Preston School of Industry - All This Sounds Gas
(Matador)
Check your pre-conceptions at the door. Forget the seemingly omnipresent "conventional" wisdom. Listen with fresh ears. Pick a rock review cliché of your very own and apply it. That's what you should do when it comes to sorting through the post-Pavement solo output of Steve Malkmus and Scott Kannberg. Think back to this past spring when Matador was mounting a huge promotional push for Malkmus' solo debut. Ads were definitely not hard to find, and neither was the praise that seemed to be coming from every corner from critics old and new alike ready to laud the return of Pavement. On second thought, the entire Malkmus reaction really shouldn't have been all that surprising. He embraced the role as spotlight center for Pavement, the individual who could always be seen front and center--the poster boy. Many a fanboy was always all-too-eager to give Malkmus all of the credit for Pavement's sound, spirit, and success. Those same fans are the ones who typically were just as quick to say that Scott Kannberg's contributions to the band were secondary at best and that his songs were simply not up to par.
Forget everything the indie-rock press has done up to this point regarding these releases. It's safe to say that the Preston School of Industry's debut record will probably get much less press than the Malkmus record. Unkind words will be said. Screw it. Kannberg, bringing forth new songs as well as some he had worked on and never recorded for previous Pavement records, presents the listener with twelve songs over eleven tracks that meet with more success than failure. Following on the heels of the band's solid EP on Amazing Grease, All This Sounds Gas moves even further ahead and satisfies those willing to listen objectively.
Ranging from the jangly pop of "Falling Away" to much harder material like "History of the River," Kannberg and his band demonstrate a wide range of styles and ways to get at their songs. The lyrics are largely no more serious than anything in Pavement ever was, covering such items as monkey hearts, horse legs, and post-show drives home, but there are some lyrics pointed towards relationships and the sort; hey, it's all good and it takes all types. The opener, "Whalebones", probably comes the closest of any tracks to resembling a Pavement song. Four minutes of a sound that's pretty close to what you remember. If it is possible to demonstrate a sort of maturity and confidence with your place as a musician subtly in a song, "Monkey Heart and the Horses' Leg" would be Kannberg's declaration to the world he is where he wants to be. The songwriting and performance here are hard to completely identify. It simply works.
For those of you wanting a little more rock, the hardest portion of the record comes in the form of tracks four and five, "Encyclopedic Knowledge Of" and "History of the River". Spanning close to eight minutes, "Encyclopedic Knowledge Of" starts and builds all along towards a peak simply punctuated by Kannberg telling the listener "you know that you like us." It doesn't come off as being boastful or with any real attitude apart from simple sincerity. "History of the River" comes off as a little more evil and intense than any of the album's other tracks with Kannberg's vocals sounding more urgent, as if pushed along by the track's grinding guitar.
There are a few seemingly forgettable moments on the record as well. The first half of the album's final track, "Take A Stand/All This Sounds Gas", is a plodding and somewhat uninspired effort to some end I can't quite decipher. The piano in this track simply kills me in a bad way. There is also the somewhat unnecessary 45 second instrumental interlude "Blu Son."
Forget Malkmus' self-titled debut. Yes, it is good and makes for entertaining listening, but it's just like the Coca-Cola you drink--satisfying for a moment or two before leaving you with little but empty calories. All This Sounds Gas is the longer-range success at this point in the post-Pavement dawn. It's original, fresh, and definitely doesn't play like Terror Twilight Lite. Investigate and I think you'll agree.
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