Pavement
Westing (By Musket And Sextant)

THE REVIEW

The earliest recordings of Pavement, as well as their first albums (Slay Tracks 1933-1969; Demolition Plot J-7; Perfect Sound Forever), were compiled in 1993 on "Westing," an album that's perhaps a bit forced by its very nature, but at the same time a container of the brightest jewels ever produced by the influential Stockton group.

This is where the quirkiest and most bizarre ideas of the band can be found, with indie-rock tracks (attitudinally lo-fi) in vibrant colors, strong with outlandish arrangements that laid the foundation for "Slanted" and "Crooked Rain." It’s also here that the strong influence of the best Velvet Underground is heard: "She Believes" with solos in perfect Reed style and the cacophonous ending represents a perfectly successful modern reworking of the most psychedelic Velvet; the same goes for "Forklift", probably one of the highest peaks of the album, a track of extraordinary intensity with a sick melody constantly teetering: it's almost as if the irregularity takes shape.

In "You Are Killing Me", the opening track, the rustling present at the beginning acts as a "wall of sound" for the entire duration of the song, while in the following "Maybe Maybe" and "Price Yeah!" we find some of the band's most original and bizarre compositions, strange percussion and interstellar phasers, not to mention spartan arrangements make the jangly chords even more oblique; "Spizzle Trunk" is a highly distorted boogie, while subsequent tracks always reflect the band’s most experimental spirit, an attitude that has surely diminished over the years, perhaps also due to contractual compromises: thus we find the strange pianistic interlude of "Drive By-Fader" only to fall back into the lysergic limbo of "Krell Vid-User" and into the "frozen honey" melody of "Summer Baby".

In short, "Westing" holds the best of what Malkmus and company managed to produce; one cannot overlook this album if one wishes to understand what Pavement was before their international success: in truth, here lies the entire soul of the most original '90s Indie, chilling melodies in mostly minimalist songs, played in a rough manner but with an emphasis that has somewhat faded over the decade.