lyrics and music, the way the band has been since Yield. The record contains a formula similar to the bands older material, some may consider it a return to form and is the reason the band went with the self titled rout and while a lot of the songs have an angsty, up tempo, hard rock energy, I feel the bands sound is more inspired by classic rock influences especially looking to The Who, Thin Lizzy, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Tom Petty, AC/DC, Heart and Led Zeppelin as major influences on the record. The aggressive drive and themes were inspired by the frustration with President George W Bush and his second term in office, the current state of America, as well as The War on Terror, the mourning of friend and punk rock guitarist Johnny Ramone’s passing also served an influence on the darker songs. It sounds to me as though the band was consciously writing classic rock sounding record or it was at least the sonic direction. The longest break between releases came between the bands last record Riot Act and their self titled record here. This was attributed to singer Eddie Vedder getting married and having his first child while the band also supported the Vote for a Change tour during that break. Avocado is the closest the band has ever been to producing a conceptual record giving the listener a glimpse into the life of a working class American with financial struggles, despite having hope and faith. The mainstream medias sugar coating of pharmaceutical drugs as a solution to your problems or alcohol which is marketed as an answer to a fun time, with both of these ending in addiction. That American who cant find a job to pay the bills and provide for their family they turn to dealing. The grief stricken family of a fallen soldier, or that Army reservist manipulated and taken for granted by the government, and is stationed far from his loved ones. The record has themes dealing with feelings of political anger, addiction, religious resentment, poverty, death, anxiety, escape but ends with renewal and personal growth. You can almost see a drama unfolding throughout the album.
Alvocado was produced by Adam Kasper, producer on the bands last record Riot Act. Unlike Riot Act though instead of focusing on love as an answer the band vents all its frustrations here. Musically the record is much less of the recent experimental and calming Pearl Jam we have come to know, but much more straight forward musically and lyrically, a hard hitting formula seen on their debut and sophomore records. Singer Eddie Vedder said this about the records musical energy “It’s easily the best stuff we’ve done but also some of the hardest stuff. It’s very aggressive, because again, it’s kind of a product of what it’s like to be an American these days. It’s pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud.” The first half of the record contains all up tempo tunes, 5 hard rocking songs back to back, the most high energy songs in a row than any other Pearl Jam record before it, while the second half offers ballads and more mid tempo tracks. Producer Adam Kasper was able to bring the same live raw sound that was present on Riot Act again on this record here, but fills in the gaps a bit more than before. A couple of those raw, hard rocking, muscular tracks are “Life Wasted” which features an Angus Young guitar riff that bares the same energy heard on AC/DC tracks like “If You Want Blood”, “T.N.T.” and “Walk All Over You” with its off the cuff guitar solos and improvised jamming at the end. The song is played a half-step down and uses a capo on the 3rd fret (first 5 strings only, with the 6th open.) This oddly written song structure has become more frequently seen among the bands back catalog especially since Yield and really reminds me of song writing seen in bands like Led Zeppelin. Then theres the anthemic, politically ranting “World Wide Suicide” which opens with Eddie Vedder grinding an ebow into the strings and pickups on his guitar, a technique I dont think ive seen or heard before with an ebow and has a riff similar to Buzzcocks’ “No Reply”. The track has an older grungy Pearl Jam sound similar to “Satan’s Bed” while a bit of “Spin the Black Circle”, another song from the bands third record, Vitalogy, is heard on the punk rock influenced “Comatose”. The song kicks in heavy like AC/DC’s “Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be” while the hard rock energy of “Severed Hand” reminds me a bit of the beginning of The Who’s “Wont Get Fooled Again” with its guitar part at the beginning mimicking a synth, while the main riff is very similar to The Who’s “Go To The Mirror” just sped up and “Matt Cameron’s Kieth Moon sounding, chaotic drum rolls. “Marker In The Sand” the last of the first 5 up tempo songs and reminds me of “American Woman” by The Guess Who. It experiments with tempo a bit shifting time signature going into the chorus, claiming the best melody on the entire record and might be my favorite track.
The record doesnt take a breath ‘till the simple love song “Parachutes”, an acoustic, psychedelic ballad that reminds me of The Beatles “Hey Jude” with the cadence of the guitar being played like a piano, but the break doesnt last long as things pick right back up again with “Unemployable” a song that reminds me of The Who’s “Another Tricky Day” and “Big Wave” the only care free track on the record reminds me of Soundgarden’s “Never Named”. The album periodically breaks the high energy again with “Gone”, slowing down at the end starting with “Come Back”, a charming, soulful ballad that leans heavy on organ, bass, hi-hat, snare and kick drum. The song musically and conceptually follows “Last Kiss” harkens back to Motown 50s era ballads paying homage to Otis Redding’s “Come To Me” and Eric Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues”. Some of the songs like the album closer “Inside Job”, a slowly building, climactic track that starts off like The Who’s “The Song Is Over” meets R.E.M.’s “Boy In The Well”, but builds into a progression and a lead guitar part similar to Tom Petty’s Organ soaked “The Waiting”. Songs like this one explore more varied tempos and have an artistic and darker cathartic rock sound to them. The song features Mike McCready on a double neck SG guitar, playing the electrical 12 string in the beginning. Eddie Vedder said this about the up tempo music and how it relates to the darker lyrical themes, “the hope was going to be in the guitar solos. It was the guitars and drums going at it that was going to lift you out of the dark abyss that I had painted.” Needless to say guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard channel guitarists Angus Young, Jimmy Page, Dan Thunder Bolton, Eric Clapton, Johnny Ramone, Kieth Richards, Scott Gorham, Peter Frampton, Mike Campbell, Steve Diggle and Billy Zoom and Eddie Vedder seems to be channeling Pete Shelley, Michael Stipe, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Pete Townshend on the record. The drums, guitar leads and vocals really shimmer and take a lot of the spotlight on this record and Matt Cameron puts in a lot of vocal work as a back up singer as well, while organist Boom Gasper takes lead spotlight on “Wasted Reprise,” a sort of intermission that brings back the chorus heard in “Life Wasted” and leads nicely into the next track “Army Reserve”.
In the song writing department, the band took their time in a process that was very tedious with the songs having many different sets of lyrics. Eddie Vedder described it as a process that demands “the patience of like a National Geographic photographer sitting underneath the bush in a tent”, adding that he would at times “figure out after eight, nine or eleven drafts that the first one was actually the one”. Where Riot Act was Pearl Jam’s most politically driven record this record takes that to the next level in a more upfront way and is the bands most socio-political to this day and takes the approach of writing from the perspective of someone else something present on Pearl Jam’s earlier records. The songs “World Wide Suicide”, and “Army Reserve” a mid-tempo rocker co-written by Damien Echols (one of the West Memphis Three), are about the Iraq War and express opposition against the war and president Bush’s agenda in Iraq, questioning his motives. It also provides a bit of hard truth behind war from the perspective of the family of a fallen soldier as well as the average American who reads the news paper, making the song relatable to many. “It’s understandable why someone would like their entertainment to provide an escape from modern day worries and the reality of war. We feel this record creates a healthy opportunity to process some of these emotions rather than deny them. It’s like we took our aggression’s and shaped something positive from them in a very direct manner” Vedder also stated the record “deals with real content and the moral issues of our time”. Other politically driven songs like “Marker In The Sand” deal with the hypocrisy behind religion and how it seems to be at the center of Bush’s agenda and how its always at the center of every war, while “Unemployable” a Springsteen type song that reflects on issues of poverty during the economic decline of the Great Recession and “Comatose” points out the threat on civil liberties backed by religion specifically in regards to same sex marriage. Guitarist McCready said, “We all feel that we’re living in tumultuous, frightening times, and that ranges from the Iraq war to Hurricane Katrina to wiretapping to anything that smacks of totalitarianism. And just bad political decisions being made. We feel that as Americans, and we’re frustrated. So a lot of those feelings have come out in these songs.”
The song “Come Back“ is easily the most heart wrenching ballad the band has produced since “Black” and has similar themes of heart break after someone you loved has past away or moved on, much like “Last Kiss”. The track has been said to have been inspired by the death of famed punk rock guitarist and Vedders close friend Johnny Ramone. Another song like “Severed Hand” is about dealing, addiction and substance abuse with “Life Wasted” being viewed as having been on the verge of overdosing or witnessing a friend overdose or just a simple brush with death. Eddie Vedder has stated the song was written after attending Johnny Ramones funeral and reflecting on mortality and the outcome of substance abuse. Eddie stated, “When you leave that funeral, that drive is as important as any single stretch of road you’ll travel on. You’ve got a renewed appreciation for life. And I think that feeling can last through the day, through the week, but then things start getting back to normal and you start taking this living and breathing and eating thing for granted. I think that song is there to remind you, ‘This is that feeling’.” The existential track “Big Wave” is a fun song of oceanic celebration, where Vedder expresses being of crustacean origin, evolving and adapting into a human but still having connections with his aquatic roots through his love for surfing, constantly seeking that next big wave. Songs of self reflection, soul searching and renewal are expressed on songs like “Inside Job” a song written entirely by Mike McCready, his lyrical debut about recovery, sobriety and loving yourself so you can share that love with others. Vedder said one way to deal with negative energy and frustration is “to kind of look within. If nothing else, effect some change in yourself. If you’re in a position of feeling pretty together at that point, then you feel like you can make a contribution to society, as opposed to being a fucking wreck and just adding to the pile of destructive forces you can find yourself surrounded by. And that’s exactly, verbatim, what’s in the song, really. Like ‘shining a human light.” and the song “Gone” is a song of liberaion that goes back to the idea expressed on the bands song “Rearviewmirror” where the character in the song is getting in a vehicle and heading out of town, leaving his/her anxiety and materials behind in search of peace, autonomy and freedom. Vedder has said “Gone” is about someone “needing to find a new life without his past, without his possessions, and not really looking for more possessions.” Early shades of what was to come on Eddie Vedders “Into The Wild” record. The line “nothing is everything” was taken from the song “Let’s See Action” from the 1972 Pete Townshend solo album, Who Came First. Vedder thanks Townshend in the liner notes for the album.
The cover art of the record depicts an avocado cut in half with the seed still in place. McCready said, “That symbolizes just kind of … Ed’s at the end of the process and said, for all I care right now, we’ve done such a good job on this record, and we’re kind of tired from it. Let’s throw an avocado on the cover. I think that’s what happened, and our art director goes, hey, that’s not a bad idea.” Because the album is self-titled, many fans refer to it as “Avocado” or “The Avocado Album.” I feel the record’s minimalistic cover art is an artistic symbol and straightforward display of this unique fruit that is organic and natural, which is exactly what the music on the record and what the band has always been, so the records self title and artwork makes sense and is fitting. Vedder explained, “In the end, we thought there was enough there with the title of the songs, so to put another title on the album would have seemed pretentious. So, really, it’s actually Nothing by Pearl Jam.” The liner notes contain artistic images of wax sculptures, in an almost “Body Worlds” style recreation of each band member with their flesh either decaying or lit on fire and other times have insects crawling out of them. The art was brought to video in the music video for “Life Wasted”, the band’s firorst conceptual video since 1998′s “Do The Evolution”. The music video represents the fragility of life, a theme that is expressed in the song as well.
Pearl Jam’s self titled record is a great record, its my first record purchased through the Ten Club as an official member, this was the record I was listening to in high school while everyone was listening to modern emo and pop punk music. No one understood it or heard of it and thats what I liked most about it cause I never understood the appeal or the popularity behind the shallow music at the time, but I dont think it met the production or passionate song writing that was offered on Riot Act or even Binaural and I think it is the first record that showed the bands age a bit especially with Eddies vocals sounding a bit strained now going into a higher register on the fast songs but I think It gets credit for being as hard hitting, aggressive, scientific, and objective as their earlier records and most politically driven and socially critic to this day, making it arguably the most important and meaningful record in the bands discography. It has been been stated that atleast 12 songs were left off of the record. Not much is known of the songs. This would also make Avocado the most fruitful songwriting from the band since Ten! Some of the known songs are “The Forest” a song released on Jeff Ament’s solo record “Tone”, “10 Billion Years” was a song that ended up on Stone Gossard’s second LP and the track “Of The Earth“ is speculated to be B-side from their self titled record and has made some rare live appearances in 2010. The beautiful “Man Of The Hour”, one of my favorite songs was one that was recorded for the film Big Fish but wasnt included on the self titled record here. The song seems to conceptually connect with “Come Back” from the record, paying tribute to an idle or father figure after they have passed with them giving their final bow but stating that its only goodbye for now. The band had also recorded covers of “Someday at Christmas”, “Love Reign Oer Me” and “Daytime Dilemma” around this time. My favorite tracks are “Life Wasted”, “Word Wide Suicide”, “Marker In The Sand”, “Come Back”, “Army Reserve” and “Inside Job” If you like Burden Brothers, X, Foo Fighters, Wellwater Conspiracy, The Rockfords, Mother Love Bone, Skin Yard, AC/DC, Ben Harper, Temple of the Dog, R.E.M., Peter Frampton, Soundgarden, Bob Dylan, U2, Led Zeppelin, Hater, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Green River, Brad, Pete Yorn, Mad Season, Neil Young, Supersuckers, Heart, Three Fish, Steve Turner, The Verve Pipe, Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Sonic Youth or The Who you will love this record.
Riot Act is the seventh record from the alternative rock band and is the first Pearl Jam record I purchased upon release in 2002. It was a few months after the albums release that I saw the band live for the first time, my first major concert. The concert was at the Irvine Medows Amphitheater, the last time the band would play the beautiful outdoor venue and is a venue that sadly was just recently torn down. Riot Act contained the bands most politically driven work and offered a very gloomy and angsty sound. After the release of Binaural the band had played the Roskilde Festival, where nine Pearl Jam fans were trampled to death and 30 others injured during the bands rainy, muddy set. This led to the band questioning continuation as a band and ultimately became the factor for why they quit playing festivals for the next 7 years. Seemed everything the band did from then on had more purpose and meaning especially when it came to social and political issues. Also, republican governor of Texas George W. Bush would be elected for president of the United States who manipulated the country into a war in the middle east after the tragic events that took place in New York on September 11 2001 and finally Dee Dee Ramone, bassis for the Ramones and Layne Staley singer of Alice in Chains and Mad Season both died in 2002 of an overdose to heroin. All of this played a role in the writing and production on Riot Act. The record would mark the first album produced by Adam Kasper, producer for Soundgarden and is also the first record with organist Boom Gasper who gets a big spotlight on the tracks “Love Boat Captain” and “I Am Mine” and was the last record with major label Epic Records.
With the band out of the spotlight completely now and many of the 90s bands disbanded the genres of new metal (Slipknot, Korn, Disturbed, System of a Down, Deftones) emo/pop punk (AFI, Green Day, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, The Used) and post grunge (3 Doors Down, Staind, Puddle of Mudd, Seether, Creed, Nickleback) were dominating the radio. Pearl Jam didnt seem to fit the mold anywhere and nor did they want to, but after some time staying away from music videos on MTV, a silence they broke with the release of Yield in 1998, the band made a pretty big return offering 4 music videos from Riot Act that actually featured the band members and this time produced in a similar fashion as the record live raw and seemingly uncut. The videos feature the band paying the respected song live in a room and even the audio was captured in live form rather than the typical conceptual lip sync video you normally see. Pearl Jam would also partake in published interviews for the first time in 10 years with the release of this record. Some background behind the records concept, the name Riot Act comes from an English statute of 1715 which provided that if 12 or more persons assemble unlawfully and riotously, to the disturbance of the public peace, and refuse to disperse upon proclamation would be considered guilty of a felony. Being a very political record that stands against the President and the current policies, in a very tumultuous way, the records title would have likely been named after this Act, however an act that was implemented here domestically in the United States after 9/11 was the Patriot Act an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush. With its ten-letter abbreviation (USA PATRIOT) expanded, the full title is “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”. The Act led to a lot of racial profiling and seemed to legally allow the FBI to wrongfully accuse individuals based on these racial profiles, which went against the 14th amendment in the US Constitution. The band may be calling this Act that president Bush signed as riotous or the patRIOT ACT. Either way the band is rioting in protest against the government on this record and for good reason. The records cover art was an artistic photo taken by Jeff Ament which features two skeletons wearing crowns appearing to be a king and prince. Two monarchs who lie dead smoldering in a tomb. A kingdom now just dusted ruins of what was. Based on the records themes Its safe to assume this fallen kingdom depicted had crumbled due to the greed, corruption and deception of its leadership and that tge skeletons may represent presidents Bush senior and Bush Jr.
Like the last couple records from the band each member brought songs to the table and collaboratively contributed to the writing process. The songs again here are more structured like their previous two records. Many times in the past, despite a couple records in the mid 90s, the band would redo parts over again when they feel mistakes were made in the recording of the songs or when they feel they could perform better with a second or third take, with this record many times the band would do one take and not overthink it. The record has a live soundscape and went through very little editing in the production department and written last minute and recorded in a very natural way, much like the bands No Code and Vitalogy records. If errors were made they were left in and would be apart of the final cut. Much of this record experiments with many sounds and styles like folk rock, and art rock. After the turn of the century organ and keyboards were a big instrument in music especially in the alternative rock genre. Bringing Boom Gasper into the band and incorporating him on their old songs in the live setting really opened the band to a much more dynamic sound and new styles. The guitars on the record are very textured. At times Mike McCreadys guitar tremolo effect mimics a Hammond Organ’s Leslie rotary speaker. Other times is soaked in tube driven distortion, delay and reverb. McCready and Stone Gossard really seems to be channeling guitarists Jimi Hendrix, John Fogerty, Larry Parypa, Joe Strummer, Pete Townshend, Johnny Marr and Jimmy Page.
Riot Act opens up with “Cant Keep” a song that reminds me of Led Zeppelin’s “Poor Tom” with its rumbling drum beat and triad of guitars, slowly building with a gloomy, melodic, atmosphere like an impending storm. The song was originally written on ukulele by Eddie Vedder, but then transposed into the full band version. Many of the songs on Riot Act feature alternate tunnings like on the experimental and rhythmically unique love song “You Are” written by drummer Matt Cameron. The track features a guitar played through a drum machine giving a sound similar to The Smith’s “How Soon Is Now”, “All or None” a bittersweet, somber and folky tune and the dark and moody spoken word of “Bu$hleaguer” all feature varied tunnings. A few of the songs have a live, warm and acoustic rich ambiance to them like the tracks “I Am Mine”, “Bu$hleaguer”, “Cant Keep”, “All or None” and “Thumbing My Way” a song played by Jeff Ament on the upright bass. The track “Save You”, the fuzzy and grungy Mudhoney inspired “Ghost” and “Get Right”, and the blues stomping, bar rocking “1/2 Full” are some of the heavier tracks on the album; in fact “Save You” got so intense in the studio during the recording of the song, drummer Matt Cameron lost his headphones. He was able to finish the recording of the song by watching bassist Jeff Ament’s fingers as he played the bass. Cameron said “It was me watching Jeff’s fingers and hoping I was in time, you know? There’s a breakdown of just me and Jeff. I hit a cymbal, moved my head, and the headphones went flying.” These songs capture a very Vitalogy era Pearl Jam while the song “Green Disease” has a drum driven pacing that reminds a bit of “Reviewmirror” from VS. and “Cropduster” is a midtempo rocker that contains a pounding tambourine and has a riff and rhythm very similar to Skid Rows “Into Another”, a band that also just so happens to have a song called “Riot Act”. Experimentation with vocals and harmony is more present this time around like on the tracks “Help Help”, and “Bu$hleaguer” as well as the track “Arc” is an experimental track that features layers of Eddies vocal harmony and is a tribute to those who died at Roskilde. Eddie’s vocals for the most part on this record are very subdued and laid back. Hes very much the mumbler hes always been but a bit more calm and centered even on the more energetic songs a sound and vocal style very similar to The Boss Bruce Springsteen especially on one of Eddie Vedders first acoustic written songs, “Thumbing My Way”.
Lyrically, much of the records messages revolve around love, loss and the struggle to stay positive after mournful events such as the September 11 attacks and the accidental death of nine fans during Pearl Jam’s performance at the 2000 Roskilde Festival, with a big emphasis on the theme of love and seeking positive leadership. The track “Love Boat Captain” a song that promotes love as an answer in a time of anger, grief and mourning and mentions those 9 fans who died when Vedder sings “Lost nine friends we’ll never know… two years ago today”. The song “Ghost” is about TV adds and their manipulative agenda and expresses how true love never fails. Vedder said “Love is one resource that the corporations aren’t going to be able to monopolize.” Empirical tracks like these as well as “Cropduster” a song about a self centered egoist, addresses the idea of Darwinism v Creationism and the optimistically determined and inner spirited waltzing “I Am Mine” were born from tragedy and in response to political angst and personal struggles. The words “We’re safe tonight” in “I Am Mine” are a reminder that the band and their audience or America in general will make it through ok, a hopeful notion in response to the Roskilde tragedy and 9/11. Also in the song Eddie writes “And the meaning it gets left behind. All the innocents lost at one time.” could refer to either Roskilde or 9/11. Eddie said “There’s been a lot of mortality…It’s a weird time to be writing. Roskilde changed the shape of us as people, and our filter for seeing the world changed.” Themes of exile, war, peace, friendship, past, greed, politics, changes and love as higher salvation, similar subjects found on their previous record Binaural but are presented with a bit more explicitness and passion here. “You start feeling like, ‘What do I have to say? What is my opinion?’ Then I realized I did have an opinion. Not only did I have one, but I felt like it was formed by processing a lot of information and having good influences.” Vedder said. Bassist Jeff Ament also added “I think the time’s right to turn our voice up a bit… And Ed did it in a great way, with humor and a mystical, magical approach. It isn’t just, ‘We’re pissed off, and fuck you! Riot! Anarchy!’ Cos I don’t think that’s the method. At least at this point.”
Many of the lyrics on Riot Act Eddie wrote last minute before recording and were written raw on a typewriter. Eddies lyrics can be seen in their typewriter form errors and all in the bands liner notes. Riot Act is Pearl Jam’s most politically direct and forward record up to its point. Its a record of protest and at times seems to attempt to change society for the better with songs like “Green Disease”, “Bu$hleaguer” and “1/2 Full,” being politically driven songs about a world lead by disconnected politicians and business men, and point out social classes, big corporate CEO business profits, the destruction of capitalism and President George W Bush’s influence on the country at the time. Vedder said, “I have to admit this record came out a bit one-sided, but I think we as a country need to understand why we’re involved in the Middle East. This hollow patriotism frightens me.” Singer Eddie Vedder said that Riot Act‘s lyrics “represent my state of mind these days. I’m optimistic yet disillusioned, hopeful yet frustrated.” “1/2 Full” reprises some lyrics and themes from their song “Porch” when Eddie sings “There’s ain’t gonna be/No middle anymore/It’s been said before.” The track “Save You” is an angry track that expresses the frustration of watching some one you care about waste their life away. The song may reflect the struggles with drug addictions that led to the fatal overdoses of Dee Dee Ramone, Layne Staley and John Entwistle in 2002. Eddie commented on the song that “One thing I’ve learned about addiction in the last few years is that having seen other folk go through it, and really not having done that, with heroin which can grip you that intensely. I didn’t have a complete understanding and a lot of times it was easy to come to the conclusion that you place blame on the person or accuse them of weakness or ask, “Why couldn’t Kurt [Cobain] keep it together?” There was always that in the back of your mind.” The song “Thumbing My Way” is a song about walking wounded with a broken heart but has hope for something positive down the road. Sometimes you hope for anything to come along and pick you up when you are down.
Finally Riot Act is one of my favorite Pearl Jam records, definitely in my top 5 and maybe from a bias stand point, but i truly think the band was very driven and inspired in a very deep way at the time even if it was being channeled from some dark places, a spark had ignited in the band. Where Eddie faced severe writers block on Binaural, Riot Act came at the perfect time when Eddie had a lot to say because he had a lot he was feeling. I love the diversity on Riot Act from experimentation to the rich folky art rock tunes to angsty moody garage rock vibe. It brings to mind an older more angry Pearl Jam. The record is like Vitalogy meets Yield. The angsty rebellion of Vitalogy meets the maturity and melodic drive of Yield. Its a record with determination for hope, love and positivity during a bleak and hopeless time. With the heavy collaboration in song writing on Riot Act, many songs were cut from the record. Songs like the Social Distortion inspired “Down”, as well as the folky Neil Young meets Phil Ochs “Last Soldier”, “Undone”, “Other Side”, and “4/20/02” a song written in tribute to Alice In Chains lead singer Layne Staley after his tragic heroin overdose. The date reflects the day Eddie Vedder had heard the news of the singers death. A spoken word song “Im Still Here” similar to “Im Open” sounds like it may have been more of the story behind Black or his recent divorce with ex wife Beth. Their cover of Sonics’ “Dont Believe In Christmas was recorded at this time too. If you like Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, The Rockfords, Soundgarden, Skin Yard, Brad, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, Candlebox, Three Fish, Mother Love Bone, Neil Young, Our Lady Peace, 3 Doors Down, Pete Yorn, The Doors, The Who, The Walkabouts, The Wallflowers, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Seether, Green River, Mudhoney, Seven Mary Three, Credence Clearwater Revival, Skid Row, Electronic, Sleater Kinney, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, or John Lennon you will love this record. If you voted for Bush youll probably hate it. My favorite songs are “Love Boat Captain”, “I Am Mine”, “Thumbing My Way”, “You Are”, “1/2 Full”, and “All or None”.
Binaural is the sixth record from respected alternative rock band Pearl Jam. It was around the time, in 2000, that this record was released when many people had forgotten about Pearl Jam and many of the other 90s rock bands from Seattle. Ironically it was actually around the time I discovered Pearl Jam and many of the 90s rock bands. I didnt catch wind of this record till a year after it was released though. I remember buying Binaural from Virgin Records along with Live on Two Legs the bands compilation of live performances from the bands Yield tour. This record was very different from anything Pearl Jam released prior, Yield included. It had a much different energy and really utilized the space in the songs. This record like No Code took me some time to understand. This change in pacing and sound was in part because of the bands switch in producers. This would mark the first record for producer Tchad Blake, who was chosen as the replacement for long time producer for the band Brendan O’Brien and also marked the bands first record with new drummer Matt Cameron who was best known for his work with Soundgarden before their departure. Binaural refers to the recording technique used on the record and literally means to listen with both ears.
Binaural takes a pretty different approach in recording style, which is where the record gets its title. Tchad Blake was chosen to produce the record because he was known for this Binaural style recording. The album was recorded using a technique where two microphones were used to create a 3D stereophonic sound an effect that simulates being in the studio with the band. Regarding producer Tchad Blake guitarist Stone Gossard said “He was just there for us the whole time, wanting us to create different moods.” This record marked some difficulties for the band members, such as Eddie Vedder suffering from writers block, which inspired the hidden track consisting entirely of typewriter noises after the last track “Parting Ways” which features, for the first time, a string arrangement. This frustration of coming up with ideas led to Eddie picking up a ukulele for the first time to inspire him on “Soon Forget” but also it led to heavy influences on the record like on that same track which musically almost completely rips off the Who’s ukulele song “Red, Blue, and Grey” and the track “Breakerfall” sounds like “I Can See For Miles” also by The Who with its Townshend’s style windmill guitar strums while “Nothing As It Seems” guitarist Mike McCready performs a couple vicious solos on a track with a guitar tone, structure and mood similar to “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. At the time of recording Binaural, McCready had been struggling with Crohn’s disease, which led to an addiction to prescription drugs. McCready had again checked into a rehab center during the recording process.
Also like Yield Binaural included creative input from all member of the band including the newest addition drummer Matt Cameron collaboratively writing both the music and lyrics. Much of the structures here incorporate a lot of experimenting but not in the lo-fi, stripped back kind of way that was present prior to Yield but much more of a mature and professional experimenting with guitar effects like swirling choruses vibratos, phasers and delay. If Pearl Jams previous records were Young, Stones, Zeppelin and Beatles records Binaural is definitely Pearl Jam’s Floyd record. In “Nothing As It Seems”, one of my favorites, the band really creates a very atmospheric sound like on much of the record with the use of the Binaural recording technique but also with the song structures and instrumentation as well. A song written by bassists Jeff Ament who uses a moaning upright bass which contributes to much of the songs atmosphere as well. Mike McCready plays a very eerie, echoing, psychedelic David Gilmour-esque solo and guitar melody, and as I said earlier, similar to “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd, with just a sight more edge in his tone. Other times McCreadys guitar tone also pulls influence from Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton on the bluesy, moody track “Of The Girl” a song similar to clapton’s “After Midnight”. Singer Eddie Vedder said this about the production, “It’s a type of recording that’s called binaural recording. There’s several ways to do it, whether there’s two microphones clipped here [motions to both temples by ear], to not just record the instruments, but record the air around the instruments. You can hear, there’s a song called ‘Of The Girl.’ You know you can hear Mike’s, Mike McCready’s guitar. You can really feel the space of the room. That is something that you kind of miss from modern recordings…” “Insignificance” and “Evacuation” are very rhythmic and drum driven tracks and are arguably the most complex songs up to this point with their layered build, complex, unpredictable timing and beats (thanks to new drummer Matt Cameron) echoing vocals and atmosphere. Many of the songs burn slower though than most of their back catalog.with texture and atmosphere being the focal point like the meditative and experimental “Sleight of Hand”, “Of The Girl”, “Thin Air” and “Parting Ways”. While a couple of the tracks are some of the bands heaviest like “Breakerfall”, “Evacuation” “Grievance” and ”Gods Dice”.
The album artwork features The Hourglass Nebula. The image is a Nasa photo of a planetary nebula, an “expanding, glowing shell of ejected ionized gas” some 8,000 light-years from Earth, apart of a binary system that was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. Jeff Ament said, “The reason that we went with Tchad [Blake] is because he provides an amazing atmosphere to songs….So, I think we wanted the artwork to represent that….One of the themes that we’ve been exploring…is just realizing that in the big scheme of things, even the music that we make when we come together, no matter how powerful it is, it’s still pretty minuscule. I think for me the whole space theme has a lot to do with scale. You know, you look at some of those pictures, and there are thirteen light years in four inches in that picture.” Much like many planetary nebulae this record is also extremely complex and varies in its morphologies, incorporating my different genres, neopsychadelia, folk rock, garage rock, blues, indie rock and moody post punk undertones. The records title, atmosphere and themes as they are compared to the cover art are phenomenally accurate. About one-fifth of planetary nebulae are roughly spherical, but the majority are not spherically symmetric. The mechanisms that produce such a wide variety of shapes and features are not yet well understood, but binary central stars, stellar winds and magnetic fields may play a role. Each song a bit different from one another but created from the same energy.
Like the music on the record, the lyrics cover much darker and more somber subject matter like war, peace, violence, authority abuse, discomfort in life and love, especially when compared to the bright uplifting mood of their previous record Yield. One of the sadder but most beautiful tracks to ever be written by Pearl Jam is “Sleight of Hand” a song that brings to mind The Great Gatsby or the character Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman” where the character in the song realizes what he always believed adult life to be was not what he thought or hoped it to be and the dreams he’d had as a child would never be achievable, ultimately tricked by the so called “American Dream”. Some political and social issues regarding civil liberties are stated in songs like “Evacuation” a song about embracing change and “Insignificance” and “Grievance” songs questioning the significance behind the 1999 Seattle WTO protests and speaks of the dehuminization and detachment effects from technology beginning around the turn of the century and the adverse affects of political struggle. The song “Rival” reflects on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. At the time the deadliest school shooting in American history. The shooting was influenced by their desire to rival the Oklahoma City bombing and other deadly incidents in the United States in the 1990s. Vedder had this to say regarding some of the sadder themes and social criticisms and political themes within the lyricism on Binaural, “I think what everyone’s looking for, y'know, is freedom…That’s part of being comfortable in your own skin. I know I had a problem with being told what to do, and had a problem with being mentally and physically constricted. All of humanity is searching for freedom and I think it’s important to know when you have it, too.”
The album covers some very personal feelings and topics like spiritual beliefs on the track “Gods’ Dice” which is a song that judges anyone with a belief system. “Nothing As It Seems” is about something that appears one way from an outside perspective but is viewed a whole other way when you’ve seen from inside. Other times Eddie is mourning the loss over someone who has past on to a place that is not of this world but might just possibly still be reachable within the cosmic universe somewhere on the Neil Young inspired “Light Years”. Vedder not only suffered from some writers block, but also had some personal turmoil in his love life and marriage which came to an end during the time of this records recording. I feel songs reflect this inner turmoil in songs like “Breakerfall” and “Of The Girl” a song about relying heavily on love as a drug to where when its gone you’re left vulnerable and having withdraws. “Parting Ways” a song about a separation of two lovers. Many songs are very expressive emotionally and send the message of you can define your own life or let your life define you. “Soon Forget” is about a man who lets the material world and the size of his wallet define him and in the end hes like the money he defines himself by, here today gone tomorrow.
I feel Binaural gets overlooked even by the band themselves. Its a record that gets neglected most live and probably the first record to really get neglected by the mainstream radio, bytbreally anything after Vitalogy or even VS never gets airplay. The band still not perusing mainstream marketing in interviews and no music videos came from this record. Any mainstream success present during the early 90s for the band was definitely long gone. With Matt Cameron on board live performances became a primary for the focus at this time for the band. Reaching their 10 year anniversary as a band they were definitely paving their road to the Hall of Fame. Binaural really proved to be a huge progressive step for the band trying and experimenting with new things from production, structure, textures and instrumentation. Its not quite as good of a record as Yield or even their next effort in 2002, but I think its a record that makes sense as a bridge between the two records and at the time was a record youd expect from Pearl Jam being a sort of evolution in progression. Its brash, calming, atmospheric, personally emotive and expressive. Tragedies would soon follow after the release of this record that would play a big role on the bands seventh record that would leave the band questioning their purpose of even existing. Despite Eddies writers block he had been dealing with during the writing of the record a lot of songs were cut from the record such as “Sad”, a song that sounds like something off Sleater Kinney’s Hot Rock album and “Fatal” an acoustic ballad, and theres the grungy “In the Moonlight”, “Education”, “Sweet Lew”, which is a song led sung by Jeff Ament. “Hitchhiker”, the Three Fish inspired “Strangest Tribe”, and the folky acoustic “Drifting”. My favorite songs are “Light Years”, “Nothing As It Seems”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Of The Girl”, “Gods’ Dice”, and “Thin Air”. If you like Matthew Good Band, Temple of the Dog, Candlebox, Soundgarden, Finn Brothers, Wellwater Conspiracy, Supergrass, Stillwater, Mad Season, The Dismemberment Plan, Life House, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Three Fish, Pink Floyd, Neil Finn, The Verve Pipe, Brad, The Rockfords, Mother Love Bone, Josh Freese, Neil Young, The Who, Seven Mary Three, Skin Yard, Stone Temple Pilots, Hater, Stegosaurus, Smashing Pumpkins, The Doors, Chris Cornell, Foo Fighters, or Red Hot Chili Peppers you will love this record.
Yield is Pearl Jam’s fifth studio album that released in 1998. Pearl Jam are an alternative rock band that had quickly rose to fame in Seattle during the grunge explosion along side Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Melvins, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees and many more. At this point they have proven to be a real leading force among the Seattle grunge bands outlasting most of them and have proven to be a leading force and influence in the alternative rock genre, even if Pearl Jam refuses to admit or furthermore tries to diminish it. Due to the mainstream exposure after the bands acclaimed debut and follow up records, anxieties from the stardom and pressures of fame and expectations caused singer Eddie Vedder to take control of the bands artistic and political direction with writing songs that lashed out against the mainstream media. This created a lot of tension in the band that nearly ended the band a couple of times. “We were letting ourselves be too affected by all the pressure,” admits Ament. “Those things showed themselves in some of the songs we wrote and even some of the performances. We’d get passive-aggressive with each other instead of realizing we were all in this together.” This motivated the band’s refusal to produce any music videos, refusal to partake in any publicized interviews with any mainstream corporations and had been for the past 4 years, before the release of Vitalogy, on strike against Ticketmaster for their service fees, which downsized the bands touring schedule and concert venues. As the band approaches their fifth release here two of those things would come to an end. Pearl Jam began taking steps back towards the band that they were during Ten when things were more free spirited.
Yield took a bit more commercial approach with its glossy, professional production and releasing a music video for the first time in 6 years for the track “Do The Evolution”. The band wasnt featured however in the music video, but was rather an animated video portraying the various themes and subject matters involved in the songs message, co-directed by Todd McFarlane (of Spawn fame) and Kevin Altieri (Batman: The Animated Series). Pearl Jam also had decided to end its strike with Ticketmaster and bring their new record to their fans around the world with a full fledged and highly anticipated world tour. While former drummer Abbruzzese opposed the bands Ticketmaster strike because it cut back on touring, their return to major touring after the release of Yield had caused the bands recent drummer at the time Jack Irons to part ways with Pearl Jam. Jack Irons had been dealing with physical health issues as well as bipolar disorder. Irons was already having issues keeping up with the little amount of live shows Pearl Jam had been doing and Irons had already started a family unlike the others in the band. This made Yield to be the last record with Jack Irons forcing the band to search for another drummer.
Yield would also have a more structured song writing with a more collaborative effort, where for the first time each member is contributing not only music but lyrics as well. Vedder added, “Stone was writing music and lyrics. Jeff had music and lyrics. I had music and lyrics… we were able to team up, y’know. Have a partnership there and team up and write together on this one.” “I think the fact that everybody had so much input into the record, like everybody really got a little bit of their say on the record, and I think because of that, everybody feels like they’re an integral part of the band,” concluded bassist Jeff Ament. Its clear that since No Code the bands last record that Pearl Jams persistent efforts to reduce their presence in the mainstream has paid off, relieving a lot of anxiety and stress that was looming over the band for the past few years. Yield proves that the band is much more comfortable with being a little more accessible and having a little more fun with room to breathe which meant each band member, Eddie in particular, had been much more submissive in his thought process. Stone Gossard said “Being able to pull back from all that pressure helped give us the space to figure out our internal problems, within the band and within us as individuals. We gave each other some time off from each other. Actually, it’s like we broke up but still made records.”
Yield kicks off with a high energy heavy riffing track that was initially left off of No Code called “Brain of J”. Its similar to past opening tracks like Go from Vs. and Last Exit from Vitalogy. Most of Yield contains mostly cleaner guitar tones and acoustic instrumentation and experiments with lots of guitar effects and really draws inspiration from 60s and 70s rock bands like the Beatles like on the acoustic arpeggio ballad “All Those Yesterdays” which sounds similar to The Beatles songs “Dear Prudence” and “Yesterday” and the Kinks-ish “Pilate”. “Given To Fly” is a track that has a very pipe swelling and ocean phasing guitar lick played and written by Mike McCready that brings to mind Zeppelin’s “Going to California” just on an electric guitar. “Do The Evolution” has an garage rock sound and energy similar to The Stooges’ “Fun House” meets Zeppelin’s “Walter’s Walk”. This track has been stated by Eddie Vedder to be his favorite song from the band. Guitarist Stone Gossard really shines on this track with grungy tone and his killer enveloped solo lead part. The song also features a chanting choir of backing vocals from all the band members in one section. “Push Me, Pull Me” is an experimental, noisy, poetic, spoken word contemplating life and death with Eddie giving a performance similar to Jim Morrison and Nick Cave. The song reminds me of the Doors song “An American Prayer”
Other times the record has a very post punk and alternative indie rock sound similar to U2, Matthew Good Band and R.E.M. especially on the cry baby soaked “No Way” but also on “MFC” song that has Eddie playing an opening riff similar to “Rearviewmirror” and “Wishlist” a very simple yet moving subdued track that reminds me of “Survival” by Shudder to Think. With layers of cleaner twinkling guitars, the track features Eddie Vedder performing an Ebow solo at the end and Mike McCready performing his solo using a volume knob technique that mimics a weeping violin. Eddies twangy vocal delivery very similar to Neil Young. The song “Faithfull” has a chill verse and chunky chorus with a grungy jazz structure and drum beat. Again Eddie gives a very Neil Young influenced vocal delivery on this track. “Low Light” is a calm, waltzing ballad that features Jeff Ament, the writer of the tune, on an upright bass. The song also features some beautiful acoustic guitar. “In Hiding” is an interestingly written melody driven track that plays with timing, shifting in and out of half time that starts with 3 verses before breaking into the chorus and hook. The song was written by Eddie and Stone but seemed to take on a life of its own once every band member was introduced to the song. Drummer Jack Irons said, “I like “In Hiding” a lot…It’s like a band track. It sounds like five guys just played a track together and I think that’s pretty much what happened.“
Lyrically Yield covers many topics and themes of escapism, self exile, political corruption, contemplative thoughts on spirituality, with a few references to religion, ones personal hibernation, empathy, desires, and wishes. The song “Wishlist” is about the little things in life that mean the most that might often get taken for granted. The song is Eddie seeking some fulfillment when he humbly realizes hes lucky to be himself. “No Way” is about how people get too caught up being right fighters that they forget what matters in their life. This could be about the band yielding to Ticketmaster and the mainstream media in favor of the fans giving themselves some peace of mind. “MFC” is also lyrically similar to “Rearviewmirror” though less metaphorically about getting in a car and driving away from a problem and the track just before “Red Dot" is a percussive experimental track written by Jack Irons. An anti war sentiment that has some drum techniques heard on No Code. “Low Light” is a song about finding your way after being lost for so long. Its also about finding peace and solace even when things are dismal.
The message of just letting things go or be to free yourself from anxiety is pretty direct on a few songs. Many ideas lyrically and thematically were inspired by literature such as the song “Pilate” being inspired by Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita where Eddie sings of someone that compares himself to Pontius Pilate, who had a faithful dog, but lived a lonely and regretful life and longs for more. This songs message is very similar to “All Those Yesterdays”, which seems to be about rehabilitation, giving up everything or exiting an unhealthy situation to find your place. The records title and theme being influenced by the novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn proposes the idea of yielding to the gods and nature to “save the world”. This idea comes through on most of the records themes but particularly on the songs “Do The Evolution”, the second politically driven song after “Brain of J.” on the record, told in third person about a self absorbed greedy individual possibly a politician who selfishly and carelessly continues to hurt and take from the earth and those living on it. Both songs express how the media and government has its grasp on how you think, what you observe and consume more than you may realize. “Given to Fly” also contains inspiration from Ishmael, a song about taking the high road and not allowing others negative energy to infect your positive energy or selfless virtue much like the tale of Jesus, which seems to be indirectly referenced. This is the second character to be used from the bible on the record with the first being Pontius Pilot who freed a serial killer and sentenced Jesus to be crucified. “Faithfull” was inspired by author and poet Charles Bukowski. The song seems to point out how religious people put all their faith in some sort of false testament and religion that has no heart instead of the focusing on the real faith in love and relationships. “For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” -Charles Bukowski. Bukowski also inspired the song “In Hiding” Bukowskie once said “I don’t hate [people]…I just feel better when they’re not around.” This song could possibly be about the bands self exiled mainstream inclusiveness and abandonment and the peace it brought them now.
Yields title seems to be a general theme for the band at the time as well. Each band member was Yielding to one another in the creative process and opinions and in particular singer Eddie Vedder, who had been calling the shots for the past few years prior, it symbolized refocusing on what truly matters and realizing what battles really need to be fought. Given the band’s collective harmony while recording Yield, it’s hard to write off their newfound philosophy as mere lip service. Regarding the title, McCready said, “I think the title Yield has to do with maybe being more comfortable within ourselves, with this band….we’re all a little bit older and a little more relaxed and maybe just kind of yielding to those anxieties and not trying to fight it so much…That’s what it kind of feels to me – yielding, letting something else happen and going with it.” Vedder said, “Let’s say that hypothetically speaking, the title does mean something…You can fight so much, and then you have to think, ‘What are the real battles?’ ‘What’s really important?’ You get to a certain point, and it’s really hard to remember what music is and to remember what drives you.” Two things the band yielded to with this record and that was their return to major touring that included Ticketmaster and made a return to some mainstream marketing on TV with a new music video and even had a commercial for the record. The band came to an understanding with one another as well as things they fought against. With Yield the band went with the wave rather than struggling so hard to go against it.
Yield is one of my top 5 favorite Pearl Jam records. The record offers some of the bands greatest writing. from catchy indie rock ballads to alt rock riffs and punk rock energizers. The band was out of its prime but more of a team than ever before and up to this point was most professionally produced record. No one instrument or player took most of the focus lead guitar, rhythm section, lyricism and vocals all had a place in each song. The band was moving at a steady pace with this record learning to slow down and the records sound really reflects that. Yield is sort of that breath of fresh air. Due to their absence from the mainstream spotlight, it is the first Pearl Jam record where they could create a record with a clear head and open heart. It definitely was at the time and arguably still is the bands most mature record to date. After the records release we would not only see a departure with drummer Jack Irons, recruiting Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron but also the departure of the bands primary producer Brendan O’Brian who had produced the bands records since Vs. A few songs were not included on Yield like “U”, “Whale Song” written and sung by Jack Irons, “Leatherman” a true story about an old drifter, the fuzzy harmonizing “Happy When Im Crying”, the experimental spoken word “Hymm” and the cover of 1960s “Last Kiss”. My favorite tracks are “Brain of J.”, “Faithfull”, “Given To Fly”, “Wishlist”, “Low Light” and “In Hiding” If you like Temple of the Dog, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young, Candlebox, Led Zeppelin, Creed, The Beatles, Goodness, Stone Temple Pilots, Shudder To Think, Frank Black, Counting Crows, The Verve Pipe, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Fuel, The Doors, U2, Oasis, Mark Eitzel, Seven Mary Three, Foo Fighters, Eleven, Soul Asylum, Three Fish, The Buck Pets, The Stooges, Mother Love Bone, Blind Melon, Hootie and the Blowfish, Buffalo Tom, Mad Season, Brad, The Minus 5, or Tribe After Tribe you will love this record.
No Code is the fourth record from alternative rock band Pearl Jam that was released in 1996. A band that first blew up in the early 90s during the Seattle grunge scene. The band in the mid 90s had been continuing to cut back from mainstream exposure and by the time of their fourth record here the band had been fighting back against Ticketmaster for their services fees that they tacked onto their ticket prices and filed a lawsuit against the company. This would now create a cut back on their touring schedules where the band’s tours would be half as long and would play venues half as big. The bands profile was purposefully at an all time low while they still refuse to make a music video and talk to press. Ultimately all of this would affect the bands mainstream presence and affect the bands sales and profited income in sacrifice for their fans and benefit the bands longevity. However it would also contribute to the firing of ex drummer Dave Abbruzzese who opposed to the bands lawsuit against the company and the bands various political choices and views on the mainstream media. This lead to the hiring of new drummer and good friend Jack Irons. Guitarist Stone Gossard, who had always been the bands mediator, had taken a step back once Eddie stepped up as the bands directional leader, had this to say about new drummer Jack Irons replacing Abbruzzese “Jack’s a breath of fresh air, a family man. Everybody had a strong sense of friendship with him immediately. He was just there to play drums and help out.“ while lead guitarist Mike McCready said that Irons urged the band members to discuss their problems, and called him “a big spiritual influence, if not the biggest”.
With singer Eddie Vedder now having a stronger influence on the bands musical direction and creative control, writing many of the songs and playing guitar, Pearl Jam was becoming more reclusive and estranged when it came to the mainstream. This shift in power that started on Vitalogy was in response to the media criticizing him for and exploiting any small accessible move or composition. Unintentionally Pearl Jam seemed to be hogging the airwaves and MTV programs. Even into the mid 90s the media tried getting at the band. Even other bands like Local H were responding to this like in their song bluntly titled “Eddie Vedder”. Vedders creative control caused great tension in the band while writing and recording their previous record and while there was much more understanding this time around, they band had recorded separately rather than all together with this record. Bassist Jeff Ament was still feeling the most frustrated with and disconnected from the process on No Code to the point of almost seriously quitting, Ament even walked out on the recording session at one point. “There was a point when, like Vitalogy and maybe a little bit of No Code, where it was kind of Ed’s band,” Ament argued. “I think that was him just trying to see what he could do, see how far he could take it. At the end of No Code, I think he was just so fried from trying to finish all these songs, that Eddie said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.” Guitarist Mike McCready said “I’m sure Jeff was pissed, but it was more about separating, because if we played all together nothing would get done. We’d all just get pissed off at each other”. Being Jack Irons’ first record his commented on the process of producing No Code to be a difficult one saying the process was “more on-the-fly during the making of No Code, and some good things happened out of that, but we were also really tired. It was difficult to tour and play these shows that were two or three hours long and then force ourselves to produce something in a studio.” Much like Vitalogy, this record was written and recorded very quickly and based on fragments and songs played on the spot during improvised jam sessions. Many of the songs even sound like live cuts recorded in one take.
Their Ticketmaster lawsuit and strike would lead to the band having a D.I.Y. mentality both on the recording production on this record’s Lo-Fi garage rock sound and on their touring practices. Eddie made the choice to drive to each venue on the tour in his own van. This caused an emotional and physical disconnect from his band mates who flew by plane together. Eddie was clearly still dealing with accepting his newfound fame and stature since Ten and Vs. blew up a few years prior. While an alternative rock band, Pearl Jam had the attitude and mentality of a punk band especially at this time in the mid 90s following in the footsteps of Ramones and Fugazi. No Code was a record that would really solidify them in the world of alternative rock and offer a wide range of sounds much different than anything they had written or produced prior. No Code contains the bands longest composed song as well as the shortest. It offers the bands loudest and fastest song and their softest and most quietest ones. No Code was truly Pearl Jam’s Zeppelin III being clearly some kind of influence on the composition style with the bands direction and Neil Young clearly a big influence on the band at the time with Eddie’s vocals now having less of a Morrison growl and more of a twangier folkier tone to it.
The band explores everything from folk rock songs that feature acoustic guitars, piano and melodic harmonies on “Off He Goes” and the folky hawiian lullaby “Around the Bend” both songs sound like they could have come of Neil Youngs Harvest Moon record to punk rock tracks like the 62 second “Lukin” which is clearly inspired by grunge band Mudhoney in more ways than one and Vedders edgy “Habit”. No Code is such an eclectic record it sounds as though the band is finding their sound all over again with the record also offering garage rock songs like “Hail, Hail” and “ManKind”, indie rock songs like “Sometimes” and “Present Tense” which sound inspired by Pavement, Thermardore and Crowded House with their tremolo soaked effects on the guitar notes that gets a bit bluesy and theres the other blues rock track “Red Mosquito” a song that reminds me of “Edgar” by the Butthole Surfers and features fuzzy slide guitar leads on a semi-hollow body where McCready uses Vedders grandfathers Zippo lighter as a slide. Theres also Eastern tribal inspired polyrhythms similar to Tribe After Tribe or Three Fish on the drum and rhythm driven tracks “Who You Are” and “In My Tree” which builds into a crescendo of powerful drums and features a sitar, piano, chanting background vocals and hand claps. Also some art rock experimentation is explored like on “Im Open” a spoken word and meditative mantra that sounds as if it could have been a reject from The Door’s An American Prayer sounding very similar to “Hour for Magic” (a song from that album) simply sends the message of being spiritually and emotionally open. By now and especially with what is offered on No Code Pearl Jam is proving there is nothing they wont do or try and that money and the mainstream fame wont keep them from experimenting and exploring their artistic avenues.
Lyrically, No Code many times is written from a third person perspective looking inward and covers many moods, subjects and themes of spirituality, isolation from the material world, emotional instability, escapism, self-reflection and mortality. Vedder said, “I think there’s a little self-examination in those songs, something that a lot of my friends are going through too, as they approach 30.” Its interesting, I first bought this record from The Warehouse when I was 13 or 14 and now approaching 30 I can relate to this songs much more than I ever did when I bought the record. Its almost like I bought the record for my future self. The album’s opener “Sometimes” is about a little soul searching as well as “Who You Are”, the song that seems to speak to those having suicidal thoughts encouraging them to rethink their contemplation. The song introduced the new Pearl Jam material to the world in 1996 came to many as a complete shocker and turn off, being completely underrated due to its intense shift in energy and style. “Hail, Hail” a song that would have gained them more attention as a first single is about a couple struggling to keep things together where Vedder is reflecting on vows once shared and praising those in a successful relationship. “Present Tense” is sort of a conceptual theme of No Code, its a the reminder that the past is best left in the past and forgiving yourself for past mistakes. Its about freeing yourself from regret. I feel this song may metaphorically be the band cutting ties with their old image and old sound. Its time for a new chapter.
“Off He Goes” is a Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” meets Springsteen introspective tale about himself told in third person. The song expresses how he is a mess and always on the go and never in one place for too long. I think this song may reflect his disconnect with his band mates at the time. The telling of the story almost sounds like Vedder is describing a drug user that has chosen drugs over his relationships and is constantly ditching away to use which just so happens to be what “Habit” is about. “In My Tree” is a hippie track about escaping reality just enjoying nature. Its about leaving the material world behind. Autobiographical inspirations came whileprese on the road like Vedder dealing with obsessed fans and stalker problems that got seriously out of hand. This is what “Lukin” is about, the track “Smile” inspired by one of their opening bands The Frogs and seems to reflect missing Beth Liebling, Vedders longtime girlfriend whom he had just married at the time. The track sounds a bit like Neil Young’s “Loose Change” with Vedder on harmonica. Another autobiographical tune “Red Mosquito” is about Vedder being hospitalized while on tour after getting stricken with an illness that lead to a fever. “Mankind” is a song written and sung by Stone Gossard, the first time someone other than Eddie wrote lyrics to a Pearl Jam song. To me this song was a sort of a peace offering saying his creative control isnt based on ego. The song is about the obsession with the media and the material world.
No Code’s artwork was this crafted mostly by Vedder rather than Ament like Vitalogy and combines 144 random Polaroid photos from eye balls, lips and teeth to various objects found in a house and photos of nature as well. The Eye of Providence is seen when the record is completely unfolded a symbol that is also hidden throughout many of the photos. The term No Code is a medical code to refuse resuscitation or CPR on a patient who has flat-lined. This is interesting concept especially following Vitalogy a record that thematically covered the topic of suicide. The band has been intently attempting to kill its fame and mainstream presence and now that they are gone they dont want to return. This record would definitely make that message clear. This record turned off not only the casual fans but also music critics. There was nothing accessible about No Code. Nothing MTV or radio could sink their teeth into. With Nirvana now out of the scene after Kurt Cobain’s death, Alice In Chains on a hiatus, Soundgarden, and Screaming Trees seemingly about to break up and Pearl Jam nearly breaking up as well had chose to leave the mainstream eye to save the band, that void needed to be filled. Just as much as the music industry wanted to create the next Pearl Jam and the next Nirvana there were plenty of bands ready to mimic these band and their prime records. Bands like Creed, Nickleback, Silverchair, Marcy Playground, Bush, Everclear, The Verve Pipe, Hootie and the Blowfish, Goo Goo Dolls, Fuel, Sinch, Days of the New, Seven Mary Three, Godsmack, 3 Doors Down, Staind and Matchbox20 were there to take a bite of the cookie and fill that void. This created the birth of post-grunge which powered through the turn of the century. Vedder said this about the wave of new mainsteam alternative, “..there is a group of people making music that seems to be very derivative of our first record [smiles]. And they are doing incredibly well – with much less raw talent to work with. They know who they are. I’ve heard a few of them – it’s part caricature, part karaoke. I guess we should be flattered, because they must have heard this stuff and been influenced by it. I just wish it was better. It’s purity that I’m missing in those bands.”No Code sold significantly less than Vitalogy and Pearl Jam doesnt seem to mind that the mainstream replaced them. Something they’ve wanted for some time.
No Code for me when i first heard it 15 years ago was initially not my favorite Pear Jam record. As a casual fan I didnt understand it. It wasnt appealingly strange like Vitalogy it just didnt flow as smoothly or sound as cohesive. It was a rocky river and felt like a road with lots of potholes and speed bumps. It took me awhile to appreciate and understand this record. Maybe I needed a bit of maturing myself as well. It is a simple record at the surface but much more complex once you dig deeper. It took me awhile to break the code, but I now revisit this record often. Its message and style sits in its lack of such alone. It was a record written recorded on a whim and it reflects that but some natural beauty was captured because of it. I look back and see this as both a super influential alt rock and indie rock record. I love that the band explores many genres and mixes in an array of different instruments with acoustic guitars, slide guitar leads, harmonica, spoken word, piano and tribal drum beats. This record really laid the foundation for what their music would be down the road. What would come next? The world didnt know and parts of the world frankly at this point didnt care. Pearl Jam certainly didnt know it could end right with their contemporaries but Pearl Jam did care and reclaiming themselves and reevaluating communication brought a whole new and refreshing energy on their next effort. A lot of songs were left off this record like the 60s sounding “Black, Red, Yellow”, the Springsteen inspired “Dead Man”, “Long Road” a song reflecting the passing of someone close that sounds like the acoustic version of Soundgardens “Like Suicide” and Sleater Kinney’s “Jenny”, “I Got ID”, which sounds inspired by Neil Youngs’ “Cinnamon Girl”. The Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan influenced “The Face of Love”, “Olympic Platinum”, “Dont Gimme No Lip” another song written and sung by Stone Gossard, the Motown inspired “All Night”, and the Motown cover “Leaving Here”. My favorite tracks are “Hail, Hail”, “In My Tree”, “Smile”, “Off He Goes”, “Red Mosquito” and “Habit”. If you like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green River, Deranged Diction, Eleven, Crowded House, Finn Brothers, Temple of the Dog, Three Fish, Mad Season, Brad, Thermadore, Fastbacks, Screaming Trees, Dinosaur Jr., Mike Watt, Mudhoney, R.E.M., Seven Mary Three, CSNY, Candlebox, Goodness, Neil Young, The Buck Pets, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, The Verve Pipe, Pavement, Butthole Surfers, or Blind Melon you will love this record.
Vitalogy is the third record from one of Seattle Washington’s greatest grunge bands. It was an album that held the record for most copies of a Vinyl sold in its first week for the next 20 years after its release and second most copies of a cd sold in its first week with Vs. still holding that record prior to 1998. After only a year Pearl Jam were back in the studio recording a new record once again with producer Brendan O’brien. If the band wasnt touring on a record they were recording one. At this point the band was reeling on collapsing and imploding due to many reasons. Pearl Jam is now seeing that the music industry is not all they had hoped it would be and now its eating them alive from the inside out. Vitalogy would see a new shift in power. The other members of Pearl Jam had to practice a lot of compromising this time around and conform to the new changes of Eddie’s directional lead on Vitalogy, with Eddie now playing and writing many of the songs on guitar. Eddie has stated on this “It wasn’t a hostile takeover, to be honest, I think that I felt that anything we put out was highly representative of me and because I was kind of becoming the most recognizable guy in the group, I needed to be more represented musically. And if that meant me creating the songs that were going to accomplish that, then I had to do it.” This would introduce a lot of tension within the band but would ultimately offer a nice change in pace that would contribute to the bands longevity.
Many struggles were overtaking the band at this time. Lead guitarist Mike McCready was struggling with alcohol and cocaine addictions. Mike said “I didn’t know how to relate to Eddie, and after the band really took off, I went off in my own world.” During this time Mike had checked into a rehab center. Rather than the Jimi Hendrix inspiration present on the previous records Mike McCready seemed to be more Johnny Thunders inspired. His role as a lead guitarist performing solos was greatly simmered on this record due to both Mike checking out a bit mentally, but also Eddies alternative punk inspired direction. Mike said “Vitalogy is not really a ‘solo’ album. I don’t think the songs demanded solos; it was more of a rhythmic album.” Bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard had to now learn Eddie’s songs and compromise with his changes and final say. Both Jeff and Stone were on the brink of quitting while Pearl Jam Drummer Dave Abbruzzese had the hardest time compromising when it came to Eddie and his directional lead on Vitalogy. Even prior to Vitalogy Dave and Eddie seemed to be on completely different wave lengths when it came to the bands future, fame and political ethics. He viewed rockstardom and success a bit differently than the others. It seemed Dave wasnt entirely in support of the bands refusal to talk to press or make music videos. Communication between the two became non existent or strained at the very least. This led to the band firing Abbruzzese in the middle of recording the record. Stone Gossard said “It was the nature of how the politics worked in our band: It was up to me to say, ‘Hey, we tried, it’s not working; time to move on.’ On a superficial level, it was a political struggle: For whatever reason his ability to communicate with Ed and Jeff was very stifled. I certainly don’t think it was all Dave Abbruzzese’s fault that it was stifled.” The band would wind up hiring long time friend and ex Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons who would remain the bands full time drummer moving forward.
The band was not only facing inner and outer turmoil, but tensions and anxiety were building at the time due to various issues such as the band fighting a legal battle with Ticketmaster after charging their fans a service fee. Pearl Jam would continue to not produce any music videos continuing on an MTV, interview and mainstream marketing strike but now the band’s Ticketmaster strike would keep them from any major tours for the next 4 years starting with cancelling the rest of the Vs. tour which led to the band recording this record instead of touring. Also the continued media exploitation that the band had been fighting against since before the release of their last record was still hitting the band hard especially the bands face and representative, Eddie Vedder. Jeff Ament said this about the bands struggles at the time “There’s going to be a point where it’ll revert back to the way that it was. We’ll get through this whole period right now. We’ll get back out there playing. We’ll get back to actually being five guys who want to work it out together. I’d really like that” Ironic how true those words become but after almost decade later. Before entering the studio the band had been hit with heavy dismal emotions when news released that Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain had committed suicide at his home in Lake Washington. Everything the band had been dealing with comes through on this record in a very big way that resulted in a directional shift in style and sound.
Originally titled “Life” Vitalogy, meaning the study of life, was a record that would be known as Pearl Jam’s experimental or avant-garde record with many interludes that remind me of Pink Floyds “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”. Eddies band mates didnt understand or like the direction and sound at first. “At first I didn’t think it had any continuity,” McCready said “It was weird. When I heard the final album, I didn’t really like it, which may have been because I was so fucked up when we recorded it.” Gossard said he felt “kind of disappointed” hearing it for the first time. “In retrospect,” Gossard said, “thank God that we made a record that all of a sudden had this different energy.” Eddie had seen an old medical book titled Vitalogy at a thrift store. Eddie stated the books cover and concept would be great for their third record. Again, the band was making any attempt to piss off the music industry which was carried into the book styled cd case. Jeff Ament liked the concept and said this “We tried really hard, to make it like a book, kind of tipped it so it opened horizontally, which pissed off record stores: they had to put it in sideways.” The records liner notes contains bizarre medical related misinformation as well as poetry, messages, opinions and images that relate to life and death or explain how to live correctly. Many if not all the songs on Vitalogy were written during soundchecks or improvised jams. The recording process was quick, simplistic and less collaborative and unrehearsed. Mike said “eighty percent of the songs were written 20 minutes before they were recorded.” The record had a natural and real sound due to this production process.
The record incorporates some of its fastest punk influenced tracks inspired by bands like “Ramones” on tracks like “Spin the Black Circle” which also sounds like Hüsker Dü’s “Beyond the Threshold”. Stone Gossard wrote the song originally intended to be a mid tempo rocker that Eddie spun up to a faster punk rock tempo. “I pulled Stone off to the side and said, ‘I think I’ve stumbled onto something. There’s a killer song here if you’d play it this fast.’ and I played it to him,” Vedder says. “He thought I was totally insane. But without putting up a fight, they tried it and that’s what it became.” The band really looked to very dynamic punk rock bands on this record like The Buzzcocks, The Heartbreakers, Bad Religion, Fugazi, The Dead Boys and Fastbacks like the uptempo tracks “Spin The Black Circle” and “Whipping” which have a similar energy to “Blood”. Songs like “Corderoy” open with a moody arpeggio riff and contains a very abnormal song structure with the song having no repeating chorus and ending after a final verse rather than chorus. Just as much as this record contains the bands fastest and heaviest songs it also offers some of the bands slower tracks like the grungy lullaby “Nothingman” which features Ament on a beautiful bowed bass who wrote the song and even the catchy pop rock song “Better Man”, which features Eddie on guitar on the songs opening part that builds into an explosive pop rock progression with a similar energy to “Save It For Later” by The English Beat which is a song the band covers in more recent years. The track features Gossard on backing vocals and for the first an oregon. The song was initially suggested by producer Brendan O’Brien to be apart of Vs. but was declined by Eddie Vedder because of how catchy and accessible the track sounded, something Eddie was striving to not offer with Vs. Eddie Vedder had originally intended to give the song to The Pretenders for a charity record. This time around O’Brien was able to save the track and while Eddie had been hesitant at first eventually come around to recording it for Vitalogy. Other times the record experiments with songs like the 3 min interlude “Aye Davanita” that sounds more like a ritualistic seance and the demented polka “Bugs” featuring what has a deranged and psychotic Eddie Vedder picking up an accordion for what sounds like the very first time while disturbingly describing an bug infestation where they are slowly taking over from an invasion of his room to his mind. This track maybe about the medias invasion of privacy. The track sounds as if it came off of Tom Waits’ Frank’s Wild Years; or theres the song “Stupid Mop (Hey Foxymophandlemama, Thats Me)” bearing similarities to The Beatles’ “Revolution 9″ using looped recordings of real patients from a psychiatric hospital that plays over the band jamming in the studio over the coarse of almost 8 minutes. Eddie sarcastically called this song “our most emotional and moving song”.
Lyrically much of Vitalogy expresses the pressures and anxiety from the spotlight and fame and the invasion of privacy. Eddie had this to say about the themes and messages on Vitalogy “I’m just totally vulnerable. I’m way too fucking soft for this whole business, this whole trip. I don’t have any shell. There’s a contradiction there, because that’s probably why I can write songs that mean something to someone and express some of these things that other people can’t necessarily express.” for example the grungy Neil Young inspired “Not For You” is an angry bitter track that sounds like Neil Young meets Fugazi where Eddie points out the selfishness and greediness of the music industry and how it takes advantage of artists and their fans. Its a rebellious song against MTV, against Time Magazine, against Ticketmaster. “Corduroy” seems to be about the corporate mainstream trying to turn Pearl Jam and in particular Eddie Vedder into a dollar sign. Its about how the innocence of Seattle grunge scene was destroyed when the media began to exploit and market it to benefit an industry. Its simply about the corporate appropriation of grunge. On the funky “Pry, To” a mumbling Eddie repeatedly spells out the word “Privacy” on a track that fades in as fast as it fades out. “Whipping” is that rebellious Pearl Jam we have seen where Eddies calls out the right winged governments carelessness for civil rights and progressive change. “Spin the Black Circle” is a song that stabs at the record business and music industry as it supports vinyl during a time when mainstream rock bands werent offering it as an option on their releases. Eddie describes the process of playing a record as if a junkie shooting up heroin. Basically about music being Ed’s addiction.
One track on Vitalogy is a song Eddie Vedder had written years before joining Pearl Jam while he was in high school called “Better Man” The song is a reflection of his mother and stepdads abusive relationship. It tells of a woman in denial about her damaged and unhealthy relationship. Her lack of self worth keeps her coming back to this person who doesn’t love her. Its a beautifully tragic song that is way to happy to be so tragic. Other songs on the record like “Tremor Christ” is a haunting psychedelic track that resembles The Beatles “I Am The Walrus” but with a darker vibe to it. Its one of the more complex tracks on the record is about the impending storm of anxiety where Eddie uses religious and oceanic terminology. Many of the tracks on this record reference the ocean and or sun. “Tremor Christ” can also be interpreted as the death of the Seattle scene, which was pure at one time, but destroyed by the mainstream music industry, struggles with drug addiction or fighting the temptation of drugs or missing loved ones while away on the tours or the pressures of fame something Eddie was suffering from over the past couple years. “Satans Bed” about the fake and deceitful people that Eddie encounters on a regular that claim to “love” him. This tracks has a riff that reminds me of “Bitch” by The Rolling Stones but with a Fugazi edge. “Nothingman” is a song about a man who becomes worth less than nothing when he selfishly abandons love; could be seen as the woman In “Better Man” finally leaving her abusive relationship.
“Immortality” is an arpeggio grunge ballad that features Eddie on a semi distorted guitar with some cool bluesy leads on an acoustic guitar. The song really has a moody folky feel similar to the acoustic version of Neil Young’s “My My, Hey Hey” and Stone Temple Pilots’ “Creep.” The track speaks about the media’s lust for tragedy and suffering and about someone who doesnt fit in with society and cant seem to find their place in the world. While not confirmed, it has been speculated to be about Kurt Cobain’s struggles with depression, anxiety and drug addiction as well as the media’s invasion of privacy in life even after. Lines in the song like “Theres a trapdoor in the sun” seem to reference a line from the Nirvana song “All Apologies” where Kurt wrote “in the sun i feel as one…” The last line in “Immortality” Eddie says “Some die just to live” achieving immortality or finding freedom through suicide. This idea of immortality through the legacy Kurt left behind and finding the only solution to his struggle could come from a line in his suicide not which stated “Its better to burn out than to fade away.” also a line from Neil Young’s “My My, Hey Hey”. This track like many on the record is tragically beautiful. I believe after Kurt committed suicide Eddie had realized what Kurt had been going through emotionally and mentally and could identify and relate. Eddie saw how the mainstream had been making him feel and seen that the same pressures and mainstream exploitation could have influenced Kurts suicide and might have started to feel like maybe he’d be next. “Last Exit” is pretty clearly another song about suicide as a last option to escape pressure and anxiety, but could be a metaphor for self-exile where Eddie is stating this record will be their last attempt at leaving the public eye and mainstream to keep the band alive. This metaphoric message could be seen again on “Immortality”. “Last Exit” could have also been influenced by Kurt Cobain’s suicide. I believe Kurt Cobain was remembered and was a strong influence on a majority of this record in a very clandestine and ambiguous way through both the lyrics and music
I absolutely love Vitalogy even the weird experiments associated on the record. It really added to the albums character. Its Pearl Jams most creative record still to this day. Its raw, dark, melodic, emotional, disturbing and gloomy. I love the grungy fuzzy guitar tones and punk driven structures. Vitalogy also provides proof that Eddie can play guitar and pretty good too with his arpeggio style playing. Pearl Jam was an overnight success with their first record sounding huge and selling even bigger. Vitalogy takes Pearl Jam back into the garage getting a chance to at least be just a group of local musicians meeting to jam for the first time and maybe relive some pre-Pearl Jam feelings and memories or start over in some way. Eddie was really trying to throw off the critics and mainstream which was the goal on Vs. but didnt work with it selling even more than their debut. I think a record like this was necessary for the band at the time. It was literally vital to their longevity. The band was clearly tensed, stressed and in a depressive state and the record really reflects that. The band had really been chopping away at their popularity and presence in the mainstream and now with this record and their boycott against Ticketmaster they would be playing smaller shows or even not at all. This record would ironically be mainstream suicide offering them a much needed break to not just work on their fourth record but to focus on themselves individually and focus on being a band that communicates again. Much like Zeppelin III, Vitalogy showed that Pearl Jam had some diversity and incorporate many styles in their music. The lack of collaberative song writing and communication in the band left only two b-sides, The gritty and aggressive Improvised “Out of My Mind” and “Fuck Me In The Brain". If you like artists like Soundgarden, Deranged Diction, Green River, Brad, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Our Lady Peace, Counting Crows, Sponge, Nirvana, fIREHOSE, Mudhoney, Stone Temple Pilots, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, The Heartbreakers, Screaming Trees, Hootie and the Blowfish, Pink Floyd, The Nixons, Alanis Morissette, Fugazi, Bad Religion, Fastbacks, Toadies, Ramones, Everclear, The Beatles, Tom Waits, Seven Mary Three, Temple of the Dog, or Led Zeppelin you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Last Exit”, “Not For You”, “Nothingman”, “Better Man”, “Immortality” and “Corderoy”
Vs. is the sophomore record from Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam. To me Vs. is sort of the perfect follow up album. Pearl Jam had just come off the success of their debut album Ten and commercial exposure of the award winning music video for Jeremy. The band was blowing up quickly, the pressure was up. The mainstream had been pinning the band against Nirvana over the past couple years and Ten had been both criticized and over praised from various angles. Some grunge enthusiasts claimed Pearl Jam was just hopping on the Seattle band wagon. Many said Ten was not a true alternative record due to its over produced sound despite the bands honest efforts. Eddie himself has now stated, looking back on the record, that Ten is his least favorite record to revisit due to the production and its reverb soaked vocals and drums. Eddie was just going with the motions along with the other band members on that record when it came to production and the music industry. They were taken advantage of when saying yes to music videos, big festivals, interviews and tv spots like MTVs unplugged. The band just saw them taking and taking and saw how it was affecting the band physically and mentally. Well now the band is not only stressed from the pressures of the mainstream they are pissed off at it, and all of those emotions come through on this record and make for a brilliant follow up record.
Vs. is just different enough from Ten to be an evolution in their music. One big change is they found a new producer, Brendan O’ brien, who would go one to produce, mix and remix a majority of the bands records to this day. This record is far more dry sounding with Eddie’s vocals being more up front and in front of the mix with more clarity. Some of the basic structures on songs like “Animal” and “Dissident” were tracks left off of Ten but the rest of the album was 100% written and recorded in a completely natural and organic way with them writing the songs on the spot and making changes last minute unrehearsed. A lot of times songs werent even grounded more till after Eddie would start singing on top of the music. Guitarist Stone Gossard commented after the fact about the production and writing of Vs. saying “You could tell when the music wanted to change just by the way he was singing. [Vs.] was probably where it felt better recording wise. I saw how it could change and evolve which gave me a lot of inspiration to go we can do ballads, we can do fast stuff, we can do slow stuff, we can do punk stuff. That was where I realized there were gonna be a lot of places to go with Ed.” You can even tell by Mike McCreadys licks and solo parts are strictly improvised and not rehearsed. Ed however has stated before “The second record, that was the one I enjoyed making the least… I just didn’t feel comfortable in the place we were at because it was very comfortable. I didn’t like that at all… How do you make a rock record here? Maybe the old rockers, maybe they love this. Maybe they need the comfort and the relaxation. Maybe they need it to make dinner music.” Because Vs. was recorded in a wealthy upscale peaceful town by the bay area of northern California, Eddie would sleep in his own truck he traveled to the studio and even went hiking in the wilderness to give himself poison ivy just to ground his conviction mentally and keep his perspective and intensity up that drove Vs. Jeff once said this in regards to that “Recording Vs., there was a lot more pressure on Ed. The whole follow-up. I thought we were playing so well as a band that it would take care of itself … He was having a hard time finishing up the songs; the pressure, and not being comfortable being in such a nice place. Toward the end it got fairly intense [the band] tried to make it as uncomfortable for [Vedder] as we could.”
Another one of those changes made from Ten is the bands decline to commercialize the record. The band refused to talk to press about the record and declined offers and requests for a music video also turning down a music video for Black prior. Bassist Jeff Ament said “Ten years from now I don’t want people to remember our songs as videos.” This is something that not only puts the band at comparisons with Led Zeppelin sonically and stylistically but also ethically as a band. Despite the lack of mainstream promotion and the bands efforts to keep their record hidden from tv and magazines and out of the hands of movie producers, the album still set the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week prior to 1998. And was popularized on the radio. Pearl Jam was clearly a band striving for longevity by making such choices and sacrifices. This strike against music videos and mainstream marketing would last for the 5 years and the band wouldnt be apart of any mainstream published interviews for the next decade. Whether they admit it or not Pearl Jam noted Kurt Cobain criticisms due to such decisions that Cobain began making himself in refusing interviews as well. Vs. was much more of a fitting alternative record for that reason because while guitar solos and riffs are still existent on Vs., they are less frequent and much shorter to where most of the times they are just licks rather than solos in the songs so its not the focal point on this record. The band incorporates for the first time folky acoustic instrumentation along with a hard rock attitude similar to artists like Butthole Surfers, Collective Soul, American Music Club and Grant Lee Buffalo. With the addition of new drummer Dave Abbruzzese, the rhythm section with Jeff Ament is much more of a focal point. The band even experiments a little bit with more technical drum fills, wider range in cymbal tones, noises and textures and funky bass lines and drum beats like on the tracks “W.M.A” and “Rats”. Both tracks that sound inspired by the Chilis.
Vs. being a follow up record has a huge expectation to offer what was great about their debut while also incorporating somethings new and fresh. The band nails that perfectly with this record. Songs like “Dissident” have a similar structure and mid tempo build to “Alive” and the song “Go” written by drummer Dave Abbruzzese, a heavier track written in drop D tuning that has a similar energy as “Why Go” while also bearing similarities to Rush’s “Stick It Out”. “W.M.A.” has a similar melody as “Release” from Ten. Many attributes still exist in a way that dont seem forced or unnatural they are reintroduced but in better ways so that current and new fans would find something to enjoy. The record’s original title was “Five Against One”, (lyrics used in the track Animal) which was expressing the band against “ONE” entity, whether it be with or from the government or the mainstream media, the music industry or society it could be any one of those things. In essence 5 vs 1. Here is what Gossard had this to say about the albums title “For me, that title represented a lot of struggles that you go through trying to make a record … Your own independence—your own soul—versus everybody else’s.” This led to change in title, which i believe to be because a bigger number against a single one doesnt drive home the message they wanted, which was that the single number wasnt just of singular nature. Much of the record feels and involves conflicts and battles on many fronts so thats when it was changed to simply Vs. with the title not being printed on front of the record’s cover. The cover art for Vs. is a photo bassist Jeff Ament took of a agitated goat growling behind a fence, again driving home the aggression and anger and attitude that sits within the records themes and emotions and the idea that the band is trapped by the pressures of fame but is determined to escape and will dig, bite, and claw to do so.
Eddie Vedder’s writing here, while consisting of the same themes we heard on Ten from political reflections to abuse to suicide, has gotten more in depth and more metaphorical. There are politically driven songs like “Glorified G”, a song that mocks gun enthusiasts and features a lot of back up vocals by Stone Gossard, as well as “W.M.A.” a track about Malice Green that expresses the racism in America and police brutality. Also a song against the mainstream media called “Blood” where the lyrics “Spin me round. Roll me over. Fucking circus” refers to Spin, Rollingstone and Circus magazine. Not so obvious, but the record seems to be an album in stand for womens rights also with many tracks Eddie is putting himself in the shoes of females who are struggling in some way. Like the cleverly written “Dissident” which is about some kind of betrayal in some kind of relationship, where a woman betrays the one person who loved her the most. it also has been speculated to be about the choice of adoption rather than abortion due to the womans political and or religious beliefs. The end is its about a regretful decision that was made in a sacrificial way. I believe this could be Eddie’s metaphorical telling of regretfully offering Jeremy to make the MTV music video where he might have felt like a sell out or was atleast deemed one later by many. Eddie also puts himself in the shoes of females on the tracks “Daughter” and “Leash” with once again theme of abuse that coincide with the track “Alive” and “Why Go” from Ten.Then theres the longest title in Peal Jam’s catalog “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”, the second track to feature an acoustic guitar and is a song about an old woman stuck in this dull predictable town, wanting more out of life and in the song encounters an old lover from her past that had that desired life and liberation who made it out of the town. All this leads to the track “Rearviewmirror”, the last song they recorded, a song about suicide or more positively about leaving it all in the past and putting it behind you metaphorically and literally as you move forward towards prosperity and freedom. This track features Eddie playing guitar on tge tracks opening riff that sounds similar to Rush’s “New World Man”. Abuse is a reoccurring theme on the record with the metaphorical “Go” being about Eddie’s dependent and abusive relationship with his truck. There are many mentions of animals and comparing and contrasting animals to humans is a frequent theme that coincides with the theme of abuse on Vs. like on the tracks “Animal” and “Rats”. Due to the subjects covered on the album, Eddie reflects on humanity as a whole and sees it as less than animal in nature. In the song “Animal” Eddie relates to a rape victim and reflects on how him and his band mates went from being nobody to being exploited on tv and in magazines. I believe this song was written in response to Time magazine using Eddie Vedders face on the cover of one of its issues even when he told them not to. He and Kurt Cobain had a prior conversation where they both agreed to decline any promo with Time Magazine. In “Blood” Vedder states hating himself due to the over publicizing of his face in magazines. Overall “Animal” is about Vedder and the bands struggles against the mainstream and its constant abuse and taking. The album ends with the very atmospheric down tempo track “Indifference” a song about sacrificing your happiness and comfort to better someone else in need. This track to me is a perfect ending after knowing what Eddie went through mentally and emotionally on this record and recording it with sleeping in his truck forcing himself to be in an uncomfortable state of mind. His empathy and attempt to connect with those in need, who are less fortunate than him and puts himself in the spotlight to stand in support of a minority comes full circle here on this tracks atbtge records end.
I absolutely loved this record just as much as Ten, sometimes I feel I might actually like it more. It offered everything I loved about Ten while adding new great qualities. Its like if you left Ten out in the gutter for awhile and then popped it in. Its passionate, angry and melodic. Its hard hitting and tender all at once. I love Eddie’s shaky Jim Morrison baritone vocals and Pete Townshend style writing with his empathetic, soul searching and conceptual lyricism. Mikes riffs and guitar licks add so much character to the tracks. Stone’s acoustic rhythm structures are simple but stand out and leave an unforgettable impression. Dave Abbruzzese is my favorite Pearl Jam drummer especially when next to Dave Krusen on Ten and this record really shows off why. Abbruzzese’s contributions brought an energy to the band that i dont know could have been obtained without him. Pearl Jam at this point is right at their peak and would solidify their foundation from this point with their fight against political injustices and fight for the justice of all people. While touring this record they discovered a certain corporation was trying to take advantage of their fan base and the expectations and media labels of the band continued to grow regardless of their efforts to isolate themselves from the mainstream. Their third record would come quickly and be almost entirely written and performed prior to its release on the Vs. tour. outtakes like the fan coveted “Hard To Imagine”, "Angel", “Bee Girl” and the folky cover of Victoria Williams “Crazy Mary” were recorded during the Vs sessions as well as the cover of “Sonic Reducer”. If you like bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Brad, Mother Love Bone, The Black Crowes, Rush, Candlebox, Smashing Pumpkins, Afghan Whigs, Neil Young, Blind Melon, The Doors, Guns N Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, American Music Club, Live, Rollins Band, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Skid Row, Butthole Surfers, Urge Overkill, The Verve Pipe, Everclear, Follow for Now, Temple of the Dog, Silverchair or Green River you will love this album. My favorite tracks are “Go”, “Animal”, “Dissident”, “Blood”, “Small Town”, and “Indifference”.
In excitement that Pearl Jam may be releasing a new record in the next 12 months or so I will be going back and reviewing each of their records in chronological order starting with their 1991 debut record Ten! To start this record you have to know a little back story. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament had just came from the band Mother Love Bone that came to a sudden end following the death of the charismatic 24 year old singer of Mother Love Bone Andrew Wood after tragically overdosing on Heroin only months before they found San Diego surfer and local singer Eddie Vedder through the help of ex Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. Upon exchange of a demo tape which featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden on drums, Eddie was quickly chosen as the bands full time lead singer, Mike McCready would be named the bands lead guitar player and Dave Krusen as the bands full time drummer. In a matter of days of getting together the band wrote enough material for their first show and enough for a full length LP! Quite literally Pearl Jam was an overnight success, quickly getting on stage and into the studio. Before the release of Ten Pearl Jam had been playing shows in Seattle locally as Mookie Blaylock named after famous Nets basketball player. Once the band was signed to a major label to record their debut record they were legally forced to change their name which spawned the name “Pearl Jam”. The record’s title Ten was named in honor of their former band name and favorite basketball player’s jersey number and even the cover of thevrecord, which when taken out of the jewl case and unfolded into a poster the size of a vinyl sleeve, features the band members in an “opening tip” pose similar to the start of a basketball game or a team’s pre-game chant. Ament said this about the cover art for Ten “The original concept was about really being together as a group and entering into the world of music as a true band … a sort of all-for-one deal.” The title has since been the name of the bands fan club as well.
Many of the songs on Ten were written by Stone Gossard in the months following Andy Woods death, other parts and contributions were created through natural on the spot jamming while writing for Ten. Stone and Jeff were Ten’s primary song writers while Vedder the records lyrical writer. The band would play what they felt at the moment and Eddie would croon and sing whatever he was feeling in that moment as well. Eddie Vedder had said, “All I really believe in is this fucking moment, like right now. And that, actually, is what the whole album talks about.” This was the formula Pearl Jam became known for the early releases. Many of the songs would not change from their original form after being written this way. Stone Gossard said about Eddie writing the words for many of the songs on Ten like “Oceans”, “We wrote it, we played it and Ed sang it, which is another thing that he does. I’d never seen anyone engage with song writing the same way. Here’s the song, let me play it for you. It goes like this. Okay, theres a change here, let’s do it and he would sing it. I’d hear the melodies and I’d think, okay, he’s gonna write words or whatever and then I realized later that he actually had written the words right there. I couldn’t understand how somebody could do that. Since then I’ve met a lot of people that can do it so it was an eye opener but he does it better than anyone I’ve ever seen do it.” It was fast true honest natural talent from everyone in the band.
With Stone and Jeff coming from such dark place surrounding the devastation of their best friend’s death and Eddie himself dealing with much anxiety and depression in his own personal life much of the outlook, sound and lyrical themes reflect that. Themes of depression and loneliness like on the tracks “Release” a song Eddie wrote while thinking about his father who passed, and “Black” a song that bares similarities to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Life Without You” where Eddie seems to being expressing a broken heart after losing someone he loved. Its the most darkest and most emotional breakup song ive heard and is beautifully melodic. Theres also themes of mental illness and homelessness on the song “Even Flow”, drug addiction possibly about Andrew Wood on the track “Deep”, suicide on the track “Jeremy” which is inspired by a true story of a neglected elementary kid who committed suicide in front of the classmates who had bullied him. Death is mentioned or suggested across many of the tracks like “Porch”, which seems to be about leaving to war and never returning, its a politically angsty song like another track on the record, “Garden” a song about not fitting into a greedy, soulless society. Themes of child abuse on the tracks “Alive”, and “Why Go”, with the track “Once” being about that abused child in “Alive” now grown up suffering from PTSD, anxiety and mental illness. Eddie creates many characters within his writing on Ten and each one going through similar emotions and thoughs and feelings that he is and watching his passionate performances on stage you can see these characters emerge.
While this is Pearl Jam’s debut record it should be noted the bands first recording was actually with Temple of the Dog while still under the name Mookie Blaylock which also featured Soundgarden’s lead singer Chris Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron who was also Mookie Blaylock’s (Pearl Jam’s) temporary drummer before Dave Krusen was introduced. Temple of the Dog was a one time project in dedication to friend and singer Andrew Wood and was recorded in response to his passing. The album wouldnt get an official release till 1992. Musically Pearl Jam is much different from many of the Seattle bands that the mainstream was lumping together in the insignificantly and prematurely named genre “grunge” or “Seattle sound”. Pearl Jam was much different from many of the Seattle bands yet the media seemed to constantly compare and even pin the band against Nirvana. Both bands rapidly gaining success and making a lot of noise in the same year at the same time. Pearl Jam while considered an alternative rock band their compositions incorporated many guitar solos and riff heavy and big drum sounds under a reverb soaked production, characteristics of many of the glam rock and arena rock bands like Aerosmith, Bad Company, Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Skid Row, Scorpions and Kiss that came before them. This was something Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain criticized Pearl Jam for at the time and while it wasnt as “grungy” as it was “clean” it was still fast, heavy, hard hitting, natural and dark. Pearl Jam had much more to offer though, especially when it came to lyrical content and substance as well talent and passion for music and live performance. Their music is eclectic, yes everything from arena rock and blues rock to funk rock and heavy alternative rock. Mike McCready’s improvised wah-wah possessed solos that are all over this record really sound Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired. Some songs are energetic and uptempo like “Even Flow”, “Why Go” and “Porch” two songs that possess groovy, bluesy guitar leads similar to Stevie Ray Vaughan meets Living Colour or mid tempo tracks like “Alive” a song that contains arguably McCready’s greatest solo, which sounds similar to the solo in The Doors “5 to1″ and “Jeremy.” Or theres ballads like “Back, “Release” and “Oceans” a love song that features a pepper shaker and fire extinguisher as percussive instruments. The bands general hard rock, tempo changing, arena rock sound really harkens Led Zeppelin and The Who with the band being a hard rock band that has tempo changes and performs within various tunings and Eddies mostly deep growling vibrato somewhat resembles Jim Morrison of The Doors. Ten has some cool syncopated drum fills but this record really is a guitar record with riffs, hooks and choruses being the main structure of the record’s sound. The record also features very cool bass lines as well especially the 12 string bass utilized on “Jeremy” and “Why Go” as well as the fretless bass parts on “Oceans”, “Even Flow” and the hidden instrumental track “Master/Slave”.
Ten is such an amazing record and possibly my favorite record from the band. I love every song. It was the first record that introduced me to the band that would become my favorite band that remains to this day. I love Eddies deep dark emotional lyricism and story telling style writing. Mike McCready’s guitar tone and style is absolutely impressive and remains a inspirational staple for me as a guitarist. Many of the songs on this record are hit songs that have stood the test of time. Whether you like Pearl Jam or not or one of those modern day Nirvana fan Pearl Jam haters, Ten has gone on to sell more copies than Nirvana’s Nevermind and played a significant part in the evolution in American rock music and inspired many alternative and hard rock bands and still does to this day. Ten truly was an instant classic by a band that was truly an overnight success. The album is the bands biggest record and put them on the map and gave them the success many of them had been striving for in a band for so long, yet after achieving such success, the exposure and attention began to turn on them in ways they hadnt imagined and they quickly realized what they wanted so badly might just destroy them. Not too long after the release of Ten Dave Krusen left the band to check into a rehab center for alcoholism just before touring where Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chili fans would heavily support the band and many Nirvana and Pumpkin fans would as well over the next couple years. A drummer named Dave Abbruzzese would become Pearl Jam’s drummer for the Ten tour and the new full time drummer. Many great B-sides came out of the Ten session like “Alone”, “Dirty Frank”, “Wash”, “Evil Little Goat”, “Just a Girl”, “Hold On”, “Brother”, “Let Me Sleep”, “State of Love and Trust”, Breath and a Scream”, the bluesy improve “Yellow Ledbetter” a song that harkens the style of Stevie Ray Vaughans cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and Black Crowes’ “Sister Luck”. Theres the Mookie Blaylock track “Footsteps” an acoustic ballad that coincides with the story on “Alive” and “Once” which was the same song as Temple of the Dog’s “Times of Trouble” just recorded with different lyrics and fronted by Chris Cornell. If you like Mother Love Bone, Green River, War Babies, Janes Addiction, Soundgarden, The Doors, Bad Company, Skid Row, The Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Eleven, Living Colour, Live, Thin Lizzy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bad Radio, Spin Doctors, Guns N Roses, Follow For Now, Scorpions, Nirvana, The Afghan Whigs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Temple of the Dog, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix or Smashing Pumpkins you will love this album. My favorite tracks are “Alive”, “Why Go”, “Black”, “Deep”, “Garden” and “Release”.
Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark? - Album Review
Royal Blood are an English rock band that hit the scene and blew up very quickly a few years ago. I was one of those individuals who found the appeal with his band right away with their debut album. I dont want to over hype this band though because I do feel there is some of that going on right now surrounding this band but lets be honest for a mainstream rock band right now they stand out above the rest and for a duo to hit this hard isnt unheard of, but definitely uncommon. Sonically this band also isnt super unique they sound like a mix of Muse, The Dead Weather and Queens of the Stone Age. Like those bands their focus is primarily of the rhythm section which is due to the bands two primary musicians, a drummer and a bassist. Like the tracks “Lights Out” and “Where Are You Now” feature distorted bass lines and solos that serve as the lead guitar and have a rhythm and melody the reminds me of older Muse. “Hole In Your Heart” sounds like something from The White Stripes or The Dead Weather could have written, while “I Only Lie When I Love You” has a guitar riff and heavy tone similar to Queens of the Stone Age. Their follow up record here offers heavy and at times bluesy structures with distorted bass riffs that create a heavy influence of alternative rock, blues, hard rock and post grunge.
Mike Kerr the bassist and vocalist sings with a falsetto over this heavy distorted instrumentation that sounds like Jack White meets Matt Bellamy. I also have some support for this band because both Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher are from my generation and are influenced by much of the music I like many of the grunge bands like Nirvana but have also cited Led Zeppelin, Queen, Foo Fighters, Muse, At The Drive In, Mars Volta, One Day As A Lion, Jeff Buckley, The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, The Dead Weather, Queens of the Stone Age and Red Hot Chili Peppers. If you liked Royal Blood’s debut release you will be sure to love this record they offer much of the same formula but with just a little more punch and some variants like on the track “Sleep” which sounds One Day As A Lion inspired. Needless to say I am very impressed with these new comers, I loved the crisp production and the distorted heavy melodic tones on this record. They serve their influences well offering a heavy but melodic soundscape that will please radio listeners and smaller indie rock fans. They are all in one an alternative rock band, a blues rock band and post grunge band. I will be watching where these guys take this band next. If you like artists like Nothing But Thieves, Highly Suspect, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Kasabian, Foo Fighters, The Dead Weather, Death From Above, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, One Day As A Lion, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Black Pistol Fire or Band of Skulls you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “How Did We Get So Dark”, “Lights Out”, “I Only Lie When I Love You”, “Dont Tell” and “Hole In Your Heart”.
The folky and soulful singer songwriter from Ireland has returned with a new record or shall I say a new old record. This record consists of songs Glen Hansard wrote years ago that were just put to the side and its simple to see why that may have been. The songs reflect Glen Hansards emotional heartbreak from a relationship that meant very deeply to him coming to an end. I cant help but speculate these emotional songs are based around his break up with ex girlfriend and co songwriter from The Swell Season Markéta Irglová who ironically is featured on the album in the track “Your Hearts Not In It”. Hansard express just about every emotion one may go through when experiencing a break up from questioning the change in heart like on The Rolling Stones inspired “Why Woman”, anger on the “Wheels on Fire” as well as his loneliness and facing the truth of letting go of someone he loved so deeply for so long on many of the songs here, but the album isnt all dismal and sadness he also expresses his determination to push forward, overcome and recover from this broken heart in the songs “Setting Forth” and one of my favorites “Movin’ On” which has a cool bluesy acoustic lick that reminds me of something from Dallas Green. This track offers a stripped back busking Hansard and builds with an organ in the back that goes from humming to wailing. Other times he is offering a bit of advice to his ex about her broken heart, filling her with positivity and confidence in the very passionate “Time Will Be The Healer”. Glen Hansards vocals are on point here probably best ive heard from him. Very reminiscent of Ben Harper. This one is probably my favorite on the album.
Between Two Shores has that organic acoustic classic Hansard sound, but much of the record has a full band and even orchestration with organ, violins, electric guitar and even horns behind him like on the Americana breakdown opener “Roll On Slow” where he pulls some musical inspiration from early Bruce Springsteen. This isnt the only moment on this record that seems to pull from that influence as this influence is heard again on the track “Your Hearts Not In It” and knowing Glen Hansard this comes with no surprise. One of my favorite tracks on the record though is the romantically depressing “Wreckless Heart” which is about taking off and just letting it all go. This track has a beautiful saxophone solo. This record was short which was nice as this topic can only be tolerable for so long whether you have a shared broken heart or have no similar experience at all. I think overall this record was a romantic tragedy conceptually and a short emotional and cathartic journey both for the artist and listener. Its an easy listen with a wide range of types of songs from classic Glen Hansard sounds with his powerful soulful vocals to mostly being backed by a full band of bluesy, folky, soulful and orchestrated instrumentation that harkens back to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones. I loved the uses of organ and brass instruments as it added a lot of soul to the album. If you like artists like The Swell Season, The Frames, Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, City and Colour, Interference, Ben Harper, Damien Rice, Gregory Alan Isakov, and William Fitzsimmons you will love this record. My favorite songs are “Why Woman”, “Wreckless Heart”, “Movin’ On” and “Time Will Be The Healer”.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Wrong Creatures - Album Review
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are a three piece psychedelic alternative rock band from San Francisco California that pulled their name form the 1953 film “The Wild One”. Black Rebel caught my attention years back but fell off my radar for some time until the release of their last record, Specter at the Feast putting them back in my regular playlist. I was quite impressed with that record and here they are with their newest release Wrong Creatures and its full of magnificent blusey shoegazey ambiance. Just like their last release this new release offers a very moody mellow side of the band, right from the start with the opening track “DFF” the record sets that mood other tracks like one of my favorites Haunt contain a very slow breathy, whispery and well haunting sound while the tracks “Echo” and “All Rise” sound like Lou Reed meets old school Coldplay and “Ninth Configuration” pulls from a more U2 driven brit pop sound with Peter Hayes’ Bono/Craig Nicholls-like vocals. Like “Haunt”, “Echo” is also accurately titled as it is full of echoing reverberations and delay effects on the “Edge” inspired guitar swells and vocal parts. Definitely one of the highlights on the record as well. My favorite track on the record “Question of Faith” is super hypnotic and has a blusey psychedelic rhythm. Some of the bass lines on this record such as on that track really take the lead and spotlight and man is it refreshing when compared to a lot of the blusey alt rock bands that only focus on guitar leads. The track “Calling Them All Away” is a super droney shoegazer that contains a repeating vocal part. The song builds as the drums kick in about half way. The band picks the energy up a bit with the heavier faster paced “Little Thing Gone Wild” then the decline, slowing things down at the end. The records pacing is very very nice.
Ive often compared this band to my favorite band Pearl Jam not for their sound necessarily, but because of their strive for longevity and passion for music. They have released 8 records now all within under 20 years as a band remaining in an indie circle. The band has also faced setbacks like Pearl Jam that youd think would add strain and end any band with having a change in drummers and having been through deaths in their families and major surgeries yet they continue to record and tour consistently. Overall I was impressed with this new record from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Every musician in the band takes some spotlight at some point with even some cool organ and harmonica parts. I loved the very psychedelic and reverb soaked production and shoegazing blusey alt rock approach with heavy influence from Euro rock and Brit pop. If you like artists like The Black Angels, U2, 22-20s, Band of Skulls, The Vines, The Dandy Warhols, The Kills, RNDM, The Black Keys, The Brian Jonestown Massacre or Kasabian you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Haunt”, “Echo”, “Ninth Configuration”, “Question of Faith” and “Carried From The Start”.
Eminem is back and sporting a permanent 5 o clock shadow? On the most recent record from Detroit’s rap Icon I cant help but feel a bit torn on both loving and hating it. I anticipated this record since his last record Marshal LP 2, but just like that record this record also contains many featured artists that seem to take more spotlight than Eminem himself. The song “Need Me” sounds more like a Pink song featuring Eminem as more than half the track consists of Pink. Unfortunately also like his more recent records the better tracks here were because of the featured artists and the parts they bring to the songs. The production of the record falls short as well with Eminem’s vocals sound in and out from the mic especially on the track “Believe”. At times it almost sounds like a live recording which works at times. Eminems triplet staccato flow on this track and next one “Chloraseptic” just gets annoying and sounds like Drake meets Big Sean. The over use of samples from other songs really killed the flow and interest in Revival. A lot of poor choices made on this record in the production and samples on this record surprised me to come from such an legendary novice rapper. Some of Eminems bars and lines on this record are more amateur and immature than what was presented on even his 1996 debut indie release, Infinite as well...
However, other times just the opposite also exists on Revival with Eminem bringing some mature confessions and responsibilities to the songs like on the track “Bad Husband” where he apologizes to the mother of his child for past tracks like “97 Bonnie and Clyde” and “Kim” where he fantasizes murdering her and disposing of her body with their own daughter as well as apologizing for more personal faults with being physically abusive with her in his relationship with her. He also apologizes on some of my favorite tracks on the record “River”, a song about an abusive relationship that sounds like a cleansing of sins and admitting his lying and cheating and fuck ups, “Castle” is much more narrative where he apologizes in the form of a letter to his daughter for exploiting their family issues to the public and mentioning her in his songs. This song is up there at the level of “Stan” to me and ends with him overdosing on pills. This reflects a real moment he was in at one time and the next song “Arose” My favorite on the record kicks in with the sound of a life support machine in an ICU and is about his letter to his family if hadnt made it out of his drug addiction/overdose. At the end of the song Eminem does things over differently flushing his pills down the toilet. Its a heartfelt moving track that conceptually mixes well with he track just before. These tracks and moments on this record I did appreciate and was much more of that 8 Mile Eminem we all love.
As I said earlier the record has many featured artists like Beyonce, PHRESHER, Alicia Keys in one of my favorites on the record in the the Donald Trump bashing rap ballad “Like Home”. This song had some pretty interesting word play. Revival also featured X Ambassadors, Skylar Grey, Pink, and Kehlani, but my favorite on the record is Ed Sheeran on “River”. These featured artist really save a lot of the record and seems that that was Eminems intent as well. It really just brings Eminem into a more pop rap world. Seems to be taking a page from G-Eazy’s playbook with this move. Overall most of this record was pretty cringe worthy and far from being one of the better rap records to come out in more recent years and my least favorite Eminem record taking the place of Infinite. There were amateur sounding production issues, immature lyricism and I think there was an over use of sampling and featured artist that seemed to be only a crutch for more sales.
I was surprised and disappointed that a record like this would come out from the great Eminem. I wish he would have tapped more into the off the cuff freestyle approach he presented in his freestyle bash on Donald Trump. Ive posted the video of that below. Its more natural and seems far more passionate and more of a truer Eminem. I actually expected a much more political record. It sounds as if Eminem was trying to go for a confessional letter style concept with every song nicely flowing into one another but with large 19 tracks and poor production the album fails in that regard. I think the record would have benefited from some trimming. However I did enjoy some of the featured artists. Alicia Keys, Skylar Grey and Beyonce’s vocals and contributions were very pretty in their delivery. Eminem did have some heartfelt moments with something meaningful to say. I was a bit torn but I expect his next effort if there is one after this will be much different. If you like D12, Bad Meets Evil, Hopsin, Snoop Dogg, Stat Quo, Big Sean, Dr Dre, Yelawolf, Royce da 5'9", G-Eazy, Denace, Obie Trice, Macklemore, 50 Cent, 2pac, Ca$his, Asher Roth or Machine Gun Kelly you will love this record. My favorite tracks are River, Like Home, Offended, Castle, and Arose.
.This year did not contain too many new artists but this year I did get hit with some pleasant surprises with records from artists I never thought I would ever give any favorable praise. There were a couple artists that released records that hadnt released a good record in years, a couple who hadnt ever and a couple who returned to form! I hope you enjoy my list and look up any that seem to grab your taste. I have ordered them from least favorite to most favorite.
30. Justin Bieber - Purpose (Pop/R&B)
Holy Shit! A Justin Bieber album review with words of positivity?(and no I am not being paid to do so.) Thats right a mainstream pop artist has made it on to my top favorite albums of this year. So what is it about this album that actually deserves credibility? The guy actually looks up to some great influential pop artists like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey, but I should first start by saying Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop singer who released his debut My World 2.0 in 2010 which contained a very adolescent bubblegum pop sound. With his second record though he attempted to make a more mature approach but ultimately still sounded very juvenile with a very overly produced production like his debut. Both records were just very accessibly mainstream pop albums that offered nothing original or creative musically or lyrically. Since then Bieber has made himself very public through interviews on various television talk show programs, marketed his own fragrances, and modeled for major companies marketing ads for their products. Ultimately Bieber is a class A sell out.
In 2013 he released an acoustic album of his Believe record which actually opened my eyes to his talent as a guitarist and highlighted a more melodic and pure side to him as a musician as opposed to his electronically produced studio albums. Up to that point his most mature effort. Recently though Bieber seemed to be having many run ins with the law, proving his lack of maturity and hormonal battle with approaching adulthood and abusing substances and freedoms as a young adult. Setting a bad example for today’s youth, similarly to Miley Cyrus and the public image she creates for herself. Now that its been nearly 4 years since Believe much time has gone by that could potentially lead to a new direction in sound and despite his recent antics and misdemeanors his newest record Purpose is not only offers a big shift in maturity for Bieber as a musician, with the modeling ad style cover art even flaunting his tattoos but also is superior record in the world of pop this year. Its his first record to release since his split with Selena Gomez which I assume must contain some reactions to the break up with many topics on Purpose containing themes regarding a break up, expressing apologies like on the song “Sorry” while other times he sounds as if even as the dumpee he is telling his ex to live life alone since she loved her self more than him on the song “Love Yourself”. Despite much of the records melodramatic downer lyrics, he seems to be making an attempt to redeem himself in the public eye mentioning his efforts to be a better person.
Musically the record contains electronic elements of EDM and dance pop while vocally he is very R&B influenced obviously inspired by The Weeknd, and reminding me of Usher. The vocals here a bit gimmicky at times, but the best ive heard from him. The album even featurs parts of live instrumentation like guitar work similar to his acoustic album and some pretty piano ballads, which was a highlight for the album. The production on the record is actually very appealing and top notch. Promise isnt so much of a good record as much as it is just a good record for it being a Justin Bieber record and when I compare it to recent records from Miley Cyrus or The Weeknd its a much better record. Its very catchy and melodic. Other than that though dont expect anything outside the box of accessibility or expect anything real creative, original or deep on this record. Dont worry im not some Bieber fan now, I mean he is one of the reasons I no longer have the undercut hair style. Just a simple step in the right direction for Bieber. If you like artists like Skrillex, Halsey, Mike Posner, Usher, Diplo, Austin Mahone, Cody Simpson, Jason Derulo, Big Sean, Shawn Mendes, Conor Maynard, One Direction, Chris Brown, or The Weeknd you will enjoy this album.
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29. Bastille - Wild World (Synthpop)
Bastille are a British indie synthpop act from London England that offer very melodic and catchy formula filled with synthetic textures and keyboards. Bastille released their debut record Bad Blood, which was a record I absolutely loved and was on my 2013 list of favorite records because of the big impression it made on me. Bastille have released their sophomore record Wild World and while I dont think it meets the heights of Bad Blood, I think its still has some qualities still worth praising.
One of the biggest differences about this record when compared to their debut, and its a difference that I love about this record, is the band is incorporating more live instrumentation and not just relying so much on the synth samples and keys, which is still a big part of the sythpop style production on this new record. So big in fact I feel its messy synthetic production distracts a bit from the records narrative writing which takes a lot of influence from Shakespearean tragedies. Just like their debut record, the band went with a very theatrical movie motif with the cover art again looking similar to a movie poster. Unfortunately though just like Bad Blood Wild World doesnt seem to have any cohesive narrative or concept. I feel their records movie motif would play out far better with some conceptual themes and story telling. I feel Bastille failed a second time to do that here, even the records sound isnt very cohesive. I think this record had too many tracks, up to 20 of them, that could have been left off so it wouldnt come off as cluttered as it did for me.
Overall I wasnt super impressed with much of this record. The melodies at times were delivered in ways that are overly dramatic and lack any raw emotion with conviction while most of the record’s production was just much bells and whistles, cluttered with too many samples and synth beats and noises, but the songs that were good, were super memorable and were a big progression from the better songs on their debut record. Again, I loved the live instrumentation that included more distorted guitars, introducing a bit more of an edgier rock sound at times. I feel, though, they pull off an indie folk rock sound better than an indie rock sound based on acoustic performances Ive heard them do in the past. Wild World’s live instrumentation also includes horns and string sections, which was different and unique and really added to some of the songs, but because the band is one foot in mainstream synthpop genre and one foot in indie rock the record suffers a bit for it and feels a bit messy and uncertain. The tracks I did like though quite a bit are “Currents”, “Send Them Off!”, “Blame”, “Fake It” and “Winter of Our Youth”. If you like artists like To Kill A King, Imagine Dragons, Walk The Moon, The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club, Coldplay, Foster The People, Rudimental or Kodaline you will love this record.
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28. Jeremih - Late Nights (R&B)
Jeremih has released is long awaited and highly anticipated third record Late Nights after a 6 year gap and while it doesnt completely live up to its hype it definitely delivers a strong production and is a fantastic r&b record. I picked up on this Chicago native after the release of his sophomore record All About You which was cover to cover an amazing record in my opinion, probably the best R&B record in 2010 which offered something much more than club banger tracks but substantial lyrical content behind amazing melodies as well.
With Late Nights we again get a pretty even mix of club bangers and R&B at its finest with a little hip hop thrown in, but also features some acoustic guitar parts which was surprisingly appealing and caught me off guard. Most of the record sounds and feels like a hot sweaty dance floor at a Miami club as youd probably already expect, but with plenty of songs for the slow dancing romantics. The formula here is not surprisingly following the blue print of Drake and The Weeknd, which many artists have been influenced by such as in Trey Songz and Justin Beiber’s new record went this direction as well. In my opinion Jeremih, like his contemporaries such as Ty Dollar $ign, Trey Songz and The Weeknd is one of R&B’s best acts in the scene right now not only for his higher register vocal talents, but his talents as a multi instrumentalist and writing contributions as well.
I think one of the key elements of this genre is sensuality and a bit of soul and Jeremih delivers just those two things here on this record, maybe not as flawless, fluent or as catchy as his last album but still beautifully masters the sound with his vocals and lyricism regarding love and the struggles to keep it alive. Late Nights is a beautiful record that resonated with me just as his last record did and is quite possibly the best r&b record of this year. If you like artists like Ty Dollar $ign, Frank Ocean, Usher, Tory Lanez, The Weeknd, Trey Songz, Bryson Tiller, Big Sean, Lloyd, The Dream, Majid Jordan, PARTYNEXTDOOR, SoMo, August Aslina, DVSN, Omarion or Chris Brown you will love this album. My favorite tracks are “Planez”, “Oui”, “Remember Me”, “Don’t Tell Em”, and “Somebody”
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27. Korn - The Serenity of Suffering (Nu-Metal)
Korn are an alternative metal band from southern California who are one of the founding fathers and pioneers of the nu metal genre in the 90s combining elements of hip hop, funk, alternative rock and heavy metal. I am quite surprised myself to see myself giving a new Korn record any compliments as Korn hasn’t released even a somewhat decent record since Untouchables or even Issues and while I still dont think Korn is a great band at least anymore you cant deny that Korn have influenced hundreds of bands within the metal genres and with this new record the band offers a lot of qualities I loved about Korn’s early releases and I feel confident saying this is their best record since Untouchables. This is actually one of a few records this year that caught me off gaurd and pleasantly surprised me and offered a return to form.
Korn have gone through a lot over their 25 year run as a band both in their line up road bumps, collaborations and controversies and here we are now with their twelfth record! I loved their early records for its heavy and melodic soundscapes with very interesting musicianship. Many of Johnathan Davis’ lyrics were very psychologically dark and personal with songs about his childhood and his ignored child abuse as well as sexual fantasies and violent hatred. Fieldy’s funky slap bass and the bands record scratching with such heavy metallic instrumentation was so different and interesting and lead to influence many bands after them. I loved Davis’ psychotically insane and demonic scatting when I heard their early songs and the bands general horrific atmosphere created by both the tuned down heavy instrumentation and lyricism and this record offers all those same elements I always loved about Korn!
That dark creepy horrific aura the band creates on the production of this new record is one of its stronger points even and really made for a great record to hear around Halloween this year. With this record Davis’ delves into his usual self destructive questioning his sanity and expresses how he feels crazy and psychologically fucked up and his usual hatred towards the world. This record really surprised me and never thought Id give any compliments to a Korn record anymore. My favorite tracks are “Insane”, “Rotting In Vein”, “Black Is The Soul”, “Take Me”, and “When Youre Not There”. If you like bands like Fear and the Nervous System, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Deftones, Ill Nino, Coal Chamber, Static-X, Disturbed, Taproot, Limp Bizkit, Soulfly, or Marylin Manson you will love this record.
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26. Beyonce - Lemonade (R&B)
Ok I know what youre thinking: “This is getting out of hand.. A Beyonce record??” Thats right. Just keep holding out. Beyonce has finally in my opinion reached a point in her career where I would stand up and applaud. Beyonce is a 20 time Grammy Award winning R&B artist from Houston Texas who broke away from her singing group Destiny’s Child in the early 2000s and started releasing solo music. Since then shes gained huge notoriety fame and success, influencing nearly every artist in the pop world who came after as well as many women around the world. Ive always respected Beyonce as a performer, and talented singer but her music wasnt always relatable to me nor really all that appealing where her main focus was always just the performance and her spotlight. The repetitive mainstream appeal works for radio, and people in clubs, but I dont engage in either those things… Beyonce, however, has been in more recent years taking risks that might throw those things to the side lines a bit, focusing more on production and narrative, releasing more risque and darker more personal music and her sixth record Lemonade is her most personal and confessional endeavor yet..
Lemonade is a very emotional concept record that journeys through her every single thought and feeling of being cheated on by someone she loves or loved very much. The way this record takes risks isnt just in the very emotionally heart wrenching and depressing subject matter filled with hate and revenge, but it also takes risks through the spans of many different styles of rock, neosoul, hip hop, blues, pop, gospel and reggae. Beyonce seems to draw lots of influence from modern day indie alternative R&B artist FKA Twigs and more classic R&B artists Aretha Franklin, Prince, Whitney Huston, Roberta Flack and Nina Simone. Thats one of the things I appreciated about this record is the diverse mix of sounds accompanied by live instrumentation and her vocal delivery is the best ive heard it. Many unexpected featuring artists as well like James Blake, Diplo, The Weeknd and even Jack White which even served as a singing inspiration on the track “Dont Hurt Yourself” where she presents her vocals in a similar way to Jack White and theres also a surprisingly political track “Freedom” which features Kendrick Lamar.
As appealing and pleasant the production and music is on Lemonade, the lyrical content is very painful to listen to. Beyonce goes from heartbreak and agony to rage and revenge towards her cheating lover to moving on, gaining confidence and contemplating starting a new life to finally resolving and forgiving him at the end. One of the things I love about this records story telling is at no point does Beyonce come off as weak and she also does not lack conviction. At moments where shes heartbroken you really feel sad for her and when shes pissed you just want to step out of her way. And at the end she remembers what love is for and that while the future may still be uncertain its best to stay strong and remember who she is where she came from and where shes going and fight for a relationship that shes invested so much in.
Lemonade, like her last record was an album that was dropped out of the blue with no warning or marketing but gained huge notoriety over night, something I appreciated about her last release just as I do with this one. Overall Lemonade is her most mature and interesting record to date. Beyonce’s confessional story telling of infidelity, dishonesty, distrust, vengeance, anger, desperation and regret within a broken relationship was a very difficult listen, but I really respect Beyonce for releasing such an honest personal record and for helping me realize that certain emotions are ok to have and that you have to face certain demons head on, because at the end of the day life may hand you lemons but what you do with the lemon is what ultimately matters and will shape tomorrow, because what beyonce did with the unfortunate events and emotions life gave her was make a great record in response. I hold a glass of lemonade in toast to this record for its creativeness and talent within its respected genre. Its a fine glass of pure bitter sweet juice. This record was definitely the hardest record to listen to this year. My favorite tracks are “Pray You Catch Me”, “6 Inch”, “Daddy Lessons”, Love Drought”, “Sandcastles”, “Freedom” and “All Night”. If you like artists like Destiny’s Child, Jennifer Hudson, FKA Twigs, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, Ariana Grande, Ciara, Michelle Williams, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj or Tinashe you will love this record.
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25. RNDM - Ghost Riding (Indie Rock)
RNDM is an alternative rock trio consisting of singer and musician Joseph Arthur as well as bass player Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam, Green River, Tres Mts., Three Fish and Mother Love Bone and drummer Richard Stuverud from The Fastbacks, War Babies, Blind Horse as well as Tres Mts. and Three Fish with Jeff Ament. RNDM came out in all of their orange glory releasing their debut album “Acts” in 2012 which was a fantastic record. Four years later now they are back with their sophomore record “Ghost Riding”. Unlike their debut record this record isnt just a straight forward alternative rock record. Many more elements of art rock, indie rock, post-punk and even Brit pop sounds are being incorporated similar to bands like U2 with Joseph Arthurs Bono like vocal range and also similar to Oasis, Pink Floyd and David Bowie consisting of quite a few ballads. I love the experimentation on this alternative rock record and stepping further out of the box when compared to their last record. The album really shows the bands diversity. I particularly enjoyed the many piano and string arrangements with the female choir parts and preferred those parts over the more electronically tinged elements.
Ghost Riding really has a great ambiance in its production created with in its use of synthetic keyboards and beats, bluesy guitar lines, and calming piano parts by Jeff Ament and string arrangements. Overall I found this record to be very unique and different and while I could have done without most of its electronic keyboard elements It proves to be their most diverse record with the most colorful palette yet. If you like Artists like Pearl Jam, Brad, Tres Mts, U2, Jeff Ament, The Fastbacks, Fistful of Mercy, Stone Gossard, The Walking Papers, The Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers, The Little Ships, Afghan Wigs, or Highly Suspect you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Ghost Riding”, “Got To Survive”, “Stray”, “Stronger Man”, and “Trouble”.
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24. Frightened Rabbit - Painting Of A Panic Attack (Indie Rock)
Frightened Rabbit are an indie folk band who has been around for nearly a decade and are from one of my favorite countries in the world, Scotland, and a majority of this bands career went under my radar do to their European origins as an independent act, however in more recent years Frightened Rabbit have been making their presence known more and more here in the states as they made their move to the Los Angeles. I first discovered this band with the release of their last record Pedestrian Verse and fell in love with their song The Woodpile with its wintery/fall and woodsy folk rock sound. With their new record Painting Of A Panic Attack their sound is less of an indie folk sound but more of an indie rock sound and the results are just as appealing as much if not more so when compared to their previous releases.
Frightened Rabbit is often very sympathetic but also very heartbreaking in their lyricism like on the song “Get Out” as well as plenty of self-hatred and id call pessimistic outlook on life on songs like “Break” and “An Otherwise Disappointing Life” and they have also been very open about their atheist and anti religious position. The band on this new record though are taking more responsibility showing a great amount of personal growth and maturing but still shrouded in depression. Their relatable and very personal characteristics are still very present here with admitting struggles with alcoholism and singer Scott Hutchison’s fear of aging on the song “I Wish I Was Sober”. The records title is quite accurate for its depressing tone with suggestive lyrics of suicide and death as you get the sense Hutchison is unstable and suffering from some severe anxiety, stress, and depression especially on the tacks “Death Dream” and “Floating in the Forth”. Needless to say the bands melancholics is still very much alive and well on this record, but thats the results of a broken heart.
Frightened Rabbits wintery feel in the bands composition is also very much a presence on this release as well despite its spring release with the opening song sounding like a song written on a blue Christmas as like many of the other songs on the record climatically build, droning and swelling with echoing and reverberating guitars and the more newly introduced synthetic keyboard textures. This record provides their deepest and darkest lyricism to date while contrasting with the beautiful most shimmering production and compositions from the band yet. Its tough to listen to such a sad record as this one but you cant help but enjoy the records soundscape and raw emotional honesty. If you like bands like Owl John, The Fruit Tree Foundation, Make Model, The Twilight Sad, Admiral Fallow, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Blue October, You Blew It!, The National, There Will Be Fireworks, Idlewild, Biffy Clyro, Broken Records, or Band of Horses you will love this record.
Basement are an English Alternative Rock band that combine elements of 90s style grunge, punk rock and emo soundscapes. Just before releasing their sophomore record Colormekindness in 2012, Basement announced they would be separating. It was just about this time that I discovered Basement and was disappointed to hear they no longer had plans to tour or create new music. I am ecstatic to announce that Basement have reunited and are back with their third release, “Promise Everything”.
Basements formula is amazing, its very 90s pure emo sound, inspired by bands like Mineral, Braid and The Promise Ring in their lyrical content while very 90s alternative rock, reflecting bands like Hum, Jimmy Eat World and Silverchair in their musical compositions. Singer Andrew Fishers vocals are a bit more melodic this time around like Billie Joe Armstrong meets Rivers Cuomo and mix well with the instrumentals and guitar riffs. Fisher is once again exposing his emotions and wearing his heart on his sleeve here with melodramatic lyricism about acceptance and apprehension. Many of the songs have a grungy fuzzy guitar with mid tempo structures that at times vary in their beats and melodies, following many of their contemporaries like Citizen, Superheaven, Balance and Composure. The record when compared to their first two records is much more melodic and more cohesive with leaning towards an alternative emo side giving even Jimmy Eat Worlds new record a run for its money which is saying a lot for a small band like this from the British isles.
Overall impressed with this record as it proves to be the bands best record to date. Basment is definitely a band that is aging well and the time away really seemed to bring the best out of the band. If you like artists like Citizen, Title Fight, Mineral, Moose Blood, Joyce Manor, Superheaven, Suede, Fiddlehead, Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, Hum, Silverchair, Tigers Jaw, Balance and Composure, Swain, The Promise Ring, or Braid you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Brothers Keeper”, “Hanging Around”, and “Aquasun”.
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22. Drake - Views (From the 6) (Hip Hop)
The new record from Drake titled Views has dropped this year and unfortunately I must say its a step back from his previous release, a mixtape that nearly made my number one favorite record of 2015. I have to say though that mixtape is pretty untouchable. Drake really set the bar high with that one. On this release though we see a return to his original mainstream style and format. A mix of R&B and hip hop and the results arent that bad.
Much of Views really takes what was great about his last mixtape and does, for the most part, the exact opposite here. I would say a majority of this record despite Drake’s progressed singing voice, isnt very great, has a lot of weak, immature and shallow lyrics about being in unhealthy and unhappy relationships like one with some ghetto girlfriend he had that would only use him for his money but for some reason would continue to make things work… As he describes the ratchet female I have a hard time understanding why he even surprised hes unhappy with this girl he picked up… Many of the tracks reflect betrayal and being taken for granted. Aside from Hotline Bling and One Dance, the R&B/pop driven tracks are trash here as most of the time they usually are to me.
In between many of the bad tracks though are some decent hip hop tracks. Much like his song Back to Back which is one of two distracks like Back to Back against Meek Mill. Its tracks like this that have that formula of a harder more confident rap influenced side to Drake that I had no idea even had potential existing and sounding good at that. Other diss tracks like “Hype”, a song about being too mature to read into his enemies (Meek Mill, Niki Minaj and possibly The Weeknd) and the media that like to exploit conflict and just all around say “fuck you” to the shit talkers, the songs “Grammys”, “Summer Sixteen” and the Kanye West influenced “Views” on this record are pretty decent hip hop tracks that arent quite at the rap level of his last mixtape but certainly some of the better tracks on this record.
The album in whole has a lot of choppy flows with awkward lyrical moments. Its a lengthy record probably needed to be trimmed a bit more due to its many skipable filler tracks with the best tracks here usually being because of the featured artists, but on the other hand the more straight forward hip hop moments are memorable and the beats and production samples are ear hooking at times. I definitely wouldnt say this is Drakes best record but its not a complete failure either. I hope that Drake focus’ a bit more on what he created on his mixtape and taps into more of the rap style that he was possessed with on songs like Back to Back because I think that offers his best potential yet. If you like artists like PARTYNEXTDOOR, Kanye West, Tory Lanez, Chris Brown, DJ Kahled, Future, G-Eazy, Pimp C, Rhianna, J Cole, Big Sean, The Weekend, or Frank Ocean you will love this record.
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21. Baroness - Purple (Alternative Metal)
Baroness are an Alternative Metal band from Georgia whom incorporates elements of various types of heavy metal such as Sludge Metal, Post Metal, and Progressive Metal with its very layered climactic crescendo formula. Much like their previous records this album’s title is named after a color and very accurate of a color as it seems to blend elements from both their debut “Red Album” and their sophomore “Blue Album”giving us the now four years after their last record the color “Purple”. This record is a diverse and dynamic mix of metal and heavy rock music and provides Baroness’s best work to date. Its a metal record that is melodic and catchy but also very thunderous. Musically the album goes back to the heaviness first record and second records style as I said before, but Purple is a bit more tender as it is the color of bruises, a color suiting for the dismal, depressing and broken state the band was in during the writing process of the record, reflecting on an event that almost ended the band. Baroness had gotten in a serious accident while on tour which almost killed a couple band members who ultimately left the band. The band seemed to be reaching its end before it found its ambition to write this record we have now.
The drums on this record are brutally primal and pummeling and ever changing. The guitar’s harmonizing solos and driving riffs range from aggressive to an almost sweet and soft classical spaghetti western and play along with soothing piano parts when the songs descend. Many times the band joins in harmoniously in the chorus with group chanting while singer John Baizley sounds very James Hetfield of Metallica. The record really reflects tragedy and pain both physically with emotionally and possible addictions to pain meds during their recovery. Other topics on the record speak of battles, tribulations and struggles to live. Some songs use symbolism like the heat from fire and burning and mention themes of death and suffocation. Beneath each song seems to be a sort of wake up call type message. Throughout the record behind its dismal tragic stories of loss and grieving there seems to be a mood and expression of hopefulness to survive and having gratefulness to live to see another day. My favorite tracks from the record are “Morningstar”, “Shock Me”, “Try to Disappear”, and “If I Had to Wake Up”. If you like bands like Mastadon, Unpersons, Kylesa, Isis, Valkyrie, High On Fire, Intronaut, The Ocean, Torche, Pelican, Metallica, Sumac or Black Tusk you will love this album.
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20. Ten Commandos - Ten Commandos (Hard Rock/Grunge)
The grunge based hard rock supergroup Ten Commandos has finally released their debut record after a nearly 7 year development. With members of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Burning Brides, Screaming Trees, Eleven and Queens of the Stone Age and with the inclusion of classic guitarist Peter Frampton on one of the tracks, you can bet this album will deliver a lot of heavy and dirty muddy riffs. This is the purest grunge record ive heard in a very long time.
The album starts off with Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees crooning over a very heavy riff and you can hear right away that this album is going to take you back to the 90s of what pure grunge was all about. Sonically the album is a mix of bluesy hard rock and stoner rock taking you back to the early days of bands like Soundgarden, Skin Yard, Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees with the characteristic grungy Big Muff distorted guitars! Im not sure how serious this endeavor is but this record was super nostalgic and synergetic with its collaborative contributions, various musical influences and super talented musicians involved. It is definitely nice to hear a band put out an album like this celebrating and dedicating an album to one of my favorite genres and time in music history. If you like bands like Burning Brides, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Temple of the Dog, Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees, Tres Mts., The Gutter Twins, Spinnerette, Alice In Chains, Mark Lanegan Band, Hater, Skin Yard, Eleven, Walking Papers, Mad Season, Desert Sessions, or Eagles of Death Metal you will love this album.
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19. Dinosaur Jr. - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not (Alternative Rock)
If Pearl Jam and Nirvana had a baby its name would be Dinosaur Jr. despite the fact that they predate both those bands as Dinosaur Jr. first formed in the mid 80s on the east coast just before it exploded in the northwest. While Pearl Jam and Nirvana popularized the substantial alternative rock scene Dinosaur Jr. really was doing it first, but its undeniable the band’s influenced by many of the bands they influenced like Nirvana and Pixies as well as the records similarities to Pearl Jam on songs like “Be A Part” and “Good to Know” with their mid tempo song structures, searing off the cuff guitar solos and J Mascis’ Vedder like croons while also sounding like Niel Young and Crazy Horse at times on songs like “Love Is…”. Musically the record has a very “Yield era” sound on the softer songs like “Knocked Around” and on the grittier melancholic tunes its very “In Utero” influenced on songs like “I Walk for Miles”, and “Mirror”.
Singer J Mascis though has also always had is own distinct and unique sound both in his vocals and his guitar riffs and style and this record provides some of his band’s best work to date. I love the 90s sounding garage rock influence on this record. Really seems to homage and throw back to their earlier records. Give a Glimpse is definitely the best alternative rock album this year and while not Dinosaur Jr.’s best record to date its definitely in the top three or four, which is impressive for being their first record in four years and being the latest record from a band thats been around for 30 years! If you like artists like Sebadoh, Sonic Youth, Pavement, The Folk Implosion, Built to Spill, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, The Breeders, Witch, Mudhoney, Meat Puppets, Foo Fighters, Pixies, Superchunk, Husker Du, Lemonheads, or Buffalo Tom you will love this record.
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18. Weekend Nachos - Apology (Hardcore Punk)
Weekend Nachos are a hardcore powerviolence act from a small midwest town of Illinois and fittingly so. This new Nachos record marks the bands fifth and final record. To be honest aside from just knowing the bands big influence on the hardcore scene I was never a frequent listener prior to this record, but I cant help but feel that this record is their best in their discography. This record is much less of the usual gritty and speedy fastcore powerviolence and much more of a straight forward in your face, no bullshit, hardcore with even a bit of sludge metal, which is a characteristic of this album that leads me to feel its their best record to date. Apology has everything you’d expect from a hardcore band its loud, raw, pummeling, grinding, unforgiving, shrouded in feedback and well its punk as fuck.
Are Weekend Nachos apologizing for releasing their final record or could they be apologizing for opening a powerviolence record with a nearly 6 min song and ending it with a nearly 10 min instrumental? Or are Nachos apologizing for being an influential and increasingly popular hardcore punk band thats lasted over a decade? Whatever the reason and there probably is none, Weekend Nachos has always been a band to mix up their sound with doomy sludge metal songs similar to Eyehategod that are over three minutes that have more chunk than blast beats, while also having fast powerviolence and grindcore punk songs influenced by Infest that run 60 seconds or under and this record is no different, but its a surprise to see even a single track from Nachos over 4 min let alone a second track over doubled that… Despite some who might dislike that I feel the delivery and compositions here on this record are flawless and very impressive. Apology is still a very satirical especially on songs like “Fake Political Song” as well as horrific on “World Genocide” and “Night Plans” and hateful on my favorite tracks “Dust” and “N.A.R.C.” which is about fake shitty friends who ate dishonest and unloyal friends.
This record is very fitting for me this year as it sums up a lot of my anger and frustrations ive felt regarding individuals who called themselves my friend and others who have no respect or decency and continually want to judge me or feel the need to get involved in my personal life. Lyrics like “I don’t fucking care who you are or how you identify. You’re no different or better than me and it’d mean everything if you’d shut the fuck up.” or “Pretend you’re my friend. Judge behind my back. You think I don’t know. It’s about time you listen. You’re a fucking traitor.” and “Meanest and toughest guys around, kicking me on the ground. What’s a man without his friends? Nothing but dust. Lost your sense of care and all your feeling. No longer a decent human being It’s sad to see a kind man turn to stone.” I really loved this record for how much of its anger I could relate to and its hardcore formula that really appealed to me. I am sad to see the band end on such a fantastic record. If you like bands like Full of Hell, Magrudergrind, Sex Prisoner, Hatred Surge, Dead in the Dirt, Harms Way, Infest, Despise You, ACxDC, Nails, Coke Bust, Mind Eraser, Iron Lung, Spine, Homewrecker, or Life of Refusal you will love this record. My favorite songs are “2015″, “Dust”, “N.A.R.C.”, “Judged”, “Writhe” and “Eulogy”
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17. Touche Amore - Stage Four (Emocore)
Touche Amore are a post hardcore band from Burbank California who offer a very passionate delivery influenced by lots of raw emotional energy. Singer Jeremy Bolm very confessional and emotive lyricism touches on themes of anxiety, depression when it comes to broken relationships and insecurities. The response from many younger adolescence is vastly becoming more and more well received. One of the many bands keeping emocore alive, possibly leading the forefront of the genre. Their sound greatly compares to other emocore and post hardcore bands like La Dispute, another conceptually poetic and emotionally hardcore band. When it comes to the two bands though I always found La Dispute to be a better band but with Touche Amore’s last record and especially this new record they have proven to be a very impressive and influential hardcore emo band in terms of their conceptual writing and their performance as a band.
So lets get into the concept, lyrical development and thematic narrative on this record as its one of the more important and most touching aspects of this record. With the record title Stage Four you might think well its their fourth record obviously but its really the basis of this albums concept and thats the stage four cancer that took singer Bolm’s mothers life in 2014. He expresses great self guilt for not being there when she passed as he blames religion and continues to beat himself up as he continuously relives that guilt for moments he took for granted. He expresses journeys through past memories of his mother in his childhood home and the struggle and depression he had venturing that journey, like torturing himself with listening to his mothers old recorded voice mail.
Musically this record is everything you’d expect from Touche Amore with the mix of melodic guitar arpeggios to aggressive punk driven riffs typically breaking into halftime parts, but the band is mixing things up a bit more here getting more in touch with more alternative emo roots similar to early emo bands like Sunny Day Real Estate in their guitar arrangements. The band also ventures a bit into a more pop punk sound similar to The Starting Line while managing to stray from being poppy if that makes sense. Jeremy Bolm is still very much his on the verge of a breakdown self and using spoken word style singing but is using a wider vocal range from a lower baritone to higher register and is far more clear here with his annunciation which I believe is mostly due to the lyrical content that is clearly meaningful to him. I love this record for its very personal and dark poetry and how it exposes the raw truth about what death can do to ones emotions. It really makes you reconsider making mends with a family member you might bare a grudge with because you could regret time lost when that person dies. If you like artists like La Dispute, Frameworks, Pianos Become The Teeth, Title Fight, MeWithoutYou, Hesitation Wounds, Modern Life Is War, Loma Prieta, Defeater, Caravels, Hotelier, or Tiny Moving Parts you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Flowers and You”, “New Halloween”, “Benediction”, “Palm Dreams”, and “Skyscraper”.
Descendents are an old school punk rock band from the 80s who have some gaps in their discography, but have always produced very honest straight forward punk rock records. Singer Milo Aukerman has spent the last decade being both a family man and a biology teacher which the cover art seems to reference but he and the Los Angeles beach punkers are back after over a decade with a new record with 15 plus tracks! Descendents offer a wide variety of styles with some songs being more hardcore punk or others being more skate punk or pop punk. Desendents were always a band I always found similar to my own band Fauntleroy in high school both sonically and just who we were. We were just some nerdy but defiant adolescent high-schoolers going through puberty and experiencing our first breakups and needed an outlet so created a band.
Thats pretty much the foundation of this band and the music they produced was pretty similar to ours and with this new record the lyrical content reminds me even more of my old band with its honest humor and sarcasm that singer Milo Aukerman still has here where he writes about memories with friends and family on tracks like “Beyond The Music”. Being a band thats 35 years old they are a band of dads so a theme of fatherhood, aging, loss and illness on tracks like “Smile” and “Comeback Kid”are apart of some of the lyrical content. The record also goes into satire of glutenous America on tracks like “No Fat Burger” and stands for a drug free society pointing out the dependency of prescription drugs on tracks like “Limiter”, other times Milo Aukerman is self loathing on tracks like “Fighting Myself” or exposing the hypocrisy of organized religion on “Shameless Halo”. The Descendents have been a huge influence on the punk genre and for good reasons. They have always been a band that has always stayed true to what they stand for and have put out some of the best punk records within their small discography and this is just another gold nugget.
I love this record for its purity and honesty. Theres no fine print or bells and whistles. Its not trying to appeal to some wide audience. The instrumentals and production is straight forward simple but the guitars are driving yet very clear and melodic as well. Overall its a record about the importance of life and living it healthy. Its a socially conscious political punk record that doesn’t sound like a record from a punk band of middle aged dads, proving you are never too old to have fun or be rebellious, a message they have always lived by. If you like bands like All, The Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Only Crime, Adolescents, Lagwagon, NOFX, No Use For A Name, Dag Nasty, Off!, Screeching Weasel, or Pennywise you will love this record.
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15. Rival Sons - Hollow Bones (Blues Rock)
Rival Sons are a blues rock band from Long Beach California that draw influence from some of my favorite classic rock artists like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Free and Pink Floyd and their new record does an excellent job of capturing that 60s/70s “Roadhouse Blues” sound with their extended bluesy psychedelic David Gilmour like guitar solos and hard hitting rhythmic song structures. Rival Sons pay a very honest homage to true pure Rock n Roll. The rhythm section on this record is as i said one of its key aspects with the drummers John Bonham like dynamics, sporadic triplets, pounding drum fills and complex time signatures really bringing this albums bluesy sound to life, while the deep muddy blues guitar riffs with their fuzzy distortion bring to mind other great modern day blues rock bands like Black Keys and Wolfmother. I love the nostalgic blues rock energy on this record and the aggressive bluesy compositions and production. If you like bands like The Black Keys, Free, Wolfmother, Pink Floyd, The Temperance Movement, Jimi Hendrix, The Answer, Blues Pills, Led Zeppelin, Clutch, Black Country Communion, Monster Truck, Sky Valley Mistress or Black Pistol Fire you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Hollow Bones Pt.1″, “Tied Up”, “Thundering Voices”, “Fade Out”, “Black Coffee”, and “Hollow Bones Pt.2″.
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14. Macklemore - This Unruly Mess I’ve Made (Hip Hop)
Macklemore is a charismatic indie rapper from one of my favorite cities in this country Seattle Washington. Macklemore is a rapper that after I discovered him, once he began to gain more fame and success with his last record The Heist, that blew up, he slowly grew on me. I began to respect Macklemore more and more for his socially conscious lyrics, standing up for gay rights in such a mainstream spotlight regardless of the mass medias agenda. He also has gone on note to support 9/11 conspiracy theories. One of few rappers in the mainstream to express himself honestly knowing it could damage his career at any moment. Not many rappers know they set an example through their music, Macklemore understands this and goes even further to set an example by the way he lives because he knows that the media tends to care more about how rappers live than what they say in their music, which is why Macklemore struggled through rehabilitation to get clean and end his addiction to painkillers. One can go on and on at why Macklemore is a deserving artist and this new long awaited and anticipated record of his is just his best effort to date.
As usual this new record was independently produced. Macklemore’s humble character is all over this record where he is thanking his fans for being awarded a Grammy and giving him the fame and achieved success. Many of the tracks like The Heist offer show that Macklemore is having fun and never taking himself too seriously. The record sounds like a big party at times, celebrating life with many of the perfectly choiced featuring artists whom are very talented like Mike Slap, Melly Mel, Grandmaster Caz, XP, KRS-One, Ed Sheeran, Leon Bridges, Chance the Rapper, YG, Carla Morrison and Jamila Woods. Other times its a very serious record when it comes to the political side of things where he speaks against American healthcare and war as well as the racial injustice and police brutality that persists in America where he supports BlackLivesMatter.
Macklemore here goes into his old life as a rebellious graffiti tagger, weed smoker, alcoholic, pill popper and minimum wage Subway sandwich maker. He expresses that you can be a success even if your past isnt something to brag about or be proud of. Macklemore also has sense of responsibility now as a proud parent and has a beautiful song about it on here with Ed Sheeran called “Growing Up”. I love this record because it is inspiring, refreshing and repeatable. Its poppy and fun, honest and humiliating. Its got meaningful words and amazing talent allover it with a production that is hot and full over plenty of different musical arrangements of pianos, guitars and horns that are used in both exploding and calming soothing ways, east coast style beats with a unique hip hop flow. If you like artists like Blue Scholars, Grieves, Asher Roth, Classified, Hoodie Allen, G-Eazy, Atmosphere, Mac Miller, Watsky, Common Market, Machine Gun Kelly or Living Legends you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Light Tunnels”, “Growing Up”, “Kevin”, “St. Ides”, “White Privilege II”, and “Drug Dealer”.
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13. G-Eazy - When Its Dark Out (Hip Hop)
G-Eazy is an indie rapper from Oakland California and is one of my favorite rappers right now and has released his sophomore record When its Dark Out and right from the beginning into where he quotes the famous poetic piece “Do not go gentle into that good night” I knew I was going into an album that would take me in a darker and more introspective place than most rap records do. His latest release is very personal and very passionate when it comes to the stories and emotions on the record. Hes definitely a downer rapper influenced by Drake but follows in the footsteps of Macklemore as a conscious indie rapper. The production on this record is amazing and really takes on inspirations from many different places. For example, the album was actually recorded in the same studio where Tupac was first shot but survived. This atmosphere and notion played its into the record where G-Eazy mentions Tupac quite a few times, his death and his short lived but quick success. The album was also influenced by horror films like Scream and Freddy Krueger, which comes through in a lot of the dark samples and piano parts specifically on songs like “Random”, “One of Them” and “Don’t Let Me Go”. This record is his darkest record to date with many of the songs being written at the darkest hours of the night.
There is the typical braggadocio and responding to haters in the lyrics, but When Its Dark Out is the most personal and dynamic record hes put out, mostly in its production, with themes of a dying relationship, independence, the hardship of his upbringing in Oakland California and his difficult rise to stardom as an indie rapper surrounded by racism and hopes for better world. The album ranges from R&B influenced club bangers with songs like “Me Myself and I”, “Drifting” and “Order More” to word playing quick pace rapping in songs like “Calm Down”, “What If”, “Sad Boy” and “Nothing to Me” similar to hip hop artists like Drake, Big Sean, Chris Brown and Fetty Wap. Sonically and production wise the album sounds like an influenced mix of today’s more modern pop rap music. The record over all isnt anything super original but I found it to be an appealing array of inspired hip hop and hooks you immediately and proves to be a better record than his first and hes actually not a bad performer in his live setting either. If you like artists like Drake, Hoodie Allen, Skizzy Mars, Big Sean, YG, Logic, Macklemore, Marty Grimes, Tory Lanez, Blackbear, Gnash, Kid Cudi, Cam Meekins, Mike Stud, Sammy Adams, Mac Miller, Chris Webby or Machine Gun Kelly you will love this album.
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12. Deftones - Gore (Alternative Metal)
Deftones are an Alternative Metal band from Sacramento California whom first came out in the 90s during the Nu Metal explosion making them one of the first Nu Metal bands combing a unique combination of experimental rock, post-hardcore, post-metal, stoner rock, and spacey metalgaze. For such a mainstream band there was no band doing it quite like Deftones at the time. Deftones were certainty ahead of their time. Many people claim their critically acclaimed 2000 record “White Pony” was their last nu metal record and their last substantial record. While I do believe some qualities that made Deftones so great died after “White Pony”, I think there are many aspects to love about every Deftones record. Unlike many of Deftones’ contemporaries like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Staind, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Mudvayne, Incubus, they didnt nose dive after their prime records and to be honest with their latest record “Gore” Im happy to say it is possibly their best record since “White Pony”!“
“Gore” offers the expected Deftones formula, a duality of beautifully passionate and brutally chaotic with its shoegazing Billy Howerdel like arpeggios to exploding grungy and unforgiving Munky/Head type guitar riffs and atmospherically textured production with its vocal filters and heavy reverberated crescendos. Another reprising Deftones characteristic on “Gore” is singer Moreno Chino’s moaning singing style and angsty lyricism. Many complex symbolism is used within darker subjects of drug addiction, romance, geometry and depression from broken relationships where times he speaks to himself. One thing that should be noted in this review is that since “Koi No Yokan”, their previous record, my least favorite record of theirs, original bass player of Deftones Chi Cheng was killed in a car accident a couple years ago. For this record to be their eighth record in their discography that excludes their original bass player and be as good of a record as it is, is saying a lot. Deftones are a band that deserve high praise in a time where mainstream rock and metal is dead yet Deftones continue to outlast and remain relevant while staying loyal to their famed formula and continue putting out substantial melodic and heavy records like this one. If you like artists like Team Sleep, Crosses, Korn, Phallucy, Sol Invicto, Palms, A Perfect Circle, Chevelle, Lesser Key, Flaw, Far, Mudvayne, Tool, Ashes Divide, Taproot, or Incubus you will love this album. My favorite tracks from “Gore” are “Prayers/Triangles”, “Acid Hologram”, “Hearts/Wires”, “Doomed User” and “Rubicon”.
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11. Broods - Conscious (Synthpop)
Broods are a synthpop outfit consisting of singer Georgia Nott and her brother Caleb from New Zealand that dropped their debut record Evergreen couple years ago that really impressed me but their sophomore record Conscious is an even better record! Because Broods are a duo its soundscapes are focused on two things, Georgia’s sweet melodic vocals, which have an amazing range from lower tones to a higher falsetto and Caleb’s infectious and beautiful synthetic samples and beats which pound in your chest. Their sound mirrors contemporary other influential synthpop artists like Chvrches, Lorde and Ellie Goulding. Its clear that this is Broods best record to this far and thats coming from a previous record that proved to be a synthpop masterpiece, and while I will admit the first half of the record contains the more catchy tracks, Broods are definitely doing what they do very well on this record, im certain that it is the best synthpop record to release this year. If you like artists like Banks, Foxes, MS MR, Purity Ring, Ryn Weaver, Allie X, Chvrches, Ellie Goulding, Anna Ternheim, Lorde, Tove Lo, or Oh Wonder you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Free”, “We Had Everything”, “Are You Home”, and “Heartlines”, “Bedroom Door” and “Conscious”.
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10. Conor Oberst - Ruminations (Folk)
My final top ten begins with Conor Oberst, a singer songwriter from Omaha Nebraska who is best known for his old band Bright Eyes who was an indie folk emo band in the early 2000s. Throughout a majority of Conor Oberst’s career as a musician, even as a solo artist, he has always been apart of a band of other musicians with high production releases, however with this new release he has taken a minimalist approach which literally only consists him on a mic with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and piano. Each song sounds like the first take, which from a recording that took only two days would make sense for that to be true. Thats what I love about this record. Its a very pure raw honest record that captures the essence of artists like Bob Dylan and Daniel Johnston.
Ruminations was written in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha during the winter while he was suffering from insomnia and anxiety and recovering from laryngitis. All of this has played a key role in the sound and aura of the record. It sounds like a fragile man, stuck in a cabin from being snowed in, under the weather who cant sleep and decided to pick up an acoustic guitar and just started playing to pass the time, singing off the top of his head his emotions as they come. I really connected with a lot of this record, but especially on the track “You All Loved Him Once” where Oberst sings about old friends who loved this person at one time and for justified reasons of his selflessness this person has always shown time and time again where Oberst says “You all loved him once and not without cause. He fed you through the winter. He led you through the fog. You hid behind his body to be sheltered from the mob”, but have now turned their backs on this person and betrayed him, “You all loved him once, that turned to hate. You all loved him once, an uncommon love at that. What you saw as a pedestal was his elevated path, so to satisfy the Philistines you stabbed him in the back”.
I can relate to this song as this year some old friends of mine turned their backs on me and betrayed me. And what did I ever do for them? I supported their business or their band, watched after them when they were drunk, gave them wheels when they had none… I didnt do one thing to these people who I thought were friends and they each stabbed my back, each attacked me for no reason. They wonder where I went, why im so different after their betrayal, why I no longer have their backs and dont trust or associate with them. Thats why they may feel the old me is gone. What do they fucking expect? Thats why this song connected with me so much and is my favorite from the record. Its something that fueled me a lot with anger and anxiety this year and this track has really been a management tool that extinguished much of those emotions for me.
Ruminations is a very personal record for Oberst which is not unusual for his writing, he commonly writes in first person about his experiences and his emotions, but this time he is much more autobiographical and more of an open book where Oberst speaks about own health issues regarding his rising blood pressure, his cerebral cyst on the songs like “Tachycardia,” sings about his therapist on “Gossamer Thin” and speaks of his depression and stress that lead to insomnia and thoughts of suicide on “Counting Sheep”. The record also contains subject matter hes known for bringing up in his songs like his stand against, drugs, casual sex, organized religion, and speaks of the disappointment he is to his family and his struggles to fit in. All these emotions are delivered in Oberst’s fragile folky and shaky vibrato that he is known for. This record isnt too far from the Bright Eyes formula, its folky and very emotional and sad but this time its just a bit more raw with a more minimalist approach with a bigger focus on the folkier side and the production turned out to be his best solo piece yet. If you like artists like Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, Okkervil River, M. Ward, Tim Kasher, Dawes, Daniel Johnston, Bob Dylan, Simon Joyner, Dallas Green, Ben Gibbard, or Kevin Devine you will love this record.
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09. Joyce Manor - Cody (Emo)
Joyce Manor are a pop punk emo band from southern California who have been releasing solid emotional records since 2011 filled with textures of indie rock and emo. The band name comes from an apartment building singer and guitarist Barry Johnson lived in years ago. While the band teeters on the edge of very aggressive punk rock emocore like on the song “Reversing Machine” on this record, they also offer a softer subdued indie rock sound. Due to the connection the band has with They audience they stands against stage diving at their live shows and have been known to cut a set if stage diving occurs. Joyce Manor have always had this deeper connection with their fanbase so the respect at their shows is mutual and that kind of trust shows with the confessional lyracism that turns to be a sing along here on this record.
The bands influences come through pretty prominently on their records baring striking similarities to early emo pop punk band Jawbreaker but with their new record Cody they mix things up a bit more drawing influence from different types of bands, indie lo-fi acts like Dear Nora, Guided by Voices, AJJ and the emo classic Saves the Day and even a bit of modern AFI at times. A majority of the songs on this record are very sad and discuss death in a very open and nonchalant kind of way. Even upbeat songs like the opener on this record “Fake I.D.” appear to be a happy song but its lyrical subject matter of sadness and death and how past memories can suck you into depression is anything but happy. This new Joyce Manor record really is much like their first three records but with just a better production and more cohesive sound. Its a bit more catchy and poppy on the first half of this record like the angsty song “Eighteen” which is why I prefer the second half of this record but even the poppier songs dont overstay their welcome to become redundant as most the tracks dont cross the 3 min mark. While those catchy songs are similar to cheesy 2000s bands like Cartel, this record doesnt come off sounding outdated as much as it comes off as nostalgic. The bands shortest song on the record is actually an acoustic ballad “Do You Really Not Want To Get Better?” which is one of my favorites and shows the bands dynamics and diversity.
This record overall is a pleasant listen and a great mix that doesnt rip off any of the genres it draws influence from and its emotional and confessional lyricism of despair and sadness doesn’t come off as melodramatic or cliche but rather honest and relatable. The cleaner guitars and constantly changing rhythms and tempo changes on the record this time around really shows an evolution in the bands sound. Again I think this is Joyce Manors most lyrically and musically diverse record to date with the best production thus far. My favorite songs are “Fake I.D.”, “Do You Really Want To Not Get Better?”, “Last You Heard of Me”, “Make Me Dumb”, “Over Before It Began”. If you like bands like Tigers Jaw, Idlewild, Modern Baseball, The Hotelier, Jawbreaker, Snowing, Sorority Noise, Title Fight, The Front Bottoms, Saves the Day, or The Menzingers you will love this record.
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08. Kings of Leon - WALLS (Rock)
Kings of Leon are a rock band from Nashville Tennessee who first came out producing a southern garage rock style but developed their sound to a more mainstream alternative rock sound that eventually developed into a very Brit pop and 80s new wave influence similar to early U2 and the most recent Third Eye Blind record. This is a band that you have to give credit where credit is due. To me they or one of the only bands I can see becoming what youd call a classic honorable act similar to a modern day Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters. The record’s sound is much more of a return to their 2008 era which was a time when the band first made it big on the radio which is a much more move towards a poppy chorus driven Kings of Leon filled with plenty of woahs and ohs, which some may find to be a negative thing for the band, but I loved their critically acclaimed Only By The Night and I like this record. In fact i like this record more so, despite it being a move away from the more indie alternative rock sound I favored on their last record it has a lot of very cool atmosphere created with the echoing guitars.
WALLS, an acronym for We Are Like Love Songs, is not deep by any means or ground breaking and the band is clearly playing it safe with this record but its clearly a sound they do very well. Its their mainstream Kings of Leon doing what they do best. I love the guitar work which is very Strokes like with its clean garage rock tone and its steady 80s influenced drum beats on songs like “Around The World” and other times the band mirrors Glen Hansard to a “tee” on the acoustic ballad “WALLS”. Its very listenable from beginning to end and easily repeatable. It is definitely a radio rock record, but when compared to other mainstream radio pop rock bands like Nickleback, Coldplay, and Creed they definitely dont compare to this record and how much more honest substance and talent there is in comparison. If you like bands like The Killers, The Kooks, The Strokes, Kasabian, Young The Giant, J Roddy Walston and the Business, U2, Glen Hansard, Cage The Elephant, NeedToBreathe, The Swell Season, The Frames, Alabama Shakes, Third Eye Blind, or Cold War Kids you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Waste A Moment”, “Reverend”, “Around The World”, and “Find Me”.
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07. American Football - American Football 2 (Emo)
One of Emo’s classics are back after 17 years with a new record! American Football are from a little midwest town of Illinois who released their debut cult classic self titled record in 1999 that incorporated twinkly guitars, emotional lyrics and melodies with vibes of indie rock and jazzy math rock. Unfortunately American Football moved away from home leaving behind their starting legacy when they disbanded in 2000. Now the band is back with all those same elements that everyone loved about their debut record here with their sophomore record and based on the cover art they have returned home to the house that brought us the magic on their first record. The idea of “home” tends to be a recurring theme on the record as well like on the opening track “Where We Are Now”, which is back home, as singer Mike Kinsella states they are “In the same house” and that they’ve “been here before” and sings about one finding their way back home on the track “I’ve Been Lost For So Long” also the theme of home is on the track “Home Is Where The Haunt Is”.
American Football are a band that doesnt even try and their final product comes out sounding absolutely amazing. How many bands have been so influential with a single lone record? Not many, and how many artists are influenced by a band that only ever released one record? Pretty much every emo and indie rock band post 1999… Here they are with a new record that probably tops their influential debut record! The bands math rock inspired rhythms with the busy jazzy drums and complex guitar work is phenomenal and super dynamic here especially on tracks like “Give Me The Gun”. Many of the songs are just very elegant and relaxing with the clean shimmering guitar subtleties on tracks like “My Instincts Are The Enemy” and “I Need A Drink” that seem to climatically build to a more distorted crescendo at other times like on the tracks “Desire Gets In the Way” and “Born To Lose”. One of the things I noticed on this record in the writing is the title of each track is the first line of its respected song where as their last record it was always the last line in the track. A similar style but just reversed. Its one of the many ways the band attempts to recapture the magic of their first record but in a new way.
Overall I was super impressed with this record and was in my opinion the best emo record to release this year. The record proves to be more dynamic, catchy, mature and more complex than even their debut record and thats saying something. Its an emotionally complex indie jazz record that deserves a listen. Its somber and calming and a perfect record to pop on while you relax in a hot tub with some lit candles or perfect background meditation music to play with your lights dim in your room. If you like bands like Owen, The World Is A Beautiful Place, The One Up Downstairs, Cap’n Jazz, Empire! Empire!, Sunny Day Real Estate, Algernon Cadwallader, Snowing, You Blew It!, Mineral, Into It. Over It.,This Town Needs Guns, Their/They’re/There, Foxing or The Promise Ring you will love this record.
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06. Basia Bulat - Good Advice (Indie Pop)
Basia Bulat is Canadian folk singer who has been releasing music for a good decade now and her new record Good Advice takes a bit of a more poppy approach and the end results are fantastic! I have always liked Basia Bulat since I discovered her sophomore record Heart of My Own in 2010 for its use of folky vibrato vocals and ukulele, piano, organ and auto harp as well as other acoustic instrumentation which is still present on parts of her new record, Good Advice, but she has mixed in some electronic instrumentation behind more catchy chorus driven song structures than ever before. Her sound is very Jodi Mitchell inspired with My Morning Jacket influenced instrumentation and songs like “In The Name Of” delve into a bit of gospel.
Good Advice is a very quick harmonic and melodic record where Basia sings of heartbreak and shortcomings. Basia Bulat with this new record has stepped up her style with more dynamics and better melody. Her vocals have advanced becoming more sweeter and more listenable. Good Advice is by far her best record to date, her choice to venture into a more poppy-er realm was a wise choice. Not many good pop records that ever come out in a year and this is definitely one from an indie circle. Go check out this record, thats a bit of good advice that you should follow up on! If you like artists like Sarah Harmer, Jenn Grant, Hannah Georgas, Kathleen Edwards, Amy Millan, Laura Veirs, Of Monsters and Men or Frazey Ford you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “La La Lie”, “Let Me In”, “In The Name Of”, “Infamous”, and “Fool”.
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05. Bas - Too High To Riot (Rap)
Bas is a fairly new underground rapper from Queens New York coming hot off the Dreamville record label. Bas is a true lyrical MC rapper emoting deep subjects of drug abuse, dying family members, police brutality and racism within America. The album and title track alone “Too High To Riot” not just too high from weed and unmotivated to riot but what Bas expresses is that he is better than all the medias agenda to participate in publicizing such a negative racial divide and such destructive violence that riots (not peaceful protests) cause. Essentially taking the high road. This record unlike his debut record is far more politically driven and socially conscious, one of the reasons that it really resonates with me.
Bas is clearly trying to set an example for the black community in general exposing the truth about corrupt cops living to oppress and see them dead or incarcerated so Bas sends a message for his people to not give these cops the satisfaction or ammunition and live on and stay off the streets and out of jail. Bas also gets very personal on the record at times where he expresses great guilt for not spending more time with his Aunt before she died of cancer and neglecting his immediate family due to his time spent in the studio and on the road. When it comes to one of the bigger themes on the record, drugs, he expresses that his abuse to certain prescription drugs needs to change for him to be successful and live a healthy happy life. Bas encourages others who may be suffering to an addiction to pills to follow him in flushing them down the toilet.
I loved this sophomore record from Bas. Track for track every song is amazing with fantastic beats and calming piano parts within the production that flow perfectly with Bas mellow indie rap style. I love his messages and emotionally honest lyrical content. His strategy to implement positivity and hope during a time when America through the media tends to promote none. Bas with this record definitely has me looking at him as one of my favorite modern rappers and with this release I can without a doubt say it is the best rap record to be released this year and should definitely be given a listen. If you like artists like J Cole, Cozz, Isaiah Rashad, DJ Khaled, Lute, Jazz Cartier, Casey Veggies, Logic, Kirk Knight, Wale, EarthGang, Ab-Soul, Curren$y or Smoke DZA you will love this record. My favorite tracks on Too High To Riot are “Too High To Riot”, “Methylone”, “Dopamine”, “Live For“ and “Black Owned Business”.
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04. The Lumineers - Cleopatra (Indie Folk)
The Lumineers are an indie folk band from Denver Colorado who have followed up with their hit debut album releasing right when indie folk started to launch into the mainstream with bands like Mumford and Sons, Band of Horses, Ed Sheeran, Vance Joy, Ben Howard and Of Monsters and Men. It is their new record Cleopatra though that is in my opinion their best effort to date. The band with this new record have moved away from the more giddy fun ways of the poppy “Hey Ho” to a much more somber Keaton Henson sound similar to the change that contemporary artist Ben Howard made with his last record moving to a much more serious record.
I respect that the band didnt play it safe and go for the same formula that made their debut record so notorious. They dug deeper and yet while much of the album is much deeper than their debut release it is not a very complex record in its composition and while its not as pop driven it still is very appealing to listen to and has tracks that will keep you singing along. Many of the songs are very striped back and will at times only contain vocals over a single instrument like an acoustic guitar, cello, tambourine or piano and rarely all at once like their first record had a majority of the time, while the production of the record especially the vocals of Wesley Schultz sound like an echoing cathedral. The first quarter of the record contain the more upbeat catchy tracks while the rest of the record out is very calming delicate and somber.
Lumineers with this record have stepped up their song writing from the way Wesley Schultz puts himself in the shoes of another person speaking as a woman on “Cleopatra” to getting into character of a someone who has abandoned their relationship in “Gale Song” many of the songs feel like a poetic dedication to someone that is loved very much. Songs of dedication, regret, loss and loneliness. If you like artists like Lord Huron, Mumford and Sons, Keaton Henson, The Head and the Heart, Bruce Springsteen, The Strumbellas, Ben Howard, Blind Pilot or The Avett Brothers you will love this record. My favorite tracks are “Sleep on the Floor”, “Ophelia”, “Cleopatra”, “Gun Song”, “Angela”,“Gale Song” and “My Eyes”.
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03. Daughter - Not To Disappear (Neofolk)
Daughter are an indie folk band from London England who hit the scene three years ago with their debut record If You Leave which was a highly ambitious record that left me wanting more. Im ecstatic to announce their sophomore record Not To Disappear has released this year and right off the bat the records soundscape is filled with this textured chaos and distorted and reverberating synths and guitars behind the very sweet soft vocals of singer Elena Tonra. Its almost like a mix of Beach House, Bjork and Jack Off Jill all rolled into one.
Not To Disappear really offers a lot of various flavors and colors from elements of post rock and dream pop to shoegazing indie rock and post punk. I love the song structures that build with climactic crescendos that climb to great heights of intensity then quickly resolve to near silence. The album themes around very depressing and gloomy topics of numbness, sadness, isolation, and heartbreak like in the song “Alone / With You” which starts off her lonely state of being without someone there next to her while she sleeps, but ends with still a loneliness even with this person who I presume has broken her heart and still leaves her lonely even in their presence as if this person is just now a reminder of her utter sadness. Its a depressing song but some how a beautiful and honest one.
I thought this record was fantastic. Its emotional, gloomy and atmospheric yet catchy and contagious and contains really dark saddening lyricism for those darker souls out there like myself that sink into moody textured music like what is offered here. While I loved their first record this is definitely the better of the two with the production and song structures. If you like artists like London Grammar, Ben Howard, Lucy Rose, The xx, Julia Stone, Of Monsters and Men, Florence and the Machine, Bjork, Bat for Lashes, Anna Ternheim, Broods, or Birdy you will love this record.
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02. Weezer - The White Album (Pop Rock)
When you look at this record’s very simple cover art vacant of any color with four guys standing on a beach with nothing but a 25 year old band name of that band that sang that song about a sweater back in the 90s you probably think “well this tenth record from Weezer cant be very exciting, ill proceed to the next new indie rock record…” Im going to tell you nothing could be further from the truth. I emphasize DO NOT judge this book by its cover. This record has some of the best songs from the L.A. based rock band known as Weezer. This record doesnt just offer some of their best songs to come out in a long time but this album is so good I would rank it up there with The Blue Album and Pinkerton.
The White Album is definitely a clean slate for Weezer, rejuvenating their sound by offering a return to form with their original poppy alternative rock sound on songs like “California Kids”, “Do You Wanna Get High”, “L.A. Girlz” and “King of the World” that sound like songs that could have easily been b-sides from The Blue Album or Pinkerton. The White Album also incorporates new elements of pop punk similar to Green Day’s Nimrod/Warning era, which translates well coming from Weezer on this record. Its very much a Beach Boys influenced record, one of the bands biggest influences since The Blue Album, with its beachy tunes. The White album doesnt feel so much like a warm beachy record, rather it sounds more like a cold beach. Maybe ironically a beach on the east coast or a beach trip during the holidays. That sound and feel comes through especially on one of my favorite songs on the record “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” with its Christmas sounding jingle.
As usual Weezer incorporates pop culture and historical events into the lyrical writing in their typical quirky dorky manner. Much of the records lyrical themes and topics are based around west coast beach settings like in another one of my favorites “Wind In Our Sails”, which literally feels like its being performed live on a sail boat just off the coast. The record also goes into the singer’s past addictions to prescription drugs and heart break like on the grungy pop rock tune “Do You Wanna Get High”, which has a very Strokes sounding guitar line and riff and the mid tempo melancholic, melodic, piano driven track “Jacked Up”. The album ends with probably my least favorite song on the record but still not a bad one “Endless Bummer” an acoustic ballad that sounds more like The Green Album era.Overall very impressed and pleasantly surprised with this simple yet contagiously catchy little record. It really harkens back to their early records and reminds me of why I loved 90s pop rock and alternative making it a successful comeback record. I can confidently say The White Album is in my top three favorite Weezer records following The Blue Album and Pinkerton. I loved every song on the record. If you like bands like The Rentals, Ozma, The Relationship, Homie, Space Twins, Pixies, The Special Goodness, Cake, Everclear, Ben Folds Five or The Presidents of the USA you will love this record.
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01. letlive. - If Im The Devil… (Melodic Hardcore)
And my favorite record of 2016 is of course the third release from Los Angeles based post-hardcore band letlive.The boys are back and since 2010′s major label release Fake History, letlive has been sticking it to corporate America, fighting back against societal standards and standing courageously with social minority groups. All of these ethics seems to be tightly knit together here on this new record.The bands views and morals, however, arent the only thing that are tightly knit on this record. The band itself sounds tighter and more rejuvenated than ever before with a more hook driven melodic hardcore sound.
The record opens up with “I Learned to Love Myself”, which is a very anthemic and climactic song that is sure to get you warmed up for an emotionally heavy and raw record. The snare drum’s anticipating rolls are almost like that in which youd hear marching into war. I love singer Jason Butler’s message here as he seems to be speaking about how he at one time gave up on himself and caring about his self image due to some sort of possible regret or guilt of lying to ones self or maybe a flaw he had but has now come full circle and fearlessly faced his demons and can now look back and find this sort of self abandonment to be the result of a positive transformation of who he is now, maybe finding some sort of spiritual and moral growth out of it. To me its an anthem of learning to not hate yourself for your flaws or your mistakes or your differences but to do the exact opposite and love yourself for those very same reasons.
The next song “Nu Romantics” picks things up a bit more with a more energetic type song. This track introduces a bit of the problems Americans are facing today, a fading middle class as poverty escalates and an unfair social classing of racism. At this point after the second track you already notice major improvements from their previous records in the albums production, the song structures and writing as well as Jason Butlers fore fronting vocals, which are far more clear, far more melodic and far more soaring. Jason is less of a that loose cannon maniac we have heard previously and far more of a coherent and collected and intellectual human being.
The third track “Good Mourning America” is easily the record’s anthem possibly even more so than the title track. This is a song dedicated to the many victims of police brutality and corrupt law enforcement, specifically in the past couple years and even more specifically towards the black communities. The first event of this issue is commonly pointed at the Ferguson unrest situation in Ferguson Missouri on Aug 9 2014 which was the protest and riot that followed the unlawful shooting of African American teen Michael Brown by a police officer, however many people including the American media have seemed to dismiss a key individual that might have had insight behind all of these racially charged shootings and thats Christopher Dorner.
Only six months prior to the shooting of Michael Brown and two years after the unlawful shooting of another teenaged African American Trayvon Martin in Florida, the former navy reserve lieutenant and at the time terminated LA police officer Christopher Dorner went on a murderous rampage striking against the police department of Southern California which ultimately ended in his death after a serious manhunt. In a manifesto on Dorner’s social media he stated, “I know most of you who personally know me are in disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such horrendous murders and have taken drastic and shocking actions in the last couple of days… Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name. The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse….“. Now dont get me wrong what Dorner did was sickening but you cant help connect the dots on the events that followed years after this event and wonder if this former lieutenant and police officer snapped after he had enough of the racism and corruption within his own department…
Since Dorner I have seen countless youtube videos and news reports of shootings and police brutality against African Americans as well as many other races. Eric Garner, Samuel DuBose, Ezell Ford, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Charley Leundeu Keunang, Freddie Gray, Tony Robinson, Sandra Bland, Johnathan Sanders, Jeremy McDole, Keith Lamont Scott, Jamar Clark, Alton Sterling and Terence Crutcher were all laid victim to police brutality. This track isnt against the police officers of America, its against police brutality, racial profiling and racial injustices governed under all races. Its a track that stands with Black Lives Matter, an organization that supports such values and stands against those injustices. “Good Mourning America” really possesses an energy that really pumps you up to shout and protest. It has an anger similar to that of Michael Jackson’s “They Dont Care About Us” but with a sharper edge of intolerance and aggression.
The fourth song on the record “Who You Are Not” bares a striking similarity to the boys “in their prime” AFI as Butler goes into the chorus with his screechy Davy Havok like falsetto: “We might be the same, but if we don’t notice we might be okay. Despite the cliché, I’m just out of focus, but you like it that way”. The band here is showing that they are definitely taking a more progressive step with their post-hardcore sound throwing in mid tempo tracks like this, while the next track, “A Weak Ago” takes a more groovy letlive approach. Both tracks here seem to reflect both Jason Butler’s image as a lead singing punk rocker and his outlook on being a “successful rockstar”.
One of my absolute favorite tracks on this record and possibly from the band is the sixth track on the record, letlive’s first love song ballad, “Foreign Cab Rides”. Jason Butler’s vocals really shine hear and almost Homages Burt from The Used. The song beautifully climaxes into a very crescendo ending that leads us into my favorite track on the record at least for its lyrical writing, “Reluctantly Dead”. This song sort of revisits the subjects involved in “Good Mourning America”, but Jason does something interesting here; he paints a scene of a police officer being arrested for a federal crime where this time the barrel of the gun is pointed the other way… The officer is red handed for his murderous crimes against these many innocent individuals and as he stands in the sites of a .45 caliber with his hands up all he can do is pray that this arresting him for his crime isnt like him and would let him live to see another day but admittedly says “I’ll understand it if you choose to kill me… I would’ve probably done the same“. Jason then brakes into the chorus leaving the scene and stating the moral here, “You believe that they came here to protect you. But see I would rather run Cause now the law results in a death”. Again this isnt a message to all police in America just the corrupt plenty that are that need to be exposed. These corrupt police are supposed to be heroes protecting their communities and are failing to do so. I feel this song also touches a bit on out corrupt judicial system as well.
Eight tracks deep we reach “Elephant” a song that picks up a bit more of their original post hardcore style but quickly becomes a bit repetitive and feels more like a filler making it my least favorite track. The next track “Another offensive Song” really goes back to their hardcore roots with again a sound similar to early to mid AFI in the chorus. This song is rebellious and stands for your right to feel, right to live and right to believe. Its an anti-social class, anti sexism, anti prejudice, anti racism song. Its a song against a society that tries to instill fear in you. Butler ends this track with a few great lines:
Those words might get you shot.
Your skin might get you shot.
Who you fuck might get you shot.
My big mouth will probably get me shot.
Write songs that tear through.
Speak words that scare you.
Stoke the fire, I dare you.
Kill me off,
This movement can’t be stopped.
The Album doesn’t end there though, as we go into the second to last song on the record, “If Im The Devil…” My favorite song on the record for its song structure and composition. The verses are calm, ominous and reserved but escalate into and exploding energy as the chorus hits hard at full volume. I really put my tweeters and subwoofers to the test in my car on this track… This track has a bit of everything, its moody, its sarcastic and its abrasive. Its a bit over dramatic in its composition and structure but with the lyricism I think is called for. Again I think Jason is taking a stab at society again as well as the media and critics alike with their isolating social classes and labels and the destructiveness it causes. It also seems to reflect the ridiculous expectations as he faces who he was and who he is now. The albums feels to end there but the The final track “Copper Colored Quiet” feels a bit like a credits rolling curtain closing type song and is yet another example of letlive.’s progressive and softer side featuring a very emotional and pulling string arrangement. I really look forward to hearing these types of instruments played live with this song. Its a very beautiful song as the soft repeating chants come it with “I, I can’t wait unless it’s for you. No, I Cannot. We all came to watch your World as it burns”. To me this song kind of encompasses the idea of standing with a minority in a sort of self sacrificing way.
If Im The Devil… is an amazing record. Sure its a bit softer and a bit more progressive and chorus driven but the band is more unified then ever before after coming close to tearing apart as the thread frayed as it was tested from the tension of it being pulled tighter, but in the end did not snap. letlive. have definitely stepped up their game in all aspects of performance from production mixing, guitar tones and parts, song writing and with more complex lyrics and compositions and a far more clear and melodically driven vocal delivery. There are still plenty of hardcore properties with nothing but punk written in bold all over this record with its heavy rebellious attitude as well as its social injustices and politically driven topics in which it stands against. The album is raw, diverse, progressively hardcore, emotional and energetic. Definitely one of if not their best record to date. If you like bands like Of Machines, Night Verses, Vanna, The Used, Hands Like Houses, Beartooth, At The Drive In, Thursday, Chiodos, Glassjaw, Inside Out, AFI, Refused, or The Color Morale you will love this album.
Conor Oberst is a singer songwriter from Omaha Nebraska who is best known for his old band Bright Eyes who was an indie folk emo band in the early 2000s. Throughout a majority of Conor Oberst’s career as a musician, even as a solo artist, he has always been apart of a band of other musicians with high production releases, however with this new release he has taken a minimalist approach which literally only consists him on a mic with and an acoustic guitar and harmonica and maybe a piano. Each song sounds like the first take, which from a recording that took only two days would make sense for that to be true. Thats what I love about this record. Its a very pure raw honest record that captures the essence of artists like Bob Dylan and Daniel Johnston.
Ruminations was written in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha during the winter while he was suffering from insomnia and anxiety and recovering from laryngitis. All of this has played a key role in the sound and aura of the record. It sounds like a fragile man, stuck in a cabin from being snowed in, under the weather who cant sleep and decided to pick up an acoustic guitar and just started playing to pass the time, singing off the top of his head his emotions as they come. I really connected with a lot of this record, but especially on the track “You All Loved Him Once” where Oberst sings about old friends who loved this person at one time and for justified reasons of his selflessness this person has always shown time and time again where Oberst says “You all loved him once and not without cause. He fed you through the winter. He led you through the fog. You hid behind his body to be sheltered from the mob”, but have now turned their backs on this person and betrayed him, “You all loved him once, that turned to hate. You all loved him once, an uncommon love at that. What you saw as a pedestal was his elevated path, so to satisfy the Philistines you stabbed him in the back”.
I can relate to this song as this year some old friends of mine turned their backs on me and betrayed me. And what did I ever do for them? I supported their business or their band, watched after them when they were drunk, gave them wheels when they had none… I didnt do one thing to these people who I thought were friends and they each stabbed my back, each attacked me for no reason. They wonder where I went, why im so different after their betrayal, why I no longer have their backs and dont trust or associate with them. Thats why they may feel the old me is gone. What do they fucking expect? Thats why this song connected with me so much and is my favorite from the record. Its something that fueled me a lot with anger and anxiety this year and this track has really been a management tool that extinguished much of those emotions for me.
Ruminations is a very personal record for Oberst which is not unusual for his writing, he commonly writes in first person about his experiences and his emotions, but this time he is much more autobiographical and more of an open book where Oberst speaks about own health issues regarding his rising blood pressure, his cerebral cyst on the songs like “Tachycardia,” sings about his therapist on “Gossamer Thin” and speaks of his depression and stress that lead to insomnia and thoughts of suicide on “Counting Sheep”. The record also contains subject matter hes known for bringing up in his songs like his stand against, drugs, casual sex, organized religion, and speaks of the disappointment he is to his family and his struggles to fit in. All these emotions are delivered in Oberst’s fragile folky and shaky vibrato that he is known for. This record isnt too far from the Bright Eyes formula, its folky and very emotional and sad but this time its just a bit more raw with a more minimalist approach with a bigger focus on the folkier side and the production turned out to be his best solo piece yet. If you like artists like Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, Monsters of Folk, Okkervil River, M. Ward, Jenny Lewis, Mike Mogis, Tim Kasher, Dawes, First Aid Kit, Ben Gibbard, or Kevin Devine you will love this record.
