Demolition Plot J-7

Demolition Plot J-7 is the second EP by American indie rock band Pavement, released on June 1, 1990. The EP was the band's first release on Chicago independent label Drag City, and its first release that was not self-issued. It is also the band's only release to feature drummer Jason Turner. Demolition Plot J-7 shared many of the same indie and punk rock influences of Pavement's 1989 debut Slay Tracks: 1933–1969, but also diversified the group's sound by incorporating keyboards.

Many of the songs on Demolition J-7 were written while Scott Kannberg and Jason Turner were in their short-lived band, Pa. After Stephen Malkmus heard demos recorded by Pa, the songs turned into a Pavement project. The recording session for Demolition J-7 was more difficult than for Slay Tracks due to tension between producer Gary Young and Turner. The EP received favorable reception from critics and fans, and solidified the band's cult fanbase.

Background

Pavement had attained a degree of success within the underground music scene with its 1989 debut EP Slay Tracks: 1933–1969. While Malkmus was traveling to parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, Kannberg managed Slay Track<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release on the band's self-owned label, Treble Kicker. Slay Tracks caught the attention of Dan Koretzky, an avid record collector working at Reckless Records in Chicago. Koretzky ordered 200 copies of the EP for the record store, and asked Kannberg to sign to his newly started independent label, Drag City. and Kannberg initially expressed reluctance to sign to any label. Turner and Kannberg formed a new band called Pa, with Turner on drums. Malkmus wrote lyrics to "Forklift" and presented the band with "two or three other songs" he had previously written.

The addition of Turner to the band created tension with Young. Young had served as the primary drummer on Slay Tracks, with Malkmus and Kannberg drumming on a few songs. Young did not play any drums for the Demolition Plot J-7 sessions, and expressed jealousy towards Turner, openly mocking the new drummer. However, Turner ultimately only played drums on the EP's opening track "Forklift", and Malkmus and Kannberg performed the rest of the songs. A review in the Baltimore City Paper likened the EP's sound to "a cross between The Fall (circa Frenz Experiment) and Half Japanese". A review in LA Weekly stated that "The guitar on 'Internal K-Dart' and 'Fork Lift' is patently similar to Big Black and Dinosaur Jr., but Pavement steer clear of the former's pretentiously bleak posturing and the latter's dreary self-pity". Malkmus noted the influence that jazz musicians had on the EP's recording, The EP is Pavement's first to incorporate keyboards.

The first song on the album, "Forklift", features fuzzy guitar effects, like much of the band's early material. "Forklift" also incorporates what Pavement biographer Rob Jovanovic calls "almost Kraftwerk-sounding" overdubbed electronic keyboard sounds in the chorus. "Spizzle Trunk" is a punk-influenced track with "thrashy guitars", but it also includes "barroom Jerry Lee Lewis piano buried in the mix". The next two tracks, "Recorder Grot" and "Internal K-Dart", are both heavy and guitar-oriented songs. "Perfect Depth" is, according to Jovanovic, a "gloriously messy sonic assault", and "reflects a more considered Malkmus attempt at lyric crafting, even if they are nonsensical and almost impossible to hear". Kannberg designed the cover of the EP, as he had done previously with Slay Tracks.

Demolition Plot J-7 was ranked as the fourth best EP of 1990 in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critic's Poll. Demolition Plot J-7 helped define the early "messed-up, art-steeped guitar noise" sound of Drag City, which would become a seminal independent label. Donna Freydkin of CNN.com wrote in a 1999 retrospective of the band's history that "it was with the release of the 1990 EP [Demolition Plot J-7] that Pavement secured a devoted following." Village Voice writer Michaelangelo Matos noted Demolition Plot J-7 and its follow-up, the 1991 EP Perfect Sound Forever, as "epochal to ... sloppy early-'90s undergrads."

Track listing

All tracks were written by Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg.

Personnel

Pavement

Stephen Malkmus – lead vocals (tracks 1–5), lead and rhythm guitar (tracks 1–2, 4–5), keyboard (track 1), electric piano (track 2), percussion (track 1)
Scott Kannberg – lead and rhythm guitar (tracks 1–5), bass guitar (track 2), electric piano (track 2), synthesizer (track 4)
Gary Young – drums (tracks 2, 4–5)

Additional musicians

Jason Turner – drums (track 1)
Kelly Hensley – percussion (track 4)

References

Jovanovic, Rob (2004). Perfect Sound Forever: The Story of Pavement. (Boston) Justin, Charles & Co. .

Notes

External links

Demolition Plot J-7 at Drag City