JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood’s birthday.
Tag: alternative rock
New Audio: Steve Wynn Shares Ruminative “Make It Right”
Steve Wynn is an acclaimed singer/songwriter and musician, solo artist and frontman of the revered alt-rock/indie rock outfit The Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project.
2024 will be a very busy year for Wynn: Make It Right, the acclaimed singer/songwriter’s first solo album since 2010 is slated for an August 30, 2024 release through Fire Records. The album also coincides with the release of his new memoir I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, which will be published by Jawbone Press.
I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True is a vivid and revealing memoir that tells a tale of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagined — a world of major labels, luxury tour buses and sold out theaters across, but also one of alcohol, drugs and a a low-level rock ‘n’ roll Babylon. Ultimately, it’s a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.
Make It Right was written and recorded in tandem with Wynn’s work on the memoir. “With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa,” Wynn explains. “The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.
“The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with ‘Santa Monica,’ the city and boulevard where I was born and concludes with ‘Roosevelt Avenue,’ the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighborhood in New York City that I call home today. You write what you know—even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.
“If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like ‘What Were You Expecting.’ A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like ‘You’re Halfway There.’
The cataclysmic ‘one big open drain’ of ‘Simpler Than the Rain’ was resolved by the resolute ‘I’m just trying to make it right’ on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach inspired ‘Cherry Avenue’ would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on ‘Making Good on My Promises.’
“It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.
As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and—look! —there they are on the record as well!”
“And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple added his cinematic touch, Emil Nikolaisen of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.
It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record will both be coming out in the same final week of August 2024. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on ‘Make It Right’ and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.”
Make It Right‘s first single, album title track “Make It Right” is a slow-burning and ruminative ballad, written from the perspective of someone who’s lived a fully and very messy life of triumphs, foolish and selfish mistakes, regrets, heartbreak and bitter betrayals and with the deep, wizened empathy and understanding that people are flawed, occasionally myopic, stupid and selfish. But we’re all trying to make it right somehow, in a mad, desperate world.
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Seattle-based grunge legends Pearl Jam — Eddie Vedder (vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar) and Matt Cameron drums) — will be releasing their twelfth studio album, the Andrew Watt-produced Dark Matter through Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records on April 19, 2024. Dark Matter is the band’s first batch of material since 2020’s critically acclaimed Gigaton.
Last year, the grunge legends retreated to Malibu‘s Shangri-La Studios, where they simply plugged their instruments in and played with producer Andrew Watt at the helm. Writing and recording in a frenzied and passionate burst of inspiration, with the musicians facing one another in the same space, communicating sonically and musically at the highest level, with the album being completed in three weeks.
The album channels the shared spirit of a group of lifelong collaborators and creative brothers in one room, playing as if their lives depended on it. For the band, all of the blood, sweet, tears and energy of a storied and legendary career felt renewed and poured into the album’s material.
“I’m getting chills, because I have good memories. We’re still looking for ways to communicate,” Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder says. “We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
“What Ed said about getting us in a room at this point, we felt like we were about to make a really important record. A lot of that had to do with the atmosphere Andrew set up,” the band’s Jeff Ament says. “He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players. He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ His excitement was contagious. He’s a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track. I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band. I feel so grateful for the fans, but mostly for my brothers and these people I’ve made music with.”
Dark Matter‘s first single, the swaggering album title track “Dark Matter” is built around a bombastic and forceful power chord riff, thunderous boom bap-inspired drumming, enormous arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Vedder’s imitable, impassioned delivery. “Dark Matter” seems to pay tribute to the band’s legacy with the song at points bringing back memories of their legendary first three albums — 1991’s Ten, 1993’s Vs. and 1994’s Vitalogy — but with a modern take that reveals a band constantly and willing to push their sound in bold new directions while continuing to be impassioned and unflaggingly earnest in everything they do. Simply put, they may be older — hell all of us are getting older — but this song rips as much as their beloved, classic period.
Dark Matter features cover art by light painting artist Alexandr Gnezdilov. Light painting is an artistic form of photography, where images are created by adjusting a camera’s exposure for an extended period and using a light source, such as a flashlight to “paint” in the dark. The album cover art was crafted using a large, self-made kaleidoscope. Each letter visible on the cover was individually captured and handwritten midair with a specially designed flashlight to create the pearlescent effect.
The band will celebrate indie record stores with the release of a special edition of Dark Matter on Record Store Day, April 20, 2024. You can find that special edition only at participating stores. To get more information and find participating store, check out Record Store Day’s website: https://www.recordstoreday.com.
Last but definitely not least, Pearl Jam will be supporting Dark Matter with an extensive world tour — the first time, the band has announced a new album and tour, with full tour dates simultaneously.
The world tour will see the band playing 25 cities in nine countries and will see them playing much of North America, including a two night run at Madison Square Garden, September 3, 2024 and September 4, 2024, as well as stops at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and their first hometown shows in six years at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. The North American tour will feature support from Deep Sea Diver (leg 1) and Glen Hansard (leg 2).
The UK and European run includes their first show at London‘s brand new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For that run of the tour, The Murder Capital will be support for much of the UK and EU dates; however, the great Richard Ashcroft will be support for Dublin and London.
The tour also sees the band’s first New Zealand and Australian dates in over a decade. Pixies will serve as support for those dates.
Tickets will be available two ways:
1. A Ten Club members-only presale will be held through Ticketmaster Request for eligible members. Only paid Ten Club members active as of Monday, February 12 are eligible to participate in this presale. More info at pearljam.com
2. Fans can register for a chance to participate in the Dark Matter World Tour 2024 registration sale at shops.ticketmasterpartners.com/pearl-jam by Sunday, February 18 at 11:59 PM local time for Europe, UK, Australia and New Zealand shows and by Sunday, February 18 at 11:59 pm PT for North America shows. This will be the only way for fans to participate in the onsale. Registration does not guarantee access to the sale.
The tour will use all-in pricing across all North America, Europe and UK shows to ensure the ticket price listed is the full out-of-pocket price inclusive of fees.
For fans in North America who can’t use their tickets, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster will offer a Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange beginning at a later date to give fans the best chance to buy tickets at face value. To help protect the Exchange, Pearl Jam has also chosen to make tickets for this tour mobile only and restricted from transfer. This applies to all shows except those in Illinois and New York where non-transferability is prohibited by law. You must have a valid bank account or debit card within the country of the event(s) in order to sell through the Fan-to-Fan Face Value Ticket Exchange.
All tour dates are below.
Dark Matter World Tour Dates:
Date City Venue
May 04 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
May 06 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
May 10 Portland, OR Moda Center
May 13 Sacramento, CA Golden 1 Center
May 16 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 18 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 21 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
May 22 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
May 25** Napa Valley, CA BottleRock Festival
May 28 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
May 30 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
Jun 22 Dublin, IE Marlay Park
Jun 25 Manchester, UK Manchester Co-Op Live
Jun 29 London, UK Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Jul 02 Berlin, DE Waldbühne
Jul 03 Berlin, DE Waldbühne
Jul 06 Barcelona, ES Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 08 Barcelona, ES Palau Sant Jordi
Jul 11** Madrid, SE Mad Cool Festival
Jul 13** Lisbon, PT NOS Alive Festival
Aug 22 Missoula, MT Washington-Grizzly Stadium
Aug 26* Indianapolis, IN Ruoff Music Center
Aug 29 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field
Aug 31 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field
Sep 03 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Sep 04 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Sep 07 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
Sep 09 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
Sep 12 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
Sep 15 Boston, MA Fenway Park
Sep 17 Boston, MA Fenway Park
Nov 08 Auckland, NZ Go Media Stadium Mt Smart
Nov 13 Gold Coast, AU Heritage Bank Stadium
Nov 16 Melbourne, AU Marvel Stadium
Nov 21 Sydney, AU Giants Stadium
* Rescheduled date from 2022
** Festival dates are already on sale
New Video: The Smile Perform Brooding and Cinematic “Friend Of A Friend” for School Kids in New Visual
Last year, The Smile — Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner — released their critically applauded Nigel Godrich-produced full-length debut A Light For Attracting Attention. The album saw the acclaimed outfit collaborating with London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary British jazz musicians that include Bryon Wallen, Theon Cross and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, and Jason Yarde.
The Smile’s sophomore album, the Sam Petts-Davies Wall of Eyes officially drops today through XL Recordings. The album, which was recorded in Oxford and legendary Abbey Road Studios features string arrangements from London Contemporary Orchestra.
Late last year, I wrote about Wall of Eyes‘ first single, album title track, “Wall of Eyes,” an eerily haunting and meditative song that sees the trio pair Yorke’s imitably yearning delivery with a glitchy arrangement featuring strummed guitar melody, glittering strings and gently padded drums. The song evokes — at least to me — a slow-burning sense of dread and unease.
Wall of Eyes‘ latest single “Friend Of A Friend” continues a remarkable run of broodingly cinematic and meditative material that sees the trio pairing twinkling keys, gently swinging jazz-inflected percussion, mournful saxophone from Robert Stillman and soaring strings with Yorke’s achingly yearning delivery. “Friend of a Friend” manages to be a subtle synthesis of Amnesiac-era Radiohead, 70s AM rock and art film scores.
Directed by acclaimed motion picture director Paul Thomas Anderson, the accompanying video for “Friend Of A Friend” features the trio performing the song at a school assembly for a collection of first and second graders. Some of the little learners are mesmerized by what they’re seeing and listening to, others become bored and listless, others start shifting about uncomfortably, another group are roughhousing and barely paying attention. Most are kind of confused and don’t know what to make of what’s going on. The kids are adorable — and the video manages to capture childhood and the kids in their natural element with a guileless sweetness.
We also know that some of those kids will remember being at that video shoot for the rest of their lives.
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