Pavements

An exploration in documentary style about the American indie group Pavements that intertwines narratives with the documented footage of the band as well as a selection of their songs on the soundtrack.

Pavements is a band that constantly resonates for a particular demographic of both ’90s and the 2000s rock audience while the rest of the world seems to overlook them. The life of the youth who Richard Linklater described as “slackers” in his 1990 feature film with the same name was the inspiration for a lot of their songs. And that is no disrespect toward the actual band.

They target that specific audience of teenagers and their albums were probably the first to introduce them to the sprawling landscape of indie music. Now, that’s not what Pavements will be remembered for with due apologies. For long this was a whose group was left unheard and many years late the world accepted them and that is one of the reason that they got a lot of attention for their reunion tour.

A large majority of these bands from the ‘90s have similarly been re-discovered by ‘new millenium’s’ who usually attract its first round of fans for the same reasons fans gave back in the day to the first fan base. But Pavements comeback in the 2020s feels and seems different, it seems more genuine even if the comeback started with one of their B-sides ‘Harness Your Hopes’ suddenly going viral on TikTok. Even now, I still feel as though this group of people have not achieved what they should have.

The two sides that these authors have become are now the subjects of a double-sided, metatextual project, Pavements, that is one part documentary about their discography, impact and recent reunion in 2022 and one part fake fiction observation on what could have been – – what the band could have been like if they had embraced commercialism. Their wayward demeanor is represented in mockery and admiration of sorts.

Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Queen of Earth) is the director of the movie. Perry is an impressive and stripped down filmmaker who has been known for making interesting pieces that work when they shouldn’t due to their many tonal and genre shifts. Pavements is not different. It possesses the style and spirit of the director.

But in reality, the fan side takes precedence in the direction of the film, which is apparent from the tagline “The World’s Most Important and Influential Band,” and from Perry’s comments in the press notes where he spoke about how the band should be appreciated as there has been no other band like them. He is very right.

The tone of their lyrics coupled with their low key slacker aesthetics and usage of profound irony and self reflection in their songs permeated and aided in shaping a younger generation of musicians (Cate Le Bon, Car Seat Headrest, Snail Mail, Destroyer, to name just a few), whose current trajectory does not align with the influence they have had.

While they aren’t my most sought-after band, I still think that they have enough quality and talent in them to be in the list of the most influential or great bands of the 90’s. This gross negligence by the majority of people (and another prejudice which will be discussed later) led Alex Ross Perry to compromise Pavements–it’s both a tribute to the unsung heroes and a sexy, slacker, concept of who they were and the world of music they created with their one spread of a record after another.

Perry Griffith provides a history of the band while claiming that the Pavements band film has the moniker: “the documentary where everything is over-exaggerated, out of context, cynical, and is not where you would expect it to be.” What a mouthful that is and how it makes you wonder where quality control is. And Perry’s disemboweling of the band, rock documents, and biopics certainly does not prepare you in any which way.

The director of Her Smell just could not resist and looks into the most obscene shenanigans of the award-winning films and mercilessly ridicules them because instead of sloppy cut and pasted from Wiki ideas, there is real vision in this film.

It may not be obvious to people but Pavements is actually based on the members of the band Pavement.

To the extent that you have knowledge about them, you will be alright in some respect. If you don’t, Perry has taken care of it more than enough. As he offers you archival footage chronicling their development and, decades later, their reunion and the necessity of cover songs by unfamiliar bands (which in a poetic way are also the New Generation which has accepted them).

All the members (singer Stephen Malkmus, guitarist Scott Kannberg, bassist Mark Ibold, drummer Steve West), both sepulchral and living, recordings and downtrodden rock expressionism — everybody is presented so later Perry will be able to explain every detail in the context of volumetric history.

Not every song touches the soul of every person so feel free to refrain from watching the documentary. Perry understands this and frankly and unflinchingly admits it. But one of the many tricks he pulls to turn the rock biographical portraits upside down is explaining why he considers the subjects important not only for himself but for the whole sphere of music industry — frontman Malkmus discovering the meaning of Pavement in his life through many break-ups and reunions devoted to a growing fame of the band with each new generation.

The majority of rock music documentary films that are found on the mainstream market tend to have the ‘you should have been there’ perspective or a chronological type of understanding of events pertaining to the subject area, however, most of it in essence could be said for those who would consider themselves to be in the know.

There are a multitude of instances where people are just given information and left to question what turned these now idols into industry greats that millions now adore or a very small market appreciates. Pavements differs from many films and particularly the ones in reference. It builds on the reputation which enabled to create and compose the type and manner of music which allowed them to be popular.

Perry is able to accomplish this by making self-deprecating and honest commentary about them in three scenarios, two of which are real and the last is not real and is meant to be a depiction. The first is a museum exhibition that presents a lot of posters, eyeballs, and artefacts of ‘the making of the borders’: PAVEMENTS: 1933 – 2022.

Now you see how fiction starts where reality ends. To be more precise, the fantasies that were crafted for this exhibition, or pieces of it, become muddled with the understanding fans already have. And everything is as if done through a sarcastic smile which is embedded in the lyrics of the band Pavement. Under the cover of that experimentation, there is a temptation for the right person to come forward.

To some, strange phrases on a nook reserved for the history of notebooks may appear too trivial. Nonetheless, these pages in the coalition talk about their creative process and personality. So does the case with the film of an ancient and on the background what cover art variations were made. However, the writings have more strength and meaning, as if every wall is a window into their mind at the time.

The second is a Workshop stage musical, which takes its title from one of the best adored records, “Slanted, Enchanted”. There are no words, just Pavement cover versions in order to express the emotions of the main characters, rather than the words their singing – the overall atmosphere. The plot is very ordinary and is a banal one: the character is a boy who is in love, seeks fame, and wonders where that love has gone.

The one interesting in this pathetic mix of a story is how Perry and the band focus on the aesthetics of their records while being off-broadway. And it is fun watching it, quite charming in its cheap budget contradictions – such as cut your hair and a huge pair of mache scissors during the song and almost comical portrayals of melodrama’s in a theatre.

The third in entirety the most random and self-explanatory one: a mock-umentary ‘Range Life’, which is based on a biography Pavement. This ‘movie’ within the film features Jason Schwartzman as the head of matador records, Chris Lombardi, and Natt Wolf, Logan Miller, and Fred Hechinger as band members.

Perhaps the greatest and most essential performance of them all is without a doubt the one played by Joe Keery as a moody Stephen Malkmus in the majority of the scenes. As these scenes show him and his fellow actors who are involved with the film while in the midst of advertising Keery constantly soundly convinces himself of the role.

Keery even thinks that he is becoming the front figure of Pavement, saying that there needs to be possession exorcisms to take his spirit out from the future performances, it stands in sharp contrast to his style of acting. Yes, these clips are around used up but there is a point to them. The film’s “Range Life” segments… critique contemporary biopics.

In the film, Keery is more excited than ever about what his surrealistic roles will be, saying, it’s better to just play himself, a young Stephen Malkmus with a hint of terror. But all this pause because Keery himself inspires the perspective biopics with bohemian rhapsody one of the primitive doesn’t mention her album summary in other words the best of the disasters about biography shots. The best and most vivacious films scold the sloth that comprises the Hollywood idiom’s sine qua non.

Such films do require directors who are passionate about the subject so that the viewers are able to thoroughly experience these movies in a stronger perspective. This is what Alex Ross Perry and Stephen Malkmus accomplish among others. What today’s world is about is a culture of fast consumption without understanding the importance of the content what Pavement is all about.

That being said, it would be a little presumptuous to imply that pavements are the most authorized representatives in rock documentary Baroque or biopic.

Undoubtedly, the development project has the potential to inspire other filmmakers to present original interpretations of great musical personalities, although this will require imagination rather than million dollar deals. (I am waiting for a project of this kind with regards to Chelsea Wolfe, Laura Nyro or Portishead.) Alex Ross Perry rounds Australia Pavements by changing the attitude to the band and brightly dressing them up–which happened here thanks to this unusual and educational mix.

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