tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post8956790100931278341..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: Pavement — Slanted and EnchantedJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-29898766485163823232020-06-27T12:24:38.972-04:002020-06-27T12:24:38.972-04:00If you'd like to learn more about paving desig...If you'd like to learn more about paving designs, paving types, layout, or receive some assistance prior to commencing your paving project, <a href="https://www.pavcopaving.com/" rel="nofollow">Residential Paving Colorado Springs CO</a><br />shane leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16146330812845592722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-28379841304475780082015-02-25T15:42:51.642-05:002015-02-25T15:42:51.642-05:00https://soundcloud.com/caseyweissbuch/slanted-sign...https://soundcloud.com/caseyweissbuch/slanted-sign-second-single-off-of-debut-album-forever<br /><br />For fans of, i dunno....the 90s and definitely Pavement hahahaCaseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05066316593058950109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-4236906838492305222010-11-07T18:37:27.050-05:002010-11-07T18:37:27.050-05:00I've read some "calmed-down" Carney ...I've read some "calmed-down" Carney and found him much more appealing. Even in that interview where my quote comes from, he talks about working with his students and having them question why they react derisively to some of the films he picks. That sounds incredibly interesting and I'd like to sit in on a class with him. But when he gets belligerent he is just the worst.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-32503178148485675562010-11-07T18:24:49.957-05:002010-11-07T18:24:49.957-05:00Good integration of Carney into your argument here...Good integration of Carney into your argument here. It's too bad that his most famous pieces are his least diplomatic. For a more reasonable articulation of his views your better off reading the mailbag or one of his published books than those provocative interviews. <br /><br />For me, this is Carney vis a vis symbols in a nutshell, in an introduction to the sixth chapter of William James' Pluralistic Universe: "Artists need to have ideas, and need to use various forms of conceptual and temporal shorthand in their work (metaphors, symbols, typologies, summaries and abbreviations of all sorts) -- but they must also understand how ideas and abstractions and summaries can and do betray or falsify the deepest and most important aspects of lived experience. Life is non-conceptual. Life is not ideas. Life is experiences. How can an artist make a work of art responsive to the non-conceptual, non-abstracted, temporally flowing side of reality? How can an artist avoid giving his or her viewer or listener 'ideas' in place of 'experiences?' Read and think about these issues. "Drewwnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-75726749604547050692010-11-02T10:17:21.782-04:002010-11-02T10:17:21.782-04:00Sometimes bands and albums hit us perfectly at a c...Sometimes bands and albums hit us perfectly at a certain time and our reactions to them change completely. So maybe my S&E reversal will come someday (though not today: this post prompted me to put it on at work and I only made it halfway through before getting bored and switching to Japanese psych-rock genius L). I used to be rather dismissive of the Fall until I discovered the albums they made around the time of <i>Hex Enduction Hour</i>, which are all brilliant and challenging and utterly unique. But even more strikingly, I used to think the Smiths were pretty boring, until one day I put on <i>The Queen Is Dead</i> and it just clicked: suddenly this music struck me as emotionally rich and moving and funny and clever, and I've loved all their albums ever since. It's weird the way these things happen.<br /><br />Anyway, I hope you follow through with some more reviews of artists you love; I'd especially enjoy an examination of Sonic Youth, who are one of the great rock bands of the last few decades, and one of the most important and influential bands as well. I have a great deal of respect for them, even beyond their own music, for all the support they've given to avant-garde artists. I used to always see Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon at experimental shows in NYC, and even though their own dabblings in more experimental forms usually disappoint me, they've been a great resource for promoting and encouraging music that generally doesn't have much of a shot at any kind of broader appeal.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-83704474302824139132010-11-02T10:01:08.908-04:002010-11-02T10:01:08.908-04:00You know, Ed, I felt that way for a looooong time....You know, Ed, I felt that way for a looooong time. I'm not really someone who follows indie anyway so I only checked them out on the recommendations of a few friends and pretty much threw S&E and CR, CR off my iTunes list immediately. But for some reason, I threw this on about a month ago and was just hooked. I don't know what specifically changed in my life or in the way I take in music, but suddenly it just spoke to me. I got all their albums and have been rocking them for weeks now without getting tired.<br /><br />To be perfectly honest, I also greatly prefer Sonic Youth, which matches Pavement's impressive '90s run and raises it a superior collection in the '80s and an enduring greatness in the new millennium. I also have more fun wrestling with Mark E. Smith's off-the-wall inverted realism than I do with Malkmus' free association. But something clicked recently, and I tried to get at that bizarre pull the music had on me, and I finally understood what others were saying.<br /><br />I've toyed with doing more album reviews because the ones I do are really just the ones I love and the ones that speak to me (I don't know remotely enough about music to write about everything I listen to, even if I have broad tastes; Jesus, I'm stretching it just to talk about film). I kind of want to go through the discographies of my favorite artists, so I'll probably do Sonic Youth, more Bowie, Sinatra, etc. I might even do The Fall, though perhaps by way of a tribute to John Peel. I dunno, I can only really focus on how the music hits me and, as you said, that opens up the possibility of revealing more about myself than I want enshrined on the Internet. Then again, I try to be honest with people since I'm criticizing the personal statements of others, so who knows?<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by, as always, and thank you too, Mercer.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-3235473705995948082010-11-02T09:50:43.277-04:002010-11-02T09:50:43.277-04:00This is a great piece, Jake. You do a great job of...This is a great piece, Jake. You do a great job of capturing what Pavement did well, and what made them appeal almost universally to a certain kind of rock fan. I especially like your passage about rock being about feeling. More and more, I've come to believe that the essential difference between music and other artforms is the primacy of emotion and visceral feeling in music. Other artforms balance emotion with other elements, but the best music always seems to be about hitting the listener with a concentrated sensation or feeling in its purest form. It is, paradoxically, one of the reasons I write about music much less these days; my reactions to music often feel so personal and private and internal that putting them into words seems counterintuitive. So I really respect your great effort to capture this album in prose here.<br /><br />That said, I've always felt like <i>Slanted and Enchanted</i>, like Pavement in general, is rather disappointing. I think you, like most critics, are overstating the degree to which Malkmus was capturing something unique here. They're "the first band that genuinely didn't give a damn"? I don't hear it: you mention Bangs and garage rock, and Pavement certainly came out of that tradition very solidly. But more concretely, they sound like Sonic Youth. I know that sounds dismissive, but almost every song on this album would've fit OK on <i>Sister</i> or <i>Daydream Nation</i>, and "Trigger Cut" is practically a cover, just like "Conduit for Sale" might as well be a Fall cover. Taken on its own merits, I like the music just fine, but I can never quite get past all the eerie similarities to other bands; this isn't just working through one's influences, it's parroting them back. Later Pavement albums do get past that phase a little more completely, though even then they're not a band I can really get excited about. I much prefer the combination of gritty angst and glistening melodicism in Sonic Youth, or the spiky aggression of the Fall, and Pavement just winds up seeming like a second-best copy. I know that's a minority view - I mean, they're indie legends - and they're certainly important as a touchstone for the countless bands that followed in their wake, but beyond their seminal importance, they don't do a whole lot for me, ironically enough, on that level of visceral feeling.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-42691289791852152562010-11-02T04:52:03.235-04:002010-11-02T04:52:03.235-04:00Really like yr music reviews, Jake. Keep em coming...Really like yr music reviews, Jake. Keep em coming!I.V.P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17167362896416316361noreply@blogger.com