Music

Rearviewmirror

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

As a pre-teen in the early ’90s, few things lit me up like the newly emergent Seattle grunge scene. I had been playing guitar for several years by then and most of those early years were spent idolizing hair metal shredders and learning Guns N' Roses solos note for note. But then at some point in 1991 I heard the four-chord intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit and my life changed.

Those four chords showed me that music was meant to move you. Forget formality. Forget the polish. Those four chords opened up a new world of bands who wrote songs with raw emotion and intensity. One of those bands was Pearl Jam.

The first Pearl Jam song that hooked me was Alive. That intro lick was (and continues to be decades later) so fresh. Shortly after hearing it, I bought the Ten cassette and played it on repeat. It was in the walkman. It was in the deck of my parents' 1988 Dodge Caravan. I played it in my room over and over and over learning the hard-panned guitar parts played by Mike and Stone. Pearl Jam had become my favorite band.

When the lineup for Lollapalooza ‘92 was announced, with Pearl Jam playing in the 2nd slot between Lush and The Jesus and Mary Chain, I knew I had to find a way to be there when the tour came to nearby Scranton, Pennsylvania. Being only thirteen, getting there would not be easy. I had no friends that could drive and my parents were not keen on the idea of dropping their thirteen year-old son off into a grungy mosh pit.

I’ve written before about how supportive my dad was in my musical endeavors. After weeks of badgering him to go to the show, he relented and agreed to go with me. It wasn’t the coolest thing to go to a rock show with your dad, but nothing would stop me from being there.

Long story short, the concert was located at Montage Mountain Ski Resort in the Pocono Mountains and the parking situation was a nightmare. We couldn’t park near the venue and needed to park several miles from where the concert was taking place. Concert organizers were bussing attendees from remote parking locations up to the base of the mountain where the bands were performing. It took us several hours to get from where we parked to the location.

As we stepped off the yellow school bus at the base of the mountain, I heard in the distance the familiar sound of one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs, Porch. They were already playing. Back in those days there was no setlist.fm so I had no idea how far the band was into their set. Turns out, they were pretty far into it. By the time we got to a vantage point of the band, they were well into Rockin’ in the Free World, which would be their final song. I was bummed to miss most of their set, but to this day I feel extremely fortunate to have caught a glimpse of their brilliance at that stage of their career.

Fast forward 33 years. Between 1992 and 2025, I never had the chance to see Pearl Jam again. I continued to follow and admire the band, but getting to a show just never worked out. That all changed last Sunday night.

Earlier this year when the band announced a pair of Pittsburgh dates, I made it a mission to attend. The tickets were hard to get (thanks Ticketmaster) and a bit pricey, but I would not be denied. I scored two upper level tickets, and Jilly and I circled the date on the calendar.

To say Sunday night’s show was worth the wait is an understatement. It was the final show of their Dark Matter world tour, and the band blew the roof off PPG Paints Arena to a more-than-capacity crowd. The air was electric – a mix of die-hard fans who’d seen them dozens of times and people like me who’d waited decades for this moment. You could feel the anticipation building as the lights dimmed and the crowd roared.

Early set highlights included an urgent & powerful version of Why Go that folded perfectly into Deep, two of my favorite tracks from Ten. Elderly Woman… was amazing as well, especially when Eddie turned over vocal duties to the crowd for the outro. Hearts and thoughts, they fade away. Chills. As expected, Even Flow whipped the crowd into a frenzy for the remainder of the first set, which culminated in a frantic rendition of Rearviewmirror that left the crowd dizzy.

The band left the stage for a few minutes and came back to play a 10-song encore that included unexpected songs like Hunger Strike (dedicated to Chris Cornell) and Crazy Mary, setlist staples like Alive, Lukin and Yellow Ledbetter, and covers of Rockin' in the Free World and Little Wing, which closed out the night.

Eddie’s voice was so good and the band was super tight, seemingly firing on all cylinders. The energy was electric. It seemed like they were actually having fun. That’s rare to see in a band nearly four decades into their run. Pearl Jam is something truly special.

Reflecting back on this experience, I think it was worth the wait. It’s pretty cool that 33 years after I first saw the last bars of Rockin' in the Free World at Lollapalooza, I got a chance to see the full version at a distinctly different stage of life. I lost my dad a long time ago, but Little Wing was one of his favorite songs of all time and I can’t help but think the universe was smiling at me at that moment. He would have loved to hear Pearl Jam’s version.

I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance to see Pearl Jam again. To be completely honest, I’m not sure I want to. The experience from Sunday will be a lasting memory and part of me wants to leave it at that – captured and catalogued alongside the 1992 memory for decades to come.

Bandcamp Friday Snags

Friday, February 7, 2025

Jake in the Desert reminded me earlier that it was Bandcamp Friday with 100% of company proceeds going to LA fire relief, so I picked up a couple things I’ve been both anticipating and eyeing for a while.

First, I grabbed the new release from FACS, Wish Defense, which dropped today. I absolutely love this vibe and FACS has been in heavy rotation into my earholes for a while now. This new record picks up where they left off and I recommend it if edgy, angular art rock is your thing.

I also picked up this record from Neighbors Burning Neighbors, a politically progressive post-hardcore outfit from Rotterdam, Netherlands. Completely digging the layers, texture and intensity on this one.

Lastly, my boy JV turned me on to Ligatures, an energetic and mathy post-punk outfit featuring x-members of some influential Pittsburgh bands like Crucial Unit and Pressgang. Their latest full-length A23a is very good and brings me my fix of palm mutes and riffage.

All in all, a solid haul.

Favorite Concert: Schoolhouse Spazcore

Thursday, January 30, 2025

I really enjoyed reading all the blog questions challenge posts from a few days ago and while I was drafting mine it sparked an idea to kick off a new one. I follow a lot of music blogs and folx on Masto with a music bent, through which I’ve discovered some really great artists. I’ve grown to love this feed of music discovery; it brightens my day!

Shows and concerts are also a big part of my music adventures, so this challenge is to share your most memorable / favorite / epic concert you’ve been to. I’d love to read posts from Jake, Naz, Jason and Brad if they’re so inclined to share.

My Most Memorable Concert

The year was 1998. It was a different time. The internet had arrived, but it was still tangential to life. I was 19 years old and in my first years of undergrad at a rural Pennsylvania university. Back then, music was also a big part of my life and I was deep into the underground post-hardcore scene.

I was in a band at the time, and my friends were all in bands. We played anywhere that could hold a few dozen people and had electricity. One particular night in October, my friends in The Juliana Theory were playing a show opening for headliners Knapsack. There was also a band in between called At the Drive-In. I wasn’t familiar with At the Drive-In, but I was very into Knapsack’s Day Three of My New Life and I was always down to support friends, so I made a plan to check out the show.

The show was taking place at The Armburst Schoolhouse, a venue I had never been to and actually had never heard about before seeing it on the show flyer. Google Maps wasn’t a thing back then, so I MapQuested it on my school-issued desktop computer and printed out the directions. It looked to be in the middle of nowhere. Carless, I borrowed my buddy Todd’s Blazer and drove about 40 minutes to the destination, which in fact, was in the middle of nowhere.

I rolled up to a nondescript, abandoned one-room schoolhouse. A couple punks were smoking outside and there was a gravel lot with a couple tour vans and maybe a dozen cars. I paid my entry fee at the door (probably $5) and got one step closer to a blown mind.

The Theory’s set was solid, but what I witnessed afterward was like something from another planet. At the Drive-In took the stage (er, classroom?) by storm and blasted the fortunate few in attendance with a level of energy and intensity no one was prepared for. For about 30 minutes they crashed through most of the cuts from their most recent record, In Casino Out. Cedric and Omar were absolutely frantic and on fire, flanked by Jim on the other side as the stable anchor.

As a musician myself early in my journey, this performance solidified for me what live music should be. It should be a release of raw emotion. Movement through pulsing meters. Perfectly imperfect, with no regard for what may come in return.

Anyone who follows this scene knows that the rest is history for At the Drive-In. They went on to release Relationship of Command, tour with Rage Against the Machine, and spawned amazing projects like The Mars Volta and Sparta.

And even thought the internet was in its infancy, some forward-thinking saint was there with a shoulder-mounted camcorder to record the performance with no concept that it would live on in infamy on a thing called YouTube:

My Favorite Records of 2024

Monday, December 30, 2024

I thought 2024 was a fantastic year for recorded music. It seemed like every few weeks another absolute banger was released. As an avid listener, this year also saw my personal transition away from Spotify as a streaming source to a more intentional discovery and direct purchase model that I believe honors artists in a way streaming services don’t (or won’t).

In no particular order, here are the ten records released in 2024 I found to be my favorite:

Dulling the Horns by Wild Pink: I know I just said ‘no particular order,’ but this just might be my record of the year. The songs and texture are just so layered. Simply complex, in a way that’s refreshing. The title track showcases this effortless density and is a standout on a stacked collection of songs.

No Arc by Rave Ami: My local selection this year comes from rockers Rave Ami. These guys are tight, fun and bring some unique energy to their live shows and recorded releases. I sorta feel like they’re a bit overshadowed by bigger Pittsburgh-based bands, but for my money this record rips hard.

Evergreen by Soccer Mommy: Sophie Allison describes her music as ‘chill, but kinda sad’ and I think that’s right. I’ve always felt the best songs were the saddest songs. Evergreen definitely brings the emotion, but not is a way that’s trite or placating. I find the songs on this release to be honest, raw and forthright in a way that’s comforting but also challenging.

Lighthouse by Francis of Delirium: A friend sent me this record earlier in the year and it’s been in constant rotation ever since. Lighthouse has a little bit of everything – in a good way. Luxemburg-based Jana Bahrich writes grungy pop songs that you find yourself singing to yourself during those random quiet moments of your day.

All Pleasure by THUS LOVE: No frills, four-on-the-floor rock and roll from Vermont-based THUS LOVE. The thing I love about this record is the swagger the band brings. It starts out of the gate with the opening ripper On the Floor and continues for the duration. I think swagger is a lost art these days and it’s great to see a group that’s out and proud bring it unapologetically and full-on.

Where we’ve been, Where we go from here by Friko: What a freaking epic release from Chicago duo Friko. These songs wander and traverse genres like there are simply no boundaries. Part singer-songwriter, part noise art, part chamber orchestra. On paper, the math doesn’t appear to work, but on tape it’s genius.

Cool World by Chat Pile: This is definitely the heaviest record on my list. Cool World is intense and guttural. The whole thing is raw and throbbing with some killer breakdowns that are sure to open up the circle pit at live shows.

Second Dinner by slimdan: Another one that has been in heavy rotation for most of the year. I am in love with slimdan’s pop-driven songs. They’re smart and catchy, and carry melodies that seem both familiar and fresh at the same time.

for frank forever by piglet: A late addition to the list, I randomly stumbled upon piglet - a solo project from Irish songwriter and producer Charlie Loane – just a few weeks ago. for frank forever carries really interesting production and infections melodies. I’m looking forward to seeing how piglet evolves into the future.

Valentin Prince by Valentin Prince: A fantastic LP from Richmond-based guitarist and songwriter. Sorta jammy and sorta trippy, but the song structure and performance are on point. This is a free digital download on Bandcamp, so don’t sleep on it!

Archive Under Attack

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

A diverse coalition of artists has united to voice objection to a $621 million copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive. The lawsuit claims the Archive is violating copyright rules under the “smokescreen” of their Great 78 Project, which aims to digitize vinyl records produced between the late-1800s and the 1950s. A portion of the Great 78 collection includes work from well-known acts like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. The plaintiffs and some estates of included artists claim the project is unlawfully reproducing and distributing works under copyright.

The case is being led by music rights holders Universal Music Group and Sony Music, while the objection includes support from artists such as Amanda Palmer, Deerhoof, Real Estate, Ted Leo, Kathleen Hannah and Cloud Nothings. A judgement against the Internet Archive at the scale of $621M could bankrupt the organization.

It’s an ironic gut punch to musicians and audiences alike to see that the Internet Archive could be destroyed in the name of protecting musicians. For decades, the Internet Archive has had the backs of creators of all kinds when no one else was there to protect us, making sure that old recordings, live shows, websites like MTV News, and diverse information and culture from all over the world had a place where they’d never, ever be erased, carving out a haven where all that creativity and storytelling was recognized as a critically valuable contribution to an important historic archive. – Amanda Palmer

The Internet Archive does important work at the intersection of digital culture and public access. The work needs to continue and you can help ensure that it does.