Pavement fans should prepare to be very happy. Ten years after their lo-fi opus, "Slanted and Enchanted," blew our minds, the folks at Matador Records have released "Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Redux," a double CD containing the original album along with 34 (count 'em, THIR-TY-FOUR) additional tracks. Among these are their "Watery/Domestic" EP, two John Peel sessions from Radio One U.K. and an entire concert recorded at London's Brixton Academy in 1992. If this alone hasn't sent you dashing for the record store, read on.
Until they disbanded in 1999, Pavement were the most brilliant guardians of underground rock. Along with Sebadoh and Guided by Voices, they helped usher in the lo-fi movement, a gnarled branch of indie rock typified by quirky, treble-heavy guitar anthems, willfully recorded on substandard analog equipment. Their lyrics were both cerebral and sarcastic, like a philosophy student who quotes Nietzsche alongside locker-room graffiti. It was irreverent and profound music for a generation of smart-ass intelligentsia wannabes -- this reviewer included. But enough gushing.
Timed for release with "Slow Century," a double DVD retrospective of the band, "Luxe and Redux" serves as an excellent prelude to their experimentations with jangle pop, punk and country & western. These tracks reveal the raw beauty of a band bursting with musical ideas but budding in technique. The B-sides and outtakes help fill in the blanks between their scratchy beginnings and the more lustrous textures present on "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" and subsequent work. What's more, the eight unreleased tracks and random session oddities aren't just icing on the cake: They're a whole new cake, entirely.