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Rock

Pearl Jam Returns to Heavy on ‘Dark Matter’: Stream It Now

"No hyperbole, I think this is our best work," Eddie Vedder has said of the album.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

Danny Clinch

Following the experimental music journey that was 2020’s Gigaton, Pearl Jam returns to familiar, heavy turf on Dark Matter, the legendary Seattle rock band’s 12th studio album.

Dropping at the stroke of midnight, Dark Matter (via Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records) spans 11 (mostly) burly numbers, including the previously-released midtempo cut “Wreckage” and the title track, which powered to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay and Rock & Alternative Airplay Charts.


Grammy Award-winning producer Andrew Watt is back behind the desk on Dark Matter, built on foundations of blazing guitars and busy drumming, and which ought to be played “loud, like, really loud,” frontman Eddie Vedder told Alt 98.7.

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Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, recognition of a mighty, three-decade-plus career that has yielded 12 top 10s on the Billboard 200 chart, including five leaders, and over 85 million albums shifted worldwide, according to reps.

The members of Pearl Jam—Vedder, Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Matt Cameron (drums)—workshopped the album last year at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu. With Watt at the desk, the creative process found turbo-packs, and the record came together in three weeks.

Vedder, McCready, and Ament premiered the LP at a listening party in West Hollywood earlier this year, attended by a few hundred family, friends, industry professionals and media, the Associated Press reported at the time.

“You all get together as a group as we’ve been doing for 30-plus years and you say, ‘Let’s try it again,’” Vedder reportedly told guests from the stage as he introduced the record. “No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”

In support of the new LP, Vedder and CO. will embark on a world tour. Those Dark Matter World Tour 2024 dates will see the band visit nine countries and 25 cities, kicking off at May 4 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC.

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Stream Dark Matter in full below.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

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Kesha
Brendan Walter

Kesha

Chart Beat

Kesha Brings 'Holiday Road' to The Billboard Canadian Hot 100

The newly independent pop singer's cover of Lindsay Buckingham's 1983 song from National Lampoon's Vacation was first released as a Spotify exclusive for the holidays. Michael Bublé's Christmas, meanwhile, remains at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums chart.

Kesha has brought an under-appreciated holiday gem back to the charts. Her version of "Holiday Road" debuts on this week's Billboard Canadian Hot 100 (dated Dec. 28, 2024) at No. 83.

"Holiday Road" was originally released in 1983 by Fleetwood Mac legend Lindsey Buckingham and serves as the propulsive opening theme to the Chevy Chase-starting classic comedy road trip film National Lampoon's Vacation.

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