Pearl Jam recently posted this photo on Twitter and Facebook.  I think it’s cool for two reasons: (1) it’s just cool, and (2) it pays homage to a photo of the band taken a long time ago and used for the cover of Rearviewmirror (the band’s greatest hits release).

Pearl Jam has released a recent concert for free download via Google Music.  The show is from September 11, 2011 (the tenth anniversary of 9/11) in Toronto, Canada.  You can see Pearl Jam’s posts on Twitter and Facebook about the release and you can download the show here.

In related news, Pearl Jam has released the concert downloads associated with Backspacer.  If you bought Backspacer through the Ten Club, you can now insert your CD into your computer, go to the bonus site, and select two of the ten available concerts for free download.  Here are the shows available:

Berlin - August 15, 2009
Vancouver - September 25, 2009
Los Angeles - October 7, 2009
Philadelphia - October 30, 2009
Philadelphia - October 31, 2009
Boston - May 17, 2010
Cleveland - May 9, 2010
Belfast - June 23, 2010
New York - May 21, 2010
Lisbon - July 10, 2010

I’m planning on getting the Philadelphia 2009 Box Set at some point (it contains all 4 shows that the band played to close down the Spectrum in October 2009), so even though the October 31 set list looked good, I ended up downloading the shows from Berlin and Boston.

Jonah Matranga (solo musician and lead singer for the bands Far, New End Original, and Gratitude) shares his thoughts and experiences with Pearl Jam.  This is a really neat story.

Temple Of The Dog - Hunger Strike

I just finished reading the book Pearl Jam Twenty and I really enjoyed the part about Temple Of The Dog.  The band was formed by Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (of Mother Love Bone) as a tribute to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, who had recently died of a heroin overdose.  The story of how ‘Hunger Strike’ ended up on the album and how Eddie Vedder ended up singing on it is really cool:

“The song that would become the album’s centerpiece, “Hunger Strike,” was birthed from Cornell’s admitted obsessive-compulsive dislike for odd numbers.  At a certain point during the writing process, there were nine songs completed, “and I hated that,” he says.  “So I had this other song that I whipped up so we could have ten, because I just have to have ten.  And it was ‘Hunger Strike.’

…

On the same day that Eddie Vedder arrived in Seattle to play with his soon-to-be Pearl Jam bandmates for the first time, Cornell had scheduled a Temple of the Dog rehearsal.  Aside from saying a quick hello to Cornell in the hallway, Vedder kept to himself while the group ran through its songs.  But when they started playing “Hunger Strike,” he made a move that would change his life forever.

“So we’re in the rehearsal and I showed them the song, and we get to the chorus,” Cornell says.  “There’s a low part and a high part.  I’m going to sing them both now, so they get it.  It’s the magic of overdubs, and I can do both parts, and it will sound great.  No problem.  So I’m doing it: ‘Going hungry, going hungry, going hungry.’  I’m not doing it good.  The high part’s hard to sing anyway, but I’m doing it.  All of the sudden, I feel this shadowy presence over my shoulder.  And there’s only one mike, and the chorus comes around again, and he sort of moves his shoulder in just to let me know he’s got a plan.  And I don’t know him.  We had said hi.  And it wasn’t in a way that was intrusive or egotistical.  It was literally almost like he had pity on me and was trying to help me through this moment, because I was having a hard time.  So he hit the ‘Going hungry, going hungry, yeah.’  I sang the high part, and then he hit it again.  All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off in my head…

* Ryan Adams recently performed a cover of Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years” for BBC Radio.  Ryan also released another new song called ‘Invisible Riverside’ from his upcoming album ‘Ashes And Fire’.
* Polar Bear Club recorded a few songs for the Switchboard Sessions.
* Bon Iver recently performed a solo piano version of ‘Beth/Rest’ for NPR.
* Fanfarlo have released a video for the first song from their upcoming album.  The song is called ‘Replicate’ and the track is available for download to those that sign up for the band’s mailing list.
* Maritime have released a new song called ‘Sea Horse Love’ on a free Dangerbird Records sampler which is available exclusively on iTunes.
* Radiohead have released the sixth volume of their 12” remix series for streaming online.
* Pearl Jam have released a new song called ‘Olé’ for free download.
* She & Him have revealed the details of their upcoming Christmas album.  It is called ‘A Very She & Him Christmas’ and it is coming out on October 25.
* Office Of Future Plans will release their debut, self-titled album on November 14 via Dischord Records.
* Coldplay have released the second single ‘Paradise’ from their upcoming album ‘Mylo Xyloto’.
* Saves The Day have released a video for ‘Deranged & Desperate’
* Boy Sets Fire are planning on writing new material.
* The Casket Lottery are recording a new album for the first time since 2002.
* Hum are planning to play some reunion shows.
* Album Stream: Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack
* Album Stream: Saves The Day - Daybreak
* Album Stream: Mates Of State - Mountaintops
* Album Stream: Bridge & Tunnel - Rebuilding Year
* Album Stream: Chuck Ragan - Covering Ground
* Album Stream: Samiam - Trips

Pearl Jam Twenty - Official Trailer

I think I’m really going to enjoy this.

Here is all the new music that I’ve bought in the first part of 2011.  I’ll split it into a few categories:

Record Store Day:
* Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Class Mythology 2x7” [Four leftover songs from the Cardinology sessions.]
* Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American Deluxe Edition 3xLP [First time on vinyl.  Limited to 2000 copies.]
* Foo Fighters - Medium Rare LP [An all-covers album.]
* Deftones - Covers LP [An all-covers album.]
* Anberlin - Cities 2xLP [First time on vinyl.]
* Pearl Jam - Vs. LP [Vinyl reissue.]
* Pearl Jam - Vitalogy 2xLP [Vinyl reissue.]

New Releases (Albums):
* Maritime - Human Hearts [The 4th Maritime record and the band keeps getting better.  I’d definitely recommend this.]
* The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules [The first new album in a long time from The Get Up Kids…it’s very different from their earlier albums, but I dig it.]
* Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean [This album has really grown on me.  Jess and I are going to see Iron & Wine in concert this week and we’re both very excited.]
* Bright Eyes - The People’s Key [Another solid record from Conor Oberst.]
* Radiohead - The King Of Limbs [I’m still not quite sure what I think of this record.  There are definitely some good songs, but I’m not sure how it stacks up to their other albums.]
* Jonsi - Go Live [This live album from Sigur Ros’s lead singer contains several songs that aren’t on his debut album Go.]
* Joan Of Arc - Life Like [The first Joan Of Arc album with Victor Villareal (of Cap’n Jazz and Owls fame)…I was hoping this would be amazing, but unfortunately, I don’t think it is.]
* Decibully - Decibully [The band’s brand-new, self-titled (and sadly their final) album is available as a pay-what-you-want download here.]
* Foo Fighters - Wasting Light [Another solid Foo Fighters album.]
* Jonah Matranga - You’re All Those Things And Then You’re None (V2.0) [Version 1 of this record was a singer/songwriter album with just acoustic guitar and vocals.  For Version 2, Jonah took audio submissions of all kinds from anyone who wanted to take part, and he built a new version of each song.  It turned out really well and it is a lot of fun to listen to.  It is definitely worth checking out.]
* Pearl Jam - Live On Ten Legs [Pearl Jam has released plenty of live music, but I still bought this…I guess I’m a sucker.  Anyways, it’s pretty good if you like Pearl Jam.]
* Pearl Jam - Vs./Vitalogy/Live At The Orpheum Theatre [The bonus tracks on Vs. and Vitalogy aren’t that great, but the live CD is awesome.  Pearl Jam was sort of an angry band in 1994, and that made for an awesome live show.]

New Releases (EP’s):
* Alexi Murdoch - Towards The Sun [This seven song mini-album is really good.  Another recommendation.]
* Lovedrug - EP Part III [The final installment in Lovedrug’s year of EP’s leading up to album #4.]
* Chris Conley / Masafumi Isobe / Matt Pryor - 3 Way Acoustic Split [Chris Conley of Saves The Day, Masafumi Isobe of Husking Bee, and Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids each do a new song and cover a song by the other two.]
* Vampire Weekend - iTunes Session
* The Appleseed Cast - Middle States [The new EP available from Graveface records.]
* Blackpool Lights - Okie Baroque [The long-dormant side-project from Jim Suptic of The Get Up Kids is back with a new EP.  It is available for purchase here.]

New Releases (Singles):
* Imogen Heap - Lifeline [Imogen’s new single that she wrote in collaboration with her fans.  You can buy it from Amazon MP3 or iTunes, or you can buy it directly from Immi’s website.]
* Owen - O Evelyn 7” [Another new single from Mike Kinsella.]
* Office Of Future Plans - Harden Your Heart 7” [The debut single from J. Robbins’s new band.]
* Channels - Cast Away [A new single from J. Robbins’s outfit prior to Office Of Future Plans.  Available for listening and purchasing here.]
* The National - Think You Can Wait (from the film Win Win)
* The National - Exile Vilify (from the video game Portal 2) [Both of these new singles from The National are really good and I especially like that the art for both of them is a play on the cover for High Violet, the band’s last record.]
* Cary Brothers - Free Like You Make Me (from the SXSW 4 Japan compilation)
* Radiohead - Supercollider/The Butcher [I received an email from Radiohead last week with a free download of these two tracks, which were released on a UK-only 12” for Record Store Day.  The band sent a download link to everyone that bought The King Of Limbs from them.]

Older Albums:
* Atlantic/Pacific - Meet Your New Love [I had been meaning to purchase this since it came out last year and I finally got around to it.  Atlantic/Pacific is the new band from Garrett Klahn of Texas Is The Reason and Solea.  This album is gentle, acoustic, and quite enjoyable.]
* Hammock - Chasing After Shadows…Living With The Ghosts [A recommendation from my friend Troy.  A really lovely instrumental record.]
* Camden - Reel Time Canvas
* Camden - Pieces Of Places [Eric & Magill is the new project from Ryan Weber and Eric Osterman and their album All Those I Know is really good.  I am familiar with Ryan Weber because he was in Decibully, but Ryan and Eric were previously in Camden, so I decided to track down some of their stuff.  Both of these records are pretty good.]
* Shorebirds - It’s Gonna Get Ugly [Shorebirds was Matt Canino’s band after Latterman and before RVIVR (among others).  The band also featured Chris Bauermeister of Jawbreaker on bass.  It’s Gonna Get Ugly is the band’s only album and it is a solid pop-punk record.  Good call Nick.]
* Smoke Or Fire - The Speakeasy [Another good recommendation from Nick.] 
* Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land [I have had Ambient 1: Music For Airports for a long time and I love that album.  For some reason, I’ve never looked into any other Brian Eno albums, but a recent post from Something For The Ladies put an end to that.  I have a feeling I’ll be buying a few more Eno records over the next few months.]

And finally, here are the recent Daytrotter Sessions that I enjoyed: Old Canes, Menomena, Iron & Wine, Jonah Matranga, and The Wooden Birds

* Radiohead’s new album ‘The King Of Limbs’ is available now [Link]
* Foo Fighters will release their new album ‘Wasting Light’ on April 12th [Link]
* Death Cab For Cutie will release their new album ‘Codes And Keys’ on May 31st [Link]
* Braid have reunited and will be recording a new album with J. Robbins [Link]
* Fleet Foxes will release their new album ‘Helplessness Blues’ on May 3rd [Link]
* Pearl Jam have released the details for the upcoming reissues of ‘Vs.’ and ‘Vitalogy’ [Link]
* Small Brown Bike will release their new album ‘Fell & Found’ on April 26th [Link]
* Joshua have launched a full album stream of their soon-to-be-released album ‘Choices’ [Link]
* 13 & God (the collaboration of The Notwist and Themselves) will release their new ‘Own Your Ghost’ on May 17th [Link]
* Bright Eyes have posted a full album stream of their new album ‘The People’s Key’ which came out this past week [Link]
* Team Goldie have posted their remix of Polar Bear Club’s ‘Drifting Thing’ for free download [Link]
* The Strokes have released the first single from their upcoming album ‘Angles’ [Link]
* Thursday will release their new album ‘No Devolucion’ on April 12th [Link]

Here are the latest music-related links that I enjoyed:

* Ryan Adams is preparing to release Volumes III/IV by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals on his own PAX-AM label.  The material on this double album comes from the same recording sessions that produced the album Easy Tiger.  I couldn’t be more excited for this.  (The first link is the explanation of the release and the second link contains pictures of the release art.) [Link1 - Link2]
* Pearl Jam is preparing to release a new live album, Live On Ten Legs [Link]
* Jonsi performed an acoustic show in a record store in LA and the store put some videos online [Link]
* Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie commented on the sound of the band’s next album, due out in early 2011 [Link]

soupsoup:

Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses joins Pearl Jam for Hunger Strike at MSG (5/22/10)

This is so cool.