It’s hard to choose a starting place for this post because I have been so intensely involved in one particular band for the past few months, and since they blow my mind away, it’s hard for me to decide where to even begin my explanation of love and appreciation for/towards them. Ironically enough, they used to be on list of “Bands I hate and will never listen to, ever”. It’s evolution, baby! 

So, Pearl Jam. The undying love still treks on, and even more intensely than before. I have to say that after carefully examining their discography (live albums and Lost Dogs included) up until Riot Act, I am way more fond of their post-Vs. stuff than I am of their music prior. Surprising, I know, since I channel the “grunge” gods like no other, I’m even surprised that I prefer their alternative-alternate over their deeply rooted, Seattle-punk based influences. Oh well.

But for recommendations, I would definitely 100 percent recommend Vitalogy (1994). It is a quintessential Pearl Jam conglomeration of creativity and uniqueness that displays the total change of pace the band was going for come 1994. It’s an album equipped with it’s own personality essentially; Not For You, Better Man, Nothingman, Last Exit, Corduroy…I mean, there is no wrong here. Each song is like it’s own human being— packed with individuality and a nature all of its own.

Regardless of their differences in melody, lyrical content, and over all feeling, the songs on Vitalogy are unified in such a fashion that the album is frankly addicting. I can listen to Not For You and Corduroy a million times over with no disregard towards either.

I’m all for repeats and I always have been, but these two songs sound different to me every time- and that’s why I choose to listen to them on repeat. So many sounds and instruments are being utilized in not just the two songs mentioned, but in all of the songs on the album, that every time you listen to one of them you hear something different that you didn’t hear before, or you listen to the song from a different perspective than you did prior, ultimately leading to even your frame of mind altering the way you hear the song.

Vitalogy is pure power and energy. If you want to hear a Pearl Jam album that isn’t the least bit “grunge”, try it out and see how you like it. If not there are other options.

No Code and Yield (1996 and 1998, respectively) are good as well; I prefer Yield over No Code simply because of the creative process that spawned Yield—it was a more positive and passionate environment shared between all the musicians of the band, instead of monopolized and controlled by Eddie Vedder. Not to discredit him; he has grown on me significantly, but regardless I still have some angst towards him and his crazy Capricorn control freak ways. He can’t help them though, heh.

From No Code I recommend the following:

Hail, Hail

Who You Are (my favorite from the album)

Off He Goes

Smile 

From Yield:

Brain of J

Do the Evolution

Given to Fly (my favorite from the album)

SO yes. If you want to enter the 21st century, something I will always be weary about, Binaural (2000) is genius. Nothing As It Seems sends chills up your spine. Just saying. 

On a side note… I’m going to Outside Lands this August! I can’t wait to see some of the greatest musicians of all time, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and not to forget my most favorite act on the lineup…Metallica. There are no words I can think of to explain the anticipation and excitement I have to see what Metallica chalks up for their set. Metallica live is something I have longed to see for far too long; their performances exude more energy than a hyper active five year old, and I feel that rush just from watching youtube videos…so you can assume what I’ll feel like during their live show. Ahh!

In terms of some of the other acts, I’m not nearly as excited to see them but I still am rather chipper about experiencing them live. Die Antwoord will be incredibly cool, as will Beck, Tame Impala, Norah Jones, etc. But once it gets closer to the date I’ll definitely post another entry in regards to an Outside Lands playlist of some calibur. 

Thank you for listening always— updates will hopefully coming more frequently now than they have been. 

Hello, this is going to be a particularly rage fueled post, so please read at your discretion. 

I’ll just start by going right into it— what the fuck Perry Ferrell. I’m not even questioning, I’m stating, what the fuck. Honestly I cannot say I’m surprised at all at the Lollapalooza 2012 lineup. It turned out to be exactly what I could have guessed; a lineup full of mediocre musicians who are the poster children for this pseudo rock movement that has been plaguing airwaves, iTunes, and all other mainstream fountains for music for the past several years now, and I am so beyond sick of it.

To start with a more positive outlook (if you want to call it that), seeing Jack White and RHCP on the lineup was mildly spirit lifting, but I can’t say I respect what RHCP has become since last summers release of I’m With You, and I could have easily guessed Mr. White would be performing since his first solo album Blunderbuss is dropping this summer (which I cannot deny, I am quite excited for). Nonetheless they’ve both been around since before the turn of the century, which is why I’m not as angry about them performing, but be aware that that doesn’t mean I’m not upset about it.

But to see the Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, At The Drive In, and Bassnectar as headlining acts makes me cringe more than anything. Perry Ferrell, you are only attributing to every teenager’s fantasy of bad indie music, wannabe blues rock, and now age old, substandard dubstep. I feel like being an musician aficionado of Ferrell’s caliber, the man who helped to bring 90’s alternative to a level it hadn’t ever even dreamed of reaching, he could at least try to speak to a crowd different than just the general masses of today. I appreciate Ferrell’s efforts every year to put on a festival bigger and better than any other one going on in the country, but to be honest, how many fucking festivals have the Black Keys headlined in the past two years? [It’s more than sickening that people actually give them the time of day— the day the Black Keys release an album that doesn’t sound exactly like the past two they’ve put out, maybe I won’t hate them as much. Until then I have zero tolerance and almost no respect for their strange cult following of boat wearing shoe boys and floral dress wearing girls who think they’re listening to rock and roll. Pish posh.]

To continue on the topic of Perry Ferrell and whatever fucking committee he put together to create this joke of a lineup, I need people to understand and be educated on the bands he has in the past line up his festival. The Smashing Pumpkins, George Clinton & Parliament, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Hole, Pavement, Rage Against the Machine, I mean I could go on literally for an hour explaining why it makes legitamately no sense that Lolla has stooped so low. Since the revival of the concert in 2003, it just seems to have gotten worse and worse each year with who is asked to perform.

And at the same time as me heavily criticizing Perry Ferrell, I also want to say it’s not his fault. What has music become, really, that the so called “best festival line up of this year” is made up of such bad music. I wrote a post several months ago actually addressing this topic so I won’t digress into it any further, but all I can say is that it breaks my heart to see how dilapidated the music industry is these days. 

In regards to the smaller acts on the line up, such as Toro y Moi, Die Antwoord, Sigur Rios and Tame Impala, I will not surprised if their crowds of fans are significantly smaller and their sets are overshadowed by the bellowing of bands who don’t deserve the respect they will most likely be given. The fact that this will most likely be a reality is also absolutely horrendous to have to think about. 

And the one final thing about the Lolla lineup that left me shell shocked was that Black Sabbath is on it. I’m sorry— did I read that right?

Sabbath has so much going on with them as of right now (as most people attending Lolla wouldn’t know), from lineup changes to lawsuits, I have no clue why they’d sign up to participate at a festival that seemingly goes against all that they cherish with being one of the founding Shock Rock metal bands of the 20th century. Why isn’t Sabbath playing at Orion Fest, a place they will be much more appreciated? It makes no sense to me, and ultimately their decision to play at Lolla makes me think that they’re revitalization to them is about attracting a younger and hipper audience than it is about gaining the liking of a smaller group of metal fans who still exist, young and old. 

Once again, to see such shitty acts on a lineup for such a legendary festival is just proof of how deplorable the music industry is right now. It makes me so angry to have no sort of liking for any current band, and that I’ve had to resort to the bands of past generations in order to hear some real music. 

I don’t even really want to discuss the assortment of rap and hip hop Lolla has on it’s lineup this year because I don’t really feel like it’s my place to. Even so, it’s not really my place to say any of this… but just know this rant is coming from the place of a frustrated rock fan. 

Thank you for listening. 

Per usual it’s been a while and I can happily say that I continue to find more and more music almost on a weekly basis that I am so easily falling in love with. To be presented constantly with endless bands and albums that I’ve just begun to indulge in is like a present in disguise; it is so awfully time consuming to listen to hours on end of music, but at the same time it never stops exciting me and opening my mind and ears up to new sounds.

To be specific, I’ve been all over the map in terms of what I’ve been listening to. It was effortless for me to transition out of metal, just because it’s a mindlessly melodic genre that allows me to divulge in the sound without having to think much about it. Since then I’ve been back on to Pearl Jam— I recently acquired both Live on Ten Legs (2011) and their performance at Madison Square Garden in September of 2011. Live music and albums are definitely major catalysts in deciding how I view a band or solo artist; if you can’t do a good live show then you’re simply a mediocre studio musician, and that’s quite an insult in my humble opinion, (sorry). Eddie Vedder once said that all Pearl Jam really wanted to do was perform strictly live shows in order for their fans to really understand what they were all about. Justifiable and meaningful in their own right surely, but this ideology should apply to all musicians who look to get any sort of praise from a bonafide music critic. Just saying.  

But I’m sorry for the digression— anyways, I’ve also been heavily seduced by the ever-so-classic-album Blue (1971), by Joni Mitchell. An absolute masterpiece in so many ways it’s hard for me to gather at a starting point, but if you’ve never taken the time to listen to the album all the way through, I won’t insult you, but I don’t know why you haven’t yet.

Let it Bleed (1969), (one of the many influential Rolling Stones masterpieces) has also been flooding my speakers endlessly, and to seemingly no avail I can’t seem to prefer any other RS album over it. Blasting Love in Vain as I’m getting ready for school in the morning hasn’t gotten disappointing yet and I don’t see it becoming so in the near future.

To conclude I advise if you’ve taken any interest in this post to try out the live Pearl Jam albums, Live on Ten Legs especially. 

With a new year comes new beginnings, and as much as I hate to be cliche, I can’t help but admit how much that term has applied to my musical taste the past month and a half. 

I have drifted immensely from my usual go to genres; ranging from Grunge/90’s Alternative to any relatively new hipster shit, I’m usually some what predictable with my taste and what I like to blog about. But lately a certain documentary series has completely opened my eyes to an entire movement of music I always seem to avoid with purpose. 

I never wanted to be that girl who became obsessed with Maiden, Priest, or Metallica, but what can I say? Metal is such a stereotyped and often over looked genre of music that it almost makes me sick to know that there are people in this world who have never taken the time to listen to Ride the Lightening, Piece of Mind, or Reign in Blood. Like seriously, who are you losers?

Anyways, the reason I’m bringing this up is because of the documentary series playing on vh1 now that I’m utterly obsessed with called Metal Evolution; directed and written by Sam Dunn, an extreme Metal enthusiast and anthropologist (might I add).

Each episode is an hour long and merely scratches the surfaces of some incredibly important and influential sub-genres of Metal. Little do most people know the true impact Metal has had on many of the bands our parents still croon to to this very day, as well as my personal favorite genre known as the “teen-spirited” movement of Grunge, as I have previously mentioned.  

With this synopsis I would now like to divulge a little bit into what I’ve personally taken from this series, as it is coming to a close in this upcoming month. 

Basically I’ve decided as a newly passionate metal fan that everyone on planet earth should take the time to really deeply listen to some good ol’ metal. Don’t be shy and don’t be dumb; I don’t want you to listen to the cracks of Nu Metal, pathetic Shock Rock bands, or anything that doesn’t show off a little melody. I want you to hear and experience the heavy and intense bass wails from Cliff Burton, the unrealistic vocal ranges of Lemmy, and the ever-so-iconic Kill ‘em All. 

I think a main reason many choose to turn the other cheek to most Metal is because most by-standards’ ears are trained to like melodic songs that are not typically heavy. Understandable at most, but sometimes when developing an eclectic and worldly music taste, you have to jump the gun a bit. 

I’m not going to include any songs specifically that I recommend in this post, since it’s more of a reflection on where I’ve been musically the past month or so. Soon I will be posting more frequently like I used to, I just hadn’t had the time.