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. 

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. 

If you do or do not know, CD’s will no longer be produced by the end of 2012.

I don’t really want to digress into that topic, although it is the title for this post, because I have a plentiful amount of opinions in regards to it. But I will for just a moment…

CD’s have projected the music industry into the multi-billion dollar empire it is today. Even though the internet has taken music and propelled it into something larger and more empirical than it ever has been, you cannot say that CD’s did not bring music to the point it’s at currently.

Ultimately the death of the Compact Disc will be a tragic loss to all music lovers, unless you do not appreciate anything else but the internet and downloading. 

In other music news, Lulu was released this past week. If you had not heard about this joke of an album, let me be the first to tell you. Metallica and Lou Reed have decided to collaborate and create a…rock album of sorts? Yes. I’m tempted to get it and review it, but then again I’m not in the mood to poison my ears if it is unnecessary and avoidable. 

In other news, my all-time favorite band Guns N Roses was nominated this past week for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. What an honor. The debate now is who would show up to receive the award… Slash I choose you! 

But in terms of myself and non-stop musical adventures, lately I’ve been indulging in the White Stripes more than usual. Icky Thump will always be an important album to me; it allowed me to give more Modern Rock a chance— back in 2008. I think you can see how that worked out…

Nonetheless, my favorite song from the album will always be 300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues. If you’ve never heard the song, then you will be graced with a multitude of different sounds that set a tone for individuality, which Jack White never fails to embody. The song goes from loud to quiet, obnoxious to soulful, but never once does it lose a sense of melody. I highly recommend the song and album if you’ve never heard it- the album itself is definitely a memorable mixture of some Jack and Meg White masterpieces.

I’ve also been harping on Pearl Jam lately. I just got Vs. (1994) and I liked it a lot more than I did Ten (1991). Vs. has a way more Post-Grunge feel to it than Ten does, which is completely understandable. Not to say I don’t like Grunge as much as I do Post-Grunge, (I’d choose the nitty-gritty, loud, original Seattle sound any day over it’s ‘Post’ sound counterpart) it’s just that Ten is a little more rough than Vs., therefore I’d prefer to listen to Vs. due to its including of acoustic sounds.  I don’t want to say I have a favorite song from the album yet because I’m still feeling it out, but the ever-so-popular Yellow Ledbetter has been on repeat lately… if that means anything.

Overall I recommend both of these albums, and if any of my followers take a look at Lulu, please shoot me a message and let me know how it is. I’m dying to know! 

Happy listening!