Meeting Malkmus - a Pavement podcast jD

This week on the ole Pavement top 50 podcast, jD welcomes Amir from Providence to talk all about his Pavement origin story and to breakdown song 28!
Transcript:
Track 1:
[0:00] Previously on the Pavement Top 50. Oh, I love this song so much. It's a song, I hadn't, it wasn't on my first wave of songs to study, even though I knew we were going to play it. But it wasn't, like, you know, there were other songs I felt like I had to nail more. So this was towards the end. I said, okay, let me get into this type slow jam. Hey, this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band.

Track 3:
[0:24] And you're listening to The Countdown. Hey it's shay d here back for another episode of our top 50 countdown for seminal indie rock band pavement week over week we're going to count down the 50 essential pavement tracks that you selected with your very own top 20 ballots i then tabulated the results using an abacus and the kid from the sixth sense wait a minute am i dead how will your favorite song fare in the rankings. You'll need to tune in to find out. So there's that. This week, I'm joined by pavement superfan Amir from Providence. Amir, how the f**k are you? Hello, I'm calling from Providence, Rhode Island, and I'm very fine. Life is good. Excellent. That is good news. It's great to have you here. Let's just not beat around the bush. Let's get right into this. What is your Or pavement origin story. So that's a long origin story. So I live in Providence, Rhode Island, as I mentioned. By the way, cheers. This is local. Cheers. Watery domestic beer from Rhode Island. Narragansett Atlantic-like lager. So...

Track 3:
[1:37] A little plug for Atlantic Light Lager. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, that's very watery. Anyway, so I was not born here. I was born in Moscow, not Moscow, Idaho. Moscow, Soviet Union, which is more or less the same thing as Russia. And I grew up there in the 80s. And I loved music since I was, I don't know, since I remember myself. I started playing piano when I was four. So I listened to a lot of music it was also the 1980s were an exciting time for rock music in Russia because Russia was like after many decades of like complete censorship it was starting to open up and, rock music suddenly became legal so it was possible to listen to that, if you if this makes you curious I recommend everybody listen to the Wind of Change podcast It's just an amazing story. Oh, it's amazing. I've listened to it. Yes, it's brilliant. So, but, yeah, so I started, like, loving rock music when I was, like, a child. But we are a Jewish family, so we moved to Israel in 1991.

Track 3:
[2:52] And even though Russia was opening up back then, Israel was, like, always a very open country, open to everything. So we had MTV, or more precisely, we had MTV Europe, which is not exactly the same thing. Uh mtv like in the united states and mtv europe it's not exactly the same thing mtv europe has a lot of uh uk uh bias and uh like because it broadcasted from the uk uh and uh it's it also tried to incorporate some other european music like italian or german but it was mostly like very uk biased so that's when i was growing up mtv was uh important it was like there was no youtube YouTube kind of replaced MTV now but MTV was important culturally like hugely important not just for myself but for a lot of other people, but initially when I started like watching it it was kind of boring at least during the day but then during the night it got much more exciting because they started like after midnight, they started playing much more interesting stuff and there was a show called Alternative Nation I think it was every Tuesday on MTV Europe and they played stuff like Sonic Youth and Pavement and European what you would say alternative bands, like whatever alternative even means.

Track 3:
[4:18] I tried to figure out what does it even mean that it's alternative? Is it a certain guitar sound? It actually doesn't mean much at all. It's just rock music that is cooler than Bon

This week on the pod I'm thrilled to be joined by Rebecca Clay Cole m***********s! We talk about her Pavement origin story, to joining the band on key, and breaking down song number 29!
Transcript:
Track 2:
[0:00] Previously on the Pavement Top 50.

Track 1:
[0:02] At track 30, we have Spit on a Stranger. What the hell do you make of this song, Devin? I'm really glad I got this song because I love this song. And the thing about this song is that there's a real tension within the song that truly appeals to me. because I believe that musically and in the verses, this is the most romantic song that Pavement has ever recorded.

Track 2:
[0:31] Hey, this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band, Pavement, and you're listening to The Countdown.

Track 3:
[0:39] Hey, it's JD here, back for another episode of our Top 50 Countdown for Seminole Indie Rock Band, Pavement. Week over week, we're going to count down the 50 essential Pavement tracks that you selected with your very own top 20 ballads. I then tabulated the results using an abacus and all my fingers on my left hand, except for my thumb. Fuck you, thumb. How will your favorite songs fare in the rankings? Well, you'll need to tune in to find out. So there's that.

Track 2:
[1:06] This week, we're joined by Pavement superfan, well, not Pavement superfan, Pavement superstar, Rebecca f*****g Clay Cole. Rebecca, how the hell are you?

Track 4:
[1:17] Hello, I actually, I'm a fan. I don't know if I'm a super fan, because I've met some super fans. And I don't know if I have the level of technical knowledge. But I'm a fan and in the band. So nice to meet you.

Track 3:
[1:30] Nice to meet you as well. You definitely have the technical knowledge. I saw you guys play on the 22 reunion tour eight times, I think. And it was tremendous. I had so much fun. I was at the Fonda show. I saw two shows in Toronto and then like six shows in London.

Track 4:
[1:48] Oh, great.

Track 3:
[1:49] Or not London, but UK.

Track 4:
[1:51] Cool.

Track 3:
[1:52] So very, a lot of fun.

Track 4:
[1:54] A good range of shows there.

Track 3:
[1:55] Yeah, I think so. I was pleased. I wanted to go to Iceland really bad, but that didn't fall on the cards.

Track 4:
[2:02] Well, maybe we'll be in Iceland again someday.

Track 3:
[2:04] That would be cool.

Track 4:
[2:05] Join us if that happens.

Track 3:
[2:07] I will do that. So let's get right to the punch here and talk about, this is sort of funny to be talking about something, Sort of funny to be talking with somebody in the band about their Pavement Origins story, but obviously you came late to the band, and we'll talk about that. I really want to know what it's like to join a band that's an established band, but hasn't been on the road in a while. I want to know that as well, but I really want to know your Pavement Origins story.

Track 4:
[2:36] My Pavement Origins story. Well, I think the first time I was aware of Pavement was when they were opening for Sonic Youth. It was maybe Sonic Youth Mudhoney Pavement at Red Rocks.

Track 3:
[2:52] Oh, really?

Track 4:
[2:53] They were the first band to play and I had never heard of them. I hadn't heard of much because at this point I think I was six months in Denver. And before that I'd lived like on a farm and on an island. So I had no cultural touchstones at all for a teenager. I was really, I wouldn't say ignorant, but I just sort of formed my own musical education. I'd never been to a punk show. There were no punk shows in the Virgin Islands, you know, or in the farm in Kentucky. So all of that is to say some friends took me to Red Rocks to see this show. And Pavement was the first band. So that was my first introduction to Pavement.

Track 3:
[3:29] And what did you think?

Track 4:
[3:31] I did not understand it. I didn't understand it at all. But Gary was in fine form, and I remember not spending a lot of time behind his kit. And I just was confused what the performance was. I didn't understand it. I did

Devin Faraci joins jD today on the podcast. Beyond listening in on Devin's Pavement origin story, you'll hear him wax nostalgic about song 30.
Transcript:
Track 2:
[1:00] Previously on the Pavement Top 50.

Track 1:
[1:02] At 31, give it a day. What do you think, Scott from North Dakota?
This is a gem, and I love it so much. I love the whole EP.
This would have been something I did not discover until well after I knew all of Wowie Zowie, all of Bright in the Corners, and it wasn't something I easily could have. have it.

Track 2:
[1:27] Hey, this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band Pavement, and you're listening to the Countdown.

Track 3:
[1:34] Hey, it's JD here, back for another episode of our Top 50 Countdown for Seminole Indie Rock Band Pavement.
Week over week, we're going to count down the 50 essential pavement tracks that you selected with your very own Top 20 ballads.
I then tabulated the results using using an abacus and 28 grams of the best weed you've ever smoked, along with some drifter named Larry.
How will your favorite songs fare in the rankings? Well, you'll need to tune in to find out. So there's that.
This week I'm joined by Pavement superfan Devin from LA.
Devin, how the fuck are you? I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. Really glad to be here.
Amazing to be on the World Wide Web talking about Pavement so many decades after I first started listening to them. Well, let's get right into that then.
Let's go back a few decades and get your Pavement Origins story.
You know, I have a lot of Pavement history. I started in around 92.
Oh, wow. Yeah, so Slanted and Enchanted.
And I'm pretty sure it was Summer Babe Winter Version that was the first song that I heard, I have to guess.

Track 3:
[2:50] And it was a weird time in my life I was a college student, I had been kicked out of college. Oh, shit. I had earned a 0.0 GPA.
And not for cool reasons, mind you.
I think that it was 1992, and my college had what they called a VAX computer system, which was the early internet.
And I was on the early internet all night playing multi-user dungeon games and did not go to school.

Track 3:
[3:24] So I got kicked out of college for playing video games. Really ahead of my time.
It's like big Gen Z energy, I feel like.
And I was living with my dad in Illinois, who was living in the suburbs, and it was the most miserable year of my life because the alternative rock world that I had been in back when I was living in New York City had exploded.
And I was stuck in the Chicago suburbs and I couldn't drive.
And all of these amazing things were happening and I was not part of any of it.
But there was a cool record store. And so I discovered Pavement and I have loved that band ever since.
And, um, yes, that's my original pavement experience trapped in the suburbs of Chicago, New York city kid trapped in the suburbs of Chicago, uh, watching the world explode into cool alternative rock shit all around me, but so, so far away.

Track 3:
[4:24] So what was it like when you walked into that record store? Was it the album cover that got you?
Had you heard of the band through like zines or anything like that?
Or was it just like a random purchase? I probably had heard it from a magazine, probably Alternative Press, if I had to guess back then. I read that shit religiously.
And I might have already heard the song, but I'll tell you, man, when I heard that album, it was like somebody had finally recorded music that was aimed directly at my particular personal brain.
Wow. You know, just sort of the discordant, weird lo-fi sound they had on that first record, especially back in the day.
But with melodic pop sensibilities, it was incredible to me.
It really was incredible.
And Malkmus' voice just really was, I mean, just got me, just nailed me.

Track 3:
[5:15] Yeah, it's very, I mean, they're very unique in a, in a world at the time where things were not yet starting to sound the same, but, and our guys were signing everybody out of

Today on the show Scott joins jD to talk all about song number 31, don't worry we get to his origin story too!
Transcript:
Track 1
[1:02] At track 32, we have the song, Grave Architecture. Come on in. Sorry.
I was trying to stick that in, yeah. Oh, damn. I stepped on it.
That's okay. I should have prepared you.
What are your initial thoughts of Grave Architecture? This was a funny one that
when you said it to me, I have a long,
like I think I said before, I think the album that I really kind of really felt
like really grabbed me was was wowie zowie and um and yeah this song is like
the come on in like right away like oh yeah,
hey this is westy from the rock and roll.
Track 3
[1:41] Band pavement and you're listening to the countdown,
hey it's jd here back for another episode of
our top 50 countdown for seminal indie rock
band pavement week over week
we're going to count down the 50 essential pavement tracks that you
selected with your very own top 20 ballots i
then tabulated the results using an abacus and an old pair of socks you know
the kind that have toes in them how will your favorite song fare in the ranking
you will need to tune in to find out so there's that this week i'm joined by
pavement Pavement superfan, Scott from North Dakota.
Track 3
[2:19] Scott, how are you doing, m**********r? I'm doing well, and you, sir?
I am excellent. I'm always excellent when I get to talk Pavement with somebody. Absolutely.
Track 3
[2:29] So tell me a little bit about yourself. So, you know, grew up in Minnesota,
a small town, but not that far from the Twin Cities.
And it's small towns. You don't things come slowly.
And I was I don't want to say a late adopter to pavement, but I graduated in
1996 from high school and I was all about the grunge movement.
You know, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, all of that. And I didn't know much about indie
rock at all or any indie anything until I went to college.
I had heard of Pavement when I was in high school. I had friends who were into
them, but I was so set on grunge that it's like, this is what we're going to listen to.
And I kind of wrote them off at first without hearing them because I for whatever
reason, I was like, oh, Pavement.
It's like going to be heavy, more industrial, you know, maybe like East German
KMFDM or, you know, something really that I might not enjoy.
Yeah. And then I was completely wrong about that.
A friend, a friend had, I was just riding with a friend and he had,
it was right when Brighton the Corners came out and we were just riding in his
car and I was like, what is this?
And he's like, this is pavement. And I was like, no.
Track 3
[3:46] And I was like, this is not what Pavement sounds like. And it literally from
there was just a beeline to the store to pick up everything I could get my hands on.
And, you know, it was, it was, would have been my last, you know,
two years of college, give or take.
Track 3
[4:01] And it was obviously Pavement was up there. And then right at that same time,
Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, all these, you know, other indie bands.
But Pavement was the one that I was just like, oh my God, where has this been my whole life? Oh, yeah.
Track 3
[4:45] On the internet so you just had to go and buy and
see what happened and i picked up
terror twilight which divisive record you know for some people for me absolutely
loved it there's so much same stuff in there that was just jangly and

On this episode of the Pavement Top 50, jD has a lovely conversation with Zac from Amhearst about his Pavement Origin Story and song number 32
Transcript:
[1:02] Bob, what do you think about Transport as Arranged? Jamie.
I just think that, I think Transport as Arranged, when the record was made in
Kernersville, North Carolina with Mitch Easter,
was just kind of viewed and the feel around it was that, okay,
that's another song that definitely should be on the record.
But isn't the kind of song that it you know maybe should be a single or something
like that it was just it was just a song that was like really solid and good
hey this is westy from the rock and.
Track 3
[1:41] Roll band pavement and you're listening to the countdown hey it's jd here back
for another episode of our top 50 countdown for seminal indie rock band pavement
week over week we're we're going to count down the 50 essential pavement tracks
that you selected with your very own top 20 ballots.
I then tabulated the results using an abacus and gluten.
Just joking, there's absolutely no gluten. Zero.
How will your favorite song fare in the rankings? Well, you'll need to tune
in to find out. So there's that.
This week, I'm joined by pavement superfan man, Zach from Amherst.
Dude, how the fuck are you?
Track 3
[2:21] I'm okay. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for asking.
It's good to be here with you. No, it's great to be here.
Yeah, I'm excited to be a part of this. Well, let's not dilly-dally.
Let's get right to it and go to your pavement origin story.
Yeah, I've listened to a few and sometimes they have really good stories,
but But mine's like, I think I was home from break from college or something.
And, uh, my brother and sister were like playing a mixed tape of things and,
and, uh, cut your hair came on and, uh, yeah.
And, um, and it was apparently it was being played on their radio station all the time.
So, uh, you know, and so at the time we would just constantly make copies of
whatever. So I had like crooked rain, uh, just sort of stuck in my car forever and just wore it out.
Track 3
[3:16] Um, but you know, it was kind of in the mix and then it was really more,
uh, wowies, always when it kind of took off, um, for me, um,
that was the first tour I saw them like that was, uh, you know,
but, um, so you got to experience it in real time.
Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Not quite slanted. And so I'm not,
I'm not that. No, but, but wowies alley. That's, that's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah.
Um, so, so, um, on that tour, when you went to that tour, what, what were you thinking?
Track 3
[3:48] Well, I, so I, you know, I was, I was just obsessed with going to shows and seeing bands.
Um, and, uh, I was pretty psyched to get a ticket from Ohio originally.
Okay. And, uh, so I was pretty psyched to get a ticket in Cleveland,
which was still like two hours away from where I lived.
Um, and I was taking my little sister and, uh, yeah, it was just,
we were really excited. My dad even went along because he was worried about
taking my, I don't know, 14-year-old sister to the big city.
So yeah, I got to see them with Come and Dirty 3 in the Algorra Theater or Algorra
Ballroom, one of those in Cleveland.
Track 3
[4:34] But yeah, I just listened to Pavement nonstop
at at the time and um yes yeah
just it's like one of those like that's how
i always picture them they're just that's that night um and
i've seen them plen

This is so f*****g cool. Bob Nastanovich joins me this week to talk about a whack of shit including song 33!!!!
Transcript:
1:00] Loretta Scars. Alex from Portland, how are you feeling about Loretta Scars?
It's a great song. I've got all kinds of thoughts on it, but it's on Flannid
and Enchanted, which is a great album. it's,
Slanted and Enchanted is the least varied album in my opinion like,
most of the songs on it are kind of of one vibe and this is definitely no exception
I think it's a great vibe I enjoy it Hey this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band.
Track 3
[1:40] Pavement and you're listening to The Countdown Hey it's It's JD here back for
another episode of our top 50 countdown for Seminole indie rock band Pavement.
Week over week we're going to count down the 50 essential Pavement tracks that
you selected with your very own top 20 ballads.
I then tabulated the results using an abacus, a bicycle pump,
lotion, and some biscuits for Kevin, my homemade from uni.
How will your favorite songs fare in the rankings? Well, you'll need to tune in to find out.
So there's that. This week we're joined by
pavement superstar bob f*****g nastanovich
bob what is up no
okay cool and you're aren't you a toronto person
sure am yeah how are things
there bright blue sunny skies today
about five degrees celsius so that's
like spring weather for us especially yeah that's nice
yeah we've got I don't
mean to show you up Jamie but it's 63
degrees Fahrenheit here with a light breeze and a bright sunshine oh man here
in Paris Tennessee you know like a typical winter day here is kind of gray and
44 but it's especially nice.
Track 3
[3:03] Today which is pretty awesome that sounds about right
that sounds like good you know good walking weather
so yeah how are you doing all right with this
project so far so good i'm like
like people are lining up to do it uh like
i'm caught up through march uh i've
got to do some interviews this week with people so
basically people seem to be like i
was like i don't know how people respond to a top 50 that
they have to listen to every week but i
don't know my numbers are good and um like good
for me you know yeah they'll get into it yeah i
think so and like just a little bit of water cooler debate right
what's that bud just a little
bit of water cooler debate yeah exactly you
know like what if what are you fucking thinking greenlanders like
greenlander was 46 six and
you know people were really pleased that
it made the top 50 but then there's another cohort that are like that's crazy
it should be at least in the top 30 you know or whatever so no that is so weird
i mean i don't um i do know people that love greenlander and i um ineffectively insisted.
Track 3
[4:18] On trying to get
it played live in iceland and that would have been cool yeah and um he we sound
checked it and it sounded just fine for about 70 seconds and malchus was.
Track 3
[4:43] Like i don't want to do that one you know and then um with him you know his attitude was so.
Track 3
[4:53] Sterling in 2022 and 2023 that um you don't and he was willing to play so many,
different songs because in the past like specifically in 2010 um i just think
it's uh i mean i remember his attitude back then was sort of uh.
Track 3
[5:18] It's going back to a more juvenile style of songwriting for him, which is more direct,
but I guess maybe it kind of reminded him of certain aspects of his life.
I