Pavement Reunite! How about a re-run?
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According to The New York Times, Pavement will reunite for a series of shows, and play Central Park in September 2010. My feelings about Pavement are mixed. I think Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is one of the best albums of the 90's. And I like a lot of songs in their other albums, but none of their other albums stick with me the way that one does.
So I'm posting a link to my previous post about how much that album meant/means to me.
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MOG it up!
Locating MOG account...
Comments (9)
Glad they're back! They played an amazing show that I didn't appreciate as much then as I do now back in '96 w/ Shudder To Think and Silkworm.
Pavement are great and Crooked Rain is a piece of 90's alternative rock perfection. Gold Sounds is my fav. I'd have to say another pleasant surprise was the 2nd Pavement I bought - Wowee Zowee. Also,
"Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" is great fun (name dropping REM, STP and Smashing Pumpkins) off the No Alternative comp.
Oh and how about that 5-4=Unity instrumental? Can't beat that.
have to agree with you, Crooked Rain kilss me every time I listen to it and that is about as far as my pavement listening goes
The Pavement reunion shows have been buzzed about now worldwide. I have a number of friends in England were are just as excited about this as the New Yorkers who'll get to see them next year in Central Park.
The Malkmus magic is just as strong today as ever!
Here's another Pavement question - How much do you think they get paid to have the theme song for ESPN's Pardon the Interuption?
Yeah - that has to be producing a nice little royalty - each time it's played.
Hey - I'm happy for 'em. I'd rather see a band like Pavement benefit from that kind of exposure - than some overplayed, robotic dance music.
Ben Folds Five, Buffalo Tom, Better than Ezra, Dag, Morphine, Local H, Refreshments, Surfing Brides (who remind me of the Church btw), Catherine Wheel, For Squirells, The Freddy Jones Band, The Gear Daddies, Sugar, Toad TW Sprocket...
So much good music out of the 90's falling under the "Indie Sound". But color me small town and naive, I have never heard of "Pavement". Just took a listen via iTunes and Youtube. And from what I hear so far, I can see why they never had much commercial success. They must have been great live or something.
For Squirrels? They had a semi hit with some 120 minutes play, a CMJ mention or two, and then half their band died in a car wreck so they got a little more noticed. I'd hardly say most people had heard them.
Kind of strange you never heard of Pavement but you heard of bands like Surfing Brides, and Gear Daddies (bands I've never heard of). Pavement was what Indie was next to bands like Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, etc. Lots of bands were getting played in the 90's without huge commercial success on MTV. The Flaming Lips got huge for a moment off of the almost novelty hit "She Don't Use Jelly", but didn't release their epic "The Soft Bulletin" until 99.
If someone like Beck weren't so proliffic, he could have been swallowed up by the "Alternative" wave that was all around us. Even The Butthole Surfer's were legit for a minute with "Pepper". Do the commerciality of these songs mean anything to the bands whole catalog? Not in the least. I wrote off a band like Nada Surf in the 90's because of "Popular", where they are possibly one of the most under rated bands in existence now, putting out phenomenal album after phenomenal album.
I'm a little past the Pavement target age, but Slanted and Enchanted rocked my world and still does. They stuff a lot of stuff into that lo-fi recording..
I think allot of it has to do with regional activity, proximity to universities (ie large collection of young twenty something's from various backgrounds/demographics and influences), local radio, and simply who you are hanging out with and where you hang out at. I am sorry you missed out on the Surfing Brides and the Gear Daddies especially, but then again, I missed out on Sebadoh, Pavement and Guided by Voices...... alas, the beauty of MOG.
Thoughts:
I was in Richmond VA in the 90's and although laying claim to about 30,000 college kids from 2 Universities within the city limits (University of Richmond and Virginia Commenwealth University), and a very large restaurant and bar district with a great night life, we had very little in the way of live music venues. There was little to be considered for stage space and was often times booked with favorite local acts specializing in cover tunes.
We just where oblivious to what was going on outside our city limits unless someone brought it in by hand, or the local radio fed it to us.
Larger cities probably had more access to a more diverse palate of music such as Pavement etc...
But I am the first to admit, I'm far from being a Music Snob. I embrace the Coldplays of the world because I like it, and apparently a crap load of other people do too. Now I have enjoyed having my open mind rewarded with nuggets of non commercial groups who gain a cult following, and occasionaly through the years I have had friends or complete strangers introduce me to some great stuff, a prime example for me out of the 90's would be The Golden Palominoes, specifically Bootsy Collins whack at the ongoing project.
But those oppurtunities are likened to being a bit ancy due to sugar, because of MOG in the past 12 months, its more akin to being whacked on crack! The nuggets are coming faster than I can take in. Thus I have become incredibly picky, I gave pavement their just due with 10 mins, and decided I don't like em.
Now there are times when I listen to some stuff, and then question, are these folks objectively listening to this band? Or are they simply adhering to the "If it's popular, It Sucks!" rule of thumb, and would gladly listen to general noise and confusion (Insert any large city's 17-22 age group underground rage/moan/indifferent against society minority scene in the past 30 years) that is played out of a stack of amps.
Now don't get me wrong, Punk, some forms of metal, grunge, indie rock, rap metal, some forms of rap music have all had their place (I know I am probably omitting some important genre's here), and some memorable bands/groups/performers have come from it.
But the thing about indie rock for me, compared to so many other forms of .. well I will call them "Generational Genres'", is that it was discernable music.
Lets face it, it was the core of Generation X's 20 something years, and we where not trying to kill Disco, Kill Punk, Dress in Drag and give ourselves space names because it was fun on drugs... we simply wanted to have music that matched our desire to question our place in this world, both internally, and globally. A product of the burgeoning Internet, Cable TV and tired of the excesses of the 80's. We wanted it simple, and it was simple.
I find that the current generation is far to impatient for my liking, they have only known quick and easy. I don't blame them, nor will I .... I will try my damdest to take it at a case by case basis with them and their music. As I hope they do with me and mine.