Preston School of Industry: All This Sounds Gas

Throughout the early 2000s, once all my friends departed for college and started expanding their minds with campus living, I clung steadfastly to the notion that classic rock and commuting to school were the best things for me. Turns out I was wrong on both counts: driving an hour to school was a chore to my already apathetic mind, and classic rock wasn’t giving me much relief, instead sounding incredibly samey; it also didn’t help that the bands I liked had failed to exist since the early 1980s, and they weren’t in any rush to get back together and release an album.

One of my friends at the time implemented a “Song of the Night” exchange, where I would live vicariously through his musical discoveries and he would send me a song of a band that he particularly liked at the moment. One night in 2002 he sent to me ‘Date w/IKEA’, a track by indie rock gods Pavement, and prefaced it by saying it wasn’t their best song ever, or even his favorite, but that he just happened to be listening to it at that moment. For whatever reason, it clicked with me instantly; I loved the jangly guitar, the incredibly obtuse lyrics, and the melodic chorus. The next day, instead of going to class, I stopped by Borders, picked up all five of Pavement’s albums, and went for a long drive.

I was disheartened to discover that they had disbanded in ’99, but considering the bands I frequently listened to, this was an unsurprising trend. Craving more Pavement-related material, I had the option of the two major songwriters – Stephen Malkmus or Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg. As much as I loved Malkmus’ off-beat, almost David Byrne-esque lyrics, Kannberg’s thoughtful material resonated deeper, and so I purchased All This Sounds Gas, Kannberg’s debut solo CD but credited to a band named after the infamous reform school.

In my brief spurt of research regarding the album, I discovered that some of the songs had been written for Pavement’s final album, Terror Twilight, but had been shelved or remained unrecorded. Intrigued with this bit of George Harrison-esque trivia (hey, the album title even sounds like Harrison’s debut album!), I found the album to be a nice, mellow alternative to Malkmus’ weirdness; I didn’t even give Malkmus’ eponymous debut solo CD a chance, and wrote him off as a dick because he rejected ‘Whalebones’, ‘The Idea Of Fires’, and ‘Encyclopedic Knowledge Of’. As a result, the album became a mainstay in my CD player, and was a constant soundtrack for both summers when I worked at an amusement park – but time hasn’t necessarily been kind to my perception of the album, so while I’m able to now look at the album a little more objectively, its standing has diminished quite a bit.

Opener ‘Whalebones’ has a lazy, somnambulist feel to it, its summery guitar licks trickling out over a strident rhythm, Kannberg’s deadpan voice intoning the mostly obscure on-the-road-again lyrics, though hints of Pavement’s demise are evident: “Played their final show of a lifetime”, “Does it hurt you to feel this bad, man?” ‘Falling Away’ is more energetic, with Kannberg not only sounding more like the Spiral Stairs of old, but that he’s actually having fun. The countrified twang of ‘A Treasure @ Silver Bank (This Dynasty’s For Real)’ furthers the atmosphere of a lazy summer day, but the lyrics are so impenetrable (“It’s a polyester bright day now, and the dinosaurs are for real”) that it does little more than confuse instead of illuminate.

But the first epic of the album, ‘Encyclopedic Knowledge Of’ (think a combined ‘Wah-Wah’ with ‘Isn’t It A Pity’) is a scathing riposte of Malkmus’ disinterest in Pavement, with Kannberg willing to have made things work but finding his hopes thwarted. The song takes nearly eight minutes to unfold, and starts off with a barely-contained simmer, ending up as a primal scream, with Kannberg howling “Yeah we know that you like us!” and “It’s a fucking chore!” as drums clatter, guitars squeal, and horns blast, all becoming a glorious cacophony. ‘History Of The River’ is a thudding, thundering rocker, with fuzz bass, whispered lyrics, and a searing guitar melody, but it goes nowhere, and adds so very little to the album. ‘Doping For Gold’ is significantly better, continuing in the C&W vein established with ‘A Treasury @ Silver Bank’, and even sounds a bit like Wilco at times. This is probably the strongest, prettiest song on the album, with a lovely, caterwauling guitar solo that meshes beautifully with the jangly melody, and a distinctly weird instrumental coda. This would have fit in nicely on any Pavement record.

The second half of the record loses some steam, but ‘Solitaire’ is at least a decent acoustic rocker, with a more memorable melody than its lyrics, wherein Kannberg appears to rant nonsensically (“Solitaire / Is a chair, uh huh / It’s a chair / That you wanted from there”), unconcerned if the microphone is picking him up. ‘Blü Sön’, meanwhile, is ponderous: a 43-second instrumental of bleeps, blips, and programmed percussion. It adds nothing, and classifying it as a track in its own right makes little sense. ‘Monkey Heart And The Horses’ Leg’ is a shimmering country ballad, but its blandness, meandering running time, and indecipherable lyrics don’t help its case. At least ‘The Idea Of Fires’, with an insistent guitar riff, some lovely backing vocals, and a jaunty pace, sounds like Kannberg has regained some much-needed energy. I can see why album closer ‘Take A Stand’ (likened to the Velvet Underground’s ‘Oh! Sweet Nuthin”) would divide fans, as it is a lengthy (nearly seven minutes), 3/4 time rocker, with loud drums, persistent piano, and some nonsensical lyrics, but I love the “sha-la-la” backing vocals and the bed of acoustic and electric guitars. As on ‘Encyclopedic Knowledge Of’, the song builds in intensity over its lifetime, until the ending is a noisy whirlwind of drums, zooming bass, and soaring guitars, coming to an end with Kannberg giggling and saying, “A fucking brilliant rock odyssey!” It’s an epic, towering conclusion (apart from a hidden 90 second acoustic demo of the title track) to a spotty album, though, for all its faults, All This Sounds Gas is still a strong debut.

Essential listening: Whalebones, Falling Away, Encyclopedic Knowledge Of, Doping For Gold, The Idea Of Fires, Take A Stand