Pavement
Brighten The Corners

THE REVIEW

Despite the fact that, when talking about Pavement, everyone usually mentions those two albums "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" and "Slanted & Enchanted" that revealed them in the early '90s, I persist in claiming that in my opinion it is with "Brighten The Corners" that Stephen Malkmus's band made the leap in quality.
Perhaps I was too young to listen to them in 1992, but I believe that with this album the group reached the "summa" of their low-fi art beyond the promotion it received at the time (those were the days of "alternative nation" on MTV...): the opening "Stereo" is a real anthem that is worth all of Beck's albums put together, not to mention the wonderful "Shady Lane" which is the true great classic of the American ensemble.
There are no weak points or drops in tone: all the tracks reflect the unbalanced balance between sonic madness and melodies, perfect and imperfect at the same time, which alas will no longer be maintained at the same levels in Malkmus's solo experiences.

The production of Mitch Easter (R.E.M.) greatly helps by giving a softer tone to quirky ballads like "Transport is Arranged" (schizophrenic as in the best Pavement tradition): "Date With Ikea" has a melodic line to envy the Weezer, just as in "Type Slowly" in the first 25 seconds you are deluded into thinking that Malkmus is trying for once to sing "in tune" but with the first screeching guitar chord and the first chilling high note everything returns to normal.
Similar story for the semi-lullaby "Embassy Row" halfway between Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd, which suddenly turns into guitar rock à la Who!!
The surprises don't end: "Blue Hawaiian" maintains Malkmus's laid-back vocal register with the now familiar out-of-tune guitar venturing into a haphazard solo.

True honey for ears worn by the overly perfect and radio-friendly productions of too many indie bands today, and as the absurd "We Are Underused" (a pseudoblues lament introduced by a silly oriental-like organ and culminating in a delirious final choir), the rhythmic "Passat Dream" (which wouldn't look out of place on a Stone Roses album) the poetic, in its own way, "Starlings Of The Slipstream," can only increase the regret for a band never really appreciated in proportion to its merits and what it meant in the rock scene of the '90s.
And while "Fin" (in absolute terms their most beautiful song) evokes the rhythmic sound of a sea that with its waves submerges the memories of my adolescence, I let myself be carried away by the dreamy dissonances of this fantastic ballad and close my eyes.
The rest, discover it yourselves.