Paving a Trail into Raleigh

hile prophets of grunge Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were looking just plain dirty on the musical forefront (in much need of a hot bath and that stick of "Teen Spirit" they were croaking about), hygiene-discerning frontman Stephen Malkmus and Pavement were bringing up the rear on the college radio tip. With their seminal albums Slanted & Enchanted (1992) and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994), Matador's thriftstore cowboys instantly became the critics' new John Wayne and continued to solidify their cult status through most of the mid-'90s. [Slanted & Enchanted recently made Spin's "The Best 90 of the '90s" list, record checking in at #5-puckering up nicely to Beck's #4 derriere Odelay.]

After a string of successful albums, Pavement are commemorating their decade on the scene with a new album called Terror Twilight and a transcontinental tour promoting its release. On the band's fifth album proper, miracle worker Nigel Godrich (who is also responsible for producing Radiohead's gift to mankind, OK Computer) doesn't give the boys a complete working-over but does keep them away from the twin traps of complacency and creative myopia.

Drenched with lead singer/guitarist/lyricist Malkmus' Nabokov-reading, microbrew-sipping sensibilities, Terror Twilight offers the wistful and lackadaisical lo-fi pith expected from a Pavement production. Sure, the lyrics are just as poetic and nonsensical as remembered, but the licks are more angular, the melodies meatier and the rhythm even dustier. And they're all deliciously packaged with the signature Malkmus deadpan that's more impassive and off-tune than ever.

Pavement's live spectacles are a different story, however. Like a recurring yeast infection, Pavement gigs have been repeatedly compared to a bottle of wine (yeast/alcohol, the mixed metaphor isn't as far-fetched as you think). It's a fact-they mature as time goes by. The shows toward the ends of the tours are far better than the earlier ones due to the fact that the band doesn't get to practice often together, as its members live on different coasts. Guitarist Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg and Malkmus (mad collaborator in Dave Berman's band Silver Jews) proudly hail from the West Side (California and Portland, respectively), while the rest of the crew, bassist Mark Ibold, drummer Steve West and percussionist Bob Nastanovich (both fellow Silver Jews) represent the East Side.

With this Sunday's show at the Ritz being the third show on the second leg of a tour that began this summer, the prospects are mixed to good. You might not want to be that choosy, as this'll most likely be a sell-out show. If you're one of the chosen ones who finds a ticket, lucky you gets to pound the Pavement with all the hipster-whores and Goodwill indie-geeks from near and far. That, alone, should be a premium incentive.