You Can’t Quarantine the Past: Pavement Live at Pitchfork Music Festival 2010
By: Chris Polley
This is the story of a former teenage fanboy who finally gets to see his favorite band play twelve years after he discovered them. Before last Sunday, I only knew Pavement as an entity that existed on record – five specific records, actually, that I have turned back to more than any other set of records in my exhaustive (though admittedly not eclectic) physical collection. In reality, these five CDs are largely the reason I’m still hanging on with desperation to actual compact discs in general. I could have started anytime now to jump on the vinyl bandwagon or de-clutter and digitize everything, but I’m the reason that record stores still have (an albeit ever-dwindling) CD sections at all. I’ve grown to know these albums intimately and I’ve almost creepily committed myself to the format they represent to me. Likewise, the band in question, Pavement, represents the 90s just as much as the aforementioned music format does. And I’ve held on with eternally clasped fingers so much that I many times convinced myself that these CDs would be my only true link to the songs they contain. After all, just as I turned sixteen and reviewed their swan song Terror Twilight for my high school paper and came to the conclusion that they were indeed my favorite band ever now, did I hear from the cool guy I worked with at the movie theater that they had just broken up. My music-centric emotionally fragile world fell apart with those words and instead of coping, I immediately subconsciously made the decision to get to know these five records from back to front since I would never get to see my favorite band in person. My crazed obsession was the closest I got to a Pavement show. Until last weekend. But rather than go through the show in chronological setlist order, I can’t help but discuss its highs (no lows, really, but then again, it should be clear by now that I am biased) but through the only order I’ve come accustomed to throughout the years: by their discography.
First, before we get into the musical performance itself, for those curious about the guy who introduced Pavement and got booed to no end because he seemed full of himself and bitter about “trying to break the band when he was at Q101” and “Pitchfork will never be as big as Lollapalooza”, it was indeed a hoax. His name is Rian Murphy and he works for Drag City (never did he work for Q101), Pavement’s first label before Matador. He did a similar hoax at the El Rey Theater introducing the band back in the day, which you can watch here. There’s not much to say other than 95% of the crowd reacted as if he was exactly the kind of corporate tool that he pretending to be, even though people watching from the sidelines of the stage were obviously laughing at his shtick. This is sad because it shows just how full of humorless douchebags the target market for Pitchfork is, but also goes to show just maybe why Pavement hated being a part of the elitist indie circle that they accidentally(?) helped form in the 90s, and thus why they broke up in the first place. No worries though, because most self-loathing was diminished by the time the first guitar chords rang out and people got what they were waiting for: indie rock legends.
Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted [1992]
Last Sunday, Malkmus and company played six tracks off the first and best (by a slight but definitive margin) Pavement record, including my favorite, “Trigger Cut”, which in the 11th grade I presented to Mr. Lueck’s psychology class as part of our assignment, which was to report on a song in which you could analyze the psychology of the protagonist based on the lyrics. I believe I posited that Malkmus had girl problems that led to low self esteem. Groundbreaking, I know. They also played “In the Mouth a Desert”, which proved way before they played The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that they were brilliant at doing “ooh-ooh” style pop stuff underneath the murky lo-fi distortion. Then there was “Perfume-V”, another huge fave of mine, this time featuring wacky fifth member Bob Nastanovich playing a kooky keyboard hook that doesn’t exist on the original version, back when Nastanovich was just the band’s manager and guy who helped Gary Young (certifiably crazy old guy who only drummed on this record) stay on tempo. Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene came out during “Two States”, which I didn’t expect them to play at all due to its throwaway nature as basically just one riff and infectious rebel yell between actual songs, but was awesome nonetheless. I remember jumping on the couch and playing air guitar to this one back in the day. The best slow Pavement song is “Here” and that was a beautiful penultimate song for the night, but possibly my favorite S&E performance from the night was their rendition of “Conduit for Sale!” in which Malkmus had Nastanovich instead of himself scream “I’m trying! I’m trying!” because he hasn’t had that kind of energy in years. But Nastanovich nailed it and proved that while the band’s better known for their slackerdom, they can rock hard when they want to. Was surprised they didn’t play: “Summer Babe” or “Loretta’s Scars”, which are both big hitters on the album, the former of which Spin once called one of the best singles of the 90s.
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain [1994]
The band also played a total of six tracks off this, their most commercially successful album, but in my opinion, their most overrated (though still genius). They officially began their set with the closest thing they had to a mainstream alt-rock hit, “Cut Your Hair”, but not until after they played a couple random bars of something (this might have been planned), Malkmus said “no, no, no” into the microphone and they stopped, supposedly making a terrible mistake. My friend and I found this to be a brilliant way to start off a show that we’d been waiting for since high school, so we laughed and cheered a little too loudly. Then Malkmus introduces the band’s most famous and overtly catchy song and they head right into “Cut Your Hair” to start off the show. Everyone freaked out and it was actually really nice to get it out of the way. I love the song, but it’s not one of my faves. A bit later they played album opener “Silence Kit”, which Malkmus seemed to put a little bit more oomph into than he did when they recorded it on record, both on guitar and vocals. Then “Unfair”, my second fave song off this record, came barreling out and it definitely made me want to jump up and down a bit, though I refrained due to a foot injury I’m recovering from. “Range Life”, their country song in which they famously bashed Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, was fun to hear if only because so many others were so into it, which I thought odd at first due to its now anachronistic nature, but here we are in 2010, after both of these bands AND Pavement have all disbanded, and they’re all back together. So I guess Malkmus can make fun of them again. Later was “Gold Soundz”, which is definitely the best CR,CR song, and the band played it with gusto (I can hear Kannberg’s rumbling fretwork after the sparkling intro in my head still). And finally they jammed out “Stop Breathin” which once again turned a lackadaisical Pavement tune into an epic rocker, despite its slow tempo. Wished I could have heard: “Elevate Me Later” and “Hit The Plane Down”, which seemed to be perfect for crowd sing-along fever, but alas, no dice.
Pavement – Wowee Zowee [1995]
The most divisive Pavement record only got two songs played off it last Sunday, which is a shame, because there are some mega jawns here, especially if you don’t listen all the way through but treat it more like a jukebox of mini-songs. The Wikipedia page for this record is hilarious: “Rolling Stone speculated that the relative success of their previous album (having sold 169,000 copies by this time[citation needed]) was a reason for this album’s eclectic nature; the magazine’s review claimed Pavement were afraid of success. Stephen Malkmus later refuted this, attributing the stylistic shift to excessive marijuana consumption.” Despite my respect for how unique this record is, and despite how many of the songs on it I adore, I actually didn’t realize the brilliance of the Kannberg-sung “Kennel District”, which they played so well you could have sworn there were looping pedals on the stage even though I don’t think there were. Kannberg’s gotten old so he can no longer attain the beautiful fragile nature of his early vocal work, but it was still a welcome approximation of the past. It was also nice because so much of Malkmus’ songs are about him longing for peace and quiet, whereas Kannberg’s always talking about what he should have done to make life more interesting, but never gained the courage to do. The other one off Wowee that they played was “Grounded”, which has an almost pristine post-rock beginning and a lot of simple but effective guitar tricks throughout, as Malkmus does his longing thing on the mic. Also, at first I couldn’t decide if I liked that Malkmus tended to steal a lot of Kannberg’s guitar thunder, but the fact is that despite his solo work not being on the level of Pavement, the man has become an amazing guitarist throughout the years and so with this song in particular it was more than exciting, the dueling string bending was devastatingly awesome. I wished I coulda heard: “Rattled By The Rush”, though Beavis & Butthead probably scared them from ever playing it again when they accused them of “not trying” while making fun of the video for it, and “Best Friend’s Arm” which as spazzy as Pavement ever got. In fact, this record has a lot of awesome frenzied rockers I would have wanted to head bang to, like “Serpentine Pad” and “Flux = Rad”. If these songs were singles with videos, Beavis & Butthead could have appreciated the band.
Pavement – Brighten The Corners [1997]
This album is often looked over because it’s not their first, not their most popular, not their weirdest, and not their last. In fact a fellow Pavement fanatic even forgot it existed when we were going through the discography in the car together on the way to Pitchfork. Major truth though – aside from “Cut Your Hair”, this album features what I’ve always understood to be the band’s other two almost-hit songs: “Stereo” and “Shady Lane”, both of which were played immaculately last Sunday. “Stereo” got the crowd rollicking because it’s a rousing anti-radio anthem, perfect for the Pitchfork crowd and because it has that awesome lyric about Geddy Lee talking like an ordinary guy. “Shady Lane” is a short little number that I think is so iconic to every Pavement fanboy because if you’re a Pavement fan you have either by choice or by unconscious agreement come to identify with Malkmus’ non-sequitur ramblings about the eternal struggle between wanting peace and thinking peace is lame, and this song exemplifies that the most concretely and fully, despite its under-two-minute length. The third song off this record that they played, which was completely unexpected because it was the only album closer they played, was “Fin” (though they funnily also played about two measures of “Old To Begin” earlier in the set in between actual songs), which I actually think is the worst Pavement album closer of the bunch. But as they played it, I understood why they did: it’s a song that can easily identify each of the band members’ contribution to the Pavement sound. Malkmus is obvious, but Kannberg’s understated playing got to shine atop the rest of the mix here, at times both cordial and tense. Also it was a spacious enough track to let Ibold for once not turn his back to the crowd and offer some carefully picked bass notes. And it was actually one of those rare moments in which both West and Nastanovich played drums and their concentration and rich percussive dueling defied the old adage for Pavement anti-fans that they’re the only band that can make two drummers sound like half-a-drummer. Take that, haterz. Longed to hear (but didn’t): “Date With Ikea”, my favorite Kannberg-sung tune, and “Embassy Row”, which is such a scorcher of a rock song that I almost took offense to realizing that they hadn’t played it later that night.
Pavement – Terror Twilight [1999]
Depending on your logic, you’d think either that a recently reunited band would want to play a good amount from their last record because it represents the culmination of their progress as a band, or that they’d want to avoid it as much as possible because it reminds them too much of their break-up, of their last tour, etc. Well judging by the fact that Malkmus broke up the band by coming on stage in handcuffs during the tour for this record, raising his skinny fists in the air and proclaiming “this is what it feels like to be in a band”, the latter probably rings more true for the fivesome. Despite this, they managed to choke out their single “Spit on a Stranger”, which had an ugly affect to it not found on the spotless recorded version, but was still moving and engaging for a slower Pavement song. Interestingly enough, they also ended their whole set with a very strange and jammy version of “The Hexx”, so much so that I didn’t recognize it until they started banging out that song’s repeated doom note over and over again, each successive time with more volume and emphasis. And there wasn’t any twinkly piano to ease the mood here either. It possibly indicated that in fact this whole reunion thing has been more of a curse than a blessing (not for the wallet obviously, but maybe for the soul), the way they hung their heads and let the beads of sweat roll onto the stage floorboards, as if to say way in advance that there was definitely not going to be an encore. And indeed there wasn’t, even though my friend and I callously tried to start an “EARN! YOUR! PAYCHECK!” chant as people began to leave. Damn, now as I’m writing this I don’t know if I can still say this was the best show of my life, because that makes me feel icky. But it still quite possibly was. Only a boy’s favorite band could make him feel such fervor and sadness in the same moment. Wanted to hear but wasn’t surprised they didn’t play: “Carrot Rope”, my favorite Pavement album-closer and all-around awesome song because of all the vocal interplay between members, and “Major Leagues”, which is such a stately and cohesive song that I can’t believe Malkmus wrote it. Also I would have taken any of the folk songs if it meant Jonny Greenwood (who played on the album) came out with harmonica in hand.
Also played: two b-sides called “Frontwards” and “Debris Slide”, the former of which was an infrequently listened to MP3 on my 2001 Sony Vaio desktop, and the latter of which is from an old Drag City seven inch and around the time of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was included on the rare tracks compilation Westing (By Musket & Sextant). Both songs were more enjoyable the majority of other acts at Pitchfork, but still don’t hold a candle to all the album tracks talked about in full above. Those 19.5 songs that I finally witnessed being replicated live a little over a week ago embody practically everything about independent rock music that I’ve grown to obsess over for the past decade-plus now, and while I am sure that the concept of reforming was one that at least one of the key members in Pavement didn’t entirely like, I can finally say that I’ve felt, live in person, the music that I’ve loved the most in my life. I can’t express how grateful I am for that. If the internal struggle over capitalizing on nostalgia is the price Malkmus and the rest had to pay for this to happen, I hope they at least recognize the smallest fraction of pure honest joy they brought into at least one of their fans’ lives. Maybe it doesn’t cancel out for them, but it should at least help Malkmus find a little bit of that peace he’s always been searching for.