Slanted and Enchanted

by Pavement

Overview

Listening to Slanted & Enchanted is like listening to a college radio station that you can barely tune in -- melodies are interrupted by shards of white noise, only to have a simple hook pull everything back into focus. On their first full-length album, Pavement constructed a cycle of gleeful guitar noise punctuated by fragments of melody floating in and out of the chaos. Aesthetically, the thin, noisy low-fidelity production is appealing and uncompromising, but what makes Slanted & Enchanted remarkable is the songwriting. Instead of disguising an underdeveloped sense of songcraft, the production embellishes and subverts the band's gift for unusual, catchy hooks. Surrounded by fuzzy, noisy guitars, white noise, and Stephen Malkmus' languid vocals, the pure pop melodies of "Trigger Cut" and "Summer Babe" sound foreign, but the production gives context to the gorgeous melancholy of "Here" and the brooding "In the Mouth a Desert." Some listeners may initially find the lo-fi sound of the record inaccessible, but the sheer strength of Pavement's songs settles in after a few plays. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	04/17/1992
Label:	Matador
UPC:	0744861003823
Rank:	50400

Tracks

1. Summer Babe
2. Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17
3. No Life Singed Her
4. In the Mouth a Desert
5. Conduit for Sale!
6. Zurich Is Stained
7. Chesley's Little Wrists
8. Loretta's Scars
9. Here
10. Two States
11. Perfume-V
12. Fame Throwa
14. Our Singer
15. Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pavement   Primary Artist
Scott Kannberg   Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background),Guitar,Lead Vocals
Gary Young   Percussion,Drums
Mark Ibold   Guitar (Bass)
Bob Nastanovich   Vocals (Background),Percussion
Stephen Malkmus   Guitar,Vocals,Lead Vocals,Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Cy Jameson   Engineer
Spiral Stairs   Composer
Pavement   Composer
Stephen Malkmus   Composer