Tag Archives: Pavement

Shorties

New Pavement video: Harness Your Hopes

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Video: Pavement – “Harness Your Hopes”

Directed by Alex Ross Perry. From the reissue of the Spit on a Stranger EP, out April 8 on Matador.

Cool new band alert! I think these Pavement guys could be the next big thing. They’ve got it all: Cute singer, quirky lyrics, cool guitar parts. Sure, it might be a bit of a nineties throwback but there’s nothing wrong with that. Lots of good new bands are doing the 90s thing. These guys put their own spin on it.

I mean they’ve got to have something going for them if they got the girl from the Boba Fett show in their video.

Pavement: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Shorties

Billy Corgan vs. Pavement

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Ha ha ha. Sole remaining Pumpkin Billy Corgan just shot off a series of tweets dissing Pavement, calling them sell outs who “represent the death of the alternative dream.” So awesome.

“Just found out SP is playing with Pavement in Brazil. It’s gonna be 1 of those New Orleans type funerals. I say that because they represent the death of the alternative dream, and we follow with the affirmation of life. Funny how those who pointed the big finger of ‘sell out’ are the biggest offenders now…yawn. They have no love. By the way, we’ll be the band up there NEW songs because we have the love xx.”

Does Billy really believe in “the alternative dream”? Or is he just being ironic? Whatever.

When asked for comment, Stephen Malkmus replied, “I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck.”

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Articles

Pitchfork 2010, Day 3: A Glowing Sunday in the Park

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Pitchfork 2010Indie rock dies as our old ears get hungrier

If Lightning Bolt is free jazz, no one was getting out of this set without paying dearly for it. The Rhode Island duo hit the Pitchfork stage midday Sunday in a peel of overdriven guitar shriek and crazed flurries of snare and tom-tom that magnetized the humid Chicago air and transformed the hazy afterimages still resonating from Beach House’s pleasantly forgettable set into spazzy molecules of fucked up oxygen. Pins and needles were made to float, and eardrums were sunburned. Did I mention that Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale was wearing a terrifying mask? His arms pounding savagely into his kit, his face obscured by this luchador death rictus, and then, halfway through this caterwaul, he begins to sing. Sure, it was more of a moan, scream, or reverbed yell. But that he was doing anything while still thoroughly murdering his drums on fast forward is profound. That’s some classic concentration.

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Links, Shorties

Klosterman vs. Malkmus

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Stephen MalkmusRemember back when Liz Phair came out with her Matrix-produced pop album and rebuked her indie fanboys by saying she’s always been attracted to manly Marine type dudes as opposted to bookish music nerds? Well, bookish music nerds are getting rebuked once again by another 90s indie icon. This time Stephen Malkmus reveals that he’s really, really into fantasy league sports to Chuck Klosterman in an interview for GQ.

The only member he consistently communicates with is multiinstrumentalist Bob Nastanovich, but that’s mostly because they’re in some of the same fantasy leagues. “Stephen is a pretty difficult guy to access,” Nastanovich explains via telephone, calling from a racetrack in Illinois where he’s working. “If you’re not in the same town with him, you don’t really hear from him. I’ve found that the easiest way to get in touch with him, even if it’s about a Pavement-related issue, is to propose a trade in one of our fantasy leagues and attach my question in an e-mail memo.”

Klosterman adds, “I cannot exaggerate the degree to which Malkmus enjoys fantasy sports; he almost seems to like them more than music. […] Malkmus does not watch the NHL, yet he still participates in a fantasy hockey league. He’s that kind of guy.”

That’s almost too weird to believe. Or is it? Lots of music geeks love sports, I guess…

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Articles

Pavement – Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

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Pavement - Quarantine The Past: The Best Of PavementPavement – Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement (Matador)

To call it a cash-in would be a bit of a disservice since 1) nobody really buys cds anymore and 2) those that still do are faced with diminishing floor space, so every cd that is on display seems to be a compilation out of necessity.

With that said, I’m willing to bet that nearly everyone who is growing hard over this year’s Pavement reunion has every track on this “best of” compilation. The best of is in quotations because those very same fans are probably growling at the tracks that were left off Quarantine The Past.

For me, those songs would be “Starlings On The Slipstream, Silence Kid (Kit),” “Fame Throwa” and “Rattled By The Rush.”

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Shorties

Sasquatch! Music Festival Lineup Announced

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Sasquatch Festival 2010 Being relatively new to Portland I am still getting up to speed on the various summer festivals out this way. One that gets the most talk is the Sasquatch Festival, which true to Pacific Northwestern ways includes camping in the Columbia Gorge. Getting in and out of this festival can be a challenge, I’m told, but who cares when you can return to your Westy for a nap and a couple veggie burritos?

This year’s line up looks pretty tasty, by the way, including the recently reunited Pavement, Massive Attack, My Morning Jacket, Ween, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Kid Cudi, LCD Soundsystem, The National, Band of Horses and others.

Marking it’s ninth year, this year’s Sasquatch Festival returns to The Gorge in Quincy, WA May 29-31 (Memorial Day Weekend).

Tickets go on sale Saturday, February 20 at 10:00am through TicketMaster (booo!!!).

Camping is available for May 28, 29, 30 and 31 and can also be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com

Sasquatch Ticket Information

Beginning February 20:

Single tickets, per day / $70.00

Discount 3 day pass / $170 (available on sale weekend only)

February 20—May 23:

Single tickets, per day / $70.00

May 24—May 28:

Single tickets, per day / $80.00

Day of show:

Single tickets, per day / $86.00

Full line-up after the jump…

Our recent Festival coverage:

Lonely at Lollapalooza 2009

Rothbury 2009: Not a Dead Head? You’d Still Have a Blast

Scion Rock Fest 2009

Notes from the Pitchfork Music Festival

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MP3s

Pavement – Gold Soundz

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MP3: Pavement – “Gold Soundz” from Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement, due March 9 on Matador. Originally from 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Matador is holding a Guess The Track Listing Contest where if you guess all 23 tracks correctly, you can win stuff like tickets and records. Can you feel that slacker revival bubbling under? I think a girl just tried to show me Madonna’s pap smear…

Pavement: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

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Links

New Spiral Stairs video: Cold Change

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Video: Spiral Stairs – "Cold Change"

Cinematic new video directed by Jess Carfield in which our hero is a Hollywood musician/caterer who reaches a breaking point after serving drinks and hors d’oeuvres to a party of upper middle class hipsters. Great song, great video. The more I hear from this album, the more convinced I am that Todd Totale was not exaggerating when he described The Real Feel as “incredibly vital music that stands up to Pavement’s finer moments.”

Spiral Stairs: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki

Articles

Spiral Stairs – The Real Feel

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Spiral Stairs - The Real FeelSpiral Stairs – The Real Feel (Matador)

The worry for me is that the Pavement reunion will all but overshadow the new Spiral Stairs album, The Real Feel. Hopefully, the opposite will be true; all of the salvo might very well rekindle an interest in this, Spiral Stairs’ first proper solo album, and give it some much-deserved attention.

Call it the divorce album, an event that can be both a traumatic experience as well as an intensely creative one. I’m sure Scott Kannberg’s had his share of long nights conceiving this effort, but he should take solace in knowing that it’s produced such a rewarding record of both lyrical intimacy and musical therapy.

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Links

Under the Influence Vinyl Singles

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Mustard Plug vs. FugaziSuburban Home/Vinyl Collective has announced its new Under The Influence Series where they’ve asked several bands to record cover songs that have influenced their songwriting. They’re being released as split 7″ singles that will include coupons to download mp3s. Cool idea.

So far they’ve got Mustard Plug covering Fugazi, Bomb the Music Industry! doing Pavement, Whiskey and Company covering the Pogues, and more. Upcoming releases will include Two Cow Garage, Minus The Bear, and several more. You can stream the first three releases, and they sound good.

Via punknews.

Also, just for fun, here’s Mustard Plug’s shit-eating cover of their homeboys’ biggest hit:

MP3: Mustard Plug – “The Freshman” (Verve Poop cover)