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Pavement
[pavement website]

Brighten the Corners

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Slanted & Enchanted You can't even call yourself a fan of indie rock if you don't own and love this album. "Summer Babe," the opening track, is as perfect piece of slacker rock as has ever existed. From there Stephen Malkmus and the gang take you on a tour of what a crappy, old electric guitar and a drum kit can bring to the life of every white guy who's ever wanted to start his own band. I rarely deem something a classic, but this one with all of its hisses and crackles and shambling choruses filled with bedraggled greasy-headed wonderfulness really is a gateway album (in the way weed is a gateway drug). One dose--at least in the context of the time and place in which I first experienced it--will change your musical world for the better. Every listen makes me love it just a little bit more.

Slanted & Enchanted Luxe & Reduxe

Spit on a Stranger ep

Terror Twilight

Watery, Domestic

Westing (by Musket and Sextant)

Wowee Zowee I think this album got a bad wrap. I mean it's certainly hi-fi compared to some of their past efforts, but adding production quality to album releases is a sign of maturity, isn't it? It's not like they're all of a sudden sounding like some awful "modern rock" band or something. I think most of the flak that was originally thrown at this thing was all based on the fact some called it "all over the place" and kind of "unfocused." On the contrary, I like to think there is a loose cohesion to the album that showcases a nice, little hint of the boys' home state of California. There's a bit of inland Cali country and jangle that takes some of the edge off the early fuzz of some of the prior albums. It's not to say that any of their brazen disregard for being typical has been worn away, but some of the more mid-tempo stuff showcases a little bit more of the songwriting that you knew was lurking in there somewhere. Granted, at 18 tracks you're bound to have some inconsistency, but I believe time has shown that this is in fact one of their better albums (my third favorite, in fact), and worthy of the heaps of praise that it somehow missed out on when first released. When I just want to chill with an album that's like a warm blanket, and somehow reminds me of my home, I throw this one on and float on a cloud of happiness.