Pavement vs. Royal Trux

:)

Four times I saw RTX:

1. Third album out, but something close to Cats and Dogs lineup (I think) already in place. Great show, I seem to recall. This was when they did “I’ Waiting for the Day” from Pet Sounds. Band pretty loose.

2. Hagerty/Herrema with drum machine/tapes, I guess, when Cats and Dogs was out. Didn’t like it as much as the previous show, but I think I liked it overall. Hagerty played some violin.

3. The next night, I think. We drove up to see them in Orange County or L.A. and I think this was a showcase for them. Possibly for. Virgin. Whole band with the two drummers. Seem to recall they were great. Way tighter than the band from the first show.

4. After Thank You. Same band, but I think minus one drummer. Thought they were playing the songs too fast.

now, let's get into the most important stuff- NMH vs Malk on Twitter. gotta go with malk, he's a bit more breezy and fun. NMH is responsible for wil wheaton appearing in my feed

malkmus had a better twitter impersonator account too. but i don't know overall. i saw wesley willis open for royal trux at gabe's in iowa city. wesley was sitting at an empty table before the show, drawing. he was happy to show his chicago skyline sketch to early birds. his show was amazing. jennifer and neil watching like normal starstruck fans. then they tore the place apart. i can't remember a single song, just the personification of rock n roll strutting on stage. pavement / malkmus = favorites too live and on record just way more self-conscious

NMH follows me, so he obv. wins ;)

"Gotta build your rock on the Ray-O-Vac" still one of the most hilarious things ever.

Thank You was like the summit of the most unusual, triumphant rise in rock history.

"Were Royal Trux a great live experience?"

Eh...they were pretty poor the time I saw them open for Sonic Youth, just basement skronk on a big stage. Might have been a more musical event in a small place, but to me it was more something to endure at this gig.

Thank You was like the summit of the most unusual, triumphant rise in rock history.

― timellison, Saturday, May 26, 2018 1:06 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

finally someone besides me views Thank You as some sort of peak

IMO it was the beginning of the peak! — Thank You thru 3-Song EP. (Sweet 16 being the highest elevation of the peak)

this is such a thrilling performance, I never saw Pavement live so can't attest to their consistency but this is a very high peak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_i4C8axWBs

Flawless performance, funny and emotive showmanship, Malkmus clearly conflicted, at once bored and completely in the moment. The context - the first song of their second to last show ever - is almost beside the point.

youtube commenter otm:

Ben Jones
Malkmus's energy is so cool in this vid. It's like a mix of feeling it and pissed off frustration that culminates in jigging around with the guitar behind his head

They're riding the razor's edge in this video. It's just amazing.

For parity, here is the best RTX video on the Internet: https://youtu.be/TpzmoBniw_I

My dirty secret as a Pavement fan is that I often found Bob N.’s onstage “contributions” to be irritating/extraneous, and wished he wasn’t there... :/

but when you find out that bob was literally the only thing holding it all together, you have to understand his performances as a sort of demented yet earnest cheerleading (allez! allez! allez!).

listened to way more pavement but trux still feels like the right answer.

Bob is cool

Chances of Pavement covering Money for Nothing seem v low, another point in RTX's favour

Just listening to Accelerator and realising a) Reggie was pretty much quoting and b) RTX have some weirdass lyrics

The context - the first song of their second to last show ever - is almost beside the point.

i feel just the opposite - to me the context is everything in that video. it's a good performance, but SM looks so over it and ready to be done. he looks like a very tired driver doing anything he/she can think of to stay awake so as not to crash.

All that is evident in the performance itself though imo.

qualmsley I didn't know you were a quad cities person

Playing guitar swinging around and behind his head at first as a bored joke, turning both times into a graceful trance; the way he sings, quavering and moving from eye rolling ("i know the medical world could knock you out") and belting it (the last "boys are dying on these streets"). Sounds like they're all walking a high wire.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted trux one of my alltime faves, both great tho (dont really vibe to later pavement tbh)

Chances of Pavement covering Money for Nothing seem v low, another point in RTX's favour

― albvivertine, Monday, May 28, 2018 2:41 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I could totally see malk covering DS tbh

they wld do walk of life tho, with implied sports bloopers

palace wld go for brothers in arms

I've never heard either band, I almost bought a Royal Trux album once though.

theyre good u shd check them out

Pavement 4 Life and all that, but voted RTX

Love howling hex xi and all night fox records so much

Pavement will win as they should

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol

check that expiration date man.

Ha ha -- Pave fans seem to be the silent majority (I didn't vote!)

duh

Kinda surprised there are even 102 active people on ILX tbh

Yeah that's unexpectedly high participation.

margin's closer than it should be

Jennifer’s gonna be pissed!

Lol at this turnout

trux is like loser rock or something thought, right? so they shouldn't win probably. jocks -vs- burnouts.

id just like to point out for the record this poll had high participation, was fun and educational and not weird

I hated it. Made me think of people I hate

you should spend less time hating people, probably

I'm jamming "Cats & Dogs" rn -- one for the underdog!

I maintain that Pvmnt is the best indie band in this timestream, while RTX is like something that crossed over from an alternate timestream - or something.