The best Pavement album ever?

That's a tough/easy question to answer depending on who you ask, it seems. Sadly, you might hear an answer of, "Who?", on occasion, but if you ask the right party, they'll either have an immediate answer, or they'll say that they can't really decide. At least, this is what I've noticed. The reason I'm bringing this up now is that the following exchange occurred at my place the other night during a weekly poker game. One guy was looking through my vinyl cabinet for something to play, found the Pavement section, and then this happened:


D: Without sounding too uncultured, what's the best Pavement album?

N: Slanted & Enchanted.

S: You said that rather matter-of-factly, N.

N: Well, that's because it's a matter of fact.


(Names abbreviated to unnecessarily protect the completely innocent.)

I chuckled out loud, as did some others around the table, but that was the extent of the discussion. I went back to focusing on losing at cards and forgot about the whole thing. But now that I think about it, I don't really have an immediate answer to that question, like N did. I can think of good sections of albums that I enjoy, a multitude of favorite songs and lyrics and guitar riffs and so on, but none of the albums particularly stand out as an overwhelming favorite to me. I'd like to investigate this further. I recently got the Watery, Domestic EP in the mail from an order I made with Matador Records (in addition to the Slow Century DVD) and that completely rounds out my collection of Pavement vinyl. I've acquired all of the LPs (Slanted & Enchanted; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; Wowee Zowee; Brighten The Corners; and Terror Twilight) at various record shops as I find them (all at pretty good prices for new vinyl, I might add). I know there are a bunch of other EPs and singles out there, but it seems like those 5 LPs and 1 EP are the "main discography", so to speak, or at least the easily acquirable ones. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I hope to devote an entire afternoon (or more) to sitting down and playing them all in a row and settling on a favorite. Maybe one will jump out immediately. Maybe I'll be more confused than ever. Who knows, really? It will be fun, that's for sure.

In the meantime, what's your favorite and why? I'm really curious about the reasons for these types of decisions. Feel free to chime in with just an album name for the sake of a general poll, but I'm more interested in logical and/or metaphysical explanations, here. So have at it.

Upcoming concerts this week: Laura Stevenson & the Cans / Eureka Birds / Low Water, Harlan Twins, Nik & the Central Plains / Magik Markers, Sic Alps

I wasn't sure that I would be around the 'Burgh this week (spring break for me, woo) but as it turns out I didn't really feel like traveling so here I am in town. Lucky for me, too, because there are a number of shows this week to which I'm planning on going (huzzah, grammar). You should consider checking them out, as well.

Tonight, Monday March 7, we have Laura Stevenson & the Cans at 222 Ormsby in Mount Oliver. I saw this band play with Maps & Atlases and Cults at the Brillobox last August and was really impressed with their sound. They squeezed a lot of people on stage (five or six, I think) and put together a lovely folk/rock hybrid sound. Lead singer Laura had an endearingly playful stage persona, but between the giggly banter she put on some serious displays of singing and songwriting talent. The band, too, did well weaving between stripped-down folk arrangements and some loud-and-proud rock riffs. They have a new album coming out next month entitled Sit Resist and have already released a single track, "Master of Art", an mp3 of which you can download here for free (huzzah, grammar). So I've never actually been to this venue, but it is apparently a popular DIY/donations-only/house-show spot, and it's a short walk from a stop on the 54C, which is how I'll be getting there. A Facebook event says they're asking for a $5 donation with doors at 6:00 and show at 6:30. Also playing are Brightside, WifeBeater, and Fuck yeah, dinosaurs!. I don't know anything about these bands, so I won't pretend to here. In any event, see yinz at the show, and in the meantime, here's their music video for "Holy Ghost" (from their previous debut record, A Record).

Laura Stevenson & the Cans on the web: Website, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bandcamp, Artist page on Quote Unquote Records, Wikipedia, Last.fm

Tomorrow night, Tuesday March 8, we have Eureka Birds at the Commonplace Coffeehouse in Squirrel Hill. I didn't know anything about this band until they emailed me out of the blue last week, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the songs they had recently posted on Bandcamp. It's tough to even pick a few genre labels that apply to them, so you should just head over there and listen for yourself and enjoy the lovely indie pop with some folksy/bluesy arrangements. Aw shucks, I couldn't help but name some genres, but don't let that dissuade you. They're on a short midwest tour on the way to Austin for SXSW, so they'll just be a duo at this particular show, with singer/keyboardist Justin and bassist/drummer Kevin, although they're usually a four/five-piece with guitar, bass, drums and cello. I've been to Commonplace once before for a caffeinated beverage and it was scrumdiddlyumptious, but I had no idea they put on shows. It's not exactly a big place so, if you're planning on going, be sure to get there on time to grab a seat and order your cappuccino before the espresso machine presents itself as a noisy distraction. See yinz at the show, and in the meantime, here's a video of them playing "Oh! My Dear", from their debut self-titled album, live on WTMD radio in Towson, MD.

(And here's an (unintentionally?) hilarious promo video they made.)
Eureka Birds on the web: Website, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bandcamp, Last.fm

On Friday night, March 11, we have Low Water and Harlan Twins and Nik & the Central Plains at the Brillobox in Bloomfield/Lawrenceville. Low Water will be releasing their new CD The Taste You Know And Enjoy (the name comes from Squirrel Hill's Aiello's Pizza, hah). I have yet to see Low Water and Harlan Twins play live, so I'm looking forward to that, while Nik & the Central Plains are becoming one of my fave local bands. Should be a fun night of local music (well, Low Water are based in Brooklyn, but a few of them are Pittsburghers). See yinz at the show, and in the meantime, here's a music video for Low Water's tune "Go" from their 2008 album Twisting the Neck of the Swan.

Low Water on the web: Facebook, MySpace
Harlan Twins on the web: Facebook, MySpace, Last.fm
Nik & the Central Plains on the web: Facebook, MySpace, Last.fm

On Saturday night, March 12, we have Magik Markers and Sic Alps playing at The Shop in Bloomfield/Lawrenceville. I saw Magik Markers play to a small crowd at Garfield Artworks about a year ago and was really blown away (it made my Top 10 live shows of the year list). Meandering drum/bass jams with scattered guitar shredding and spoken-word weirdness... it was truly a spectacle to behold, and I can only imagine the vibe will be even better at The Shop. I don't know anything about Sic Alps but I just gave a listen to a couple of free tracks I found online, and they have an excellent noisy garage rock/pop sound. Should be a great combination. See yinz at the show, and in the meantime, here's a video of Magik Markers playing live at a club in Brooklyn in 2007. It is definitely a "free jam". Enjoy.

And here's a fan-made music video for one of my fave songs of theirs, "Taste".
Magik Markers on the web: Website, Facebook, Blog, MySpace, Wikipedia, Last.fm
Sic Alps on the web: Website, Facebook, MySpace, Last.fm

Vinyl find: The Kingsmen / "Louie, Louie" b/w "Haunted Castle"

(Check out the first post in this series for the back story.)

Artist: The Kingsmen
Album: "Louie, Louie" b/w "Haunted Castle" 45 RPM 7" single
Label: Wand Records
Released: 1963

The concept of a B-side to a hit single no longer seems relevant in the digital era, does it? Remember when that shit mattered? I don't --- before my time, ya know? Do you think I can start this post with four questions in a row? Hell yes, I can, can't I? Oh shit, that's five, isn't it? Damn, I might as well go for six, eh? Is anyone still reading?

Anyhoozle, you absolutely know the A-side of this single by The Kingsmen. If you don't, you are not a human being who has ever owned a radio or seen a television program, so why the hell are you on the internet reading this? I don't think I have much to say about "Louie, Louie" except that it doesn't seem to have lost any of its luster as a straight-up rock 'n roll hit single. There's something about the way the singer yelps out those half-mumbled, fully-obscured lyrics and the keyboard chords chime with just the right amount of off-kilter melody and rhythm that sounds so perfect, and it probably will forever. Hearing it doesn't have quite the shock value as it must have back in 1963, and I don't think I will ever think of it as a covert "drug song" with "obscene lyrics" (although the singer may have been on some shit during recording, who's to say?), but it certainly endures as a classic garage rock single, worthy of its timelessness, for sure. Now, for five bonus points, can you name the original composer and performer of "Louie, Louie"? 30 second pause That's right, it was Richard Berry! You can collect your bonus trivia points if you buy me a beer at a show. In the meantime, relive the magic of The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" below (with all the lyrics!), and check out some famous and not so famous cover versions here: Richard Berry, Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders (my fave version of these, FWIW), Motorhead, Toots & the Maytals, Joan Jett, and finally Pittsburgh's very own 1960s scuzz punk band Swamp Rats (I got a compilation of their singles recently, been meaning to write something about them; keep your eyes peeled). Also, the crazy (and unverified) find of the day: this youtube user claims to have audio recording from the first ever Nirvana show, including some random bass riffs that sound like the intro to "Louie, Louie". Hmm, judges?



That song was pretty popular, staying at #2 on the charts for 6 weeks. (Seriously, it was never #1? My mind is blown.) The B-side to this song is a 2:45 instrumental entitled "Haunted Castle" and I wonder if anyone ever listened to it. I'd never heard nor heard of it, but I really like the sound. It has the same driving organ/guitar melody of the A-side, with a fun guitar solo right in the middle, and some punchy drum fills, and the dreamy organ chords that just seem to hang on the ends of the measures before picking up into the next beat are oh-so-catchy.

The weird thing is that I feel like I just keep waiting for the singer to chime in, like he keeps missing his cue verse after verse and then, after almost 3 minutes, the band just calls the whole thing off and calls it a day. Or a song, as it were.It's a catchy tune, for sure, but I can see why it's a B-side. Maybe I'm beginning to understand this whole B-side business after all... In any event, I'm glad to have randomly come across this record in a giant box of 45s, even if it does have big Xs draw in sharpie over the copyright info on both sides, and the letters "WAG" written on side B, too. Curses, past owner!

Upcoming concerts: Wednesday March 2 in Pgh / The Seedy Seeds at Brillobox / Verona Red at Garfield Artworks

Jeez, I've been pretty bad about updating here lately :-/ School & work beckon! I'm just popping in to remind you of the concert calendar we're maintaining over at Draw Us Lines. We try to stay up to speed with the bands/venues that we recommend, but surely we can't be aware of everything, so let me know via email about any events that should be included! Specifically, tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 2, 2011) there are a couple interesting shows happening in the Bloomfield/Garfield area.

At the Brillobox, you can catch The Seedy Seeds, The Wine, the Women & the Bomb, and Robin Vote. It's not easy to describe the sound styles of The Seedy Seeds since they've managed to fused banjo and other folk instruments with electronic pop melodies and synthesizers and male/female vocal harmonies, which leaves me with too many adjectives to fit together, so I'll just steal the term "Appalachiatronica" from an old Idolator article. I've been streaming a bunch of tunes from their Bandcamp page lately and I think it would be interesting to see them put these together live. Playing with them are two Pittsburgh bands. The website of The Wine, the Women & the Bomb is pretty but kind of uninformative due to the prose that's straight out of a high-minded fantasy novel (including a Nietzsche quote, even), but the songs streaming on their Bandcamp page give off a solid rock vibe: lots of guitars and drums, intricate rhythms, forceful vocals, etc. Robin Vote described themselves as "glam-jazz" and "doom-folk" in a feature on Pgh Music Report; I can't claim to know much about those genres so I'll let their songs speak for themselves (as well as the novel whence the band name.) All in all, seems like a crazy interesting mix of genres and styles; this should be a good show. Tickets are $7 at the doors (open at 9:00 pm). Here's a video for The Seedy Seeds' song "Drive Me To The Center".



At Garfield Artworks, you can catch Verona Red, Wine & Spirit, and Boulevard of the Allies. They just released a new EP, Pound, that you can stream on Bandcamp. After listening to it a few times recently, I can say that you wouldn't be wrong in saying that Verona Red have some bluesy/swing stylings, but there's some roots rock 'n roll in there, too, and it sounds like it would be pretty exciting to see at a "cozy" venue like Garfield Artworks. Local openers Wine & Spirit and Boulevard of the Allies (a truly local name, even) fit that bill, similarly; based on the songs I listened to today, they seem to draw from the same kinds of Midwest/Southern blues influences with some upbeat swing and rowdy rock 'n roll. Can't go wrong with that. And hey, Pgh Music Report did a feature on Boulevard of the Allies recently, too, so check that out. Tickets are $5 at the doors (open at 8:00 pm, 18+, BYOB). Here's a video of Verona Red playing their new song "Kitchen Song".



I'm not sure if I'll make it to either show due to life and such, but feel free to comment here if you're planning on going or did actually go and enjoyed yourself. Cheers!

Cover jam of the day: "I'm Set Free"

Artists: Woodpigeon & Weathered Hand, and Yo La Tengo (covering the Velvet Underground)
Song: "I'm Set Free"

A big part of the reason I love the VU is that they can play a song like "Sister Ray", a 17-minute hard-rockin' jam of a tune about a busted drug-addled orgy in a NYC hotel room, but they can also play a gorgeous, flowery tune like "Sunday Morning". It's almost not fair that they had the talent and wherewithal to flip-flop like that from song to song on their recorded output, but sobeit. The reason I bring this up is that it is Sunday morn-.... well, it's Sunday afternoon, but I started thinking about this while it was still technically morning, and I was out late last night to see Deerhoof and then hang out drinking with some friends, so cut me some slack. But I was just sitting here sipping coffee and scanning Google reader and Facebook and I saw that Daytrotter had posted the VU song "Sunday Morning" on their Facebook page, appropriately enough, and then I starting thinking about similar sweet-sounding songs of theirs and then I remembered I found this Woodpigeon cover on their blog a few weeks ago and have been meaning to share it, and then I found this YLT version when I typed "I'm Set Free" in Banshee since I forgot they even recorded this one! Yikes, that's a lot of thinking, but the conclusion is that you get to hear/see three different versions of this song.


The original has some nice, soft, melodious guitar strumming from Lou and Sterling, plus Lou's lead vocals and some backing "oohs" and "aahs" leading into the choruses (from Doug Yule, I'm guessing), and all the while Mo's metronomic drumming alternates from fast/loud to slow/quiet in just the right way to match the mood of the song. It's perfect and uniquely VU-ish.


The Woodpigeon & Weathered Hand version is even softer and quieter, played on acoustic guitar(s) and viola (I think), sans drums, but adding a little bit of electrified guitar during the solo. I've really enjoyed all of the Woodpigeon albums I've heard so far; they play wonderful folk-tinged pop songs and the singer's voice is lovely. I don't know anything about Weathered Hand, but I will be sure to investigate in the near future. Looks like they've combined forces here to create a wonderful cover version, brimming with wistful, ethereal vocals and folksy strumming and beautiful strings. It's also perfect for Sunday morning/afternoon listening. Check out a live version of them playing this song here.


The Yo La Tengo version is a bit more in line with the original version than the previous one, but just hearing Ira Kaplan sing these lyrics is pretty cool, in my book. I notice that they almost entirely scrapped the drums on this one; I can only hear some soft tapping every once in a while in the beginning and they build a little bit as the song progresses, but not by much. I like their take on the guitar part and solo, too, and Georgia's backing vocals wafting in from the background is lovely. Genius + Love = YLT, indeed, and here's your evidence.

Be sure to check out Woodpigeon and buy some albums, I highly recommend them (especially Die Stadt Muzikanten). And while you're at it, check out some other random cover versions of this song I happened to stumble on while writing this up: Beck & Thom Yorke [live], Terry Bickers & Bradleigh Smith, Arthur & Yu, Evan Dando (from the Lemonheads) [live]. I actually really like that last one by Evan Dando, especially how he starts to sing the guitar solo (haha) and then plays it.. I should have wrote about that, but I just found out. Anyway, there are tons more out there. Comment and share some good ones!

Video jams: Local concert footage (Big Snow Big Thaw, Pet Clinic, Nik & the Central Plains, Horse or Cycle, MOIP, etc.)

Just wanted to alert yinz to my YouTube page where I've been posting footage from local concerts here in Pittsburgh (plus some random mp3s that I thought needed to exist on YouTube). Some of the earlier ones were taken on my Android phone and have terrible audio quality; sorry about that. But recently, for Xmas, I acquired a Flip video camera, which takes lovely HD video footage. I don't know the technical audio specs, but it sounds pretty good, particularly acoustic/quiet stuff; loud rockin' sounds test the limits a little bit, depending on how close I was standing to the amp. Bottom line, though: I now have a small, portable, convenient way to take up to 1 hour of HD video/audio at concerts! It's now a goal of mine to record a full set of all of the local bands that I feel others out there should be able to experience in a live setting. (Of course, this relies on me getting a good view and the set being <= 60 minutes, so I'll do what I can.) Watching these is certainly not the same as getting out and seeing them, but it's a pretty good approximation, especially if you don't live around here or what have you. I've embedded below some of the most recent ones, and I'll let you explore my YouTube channel for some others. Enjoy!

Big Snow Big Thaw
at Club Cafe, Thursday February 03, 2011

Part 2 is here.

Pet Clinic
at Thunderbird Cafe, Saturday January 29, 2011

Part 2 is here. Be sure to watch the closing number of Part 2. It's an epic 7 minute song and well worth watching.

Nik & the Central Plains
at Howlers, Friday January 14, 2011

Part 2 is here and Part 3 is here.

Horse or Cycle
at Howlers, Friday January 14, 2011

(They were opening for Nik & the Central Plains so I just taped this one song, this time.)

Meeting of Important People
at Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland, Saturday January 15, 2011

(They were opening for Dean & Britta playing Galaxie 500, so I just taped a handful of songs: "I Know Every Street", "Single Girl, Married Girl", "Boys [Beatles cover]", "Our Love", "Broken-Down Storefront". Be sure to check out some of the Galaxie 500 tunes, too: "When Will You Come Home", "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste", etc.)

Jam of the day: "Dances Fantastic"

Artist: Neva Dinova
Album: Neva Dinova
Song: "Dances Fantastic"
Released: September 17, 2002
Label: crank!

I feel like Neva Dinova has always been the lesser-known and underappreciated little brother of Saddle Creek labelmate Bright Eyes. Yes, they haven't been around for as long and they don't have as big of a profile, but they've put out 3 solid records in the last 8 years, plus a split EP with Bright Eyes where they, quite frankly, outshone Conor Oberst with their songwriting and contributions. But that's just my opinion, I guess: I do want them to get more attention and recognition for their musical output, but it's pointless to complain without pointing to evidence. So here it is. This song, "Dances Fantastic", is from their epnoymous debut, released back in 2k2. The whole album is a pretty intriguing and complex mix of scuzzy guitar rock and mellow guitar rock and ... well, it has a lot of different guitar and vocal stylings, I'll say that. I'm failing on the description front, here, so I'll just skip ahead to the song I want to feature:


This song is fucking epic, and you know it: a slow, echoey guitar/bass intro melding into plaintive lyrics and slow drums, building into a hypnotically rhythmic and melodic pattern, and finally exploding into a volcanic torrent of guitar, ultimately winding down into a devolving drum fill/guitar line and a defeated voice. It's amazing how much emotional power is packed into this roller-coaster-ride of a song. I have a friend who listened to no other song from this band except for this one, and used to play this one religiously, at that. As for me, I like a lot of Neva Dinova's songs, and all of their albums, as a whole, but this song is always a go-to. Enjoy!

And if you're looking for points of comparison as to why they deserve recognition as a band, just check out some other (different-sounding) songs, like "Ahh" and "Clouds" and "Did You Disappoint Your God?" and "Yellow Datsun" and "Supercomputer" and "Get Back" and ...

Neva Dinova on the web:
Facebook
Wikipedia
Myspace