When I came up with the idea for CD Slut, part of the point was that since I'd be getting something every day, I could take chances on records I had been apprehensive about, since I'd be more apt to grab something random if I knew I could try again the next day. Today was my first such choice, and I grabbed Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I came across a few things I had been wanting and I knew I'd enjoy, but perhaps we'll postpone those for another day.There's something about my general disdain for hipster kid/indie culture that has made me opposed to Pavement without knowing anything about them whatsoever. Until today, I couldn't name a single Pavement song, and this album was the only one I knew by name. It's the overall indie aesthetic, at least as I perceive it, that I'm opposed to: Hey, let's half-ass it and make things sound ragged, and if someone thinks it sounds bad, then they just don't get the 'realness.' That's overly reductive, I suppose, but that's the feeling I've had for as long as I can remember.
As soon as the album opened with "Silence Kit," all I could hear was Rivers Cuomo, although somehow more tone deaf and strained than Pinkerton's rougher moments. I've never found the cracking, forced style of vocals endearing like they're supposed to be - I just hear a guy that can't sing. The limit of my tolerance for unhinged vocals is probably Ian Curtis, because you can at least tell that guy meant it. And I have a soft spot for Nico.
By track three, "Stop Breathin," I'd almost checked out already, until a well-constructed section that built and built caught me off guard. It reminded me of Isis without the distortion, which is at least something I can grab onto, but that would be the only passage on the album that made me take any real notice. From then on, it was a snoozer except for when goddamn "Cut Your Hair" came on. I couldn't have identified it as a Pavement song, but when I used to hear it in a commercial (wasn't it in one?) or wherever it was I came across the song, I still knew I hated it. And I still do.
Even as I was listening for the first time, I couldn't imagine the occasion I'd have to want to listen to it again. This isn't a record anyone can sing along to (not that that's necessarily a criterion for greatness, but it certainly helps me connect with a record), and nothing really seems to happen in the songs. I spent most of its run time grimacing, and not in a 'this is challenging me and I can't quite understand it' sort of way, but in a 'someone needs to empty the litter box' sort of way.
Maybe it's not working for me because I half-expected to hate it, but I have allowed myself be surprised before. I didn't want to hate this. I was hoping for a nice kick in the ass to make me turn some of my ideas around. But even though I'd never heard one of these songs and known it at the time, I was somehow able to sift out of the ether that this wasn't for me. Some 'classics' simply don't connect with me, and at this stage, this is one of them.
For the sake of media, here's a live video of "Stop Breathin," the one song that didn't make me pray for SARS.
So far, my record stands at 1-1.
1 comment:
Gave this a listen today. I got this album a few years ago, probably popped it in soon after, and never really listened to it again until today.
I'm certainly more into the indie aesthete than you, but this record is still somewhat boring to me. It has some good stuff going for it, but more than anything, I just kept hearing what came after it. This album is so '90s. It certainly helped define the growing alternative scene of the time, and a lot of indie stuff today takes cues from Pavement. I'm pretty sure I hear the bass line for the Fratelli's "Flathead" (ubiquitous iPod song) while listening to "Hit the Plane Down."
There's some worthwhile stuff on here, and it seems really unfortunate that "Cut Your Hair" was the biggest hit. It sounds like a novelty song to me, whereas the rest seems more original.
I think a big problem for people in our age group is things seeming dated, when in fact, they were the first to do what we see everyday. As an aspiring filmie, I come across this all the time. However, there are certain films (Casablanca, Citizen Kane) and albums (Nevermind the Bollocks, most of the Beatles catalogue), that transcend their possible 'dated-ness', because they are just that damn good. "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" is not one of those albums.
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