Pearl Jam - It's Okay [rock]

"Daughter" is definitely one of Pearl Jam's more recognizable songs and it has been a regular on my playlists almost since I began using playlists at all. Recently I learned of Pearl Jam's 2011 live album, which was a recording from a Toronto show, entitled 9.11.2011 Toronto, Canada, and gave it a listen promptly afterwards.

Apparently in live shows, for at least the past decade, Pearl Jam plays "It's Okay", originally by former punk band Dead Moon, following "Daughter". Having never been exposed to Pearl Jam live before, I had never heard this. The effect was immediately apparent: a story of domestic violence implied by "Daughter" juxtaposed with a message of explicit love and acceptance in "It's Okay". Combine that with the crowd interaction and the actual chord transition makes the whole ordeal a very uplifting one (the crowd definitely knows what's up when those initial chords are strung).

Anyway, here's fan-recording of the 2011 show with what I presume is the album recording dubbed on top. The video begins with the tail-end of "Daughter", which is rather ominous, actually.

Queen Elephantine - Kabir [psychedelic rock]

Queen Elephantine is a psychedelic rock band currently situated in New York (originally forming in Hong Kong). Heard this song from the "Prostitutes of God" documentary from Vice. The documentary explored the custom of devadasi, wherein girls are dedicated to deity Yellamma, whom will then serve as temple prostitutes upon reaching puberty. This documentary happens to feature various pieces by Queen Elephantine, whose gritty guitar paralleled the nature of the general affair.

This documentary, akin to other Vice stuff I've seen, doesn't provide a particularly high-level overview of the issue but rather focuses on the particular lives and impressions of a few select areas they end up visiting. I wouldn't say that I'm now particularly well educated on this issue but I'm, at the very least, cognizant of its existence. I think an apt description would be "messy as hell".

This song is "Kabir" from Queen Elephantine's 2007 release Surya.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Universally Speaking [rock]

I didn't know that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had begun back in the 80s. Somehow, I just figured "Under The Bridge" was their first single since it was the oldest thing of theirs that was ever played on the Edge. Anyway, as briefly mentioned in the previous post, I've been revisiting bands of my youth lately and RHCP is one of them.

One of the more memorable songs that I hadn't heard before is "Universally Speaking" from their By The Way album from 2002. The music video features actor Dave Sheridan, who continues his role from the "By The Way" music video where he had played obsessed taxi driver/captor of Anthony Kiedis. I felt a little nostalgia while watching this, that there was actual some continuity to "By The Way" that I had watched a lot back in the day. The book at the end "Lexicon Devil" is also the book that Anthony Kiedis waves at the beginning of the "By The Way" video, which he had presumably left in the taxi after escaping from it.

Eddie Vedder - Without You [ukulele, rock]

Lately, I've been revisiting various bands I listened to in those seemingly carefree days of my youth (I was lucky enough to have a relatively carefree set of teenage years), both past albums as well as whatever those artists are doing nowadays, whether with the original bands or solo.

I didn't listen to Pearl Jam that much in the 90's. I was first familiarized with their more popular singles from the Edge and then after I had purchased their hit-compilation album Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003). Now, over 20 years after their beginnings from Seattle, Pearl Jam is still active today, having released a couple of live albums (interestingly, one was released from their Toronto show last year on my birthday) since their last studio album, Backspacer, in 2009. On top of all this, vocalist, Eddie Vedder, has managed to begin releasing some solo work as well.

His first solo endeavour was for the soundtrack for the 2007 film Into The Wild, from which the single "Hard Sun" can be found. Following that, Vedder released Ukulele Songs in 2011, which appropriately features the ukulele. All in all, a very pleasant listen (the ukulele complements his voice very well). This is "Without You" (live version here)

Matthew Good - The Devil's In Your Details (live) [rock]

I have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to Canadian bands/artists, not sure if it's because of the music itself or some sort of suppressed national pride leaking out. One of the more prominent ones is Matt Good. Of course, having grown up during the time of Matthew Good Band, I'd say I'm a bigger fan of his pre-solo work.

Anyway, probably a year ago, I got his Live At Massey Hall album, which he released back in 2008. This is "The Devil's In Your Details", definitely one of my favourite songs on that album.