Slanted and Enchanted

Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: April 20, 1992 | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Category handler Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Perfect Sound Forever1991Watery, Domestic1992studioSlanted and EnchantedSlanted and Enchanted album cover.jpgPavementApril 20, 1992* December 24, 1990

January 13–20, 1991* Louder Than You Think, Stockton, California
South Makepeace, Brooklyn, New York* Indie rock
lo-fi
noise pop<ref name="Erlewine"/>39:01MatadorPavementx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Slanted and Enchanted is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Pavement, released on April 20, 1992, by Matador Records. It is the only Pavement album to feature drummer Gary Young.

The title Slanted and Enchanted is taken from the title of a cartoon made by Silver Jews frontman David Berman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its cover art was created by appropriating that of an existing album, Ferrante & Teicher's Keyboard Kapers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Goodman">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The album received critical acclaim and is seen as a landmark for indie rock, with Rolling Stone ranking it 199th on its 2020 edition of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". As of 2007, the album had sold 150,000 copies. In 2022, Alex Ross Perry adapted the album into a rock opera titled Slanted! Enchanted!<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Background and recording

Slanted and Enchanted was recorded at the home recording studio of Pavement drummer Gary Young on what was described as a "tight budget" over a span of ten days. The process was said to have been "relaxed."<ref name="Keoghan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Price">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Stephen Malkmus recorded playing a Fender Stratocaster, and Scott Kannberg recorded with a Fender Mustang and a Gibson SG. Kannberg played through a Fender Silverface Twin Reverb amplifier, and Malkmus played through a small boutique Epiphone amplifier that was borrowed from the father of one of his friends. They used ProCo TurboRat and Boss DS-1 distortion pedals.<ref name="Price"/>

Slanted and Enchanted was distributed to critics as early as 1991, months before its official release; the original distribution did not feature the entire band, as several members joined during its production.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The recording sessions were split between South Makepeace Studios in Brooklyn, New York (recorded December 24, 1990) and Louder Than You Think Studios in Stockton, California (recorded January 13–20, 1991).<ref name="Keoghan"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Release history

The album's first single, "Summer Babe", appeared in August 1991.<ref name="allmusic2" /><ref name="dragcity" /> It was Pavement's last release of new material for the Chicago-based Drag City label before the band moved to Matador Records. The single contained the B-sides "Mercy Snack (The Laundromat)" and "Baptist Blacktick" that were included on Japanese versions in the CD, and later on the deluxe version of the album. A different mix of "Summer Babe" entitled "Summer Babe (Winter Version)" became the first track on the album. The song would go on to be ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as number 286 in its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and as number 292 in the 2011 update of the list.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The album's second single, "Trigger Cut", was first released in the UK by Big Cat Records on July 13, 1992, before appearing in the US market through Matador the following month.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Slanted and Enchanted was officially released on April 20, 1992, to critical acclaim, originally reaching a peak of number 72 on the UK Albums Chart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of 2007, the album had sold 150,000 copies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2002, Matador Records released Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe, a compilation containing Slanted and Enchanted in its entirety, as well outtakes and other rarities from the same era.<ref name="AVClub article">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Matador released Luxe & Reduxe on October 20, 2002,<ref name="Matador Pavement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> alongside the Slow Century DVD.<ref name="AVClub article"/> It features 48 songs, including the entire original disc and, in addition, 3 outtakes of which one is an unreleased song and the other two are alternate takes, plus the B-sides from the "Summer Babe" and "Trigger Cut" singles, 5 songs from two different John Peel sessions, the 4-track EP Watery, Domestic, and 13 tracks of a live performance of the band held at the Brixton Academy in London on December 14, 1992.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Discogs release. Retrieved October 28, 2018.</ref>

Luxe & Reduxe reached number 5 on the US Billboard Top Independent Albums chart<ref name="AllMusicAwards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Billboard1">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and number 152 on the US Billboard 200.<ref name="AllMusicAwards"/><ref name="Billboard2">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Music and lyrics

Template:Quote box Slanted and Enchanted is noted for its "stripped down" sound and heavy use of distortion.<ref name="Keoghan"/> Andy Price of Guitar.com described the album's sound as an "aural mess of dishevelled guitar noise, balanced by infectious hooks and a homemade aesthetic," and as a "combination of unkempt, dissonant chord structures, tangled, grubby riffs, tuneful, vibrant melodies and coolly delivered (but earnestly intelligent) lyrics."<ref name="Price"/> Erik Davis of Spin wrote, "the distortion doesn't come from a can, nor is it 'texture' or 'noise.' It's a living thing, snaking through the strumming guitars."<ref name="Davis">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The original Pavement EPs were recorded without the presence of bass guitar. Some tracks on Slanted and Enchanted, such as "Summer Babe", were recorded with bass, while others, such as "Fame Throwa", have detuned guitars substituting for bass guitar. Songs such as "Here" are said to be "entirely bass-free."<ref name="Price"/>

Malkmus began to explore alternate guitar tunings, including different variations of Open D and Open G, which have since been dubbed "slacker tunings" due to their appearance on the album. Malkmus explained, "We didn't have a bass guitar on the early recordings. So tuning down gave us a lower sound but also a fullness to the sound. That's where I started. Then I simplified even more by bringing my G string up to A. I did a lot of things like that." The tracks "In The Mouth a Desert", "Loretta's Scars and Jackals" and "False Grails: The Lonesome Era" are played in CGDGBE tuning. The tracks "Perfume-V", "Summer Babe" and "Conduit for Sale!" use DADABE tuning.<ref name="Price"/>

In addition to guitar distortion, feedback and noise, the album makes use of hooks that are consistent with those heard in pop songs. According to Price, "Though uninhibited experimentation was central to Pavement, the bubbling pop hooks that flowed throughout the record's run-time served to anchor the ears. The dissonant chords which shape the captivating 'In the Mouth a Desert' lead us into a fine example, as growling distortion hovers over the verse, snakey hooks periodically rise to have their moment in the sun, before receding into a wash of sound."<ref name="Price"/> According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, "Listening to Slanted & Enchanted is like listening to a college radio station that you can barely tune in—melodies are interrupted by shards of white noise, only to have a simple hook pull everything back into focus." Davis assessed, "There's something like the interstellar space noise picked up on shortwave radios. Some songs start off dope, then get raw power, while others open like thunder and then slip down a velvety slide." The sounds of the guitars have been described as "fuzzy [and] noisy". The album's opening track "Summer Babe (Winter Version)" has been stylistically described as dream pop. Malkmus' vocals are described as "languid".<ref name="Erlewine"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Davis described the album's sound as consisting of "slapdash drums, bells, catchy choruses, sha-la-la-las, guitars played so loose and confident they're almost smiling at you."<ref name="Davis"/> The album has been noted for its stream of consciousness lyrical style.<ref name="Keoghan"/>

Critical reception and legacy

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Slanted and Enchanted received critical acclaim. In a contemporary review of the album, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was highly positive, writing that Pavement are "always good at both tune and noise" and that the music on Slanted and Enchanted yields "a message complex enough to offer hopeTemplate:Nbsp... that the lyrics will catch up".<ref name="Christgau"/> In Spin, Erik Davis designated Slanted and Enchanted as the magazine's "Platter du Jour" for March 1992, describing the album as "so fine it occasionally seems too perfect."<ref name="Davis"/> Steve Lamacq of NME called it "a marvellous piece of lazy rock'n'roll that does for the current American new wave what Teenage Fanclub's A Catholic Education did for British guitar music."<ref name="Lamacq"/>

I think Slanted and Enchanted probably is the best record we made, only because it's less self-conscious and has an unrepeatable energy about it.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>{{#if:|

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Since its release, Slanted and Enchanted has appeared on many critics' best-of lists and is frequently cited as being among the most influential indie rock albums of the 1990s. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited the album as "a left-field classic" and "one of the most influential records of the '90s". He praised the album's songwriting, and closed his review saying: "Some listeners may initially find the lo-fi sound of the record inaccessible, but the sheer strength of Pavement's songs settles in after a few plays."<ref name="Erlewine"/> In 2002, Pitchfork awarded the album their maximum grade of 10.0/10.0 in a review of the album's reissue,<ref name="pitchfork.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in 2003, the website ranked it as the fifth greatest album of the 1990s.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rolling Stone called Slanted and Enchanted "the quintessential indie rock album" and placed the record on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.<ref name="RS2012">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="RS best debuts">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Slanted and Enchanted was included in the 2014 reference book Gimme Indie Rock by music journalist Andrew Earles. He wrote: "The 1992 release of Pavement's proper full-length debut did not result in the permanent transformation of the musical landscape across the entire underground-to-mainstream spectrum the way Nirvana's Nevermind did that same year. But Slanted and Enchanted was resonsible for a kind of miniature variation of that same kind of change, when viewed from an indie rock perspective. [...] Slanted and Enchanted is such an excellent album that that it begat a sort of cure, generating unrealistic expectations of the band that created the record, while producing many would-be clones of that same band."<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2017, Billboard called it a "slacker masterpiece" and "the definitive indie rock album".<ref name="Goodman" />

Andy Price wrote for Guitar.com in 2021: "Slanted and Enchanted was a felicitous moment-seizer. And one which prescribed the DIY ethos of independent music for decades to come."<ref name="Price"/> Mike Powell of Pitchfork said in 2022: "Pavement weren't the only early-'90s band that turned noise into something like pop—Nirvana and Sonic Youth did the same—but the low-key charm of Slanted and Enchanted felt different. Whatever angst they might've felt was sublimated by a bookishness and sense of grandeur that made even their feedback seem sweet. [...] To gentle hearts inspired by punk's freedom but wigged out by its intensity, they served as proof that not every revolution demands a fight."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Accolades

Template:Small

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Blender	US	The 100 Greatest American Albums of All timeTemplate:Citation needed	2002	67
		500 CDs You Must Own Before You DieTemplate:Citation needed	2003	*
		The 10 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2007	1
Pitchfork	US	Top 100 Albums of the 1990sTemplate:Citation needed	1999	3
		Top 100 Albums of the 1990s<ref name="ReferenceA" />	2003	5
		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2022	70
Rolling Stone	US	The Essential Rock Collection<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1997	*
		The Essential Recordings of the '90s<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1999	*
		The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time	2012	135<ref name="RS2012" />
		The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time	2020	199<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
		The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time	2013	25<ref name="RS best debuts" />
		100 Best Albums of the Nineties<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	2010	24
Slant Magazine	US	Best Albums of the '90s<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	2011	40
Spin	US	Top 100 Alternative Albums<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	1995	16
		The 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1999	5
		Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	2005	4
		125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	2010	9

Track listing

Original 1992 Version

Template:Track listing