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1992. Matador. Slanted and Enchanted.
Prima di lui ci furono i vari EP (Perfect Sound Forever, Slay Tracks, Demolition Plot) che rientreranno nella raccolta Westing (By Musket And Sextant) e in cui si possono cogliere i germi dei Pavement dalle inclinazioni lo-fi e alquanto sgangherate. Attitudine che s'incarnerà dietro arrangiamenti più maturi in Slanted And Enchanted . Più sporco del successivo Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain in cui i gioielli pavementiani brillano in modo forse troppo confezionato; è comunque da dire che il rumorismo dei Pavement è probabilmente lontano dalla totale adesione ad un intellettualistico proposito di servire la spontaneità e la genuinità del processo creativo attraverso un metodo che quasi aspira ad autoannichilirsi: qualcuno potrà ritenerlo un po' plasticoso e studiato purchè rintracci una simile "mancanza" nei Pixies o nei Dinosaur Jr. (forse meno nei Sonic Youth, anche se eternamente presenti nei riferimenti al noise-rock).
Tanto per intenderci i Pavement non sono John Cage.
In più recuperano la bassa fedeltà delle registrazioni (lo-fi), forse meno arbitraria in gruppi come Half Japanese e Beat Happening e per questo meno carica di significanze ideologiche.
Ma venendo al cd... "Summer Babe" è l'inizio, il singolo che si fa' strada tra in fans dei college americani, dalla melodia forse un po' sentita, ma ora è l'approccio che conta, le note sono combinazioni che si sono esaurite e nella composizione del pezzo (come in tutto Slanted And Enchanted) trapela la spensieratezza come cura dalle ansie e le frustrazioni e non come gratuito disimpegno. Nella successiva "Trigger Cut" all'avanzare del ritmo serrato si innestano cali e riprese di tono perfettamente calibrati, la melodia ti entra in testa mentre al canto di Malkmus rispondono le seconde voci ("I've got a message for you.. I keep it in my head").
Una dopo l'altra, una meglio dell'altra, velocemente, e la tracklist si esaurisce velocemente. Ma si fa' già in tempo a scegliersi i due o tre pezzi da consacrare nel proprio lettore... perchè i Pavement ti invadono, si prestano a tutti i tipi di ascolto da quello attento e presuntuosamente colto a quello libero, evasivo e del tutto acritico.
Qualche influenza vagamente jazzistica in "Conduit For Sale!" e le varie orecchiabili disarmonie pavementiane (rese efficaci da un cantato lievemente stonato e piccole sperimentazioni sulle corde delle chitarre) da "Chesley's Little Wrists" a "Jackals, False Grails.." (come non sentire in quest'ultima l'influenza che i pavement hanno avuto su gruppi poco etichettabili come i Modest Mouse). Per non parlare delle varie "In The Mouth A Desert", "Zurich Is Stained" e "Here", quest'ultima stupenda anche nella versione con distorsioni simil-shoegazing; ogni commento sarebbe francamente riduttivo.
Due anni più tardi sempre per la matador uscirà l'album "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" che li consacrerà alfieri dell'era lo-fi (un po' a torto) nel periodo cobainiano e post Cobain, periodo che monopolizzò col grunge le attenzioni sulla scena americana. Per molti il secondo sarà il loro miglior lavoro per altri (come me) sarà grandissimo ma non all'altezza del primo.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Summer Babe (Winter Version) (03:16)
ICE BABY
I SAW YOUR GIRLFRIEND
SHE'S EATING HER FINGERS
LIKE THEY'RE JUST ANOTHER MEAL
SHE WAITS THERE
IN THE LEVEE WASH
MIXING COCKTAILS WITH A PLASTIC TIPPED CIGAR...
MY EYES STICK TO
ALL THOSE SHINY ROBES...WEAR
ON THE PROTEIN DELTA STRIP
IN AN ABANDONED HOUSEBOAT
ILL WAIT THERE, ILL BE WAITING FOREVER...
MINERALS
ICE DEPOSITS DAILY
DROP OFF THE FIRST SHINY ROBE
IVE GOT ALOT OF THINGS I WANT TO SELL YOU
THERE NOT HERE
YOU TOOK IT ALL
EVERYTIME I TURN AROUND I FIND IM SHOT
YOU'RE MY...
SUMMER BABE
04 In the Mouth a Desert (03:52)
can you treat it like an oil well
when it's underground out of sight
and if the sight is just a whore sign
can it make enough sense to me
pretend the table is a trust knot
we'll put our labels down, faith is down
and watch the yards of twine unravel
and you'll never get it back
it's what I want (it's what I want)
it's what I want (one gets down)
it's what I want (it's what I want)
don't you know
I could make it dry, make it dry, make it dry
make it dry
I've been crowned, the king of it
and it is all we have so wait
to hear my words and they're diamond sharp
I could open it up if it's up and down
it's what I want (it's what I want)
I see a bagluck, a little bar (all on time)
don't you know that it's what I want
(that's what I want)
I see your bag and it makes me try
make me try, make me try, make me try
I've been down, the king of it
and it is all we have, I've been down
if I could wait to hear those words
they're diamond sharp today
05 Conduit for Sale! (02:52)
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin' and I'll try (2x)
Imagine if you will Herr Proctor
Alias and nobleman
Son of son of sky, and of scion
Part of his rich inheritance
Parceled and generous divorce
Sentence forthwith being
Certain blocks of land
And living quarters deemed
By all gentlemen
And wives thereof
To be grossly humane
And frankly, quite un-dirty
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin' and I'll try (2x)
Herr Proctor
In his enviable good taste
Tries quick escape gambit
Via local periodicals
But no takers land an enviable station
In the conduit between two selves
A veritable no-man's-land
Array of the flophouse cardboard materials
And carbon-monoxide wallpaper
All his brig-deck Torino boys ask
Is irrelevant...
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin' and I'll try (2x)
Unable to bear the scandal, Ray, philanthropist
Rents low-down scab house in conduit
Herr Barockter offers said land for a song,
But no one wants to sing
In an attempt to retain social privileges
Yet mask it as goodwill
He says to the conduit members,
"Take this rotten old tree and make it bear fruit."
Cheers erupted throughout the thin settlement;
An Italian male was heard to say,
"Between here and there
Is better than anything over there!"
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin'
I'm tryin' and I'll try (3x)
06 Zurich Is Stained (01:41)
i can't sing it strong enough:
that kind of strength i just don't have.
if you watch the lights change please
don't hold them hanging
you think it's easy, but you're wrong
i'm not one half of the problem
zurich is stained and it's not my fault
just hold me back or let me run
what does it mean, a mistake or two
if it's the kind of mistake no one can trace
to the fountain where we sold it
and held them hanging.
you think it's easy, but you're wrong
i'm not one half of the problem
zurich is stained and it's not my fault
just hold me back or let me run
08 Loretta's Scars (02:55)
how can i [3x]
make my body shed for you?
how can i [3x]
make my body shed around your
metal scars
loretta's scars [3x]
from now on i can see the sun
makes me anxious, makes me run
from now on i can see the sun
makes me nervous, makes me run
how can i [3x]
make my body shed for you?
how can i [3x]
make my body shed around your
metal scars
loretta's scars [3x]
from now on i can see the sun
makes me anxious, makes me run
from now on i can see the sun
makes me nervous, makes me run
from now on i can see the sun
i can see the sun etc.
10 Two States (01:47)
two states!
we want two states
north and south
two, two states
40 Million Daggers! [x4]
two states!
we want two states
there's no culture
there's no spies
40 million daggers! [x4]
11 Perfume-V (02:09)
fun for an hour til the hour's gone
can one trick nights feed 40 days?
in my bed at the break of dawn
she shivered like a vein slashed bright and new
she's got the radio active and it makes me feel ok (i don't feel ok) [x2]
grip-force the vials and strip the locks
smash the set & slash the beds
and when it looks life a wife's ex-plot
we'll cover all the rugs with cheap perfume
she's got the radio active and it makes me feel ok (i don't feel ok) [repeat]
like a docent's lisp, like a damsel's spit, like a dry gin's twist (of lime)
like a poor droll sir, like a pike's dull spurs, like a pastor's flock (of sheep)
12 Fame Throwa (03:22)
fame throwa pass out the gold,
the diamon watch the last reward,
all the things we had before
you sold us out and took it all
head-borne cries from zenith sluts
astral rites from dead-end ruts
these ends are sickened wars [x2]
he's one of our nation's spies
he's one of our first recruits
i click with her leather thighs
he's one of our first recruits
how can you know?
in the distance lies a grower,
n閑 Rudolph, king fame throwa,
son of groupie, bed-worn sexan
spent his cash convincing us
that the desert was a starscape
took our lives for satellites so we could cry:
naked, naked, foul.
he's one of our nation's spies
he's one of our first recruits
i click with her leather thighs
he's one of our first recruits
14 Our Singer (03:09)
i've been waitin'
anticipatin'
sun comes up
the skies won't sink my soul
i've dreamt of this
but is never comes
but it never comes
the risin'
the natures dry
folk!
i've been dreamin'
traced out but dreamin'
the sun coems up
the blisters burn my soul
i'm dreamin
of something now
of something now
of the risin'
the natures dry
and all the groovey ones (?)
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