Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
33 years and 12 albums in, Pearl Jam fans would be forgiven for thinking they know exactly what to expect from the band by now. From dominating the ‘90s rock scene with their 13-times platinum breakthrough ‘Ten’ to a middle-of-the-road stint in the ‘00s with lacklustre, bluesy albums ‘Binaural’ and 2006’s self-titled snoozer, it seemed up until now that the band’s heyday had been left in the past. Yet, with ‘Dark Matter’ – their first release since 2020’s ‘Gigaton’ – Eddie Vedder and co. prove they still have some surprises up their sleeve.
From the get-go, the grunge icons deliver some of their most hard-hitting work in recent years, launching into explosive tracks ‘Scared Of Fear’ and ‘React, Respond’, which are not dissimilar from the classics in ‘Vitalogy’ and ‘Vs’. This time around though, they have not only ventured back to their roots, but combined it with their decades of experience.
Nowhere is this refinement showcased better than the title track. Alongside delivering the same rapturous hit of energy that first put Pearl Jam on the scene, it also showcases the instrumental virtuosity of bassist Jeff Ament and lead guitarist Mike McCready, as the two playfully toy with dynamics and show off some scarcely seen flashiness.
This isn’t to say that the members have turned their back on their musical evolution though, as a hefty chunk of the LP still pays homage to their more recent, blues-flavoured stylings. ‘Wreckage’, ‘Won’t Tell’ and ‘Something Special’, for instance, sit in the realm of more recent albums like ‘Lightning Bolt’ – taking a stripped-back, almost-country approach as Vedder lays down his signature vocals over the top.
Tucked away in the latter half of the LP though, an interesting shift is introduced in the form of the experimental ‘Upper Hand’ and emotionally-rich ‘Setting Sun’. Here, not only do the band prove they’re in top form musically, but the lyrics from Vedder have the power to take it to the next level. “I held the dream you would stay with me ’til kingdom come/ Turns out it was more like hit and run/ Am I the only one hanging on?” he questions in the latter, as the album draws to a close — a line which feels particularly heavy given the tragic fate that has followed frontmen in the grunge scene.
For those longing for the charismatic songwriting that first put the band on the map over three decades ago, ‘Dark Matter’ will come as a pleasant surprise. Not only does it showcase Pearl Jam reclaiming the charm that first made them a force to be reckoned with back in 1991, it comes alongside some of their most impressive musicianship yet, as well as a determination to take risks after years of playing it safe.
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Kamasi Washington says that, first and foremost, this sixth full-length album is is paean to flexibility. It’s a topic that few musicians of his generation are better placed to discuss. Since making his breakthrough with ‘The Epic’ in 2015, the saxophonist has become one of the more unlikely crossover success stories of recent years by taking staple jazz influences and reshaping them so adventurously that he seems to be speaking a musical language all his own; in an era where the genre has become a niche concern, ‘The Epic’ and 2018 follow-up ‘Heaven and Earth’ seemed to capture imaginations both in and outside of the jazz scene through the sheer force of their vibrancy.
Ordinarily, an artist enjoying this kind of validation might use it as a foundation to cast the shackles off on their next record, but Washington was already in the business of three-hour conceptual odysseys long before he was picking up Grammy nominations. So whilst ‘Fearless Movement is not necessarily any looser or wilder than its predecessors, it is, as the title suggests, unafraid to wander down any stylistic avenue its creator pleases. At the centre of it is the aforementioned fascination with flexibility, both physical – the whole record acts as Washington’s tribute to the art of dance – and metaphorical, inspired too by the profound changes to his life since becoming a father in 2020.
Accordingly, there is room for him to both venture into funkier, groovier territory – see the inspired George Clinton collaboration ‘Get Lit’ – and offer up slow-burning, ruminative reflection, as on the irresistibly smooth ‘Together’. The latter track is an outlier in how straightforwardly it nods to classic jazz; Washington’s usual modus operandi is to imbue his references with sounds of the near future, like he does when he channels both his hero and occasional collaborator Herbie Hancock and the Austrian synth innovator Joe Zawinul on the audacious ‘Computer Love’, which sees him update the pair’s pioneering work for the 21st century.
He meets his contemporaries on their own present-day level, too, securing the first guest turn by André 3000 since he pivoted to flute and going toe-to-toe with him on the album’s atmospheric centrepiece, ‘Dream State’. ‘Fearless Movement’ feels like more of a personal piece than ‘Heaven and Earth’, leaning more towards humanism than the spiritualism that has so enraptured Washington in the past. The key to his appeal, though, remains unchanged; he makes music that’s apparently limitless in scope and yet joyously immediate, even to the casual jazz listener.
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