FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
PAVEMENT
Brighten the Corners
Matador / Capitol· Fourth full-length studio album from Stockton, California's Pavement co-produced by Mitch Easter.
· Twelve song CD should place them back upon the indie-rock pedestal they were knocked from with 1995's bandwagon clearing, but still very strong, Wowee Zowee.
Trim the fat, paint the walls, mow the lawn, bury the dog, hide the spastic in the cellar and most importantly - brighten the corners in the castle because company's coming.
After the - comparatively speaking - accessible sophomore release Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain FEATURING THE HIT SINGLE "CUT YOUR HAIR," many people saw Pavement's Wowee Zowee as a step back from the unchallenging, easy-listening cool beauty of its popular predecessor and a return to early days. Someone, many people thought, forgot to edit disc number three of the abrasive less-structured tracks - namely "Serpentine Pad," "Brinx Job," and "flux=rad" - which were trimmed from Slanted and Enchanted to make Crooked Rain the lean, mean, kingmaking pop machine it was. Whether it was a calculated attempt to lob off the heads of the jokers screeching "CUT YOUR HAIR!" only they know. If it was, it worked. They're gone, now what?
Good news, Brighten the Corners is the follow-up to Crooked Rain everyone - including the jokers - was slavering for. Bright, beefy, bouncy and brimming with confidence, it's a vibrant slice of Bizarro heaven that finds everyone in their finest form. Stephen Malkmus (reduced finally to S.M. in the liner notes) is at his most brilliant spouting smart-ass, sing-song VU poetics like a brainy college kid with pop culture Tourette's. (Weezer feels, Pavement thinks and the results are somehow similarly satisfying.). The band sounds as if they're finally comfortable being a wobbly pop band and are happy with the terms. Of the 12 tracks, at least eight of them could be HIT SINGLES, most notably "Stereo," "Shady Lane," "Date With IKEA" and "Passat Dream."
Released in place of Wowee Zowee, Brighten the Corners would have made Pavement a household name. Instead they've kicked the cellar door out and are now ready to reign over the kingdom of fathomable weirdness once again.
4 / 5
Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents