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Pavement

Started by Head Gardener, June 02, 2019, 04:16:07 PM

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Head Gardener

there is probably a thread on them somewhere but this news is worthy a fresh one



more info

alan nagsworth

Why do they even bother? Is Malkmus just going to come out and be a miserable cunt again, while they play some by-the-numbers cash-in shows? I love Pavement but I am royally Not Arsed about this.

McChesney Duntz

Is it heretical to state that Pavement pretty much lost their mojo entirely once they scapegoated Gary Young out of the group? Or maybe it's just that their (well, Malkmus' in particular) smug, smarter-than-you, we-can-be-focused-and-coherent-we-just-choose-not-to demeanor always rubbed me the wrong way, to the point that they/he grew to personify everything annoying about 90s Amerindie music. And I saw Malkmus doing his newfound laptop schtick a year or two ago and it was so bad it was hilarious.

sevendaughters

Am gonna go to the Porto show. I missed their 2010 shows because of exams and I want to see them and go to Porto. If they phone it in it's on me, but Bob needs to pay the bills.

I don't agree that they went bad when Gary Young was politely moved on for being a fully-fledged weirdo but they did trade a certain idiosyncrasy for professionalism. Their crime is that they lived beyond their zeitgeist and kept going when for some in the band it became an albatross - and didn't try to hide that. They still put out good songs record after record.

sweeper

The first time I saw Pavement, on a hot, dusty late August afternoon, when Malkmus swapped his Fender for a Gibson, the guy in the crowd next to me purred: 'Oh, Gibson SG. Great guitar.'

The band were never as good again after that. Something died that day.


Captain Z

Always found them somewhat pedestrian.

the science eel

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on June 02, 2019, 04:54:26 PM
Is it heretical to state that Pavement pretty much lost their mojo entirely once they scapegoated Gary Young out of the group? Or maybe it's just that their (well, Malkmus' in particular) smug, smarter-than-you, we-can-be-focused-and-coherent-we-just-choose-not-to demeanor always rubbed me the wrong way, to the point that they/he grew to personify everything annoying about 90s Amerindie music.

Agree to the word.

I'm still quite fond of 'Debris Slide', 'Loretta's Scars', 'Box Elder' but you do really grow out of that stuff just 'cos it doesn't have a whole lot there.

And for once, Mark E's paranoia was well-founded - they stole a shitload from Slates-era Fall.

Twed


sevendaughters

always thought they borrowed more from Swell Maps than the Fall but in each case put their own spin on it.

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: the science eel on June 02, 2019, 05:23:01 PM
And for once, Mark E's paranoia was well-founded - they stole a shitload from Slates-era Fall.

Indeed. Granted, they didn't exactly try to hide that, and some of the Fall rips are among their better songs ("Conduit for Sale!" in particular), but this actually pissed me off when I heard it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_STY9g7-YPA

sweeper

Why did it piss you off?

holyzombiejesus

First time I saw Pavement I was on acid. It was at a really small club in Manchester and we didn't know about Gary Young being a bit of a mentalist so got really freaked out when, as we were leaving, some hairy guy in an orange boiler suit stopped us and offered us some carrot sticks. There was a little balcony on the first floor and we had to peep through it, lying on the floor to see Gary play the drums whilst stood on his head.

Pavement definitely lost something when he left but not as much as they lost when Malkmus fell head over heels in love with himself.

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: alan nagsworth on June 02, 2019, 04:50:38 PM
Why do they even bother?

Is Bob Nastanovich in debt again? That was the reason Malkmus agreed to the first reformation wasn't it?

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: sweeper on June 02, 2019, 06:05:04 PM
Why did it piss you off?

Because they wussed the fuck out on the lyrics, for one thing. I can accept not wanting to use the dreaded n-word, but a version of "The Classical" without "HEY THERE FUCKFACE! HEY THERE FUCKFACE!" is no version at all, by god.

sweeper

It's very on-brand for Malkmus to freestyle his way through the lyrics, though. He used to do it a lot at gigs.

I always thought it was fucking rich for Mark E to get uppity about the lifts, considering that the Fall were pretty light fingered in that respect, here and there. He certainly wasn't as critical of Elastica. Where's the balance?

peanutbutter

Quote from: alan nagsworth on June 02, 2019, 04:50:38 PM
Why do they even bother? Is Malkmus just going to come out and be a miserable cunt again, while they play some by-the-numbers cash-in shows? I love Pavement but I am royally Not Arsed about this.
I was at one of the London shows last time (one of the last gigs I went to, actually) and he was definitely not at all engaged. That being said, I heard he was a lot better in other places so maybe he was just in a mood.

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on June 02, 2019, 06:21:10 PM
Is Bob Nastanovich in debt again? That was the reason Malkmus agreed to the first reformation wasn't it?
That was a full tour, this time i think they just want to keep the every ten years thing going, I'd guess.

the science eel

Quote from: sweeper on June 02, 2019, 06:31:44 PM
It's very on-brand for Malkmus to freestyle his way through the lyrics, though. He used to do it a lot at gigs.

I always thought it was fucking rich for Mark E to get uppity about the lifts, considering that the Fall were pretty light fingered in that respect, here and there. He certainly wasn't as critical of Elastica. Where's the balance?

Mark E might have lifted riffs and ideas from other songs, but it was always mucked about with. The band's overall style was very much their own thing, they never sounded like anyone else.

Pavement quite blatantly stole the Fall's whole sonic package early on - scratchy guitars, non-committal vocals, thumping repetitive beats. And then there was the album cover design.

sevendaughters

honestly never really got the Pavement = The Fall thing aside from a couple of lifts in their infancy. think a lot of people are indulging in some classic post-rockism revisionism tbqfh.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

"Our Singer" is basically "Hip Priest"

"Two States" is all the songs on "Slates" combined into one.

"Conduit For Sale!" is a speeded up "New Face In Hell"

"Hit The Plane Down" very deliberately imitates the Smitty vocal style. Deliberate Fall pastiche, so it was.

They did lay off a bit after that, admittedly.

Also, MES did have a bit of a cheek, yes, especially after he didn't pay royalties to the Stooges for "Elves", or to Spinal Tap for "Athlete Cured".

PaulTMA

Quote from: sevendaughters on June 02, 2019, 07:29:01 PM
honestly never really got the Pavement = The Fall thing aside from a couple of lifts in their infancy. think a lot of people are indulging in some classic post-rockism revisionism tbqfh.

Perhaps they've never heard anything they've done after Slanted & Enchanted

jobotic

All true. Nevertheless Slanted and Enchanted is their best album and it was downhill from here. they were great to see back then but not too arsed now.

sweeper

Quote from: the science eel on June 02, 2019, 07:15:02 PM
Mark E might have lifted riffs and ideas from other songs, but it was always mucked about with. The band's overall style was very much their own thing, they never sounded like anyone else.

Pavement quite blatantly stole the Fall's whole sonic package early on - scratchy guitars, non-committal vocals, thumping repetitive beats. And then there was the album cover design.

I'd argue that Pavement always sounded like Pavement, in the same way that The Fall always sounded like The Fall.

Both liked to pinch ideas, is the point. And as pointed out, if we're getting down to it, Elves sounds exactly like the Stooges. I'd also add that Elastic Man bears more than a passing resemblance to Boys are Boys by the Monks. I Hate You could be any number of mid-80s Fall numbers. In fact, The Fall post-2000 just sounded like a Monks covers band most of the time.

I think there's a general feeling that because Mark E nicked from obscure sources that made him some sort of hip aesthete, rather than a common thief. I think he's both, for what it's worth, but I'm not going to defend him, or pillory Malkmus for taking the same approach.

the science eel

Quote from: sweeper on June 03, 2019, 11:31:42 AM
I'd also add that Elastic Man bears more than a passing resemblance to Boys are Boys by the Monks. I Hate You could be any number of mid-80s Fall numbers. In fact, The Fall post-2000 just sounded like a Monks covers band most of the time.

You're off your rocker.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Captain Z on June 02, 2019, 05:11:25 PM
Always found them somewhat pedestrian.
You could never accuse them of being too middle-of-the-road.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

I thought they were a great bunch of slabs.

sweeper

Quote from: the science eel on June 03, 2019, 02:43:45 PM
You're off your rocker.

Really? I'll stop thinking it, then. Thanks for setting me straight.

Epic Bisto

I tried to like Pavement but I just couldn't.  There is nothing to their songs whatsoever and Malkmus is a stuck up little shit.  Cynical connect-the-dots hipness.  Horrible.

Malmkus is Matador's Toyah.

sevendaughters

think Pavement are great but wish their popularity and TFUL282's popularity could be joined together, halved, and given to each.

rasta-spouse

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was a great album. Not the most accomplished musicians but with them it was more about the pose.

The song 'Range Life' had the following lyrics:

Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins
Nature kids, I, they don't have no function
I don't understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck



Very pleased with it all.

Phil_A

Quote from: Epic Bisto on June 03, 2019, 08:10:16 PM
I tried to like Pavement but I just couldn't.  There is nothing to their songs whatsoever and Malkmus is a stuck up little shit.  Cynical connect-the-dots hipness.  Horrible.

Malmkus is Matador's Toyah.

Macklemuss might well be a dick but it's a bit much to claim Pavement's music had nothing to it.

Quote from: rasta-spouse on June 03, 2019, 10:41:01 PM
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was a great album. Not the most accomplished musicians but with them it was more about the pose.

The song 'Range Life' had the following lyrics:

Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins
Nature kids, I, they don't have no function
I don't understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck



Very pleased with it all.

Apparently that was enough to get them thrown off a tour with the Smashing Pumpkins due to Corgan being a massive tantrum-throwing babyman.