Tuesday, March 01, 2011

90's Hit Parade #84



Pavement - Stop Breathin'

I'm a pretty casual fan of Pavement. One consequence of this low-level fandom is that, while I like their sound generally, I don't really have a favorite Pavement song. In preparation for this, I listened to their first two albums (the ones I have on my iPod...I know there's a dubbed cassette of Wowie Zowie floating around here somewhere, and I've still never listened to Brighten the Corners) trying to find one to represent the band, but each song seems to highlight a different aspect of their sound. I finally settled on this song, because you can kinda hear the arena rock anthem it would be in the hands of another band. Can't you just see the sea of lighters waving back and forth? But Pavement deliver it as an offhand aside, in Malkmus' lazy drawl, which is the very essence of Pavementness.



Alternate choice: Pavement - Texas Never Whispers

The lead track off the Watery, Domestic EP is sort of a better representation of the "early Pavement" sound, with lots of run-on lines that just seem to flow out, stream of consciousness. But what really fascinates me is that intro. As a connoisseur of weird guitar sounds, I would love to know what combination of feedback and harmonics they're using to produce that shimmering cloud of sound. Also, has the character of a state ever been so well represented as by the three words in this title?

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