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With every British band namechecking Pavement of late (think Blur and Radiohead), it shouldn’t come as any shock that the influence goes both ways. O.K. Computer‘s subtle dynamics and crisp sound were obviously appealing enough to the lo-fi kings that they went and snagged Radiohead’s producer, one Nigel Godrich, to man the controls on the most polished-sounding recording of their career. Thing is, polished may not be what you want from these guys and a sure hand at the production panel can’t mask the fact that Pavement really hasn’t progressed musically with Terror Twilight. Fans will want a copy, but I never got past the “this is pleasant, but not amazing feeling” after more than 10 spins. It is best recommended as a “hold-you-over” until Radiohead unleashes their new oeuvre next year.

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Sarah Zupko is a former Executive Producer at Tribune Media Services, the media syndication arm of the Tribune Company, and a 10-year veteran of Tribune Company. Aside from writing novels and plays, she devotes most of her time and energy to running PopMatters.com and formerly PopCultures.com, as well as research in the fields of Slavic and German history, and general European cultural and intellectual history. Zupko studied musicology, film, and drama at the University of Chicago and media theory at the University of Texas, where she received her M.A. in 1995.


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