terror twilight

BTC is still my favourite one, but the fact that TT wasn't as overly clever kinda made it refreshing and a perfect 1-2 goodbye punch.

Pig Lib is awesome too.

WHATEVS, HATER

-- wogan lenin (doglati...), September 12th, 2006.

People don't like it because (I'm guessing the conventional wisdom here or speaking for myself) the tempos are dull and plodding the drumming is awful and it just sounds flat and devoid of any kind of energy or enthusiasm that the first three records had. Pavement were good at being a fake punk band (Serpentine Pad) country band (Range Life) and noise band (Fork Lift, Chelsey's Little Wrists) but they sound better when their prog is more Fillmore Jive than TT. They also sound better when it sounds like they are having fun, and this album--great lyrics aside--does not sound like they are having fun. It sounds like work.

funny stuff, keep it up ilm!

You have weird ears!

i can't believe i'm defending pavement on ilm, the home of pavementlove, but, really, ALL their albums are pretty good! i mean, if you like them, i can't imagine NOT listening to one or another. they are all very pavement-y and they all have their moments. terror twilight is hardly some aberration in their catalog. it sounds exactly like a pavement album!

You have weird ears!"

nah, that's pretty right on. i recall being excited, then hearing it, then loving it, then putting some between it. coming back to it a year later, it already sounded dull. there ARE some songs here and there, but they really didn't translate onto the album all that well. stand out would be Speak, See, Remeber/ the Hexx.
and a few b-sides, but, overall it's just pretty meh, and as was said 'out with a whimper'. it's just background.

"Watch out for the gypsy children in electric dresses, they're insane/I hear they live in crematoriums and smoke your remains"

???

-- Matthew Perpetua! (matthewfluxblo...), September 12th, 2006 7:46 PM. (Matthew Perpetua!) (later)

still selling those on ebay, matthew?

Scott OTM upthread. I never understood the massive contrasts in opinions about Pavement albums - they're all good and they're all Pavement-y. But maybe fans who came to them via their early stuff are looking for something else that they decided to shed after CRCR (or even Slanted). I'm not such a big fan of Slanted and Westing, but if you take each album on its own merit rather than comparing it to other works, you'll see they're all pretty good.

I know I'm pretty much alone with my opinion. But for some reason, Pavement never GRABBED me after CRCR. I can't put my finger on it. But at the time, I remember thinking they had turned into an REM - just releasing variation after variation of their theme. I guess I liked em better scrappy, when the post punk influences were stronger than the jangle.

as far as checking out other albums, i've never read anyone saying, "oh, this one is really something!" instead, it's "they're all pretty good."

Lip balm on watery clay
Relationships hey hey hey...

^^^best song on the album

platform blues

"Major Leagues" = my life after thirty.

people who don't like this album just because it doesn't sound like slanted and enchanted should listen again.

It's not one of their very best because it sounds cobbled together instad of conceived, hasty instead of thought-through, but I still love.

xp
Their worst. Some of the songs are among their best but as an album it sure sounds like they were having a miserable time.

awesome album!

that was me. though i think maria likes pavement fine.

haha, i love this album. might not be the pavement album i reach for all the most, but i like it whenever i do reach for it. looking at the tracklisting now, i don't think there's a single song I don't like on it ... which i can't say about BTC these days. though the live versions of some of this stuff might be better, esp. "folk jam."

pavement threads on ILM are always funny. WHAT IS THE BEST ALBUM!?

Who’s fault is it? I think it’s sm’s…looking back to Brighten, the slog had started, eg “type slowly”

It's all about the drummer--Steve is a naturally slower drummer, even Malkmus admits that on the new Matador podcast. Gary wouldn't have known what to do with the newer/slower songs on BTC/TT but I mean, imagine Janet W. on some of the numbers. . .

also it's OTM about Malkmus being the only person actively trying to get better at an instrument. Spiral even complains about all of the hard chords in the newer songs, think it was in the Pitchfork thing.

new LA Times interview w/ SM says they're bringing a keyboard player on tour! curious who it'll be.

Rebecca Cole (from Wild Flag and the Minders)

ah ... makes sense.

but because pavement the band unit wasnt actually capable of that (see: portland sessions), the tastefulness of the arrangements almost seem like malk was trying to frankenstein that sound together post facto

Otm

SM wearing same shirt as seen on back cover of Starlite Walker?: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcvpxHEPyxS/

"Folk Jam" is much more enjoyable on this tour, partly because Malkmus's become a much better improviser so it's now a showcase for some mellow jamming.

Right when they go into the "Marquee Moon" segue, it can get really nice. (Not sure if every show has been like that though.)

listening to malkmus's demos from the deluxe reissue and i'm really surprised how synth-heavy they are. makes me wish the final album had malkmus's synth noodling all over it too, some of these are really great

i have to say i'm devastated to learn that it's "lip balm on watery clay" and not "ripple on watery clay" which i really loved as a predecessor to "relationships hey hey hey".

I think I thought it was “pitcher of watery clay”

I’ve come to realize that I didn’t correctly parse many of the lyrics on that album.

Malkmus giveth & malkmus taketh away.

i can hear both, but have always heard lip balm but i get it i get it

it's like malkmus anticipated those tiktok videos wherein you "hear" the person saying whatever words you're looking at

either way she kisses like a rock, okay

it was seriously a couplet i found solace in when going through issues with my partner. it would repeat in my head

Ripple on watery clay
relationships hey hey hey

there's something so comforting in that

and yeah, "you kiss like a rock but you know i need it anyway" is a beaut