12- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, July 19, 1995
PAVEMENT under Malkmus' lyrical knife in that
song). It ... takes more time to get used
Continued from page 10 to; it's more confusing. The songs we've
we play 'Cut Your Hair' at these chosen to the album's singles so far -
Lollapalooza shows. It gets a much bigger 'Rattledby the Rush' and 'Father to a Sis-
response, even if it's a lame version." ter of Thought' - we'd hoped they'd beF
Of the increased attention the band more successful than they have been."
received due to that single, Nastanovich One sure way to boost album sales is aI
remarked, "We pretty much took every- slickly produced music video in MTV's 1
thing with a grain of salt. I guess it gets heavy rotation. Pavement have a problem
you on some kind of map, which I like to with this. "We've actually made five vid-v
look at in an optimistic way. eos, but they don't get shown very muchf
"I think ... if a song garners that type because they're cheap and sloppy. Like ourl
of attention it makes people pay attention to records," Nastanovich said, not unhappily.
t eother stuff, and maybe they'lllike three "But cheap, sloppy records are more ap-
or four or 10 songs. Anybody who bought pealing than cheap, sloppy videos becauseL
'Crooked Rain' because they heard it (the the records can be put out by record labels1
single) on the radio and only liked 'Cut who are totally behind your band. With
Your Hair,' well, that would pretty much cheap, sloppy videos you need major labelt
be the end of their Pavement fanhood. backing to get them played on (MTV).
Which is fine by me." Videos are a hard thing for us, and we don'tr
The new album shows Pavement's re- like them very much. We're just too impa-
action to the fuss made over "Crooked tient for them."
Rain" with a noticeable shift away from Fortunately, Pavement find them-t
that record's cleaner production and acces- selves on a tour filled with bands who}
sible melodies. Malkmus still writes ob- also feel that few people wish to see their1
scure lyrics peppered with razor-sharp, in- mugs gracing MTV every hour. Well,
telligent observations. Kannberg delivers most of them.t
typically noisy, biting guitar solos on Nastanovich saidthe tour'smornoto-
"Rattled by the Rush" and "Half a Can- rious troublemakers have stayed blessedly
yon." Catchy melodies abound, but Pave- out of sight..
ment have never been afraid to make the "The larger, moreconfrontational egost
listener work to find them. The second side on the tour have been very aloof. Well, It
of "Wowee Zowee" forcefully recalls the think you pretty much know who would
band's more corrosive, experimental side not be participating in ping-pong tourna-
on "Fight This Generation,""Flux =Rad" ments and sitting together at the dinner
and the slamming rant "Serpentine Pad." table bullshitting about their hobbies. If
Nastanovich said that the change in you're going to make people uncomfort-
direction was "not really that calculated. able, then it's probably best not to be
There just happened to be no bubble gum around, and that's the way it's been so far."
pop hit like 'Cut Your Hair' on there, and So all seems well as Lollapalooza '95
no songs that take jabs at the alternative prepares to take over Pine Knob, and Pine
mainstream like 'Range Life' (Stone Knobpreparesitselffor baby doll dresses,
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One of the beautiful things about the
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"Chocolate Synthesizer" is an al-
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So it's definitely a Boredoms al-
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- Ted Watts
Chavez' smoky brand of kool melted in the scorching heat. But this photol!l
Guided by voices, drunk with pleasur
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By Heather Phares
Daily Arts Editor
Energetic, beer-loving indie rock-
ers Guided by Voices played a rousing
set to a devoted throng last Saturday
night at St. Andrew's Hall. The last
time the band played in the area, at
Ann Arbor's own Blind Pig, a good
time (not to mention many beers) was
had by all; GbV's energy and pop
hooks are as infectious as the plague
and infinitely more enjoyable.
The opening bands could (and should)
take a few lessons fromGuided by Voices,
however. The first, East Lansing-based 60
Cycle Hum(or as GbV leader Robert Pol-
lard called them, 60 Skidillion Cyclotron
Hum) played a humorless blend of alter-
native rock and metal. While the band was
tight and musically competent, their brand
of grim, intense rock just didn't meld with
the indie-pop played the rest of the
evening, nor did it go over well with
GbV's fans. Their sound is more at home
with the likes of local metal group
Speedball, whom they're opening for at
various dates next month.
The next band, Chavez, was com-
pletely different from 60 Cycle Hum
- but their droning, intensely
wrought music also clashed with
Guided by Voices' brightly colored
pop. Chavez' dissonant beauty, show-
cased on their Matador debut "Gone
Glimmering," requires intense listen-
ing that was difficult to muster in the
sweltering heat of St. Andrew's. While
they got an equally warm reception
from the crowd, Chavez' performance
was an unfortunate case of right band,
wrong time.
But Guided by Voices' set more than
made up for the lack of air conditioning
and interminable wait to see the band. The
group's performance was both loose and
engaging, and cohesive to boot. Robert
Pollard is a loopy, endearing frontman for
his band of eccentrics: During songs, he
jumped up and down, clapped his hands,
kicked like a Rockette, frugged and in-
spired much of the crowd to pogo wildly
to the music.
The music itself was as energetic and
engaging as the band itself. Much of the
material came from the group's "break-
through" album, 1994's "Bee Thousand,"
and sounded even better live than
record, thanks to the rich sound mix. A -
less and poignant songs like "The
Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory"
became power ballads worthy of
Nazareth, and sparse songlets like "Pimple
Zoo" (from this year's "Alien Lanes")
were fleshed out by live performances.
The songs were numerous as well
as entertaining; including the two en-
cores, the band's set included well
over 20 songs. Other highlights
clude "Hot Freaks," a song off of "B
Thousand" that Pollard attributed to
the band's bassist, former Spin maga-
zine writer Jim Greer, and the climac-
tic performance of "Yours To Keep"/
"Echos Myron," which the crowd went
wild over. The pristine pop of "Gold
Star for Robot Boy" and "My Valuable
Hunting Knife" and the heavier strains
of "Kicker of Elves" and "Striped
White Jets" all sounded great, proving
the group's consistency as musicit
and songwriters. Two new songs and
old favorites like "Weed King" were
included in the prodigious perfor-
mance, and the band just seemed to get
tighter and more energetic as the set
progressed.
The only problem with the show
(other than the stifling heat) was that
Guided by Voices couldn't play longer.
With literally hundreds of songs in their
repertoire, they could have played hoe
longer and the crowd would have stayed
for every minute of it. But with a new al-
bum coming out in the fall, Guided by
Voices are sure to return soon, drunk and
entertaining as ever.
i