Friday 8-Track

In honor of the reissue of Wowee Zowee I just picked up (a.k.a. the Sordid Sentinels Edition), today's 8-Track is posted in honor of the crowned heads of college radio (no, not R.E.M.), the sovereigns of slack, the imperators of indie rock...Pavement. If any one band had to be chosen as the avatar of all musical things GenX~y and hipster chic, it would have to be Pavement. But that is all bullshit anyway because they straight up rock. Let's get to it.

"Rattled by the Rush" - Wowee Zowee

If you asked me to describe Pavement I would probably just play this song. It's got all the elements of their own style with the sideways guitar parts, lazy grooves, frenetic rock outs, and Stephen Malkmus' stoner gibberish. Fucking awesome.

"Stereo" - Brighten The Corners

Perhaps my second-favorite Pavement tune, I never ever grow tired of hearing it. It defies both description and comparison but I can say with confidence that it poses one of the greatest interrogatives in the history of rock, "What about the voice of Geddy Lee, how does it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy." I know him, and he does.

"Silence Kit" - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

This makes my list of Top 5 Side One Song One's (album openers). The contrast on the intro is just fantastic with Malkmus "fumbling" through the opening guitar riff until the sloppiness just ends, the count off, and then...honey-smoothe overdriven guitar with a cowbell on the downbeats. Sublime.

"Speak, See, Remember" - Terror Twilight

This is a good album but it's a bit overreaching and it just felt like it would be their last. And it was. This is a album is not a definitive one for the band because it is full of a lot of good but not great songs. What I like about this tune is that it serves as the "weird groovey" tune (of which there is one on every album) but it also kicks into a straight ahead piece of rock in the last third. I believe all of that creamy breakup on the guitars is courtesy of the Hot Cake Overdrive pedal -- niiiiiice.

"Kennel District" - Wowee Zowee

Other guitarist and contributing songwriter Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) was definitely caught in the glare of Malkmus' ever brightening talent and he only had one or two not-so-good songs per album (in my opinion). However this is one of my fave Pave tunes because of its drop-D simplicity and the guitar atmospherics in the background. It is pretty simple but has got a great hook.

"Father To A Sister Of Thought" - Wowee Zowee

Another cool tune with contrasting parts and good imagery. I like the country vibe with the steel guitar and then it's just obliterated by fuzz and big drums.

"Cut Your Hair" - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

So, this is it. Hands down my favorite Pavement tune (I think). It is noteworthy that their most commercially successful song -- it appeared in the Brady Bunch movie -- is also, lyrically, their most straightforward. It is a great rock song about "selling out" in order to be a rock star. Which is at least a little ironic seeing as the rights to the song were licensed for use in a very cheesy studio film. But nonetheless I will always have a little place in my heart for this tune which a couple of my bands have covered over the years, "Face right down to the practice room where attention and fame are a career. Career! Career! CAREER!"