"Pavement are the only band in the world that can turn a mess this hot into a rapturous triumph. And boy did they."
Through just five albums released between 1992 and 1999, Pavement established a sound considered a cornerstone of 90s indies rock. Blending elements of noise, punk, lo-fi experimentation and classic pop songwriting, critics and fans would come to credit Pavement for epitomising the sub-genre of 'slacker rock', a deeply influential legacy which has since inspired the likes of Mac DeMarco, Beabadoobee, Destroyer, Parquet Courts, Horsegirl, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and more. Although the slacker sound has not always sounded the same album to album, with the band veering wildly between genre influences, switching distortion and chaos for a more melodic and polished sound (Terror Twilight), this has only contributed to Pavement's appeal - a signature unpredictability which only true DIY bands could master.
In 2024, the beloved cult band became the subject of Alex Ross Perry's intriguing part-documentary, part-biopic film Pavements, exploring the return to live performance in 2022, now streaming in UK cinemas. In honour of this cinematic close-up also exploring the band's wider musical evolution, we’re revisiting every one of Pavement’s studio albums, every killer off-kilter hook, Stephen Malkmus' most cryptic lyrics, and the band's overall lo-fi brilliance.
From the rough and ready slacker days, a maturer mid-tempo sound, and the final farewell. Rough Trade E-Commerce head and Pavement aficionado Patrick Lacey-Scott explores the sound of the band in full, with a personal ranking of the their discography.
5. Brighten The Corners (1997)
Brighten The Corners does exactly what it says it will, delivering a clearer, cleaner definition, glistening jangle and sweet overdriven guitars, with just enough distortion and friction to feel it as it goes down. As I listen to it, I wonder how it ended up so low on the list. Some of Pavement’s best work appears on BTC, including the delicately fragile Type Slowly and Old To Begin, the late cult classic Harness Your Hopes and the self-aware smash hit Stereo. Both a brilliant entry point and an album that continues to surprise over endless plays.
Malkmus pearl of wisdom: “Well, show me a word that rhymes with pavement and I won’t kill your parents and roast them on a spit.”
4. Terror Twilight (1999)
The final chapter in Pavement’s unbelievable 5 album run, and you can hear them slowly drifting apart like untethered buoys in the sea. A bittersweet melancholy hangs in the air as they crash out in sublime fashion. Malkmus’ barbs are now laced with a twist of resignation, which only adds to the listening experience. Spit on a Stranger may be the strangest love song offering I have heard. Two songs stand out for me You Are A Light and Ann Don’t Cry, but the final song’s overlapping vocals between Scott Kannberg, Mark Ibold and Stephen Malkmus, will always sound bittersweet to me, knowing this is the end of the last album they made, and they were already singing different songs.
Malkmus pearl of wisdom: "The damage has been done, I am not having fun anymore"
3. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
The first Pavement album I ever heard was Crooked Rain. It sounds dumb to say, but things were never the same after that. That’s it, I had found the band that meant everything to me. The glorious mess and the ever-unfolding detail. And the hits. Hits that still make me feel the same way as I always did. Gold Soundz, Cut Your Hair and Range Life get all the limelight (and understandably too) but the anti-Californian Tourist Board anthem Unfair is a cathartic bonfire, and Elevate Me Later answers the question no-one asked - “What would it sound like if Brian Wilson was in Sonic Youth?”. Alluringly uncomplicated and enduringly adolescent.
Malkmus Pearl of Wisdom: "Lost in the foothills of my pride"
2. Slanted & Enchanted (1992)
Hissss. Pavement, double concentrated. The screeching guitars, the earnest vocals and anything but earnest lyrics, Gary Young’s all-emotion drumming. It’s funny how an album that is notorious for its sandpaper sound has more finesse on each note than anything else you will ever hear. Every clear of the throat from the bass, every squeak and crash from the guitar and every unexpected outburst are beautifully placed to create perfect destructive chaos. Don’t ask me to pull out songs here because, just like the mixing, they drift in and out of focus every time the album is played. Just play the whole damn thing. Then play it again.
Malkmus Pearl of Wisdom: "I was dressed for success, but success it never comes"
"Even though this is the most played album in my collection, it still manages to reveal something new every time. A singular and unmatched masterpiece."
1. Wowee Zowee (1995)
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Wrong! From the portaloo production of the early EPs, to the tornado tunes on Slanted & Enchanted, and the wind through your hair hits on Crooked Rain, Pavement had shown they were evolving into an unstoppable force, the next alt-rock band to take over the world, move over Smashing Pumpkins (nature’s kids, but they don’t have no function), the stage is set for the next biggest band of the 90s. Well that never happened. Instead we got a multi-genre experiment sucking in elements of country, jazz, west-coast psych pop, blues and punk, often all in one song. A hot mess. But Pavement are the only band in the world that can turn a mess this hot into a rapturous triumph. And boy did they. This album has some of my favourite songs of all time - the cosmic country Father of a Sister Thought and Pueblo, the unforgiving Rattled by the Rush and Flux = Rad, the sea splashed grooves of Grave Architecture and Kennel District. It’s non-stop whiplash-inducing twists and turns, never pausing to ask if you’re keeping up. But when you do, you will come across a moment like Grounded where the sheer fear and pathos in Malkmus' voice, and Scott’s menacingly psychotic guitar, will have you weeping like a desperate child. Even though this is the most played album in my collection, it still manages to reveal something new every time. A singular and unmatched masterpiece.
Malkmus Pearl of Wisdom: "The pants I wear so well, cross your T's shirt smells / Worse than your lyin', caught my dad cryin"