Pavement - Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

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 being 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,” “Fame Throwa” and “Rattled By The Rush.”
What is included is a good representation of the band’s career from the low-fi years to the expanses of their late entry releases, all of which were handpicked by the band. Quarantine The Past is a fine, moderately priced cd that your girlfriend or uncool bro can pick up when they’re looking for a compendium of Pavement tracks to recognize on the reunion tour.
What the album doesn’t do is accurately tell the story of Pavement themselves, essentially an American rip-off of The Fall which happened to find more favor after they broke up than when they were a working unit. As they progressed, they turned into a decent rock band-more accessible than The Fall, that’s for sure-and they looked foxy enough to produce a nice contingent of female supporters, which was critical to their post-career adulation.
Because the record doesn’t fall into any chronological order, you miss the progression from lo-fi go-getters into Nigel Godrich produced demigods. On occasion, the track-by-track transitions can be startling because of this, and novices will find themselves cherry picking through the collection just like they bitched about when they had to pay for music.
A better suggestion would have been to separate the discs into two phases.
An even better suggestion would have been to never broken up at all, but then again, if they hadn’t we probably wouldn’t have seen the fervor that’s swirling around the reunion tour. Which would have made Quarantine The Past an obsolete idea, just like it probably is among the faithful already.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.

Spiral Stairs - The Real Feel

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.
Where his more notorious Pavement lyricist may get the recognition for his written prose, give Stairs some credit for achieving some of the very same emotional level with the music he’s presenting here. It’s a strange blend of Aussie/Kiwi underground with an occasional foray into Crazy Horse territories. For all of the talk of how Stairs scored his marital disintegration with spins of Shoot Out The Lights and Rumors, there’s very little of those efforts within his own wall of guitars. If anything, there are hints of his former band within those chord progressions, pointing to how vital his contributions were to Pavement and how good of a player that he’s become since they disbanded.
The hints of his bruised heart are all over The Real Feel, but they’re not morose and they point to a healthy future. “What was wrong for you?” he asks repeatedly in “Wharf Hand Blues” before realizing “Might’ve been right for me.”
So how strange is it that-shortly after releasing the best album of his post-Pavement career and implementing a full steam ahead outlook-he’s now expected to regress a bit and revisit his past once again? I don’t know Kannberg’s feelings on the reunion, but there’s a big part of me that thinks Pavement ended on a high note and that they should leave it as such.
But now there’s something else that leads me think that a Pavement reunion is unnecessary. With The Real Feel, Spiral Stairs demonstrates that he can make incredibly vital music that stands up to Pavement’s finer moments. While no one will confuse it with the likes of Slanted & Enchanted or Brighten The Corners, listeners will be able to see a consistency at work (admittedly, not entirely present with Preston School of Industry’s output) and one that is deserving of re-launching the pseudonym.
To reunite the band may be a dream come true for some, but for my money, the re-emergence of Spiral Stairs with his first solo effort feels like the real thing.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.

Bob Nastanovich Joins Poison Control Center For Pavement's "Two States"

Awesome video footage of Bob Nastanovich joining Poison Control Center on stage for a drunken rendition of "Two States." His wife jumps on stage later on for a few screams and Bob offers a drunken speech on how Des Moines bests Chicago. I agree in some aspects, but I think it may have been the booze talkin'.

Bob Nastanovich of Pavement w/ The Poison Control Center "TWO STATES" from TAPES FOR LIFE on Vimeo.

Thanks to reader Patrick Tape Fleming for the link and for capturing the footage. Patrick and Ashley Fleming are two talented Iowa filmmakers that recently won "Best Iowa Filmmakers of 2009" for their film That March.

2009 80/35 Recap

Last summer, my wife and I stumbled across the 80/35 Music Festival in Des Moines and got comped a pair of tickets at the last minute.
Free tickets?
The Flaming Lips?
You bet!
Full account of the show here.
But the biggest beef what how little we knew about the event until, literally, a week before the actually took place. Call it first year mistakes, the Des Moines event coordinators being selfish, or the inability of a Midwestern city to figure out how to adequately promote in the age of new media. Whatever the excuse, it what poorly executed event that ran the risk of ending just a quickly as it was put together.
Apparently, last year’s festival was successful enough to grab some additional money from the city and get another reprieve.
The extra money did get 80/35 some additional press-I actually ran across a few articles that focused on the event well before it happened-but it didn’t do much (for me) in terms of attracting enough bands for me to fork over the money for tickets.
And yes, the festival organizers decided to increase ticket prices this year, apparently oblivious that people are still hurting in today’s economy.
Maybe they’ll figure it out-if they manage to get a third year-as attendance was reportedly well below expectations and the figure needed to break even. And perhaps future organizers will learn to schedule their shit at different times instead of directly competing with KGGO’s Geezerfest.
Don’t laugh. I actually liked the line-up from the classic rot festival a grey hair more than this year’s 80-35.
So while I missed 80-35, James Wilson from CR/IC legends The Douglas Four recently located to Des Moines went to the festival and buzzed back what he thought of the show(s) and of the scene there in general.
Actually, we’re probably too old to refer to things like a “scene” anymore, but apparently, there’s a few fucksticks in DM that still think our capitol city is better than your place. Reality check: it’s Des Moines. A band with a misspelled rodent name who haven’t had a hit in twenty years doubled the attendance of your indiefest. And no matter how hard you try, 80-35 will never be on par with Pitchfork, Rothbury, or whoever you’d eventually like to turn into.
You know what I’d like? A festival that has the balls to have Ratt, the replacement singer of Bad Company, April Wine, Pat Travers on the same bill as Cymbals Eat Guitars, the dude from Pavement, Public Enemy, and House of Large Sizes joining Head East on stage for a medley of “Never Been Any Reason” and “Two Liter Man.”
Now there’s a line-up I’d pay $100 to see!
Here’s the skinny with Wilson’s take on the 2009 edition of 80-35, begining with a dream that I had how Japandroids were at the festival:

Glam-Racket: Japandroids were one of the bands I wanted to see this year at 80-35…
Wilson: Were Japandroids scheduled to play 80-35? They’re playing here July 20th…
Glam-Racket: Never mind…you’re right…I’m confused
Wilson: 80-35 was fun...
Glam-Racket: How big were the crowds?
Wilson: Definitely bigger on Saturday. I think Ben Harper headlining on sat was a big draw for the hippie contingent. I saw in the paper that they estimated approx 30k for attendance.
Glam-Racket: Actually, that area downtown probably couldn’t handle that many people and I think the promoters are now saying the paid attendance is more like 12,000 total for the entire event.
Wilson: I had to work until 6 on Friday so by the time I got there it was raining and I missed Tilly and The Wall, but I could hear their set from my office...so that was kind of cool. That being said, I didn't have any problem getting to the front for anyone I wanted to see.
Glam-Racket: Top 5 bands?
Wilson: Malkmus, Cymbals Eat Guitars, the House of Large Sizes reunion, the Tilly set I heard from work, and the 4 songs we heard from Margot and The Nuclear So and So's before we got annoyed by the Des Moines Social Club hipster faction and left.
Glam-Racket: Who the fuck are they and why do they think they’re important enough to kill the vibe for other paying attendees?
Wilson: The first encounter at the social club was when we stopped in to their bar for 2 dollar Grainbelts about a month ago. I had seen some advertisements about it being a non profit organization supporting local arts and music. They also boast the slogan "you are a member," so we go in and order drinks. Two bartenders working at the time must have decided that we were not cool enough for them to waste time waiting on us, so after that night we decided never to go back.
On Saturday, we’re waiting to for Margot and the Nuclear So and So's to take the stage and people are packing in pretty tight. Guess who comes up? Those same two shitty bartenders and four others pushing through the crowd to the front. They and hop the barrier for the press and stand in there like self-important pieces of shit. My wife actually asked if they were press or something? And their response was a smug "or something." That was bad enough but then once the band started playing they were flailing around drunk as fuck almost burning everyone in the front row with lit cigarettes. We got pissed and left.
So fuck them and fuck that place. Actually i wrote an email to the director of the organization and told him what went on both at the bar and at the show and told him that we didn't "want" to be members of that shitty club. He apologized and said he would chastise those responsible but I'm still gun-shy about going back.
Glam-Racket: Other than doucheness at a music festival-which is to be expected-what’s your take on the Des Moines music scene so far?
Wilson: There really hasn't been much worth seeing before 80-35. Seems like terrible emo or terrible metal...or worse a bunch of Slipknot imitators. I'm excited for Fall as it seems the Vaudeville Mews is getting some shows. Hope it gets better.
Glam-Racket: What was the biggest disappointment of the weekend?
Wilson: Probably that the weather wasn't nicer...but if it wasn't raining it would've been super hot so I guess it could be worse in the long run. Flava Flav was a no show as well so that was a bummer for my wife who was in the front row for Public Enemy. Even got on the cover of the Des Moines Register on Saturday!
Glam-Racket: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t believe the hype!
Wilson: I was in the back when they announced that Flava was not going to show due to being in the hospital! There was just this mass exodus from the front after that announcement. I got the feeling most folks were there to see him. There was no mention of that hospital visit on any national news sites, by the way. In an interview Chuck D did that morning, he was blasting Flav for his lack of professionalism by being a no show...seemed like a cover.
Glam-Racket: Any signs of Bob Nastanovich? How close to a Pavement reunion were we?
Wilson: Bob didn't grace the stage. I was hoping for it, though. I thought I might have seen him milling around back stage during the set. Malkmus did give him a shout out in the form of "so does everyone know Bob? Figured everyone would by now." I found out Thursday night-way too late-that he was going to be at the Mewes with Poison Control Center for a kickoff party. Still kicking myself for not going to that.
Glam-Racket: What the fuck does Nastanovich do there in Des Moines?
Wilson: From what I saw on the news when they interviewed him about the Kentucky Derby. He is the odds maker at Prairie Meadows racetrack.
Glam-Racket: Got the song list for Malkmus’ set? What was the highlight?
Wilson:
Gardenia
Baby C'mon
Senator (New Song)
Jenny and The Ess Dogg
Baltimore
Out Of Reaches
Tigers (New Song)
Bill Fay (New Song)
Pencil Rot
Water And A Seat
Cribz (New Song)
Ret (Think this is new that's all that was on the set list)
The new stuff was great...reminded me of CRCR-era Pavement. I always liked “Jenny and the Ess Dogg” so it was cool to hear that one.
Glam-Racket: Loudest band?
Wilson: Cymbals Eat Guitars. Man, those guys are good with great 90's era noise guitar solos!
Thanks to our man for braving the pricks and giving us the low down on the 80-35 Festival.

Photo lifted from the 80-35 website.