Smacks of Slack

I picked up a copy of rock critic Rob Jovanovic's Pavement bio, "Perfect Sound Forever" as a self present at Christmas time. A completely fascinating read, especially with regards to original drummer Gary Young's drunken antics (onstage gymnastics and cabbage charity service) and Malkmus' late Pavement diva behaviour. More than anything it inspired me to dig through the Pavement discography, which, as it turns out, is pretty fucking timeless. "Brighten the Corners" (which Matador recently reissued in a sexy deluxe package) caught me off guard especially as being such a brilliant, musically competent album, standing out as the obvious pinnacle of the bands career (though Slanted is still pretty fuckin badass).
Stereo (sizzlin lead off track from Brighten)

Malkmus also indicates in interview, that despite being labeled as slackers, Pavement always tried their best:
SM: "Usually we're trying as hard as we can to be entertaining."
The slacker reputation, so it seems, comes more from their naive, laissez faire approach to the music industry, the story of the first Pavement 7" is especially characteristic of slacker behaviour, here's a spattering of quotes to whet your appetite:
SM: "I was fucking around getting static from the radio and Scott had a keyboard and was recording himself with this little handheld cassette. It was pretty reasonable to be able to make a single for $1000, so we decided to go for it. We didn't have any real plans because we weren't a real band."
Gary Young: "These 19 year old kids walk into my recording studio to do a four hour thing. They come in and they play this weird guitar noise and it just sounds like noise with no background. My drums were in there so I said 'should I drum?' and they said 'ok'... [Malkmus]'d play the guitar and he'd say, 'okay get ready, do, do, do- one two three,' and that's how that worked."
Spiral Stairs: "I had no idea mastering was a big thing. I got the test pressing back and it just sounded so bad. It sounded like it sounds now- it's just a mess- but being poor and not really caring I said 'okay that's cool, if it sounds like that- whatever"
The day after they recorded Malkmus left to CA to travel the world:
SM: "I was on vacation in Austria and i heard the EP over a record shop stereo... Iasked the guy in the record shop whether I could see it and there it was. I told him Pavement was my band. He said "that's a good name, somebody had to use it eventually"
and so forth. what a bunch of jokers those Pavement guys, hey? Here's a couple tracks from a 94 show in Hollywood that i found over at the always excellent aquariumdrunkard.com blog a couple months back,
Box Elder (Live, 94 [one of the two songs on slay tracks])
Stop Breathin (Live 94)
Coming soon: The first installment of I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOUR DISCOGRAPHY AND I WILL BEAT IT'S ASS, featuring: More blog posts about, you guessed it, Pavement!

Chaos of the Galaxy

I just don't get it. Why can't Sparklehorse get the recognition they deserve? I've been agonizing over this idea ever since their 1998 album Good Morning Spider, in which I discovered just how amazing the band is. I was first introduced to Sparklehorse, surprisingly, by a great compilation put out, strangely, by a major record label, called Triple Scoop 3 - it not only had stellar, under-the-radar bands on it, but was brilliantly sequenced as well. It appears to only have come out in Canada, so if I ever find my tape again, I guess it's some kind of collector's item.

Anyway, it contained the brilliant Hammering the Cramps by Sparklehorse, a noisy, country-fried, ebullient pop song with a mysterious-sounding lead singer who's way of seeing things mystified me. "Hey little car, can you fly?" Mark Linkous sings in verse 2. Good question, Mark, but what does it have to do with the movie Poltergeist, and listening to punk band The Cramps really loud?

The first Sparklehorse album I bought was their their 2nd, Good Morning Spider, which did not contain "Hammering the Cramps". It does, however, have 17 other tracks of epic, dynamic variety with sweet, memorable melodies and innovative sound and production. Pig is the first song, and it's completely terrifying, and contains the lyrics "I wanna try and fly/I wanna try and die/I wanna be a pig/I wanna fuck a car", and, "I wanna be a spongy new baby with a shiny brain". The album never gets that loud again, and it also features some of the prettiest songs you're likely to hear ever, like "Saint Mary" (which also displays another Sparklehorse returning theme: deep depression - "The only things I really need is water a gun and rabbits," he sings, too fucked up to even get grammar right) and "Box of Stars [Part One]". But the over-riding feel of the album is pop. Despite all the aggression, delirium, and depression, Linkous can again and again write a sweet pop song. And he mostly produces the damn things too. Take these, for example:

Maria's Little Elbows
Ghost of His Smile < I dare you to try not liking this song.

It was this recent short doc, Belly of a Mountain (below) that got me thinking all this again, though I'll always find myself putting on Sparklehorse sooner or later.





Even though their first two albums are classic for me, their third is also miraculous at times and their fourth (with production by Dangermouse, a sort of Gnarls Sparkley if you will ... though the official title of their supposed forthcoming collaboration is 'Dangerhorse') has some interesting stuff.
A few more notes about Good Morning Spider:

- Sparklehorse covers a Daniel Johnston song beautifully on the album, something Sparklehorse has done at least twice since. The song is "Hey, Joe". (The Daniel Johnston connection culminated in Mark Linkous producing one of his albums, Fear Yourself)

- There is a brilliant song featuring both noisy sound collage and thrilling pop riffage, which brilliantly subverts the common pop song, called "Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man"

Tame Lions

Horseshoe, Jan. 23 '09

Harbourcoats

Bry Webb of the Constantines considerably unrockish sideproject presenting a wealth of raspy, wisdom poetry (similar to the final few tracks on Kensington Heights) and sparse, diverse instrumentation (sax, acoustic guitar, other hippy folk traditionals). Webb's voice retained it's punkish growl and his masterful guild guitar bursts were extremely welcome.

Fembots

As always, perfect harmonies, infectious melodies, saloon soundtrack for a happy Horseshoe. Joined by Sudbury's pride and joy Kate Maki and Paul Aucoin, who always manages to steal the show with his spectacular Vibraphone playing, these guys are for sure one of Toronto's most underrated bands. Also: Aucoin is one of the best producers working in Canada, Also: his band the Hylozoists (best experienced live) are one of the best bands playing in Canada. Left halfway through the set to get some chinatown noodles.  

Fembots- Tombstone Blues

Everytime I Sit Around I Find I'm Shot

Pavement- Summer Babe

Golden Age

My band the Darcys went on tour this past November all the way from Toronto to Vancouver and back. We went in our big red van with a racing stripe called the red baron. We drove up around Lake Superior in the baron wearing sunglasses to protect our eyes from the glint of the early winter sun bouncing off the massive bodies of water. As we drove west time swept back across us in the other direction and I sensed a transformation was occurring. We stopped in Winnipeg for my birthday and drank sparkling wine in a downtown parking lot. We drove through the plains and drank pilsner in windy parking lots. I thought about the oil sands and the dinosaurs and my girlfriend told me that the mechanical rigs at the side of the road were called nodding donkeys. When we got to Vancouver Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, I watched him on the television, his speeches were inspirational and his country was clearly hopeful. I know near nothing about politics. The next day it was sunny and I walked to Granville Island, the green hills and mountains surrounding Vancouver Island were clearly visible and I was astonished that a city of that size could be so prettily situated; it was cloudy and rainy for the rest of the week. The night we left Vancouver we drove through the mountains and got wasted on kicking horse coffee. As dawn began to break the massive outlines around us became visible and I stuck my head out the window like a dog. The sun came up and we pulled over to survey the Rocky Mountains outside of friendly Calgary. The bar owner in Calgary told us that the greatest musician on earth was not in a touring band, they had a formula for the world figured out in a song that they played in their parents basement, the bar owners name was Clint. On the way back through the prairies the land seemed to have acquired a glimmering golden glint. We got out and played football. We travelled backwards in time to our point of departure but the transformation that had occurred was not undone.  

TV On the Radio- Golden Age