Pavement perfects sound in band’s second album
Lead singer Malkmus’ lyrics bring sarcasm, freshness to contemporary ‘90s indie band
By Kris King, contributing writer
Posted on November 20, 2006

It’s difficult to explain exactly what makes Pavement so worthwhile. They are an important indie band of the ’90s, but when you look for a reason as to why, the answer tends to come out clouded and confused. Their music is infectiously catchy, but mildly inaccessible; the lyrics are literate, but inane; the band members are suave, but nerdy. Some claim that Pavement is the most overrated garbage group in history, only to come back a month later talking about how utterly ingenious they are. But this conflict is the band’s appeal, which is perfectly captured by their sophomore release: 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Despite being their second album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is when Pavement really perfected its sound; growing beyond the harsh lo-fi sound they perfected in their first album (1992’s Slanted and Enchanted) without completely abandoning it. The album starts off with “Silence Kit,” a loose, seemingly directionless mess of instrumental noodling, as if the producer began recording without the band realizing, only to have everything come together in a melody that is immediately engaging.

This dichotomy of accessibility and disjointedness prevails throughout the album. The band keeps listeners’ attention by consistently changing directions. In “Gold Soundz” singer/songwriter (and U.Va. alumnus) Stephen Malkmus presents one of the most endearing indie rock ballads of the ’90s, complete with a light, airy guitar that owes more to Loaded-era Velvet Underground than it does to Sonic Youth. But the album shifts tones immediately afterwards with “5-4 = Unity,” a psyched out Dave Brubeck-esqe jazz tune, seemingly tossed in to make sure that listeners aren’t getting too comfortable.

But these shifts tie the album together rather than tear it apart. Malkmus’ voice ranges from conversational to screeching, sometimes within the confines of the same song. It can be jarring at times, but Malkmus’ voice gives the album a unique charm.

Besides the basic tonal duality of the album, there is a thick layer of satire that shines through Malkmus’ lyrics. In a time of increasingly commercialized grunge and crass jangle-pop, Pavement seems almost out of place, and the band relishes in this.

In “Range Life,” Malkmus takes shots at both The Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, and the alt-rock anthem “Cut Your Hair” playfully coos about the long-hair-obsessed post-Nirvana music industry. But almost in spite of these shots at the increasingly mainstream alt-rock scene, the album is unapologetically commercial with its vibrant hooks and memorable melodies.

With “Gold Soundz,” Malkmus illustrates another one of his strong points as a songwriter, in his ability to capture a feeling without really saying anything at all. In the opening lines of the song, Malkmus rails off a series of relative non-sequiturs that create a sensation in the listener rather than try to convey a deeper message.

“Go back to those gold sounds/ And keep my advent to yourself/ Because it’s nothing I don’t like/ Is it a crisis or a boring change/ When it’s central, so essential/ It has a nice ring when you laugh/ At the low-life opinions/ And they’re coming to the chorus now.” What exactly is Malkmus talking about here? It doesn’t matter, because the chorus is coming up.

Despite some of the topics rooted in early ’90s culture, the music manages to sound fresh to contemporary ears. Unlike many other staple early ’90s albums, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain hasn’t gone stale with age.  It has a sonically fresh punch that all truly great albums retain as they age and the reason for this lies solely in Malkmus’ clever and sincere lyrics matched with the band’s unique melodic and vaguely (very vaguely, mind you) country-tinged instrumentation.

Essentially, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is a marvel. Both the melodic richness of the music, Malkmus’ satiric lyrics and ability to capture emotion through irreverence make for a listen that transcends genre and time period.

The album truly is one of the best albums to come out of the ’90s, and it’s underappreciated by mainstream audiences.