at a glance...

Hometown: Stockton, CA
Year Formed: 1989

Members:
Steve Malkmus -vocals, guitars
Spiral Stairs -guitars
Steve West -drums
Mark Ibold -bass
Bob Nastanovich -percussion

Bands In The Family:
Silver Jews, The Crust Brothers, Free Kitten, Oranger

Notes:
Pavement began to attract attention with their "Slay Tracks" 7-inch, especially the b-side, "Box Elder." Debut album Slanted and Enchanted was a huge cult success, changing the path of Matador Records and American indie rock in the '90s. An odds and ends collection Westing (By Musket and Sextant) solidified Malkmus and co.'s (now featuring bassist Mark Ibold, percussionist Bob Nastanovich and drummer Steve West in place of Young) rule over the land of indie, and their popularity reached a peak with 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, which included the near-crossover hit "Cut Your Hair." The next year's Wowee Zowee was less well received, but 1997's Brighten the Corners and 1999's Terror Twilight reinstated Pavement as one of the most revered bands of the decade.

Links:
Pavement Interview
Pavement Mothership

With Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement released the best '70s classic rock record of the '90s. A thematic, lyrical, epic masterpiece to rival Tommy, it was an album which succeeded in doing the impossible - following up the band's infamous Slanted and Enchanted, the album that built the frame of reference for indie-rock. Perhaps Watery, Domestic hinted at the new stadium rock direction they were headed in, but Crooked Rain still ended up surprising many of us with just how far it strayed from the band's earlier slacker noodling and bursts of lo-fi static - songs like "Range Life" have you fishing for your lighter to perform that well-known arena rock ritual.

Of course, the record isn't a full break with the old Pavement - Malkmus still slips in line after line of his obscure witticisms. Take the triumphant "Stop Breathin:" "nothing gets me off so completely but when you put it down ten feet down in the ground and call it response to a negative home..."

But musically Crooked Rain harks back to the anthems of our parents' record bins. The pleasant, melodic three-and four-chord songs are like estranged cousins of Stones tunes, especially "Range Life," "Gold Soundz," the bubbly "Cut Your Hair," "Fillmore Jive," and "Stop Breathin" (until the instrumental second half, which is possibly Pavement's most gorgeous two and a half minutes ever). "Fillmore Jive" is a sprawling ballad which encapsulates all of the history of rock n' roll only to deconstruct it again and end with an unfinished sentence. Is this postmodernism or what?

If you like Pavement, check out:
Pavement Slanted and Enchanted
Pavement Wowee Zowee
Pavement Major Leagues EP
Pavement Terror Twilight
The Fall This Nation's Saving Grace
Creedence Clearwater Revival Green River
The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
Royal Trux Twin Infinitives
Willie Nelson Stardust

--Lars Rosenblum Sorgenfrei

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