Pavement vs. Royal Trux

i love both these bands but will not be voting in this poll because it seems weird to compare them. other than being contemporaries and briefly being on the same label, they don't have much in common in terms of sound or approach or goals or aesthetic. it's like doing liz phair vs. silkworm or something.

otm

it feels like the purpose of this thread is to make old people feel cool for voting for royal trux over pavement. which is a purpose i support. i pick royal trux.

thank you poll, I had not listened to Royal Trux since the 90s & now I have & I like it.

what's a good place to start w/ trux? ive been intrigued by them but haven't really gone in

pavement's okay, i could take em or leave em tbh

these guys here are pros but I've been playing Cats & Dogs

marcos get Veterans of Disorder or Accelerator

it feels like the purpose of this thread is to make old people feel cool for voting for royal trux over pavement. which is a purpose i support. i pick royal trux.

― na (NA), Monday, May 21, 2018 10:33 AM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

cats & dogs isn't my personal favorite but it makes sense as a midpoint where you can listen to it and then if you want them to be noisier and weirder, you can listen to the earlier albums, or if you want them to be more cohesive you can listen to the later albums (which is not a diss, i generally prefer the "rock" albums)

^^That’s what I always say (you stole my wise counsel)!

(NB - probably no one has ever actually asked me so I’ve never actually said it)

Funny Malkmus should mention MGMT as a band who shouldn't be citing them as an influence, as when I first heard Time To Pretend I thought it sounded like a super poppy Royal Trux, even down to thinking their vocalist sounded like Jennifer (who ended up singing with them anyway)

I personally believe Trux has no “peers,” in the same way that Kubrick doesn’t or someone else very singular in their field. (Maybe that’s BS, but I’m stickin to it.)

By contrast, Pavement had “peers,” they just happened to be the very best at what they did.

marcos get Veterans of Disorder or Accelerator

― Οὖτις, Monday, May 21, 2018 11:47 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thank u

I'm skeptical of anyone voting Trux. Trux were really more of a project, or a concept, albeit a concept brilliantly realized. Although they made it sound effortless, it seemed like they were definitely trying to be this or that on every record.

This was true if Pavement on the first 3 EPs, but from Slanted on they were, like, a real Band with their own voice and style, not working from a blueprint. It was a band you could grow with, identity with, who presented a more expansive ethos you could kinda lose yourself in.

IDK sorry this is just how I feel etc

thank u

start there imho!

ok lol

haha

don't start there though, for real

(not to slag it off, it's a great record, but when I first heard it I was put off by the super-fussy bass playing all over everything)

I don't think there's a ton in common here beyond a few very generic points:
- both bands started off as scuzzy sounding noise projects, but then gradually shifted into more "classic rock" formats
- both were briefly on Drag City
- both feature very inventive, unique guitarists
- both are fronted by very smart, literate, conceptually-oriented people

that being said, their respective catalogs sound very, very different and RT esp went all over the place in a way Pavement/Malkmus did not.

love 'em both, not voting

*whispers*

sometimes royal trux reminds me of nyc hipster ween

"weird opinions" otm, and nothing wrong with that, but the reductive "tuneless noise" take is so misguided and anyone who writes Royal Trux off as that is cheating herself out of some of the best rawk of that era

US Maple was great but they did their own thing (which, DGAF as it may have sounded, was revealed to be tight and calculated as hell if you ever saw them live) and Trux did theirs.

― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, May 21, 2018 12:37 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag

Harry Pussy were like this, too. That Beefheart thing of "you think it's random unstructured noise but watch them repeat exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, and now behold a level of obsession almost too insane to be believed"

i'm not trying to troll here but people who don't like pavement are dumb.

Although they made it sound effortless, it seemed like they were definitely trying to be this or that on every record.

This might be why I'm not as fond of the later records. But I don't think it's true of the third, fourth, and fifth albums, when they just sounded like a band to me. A band with a pretty wide scope.

Or even the super early records like the first album or those tracks on the ROIR tape - I don't see those as being one thing.

What Is Royal Trux?

they were a rock band

You guys keep mispelling Trucks, it's imbarrassing.

there isn't a single song by Royal Trux that comes close to "Grounded" but overall I gotta go with them.

Hmm. Might actually agree with that post.

(Rather, plenty of Trux songs come close to 'Grounded' but I'm trying to think of some/any that top it in my esteem.)

Trux at their best were dynamite. "Fear Strikes Out" is dynamite.

what's that song that has its own thread on the noize board?

Oh neat ROYAL TRUX are on spotify now! Thanks thread for eeminding about them last time I checked they weren’t there.

It’s missing some of their best albums though :/

Honestly I agree there’s really not much connecting both bands sound-wise to warrant a face off.

Don’t know about the noize board, but here’s a Trux song with its own ILM thread:

Royal Trux - "The United States vs One 1974 Cadillac El Dorado Sedan"

that song - and the '3 song ep' that is came from is just about my favourite RT

on this question though - i just find that Royal Trux has so much more long term value - so many nooks and crannies and new things to discover - Pavement seems less opaque and more like a fun good time that is easier to wear out

well RTX discography is probably what 4 times the size of Pavement's (including post-Trux solo work)

dis one
shockwave rider

That title is from a john brunner book

are the stoners cooler than the nerds

maybe, maybe not, but here I will go with the jocks

(gbv)

I think u mean alcoholics

that too

both bands were stoned as shit