Pavement Is Totally Reuniting.

By Annie Zaleski Wed., Sep. 16 2009 at 11:40 AM

Categories: This Just In

Indie-rock slackers Pavement -- who, like the Pixies, arguably seem to be more popular now than when they were together -- are reuniting in 2010, according to blog Brooklynvegan. Pitchfork notes a September show at Central Park's Summerstage next year as the first confirmed date. (Vocalist Stephen Malkmus, as you'll remember, drew a pretty disappointing crowd to the Pageant last November.)

I've never been a huge Pavement fan, although I own a bunch of albums and have been trying for years to get into the band. So, enlighten me: Why do you like Pavement? What am I missing? Why are people freaking out about this? And for that matter, when did the band last play in St. Louis -- anyone remember?

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2010, pavement, reunion, stephen malkmus, summerstage, this just in

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LOVED Pavement through CRCR, fell off the wagon for awhile, then saw them a couple of times on the final tour and had a fan relapse. I'd put Slanted and the Westing... material up with anything that came out last decade; the combination of shambolic noise and actual good melodies was irresistible. (I'm not denying they could get way too smug and self-referential at times, though.) Pavement/Tiger Trap tour = lots of people in their 40s breaking out the ol' striped t-shirts. I suppose I'd be one of them.
Never 'got' Pavement until my first band broke up. It quickly all made some sense. Except Slanted & Enchanted, actually, which to this day has a few tracks I love, but many tracks I "meh." Crooked Rain Crooked Rain + Wowee Zowee are perfection, though. Tiger Trap? Rose Melburg? Are you tryin' to give me nightmares?
Living in the SF Bay Area for the bulk of the 1990's, it was hard to escape Pavement. They seemed to be everywhere. They were the champs of Bay Area college radio stations for a long time. But when you talk to indie fans from northern and central CA (Pavement started in Stockton, CA) who were there when Pavement broke, they just kind of shrug. They'll tell you that, yeah, they thought Pavement was good, and were influencial, and blah, blah, blah... But mention Tiger Trap and/or Rose Melburg, and their eyes start to well up.
I think it's one of those 'if you have to ask, you'll never know' kind of deals. One of the coolest thing about music for me is the absolute 'alogical' nature of liking or not liking a band. A friend asked me the other day to defend the song "Aqualung", by Jethro Tull. It was a good exercise in proving that talking about music is like trying to dance about painting. I love Pavement for probably a lot of the same 'reasons' I can't really get into Placebo.
I like Pavement, and I know they were incredibly influencial, but I don't really get the "band of the 90's" assessment that they've received. They made some good songs, some jokey songs, and some just ok songs. I guess they're the go-to band for the crowd of 90's music fans who weren't so huge on Nirvana or grunge in general, although in that case the award is usually given to Radiohead or Oasis.
Last show in St. Louis Oct. 14. 1999 Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO Grounded, Spit On A Stranger, Date w/ Ikea, The Hexx, Carrot Rope, Rattled By The Rush, Shoot The Singer, Stereo, Major Leagues, In The Mouth A Desert, Billie, You Are A Light, Here, Kennel District, Debris Slide, E: Father To A Sister Of Thought, Folk Jam, Shady Lane, Unfair Other Pavement - St. Louis facts Total shows in the St. Louis area (4) Mississippi Nights 10.14.94*** Riverport Amphitheater 7/11/95 Mississippi Nights 4/27/97 Mississippi Nights 10/14/99 Excellent soundboard recordings exist of the final two Mississippi Nights shows and can be found online as well as a bass heavy audience recording of the Lollapalooza gig. ***this show inspired the person who recorded the two later Mississippi Nights shows (me) to start taping with a Sony D6 DAT recorder. The band in '94 opened that night with a cover of Stereolab's "Contact" and then name checked St. Louis' Drunks With Guns and Dazzling Killmen during "Range Life" (in place of Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots) Fun Pavement live show fact - the band never played the same setlist twice!
What Jake said. When I was 16 (I just turned 33) I walked into my favorite record store and stopped dead in my tracks. "Who is that?" I asked about the record the clerk was playing. It was Slanted and Enchanted, and it became one of my high-school soundtracks, along with Sebadoh's Bubble and Scrape and others.
I'm with Annie here. I feel like Pavement is a band I should like, but I try listening to Slanted and Enchanted every once in a while and it just doesn't ever click with me. I feel like it's a band that was super-important to the generation a little older than myself (I just turned 30), and that a lot of younger people have picked up on them, but I'm not sure I know a ton of people my age who adore them.
Pavement is great. Cool harmonies, interesting lyrics, and their music holds up better than most bands of that era. I believe the last time they played St. Louis was an appearance at Mississippi Nights in the late 90s.....
Something tells me the full-on reunion tour will follow.
It's hard to describe how incredible Pavement is. Words just don't do it justice. The album 'Slanted and Enchanted' changed alot of the ways I look or listen to music...as did Yo La Tengo's 'Painful' album. It's too bad it's just one show instead of a full on reunion tour.