Demolition Plot J-7
Encyclopedia
Demolition Plot J-7 is the second extended play
by American indie rock
band Pavement
, released in 1990. The EP was the band's first release on Chicago
independent label Drag City
, and its first release that was not self-issued. 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.
. While Malkmus was traveling to parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, Kannberg managed Slay Track' 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
. At the time the members of Pavement anticipated no further releases beyond Slay Tracks, and Kannberg initially expressed reluctance to sign to any label. Kannberg later said "I started talking to [Koretzky] and in our conversations he said 'I'm starting this label. Do you want to do something for us?' I said, 'Well I don't know if we're even a band. Steve is off in Europe.' He said, "Well if you want to I'm up for it.'"
While Malkmus was still abroad, Kannberg moved in with a friend and his roommate Jason Turner in Sacramento, California
. Turner and Kannberg formed a new band called Pa, with Turner on drums. Kannberg said, "I didn't know if Pavement was going to do anything so I just said, 'Let's start another band.'" The duo frequently jammed
, and considered a future release on Drag City. Pa recorded a series of instrumental
demos
, including new songs "Two States", "Forklift", and "Collapse", at Young's Louder Than You Think studios during a trip to Stockton. After Kannberg and Turner had returned to Sacramento, Malkmus visited and the group decided to turn the Pa songs into a Pavement project. Malkmus wrote lyrics to "Forklift" and presented the band with "two or three other songs" he had previously written.
musicians as significant to the EP's recording, saying "When we start recording, we're really focused on what we're doing. We know how it's going to sound in the studio. We don't have to worry if it's sounding good in the rehearsal space. We take those prescriptions from the great jazz people and applied them to our own framework."
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.
and Heather Phares wrote in Allmusic's biography of Pavement that, with Demolition Plot J-7, Pavement "had begun to forge [their] influences into its own signature sound." 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, and acknowledged jazz albums Interstellar Space
by John Coltrane
and Andrew!!!
by Andrew Hill
as two of his favorite records. 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". The EP ends with "Recorder Grot (Rally)", a 21 second instrumental
of guitar feedback
.
with Dan Osborn. The first release from the label was the Royal Trux
single "Hero Zero", which sold well. Despite the new label's early financial struggles, Drag City used the profit from "Hero Zero" to press and release 1000 copies of Demolition Plot J-7. Kannberg designed the cover of the EP, as he had done previously with Slay Tracks.
Demolition Plot J-7 was met with favorable reviews upon its release, though most of these reviews were from underground music zine
s. One of the few reviewers from a major music magazine to review Demolition Plot J-7 upon its release, Robert Christgau
of the Village Voice gave the EP a two-star honorable mention, citing "Forklift" as a highlight.
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."
, with some early versions attributed to Scott Kannberg
.
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
by American indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Pavement
Pavement (band)
Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...
, released in 1990. The EP was the band's first release on Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
independent label Drag City
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
, and its first release that was not self-issued. Demolition Plot J-7 shared many of the same indie and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
influences of Pavement's 1989 debut Slay Tracks (1933-1969)
Slay Tracks (1933-1969)
Slay Tracks is the debut extended play by the American indie rock band Pavement. Pavement, then consisting of founding members Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg , recorded Slay Tracks with producer and future member Gary Young during a four hour session...
, but also diversified the group's sound by incorporating keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
.
Many of the songs on Demolition J-7 were written while Scott Kannberg
Scott Kannberg
Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg is a musician best known for being a founding member of the indie-rock band Pavement.-Career:...
and Jason Turner were in their short-lived band, Pa. After Stephen Malkmus
Stephen Malkmus
Stephen Joseph Malkmus is an indie rock musician and icon, and a member of the band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.-Early years:...
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
Gary Young
Gary Young was the first drummer of the 1990s alternative rock band Pavement.-Early life:Gary Young was born in Mamaroneck, New York. His father worked in the plastics business.-Work with Pavement:...
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)Slay Tracks (1933-1969)
Slay Tracks is the debut extended play by the American indie rock band Pavement. Pavement, then consisting of founding members Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg , recorded Slay Tracks with producer and future member Gary Young during a four hour session...
. While Malkmus was traveling to parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, Kannberg managed Slay Track
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Koretzky ordered 200 copies of the EP for the record store, and asked Kannberg to sign to his newly started independent label, Drag City
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
. At the time the members of Pavement anticipated no further releases beyond Slay Tracks, and Kannberg initially expressed reluctance to sign to any label. Kannberg later said "I started talking to [Koretzky] and in our conversations he said 'I'm starting this label. Do you want to do something for us?' I said, 'Well I don't know if we're even a band. Steve is off in Europe.' He said, "Well if you want to I'm up for it.'"
While Malkmus was still abroad, Kannberg moved in with a friend and his roommate Jason Turner in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. Turner and Kannberg formed a new band called Pa, with Turner on drums. Kannberg said, "I didn't know if Pavement was going to do anything so I just said, 'Let's start another band.'" The duo frequently jammed
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
, and considered a future release on Drag City. Pa recorded a series of instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
, including new songs "Two States", "Forklift", and "Collapse", at Young's Louder Than You Think studios during a trip to Stockton. After Kannberg and Turner had returned to Sacramento, Malkmus visited and the group decided to turn the Pa songs into a Pavement project. Malkmus wrote lyrics to "Forklift" and presented the band with "two or three other songs" he had previously written.
Recording
Demolition Plot J-7 was, like Slay Tracks and the Pa demos, recorded by Gary Young at his Louder Than You Think studios in Stockton. The recording took place on October 16 and October 17, 1989. Malkmus was influenced by the rehearsal style of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians as significant to the EP's recording, saying "When we start recording, we're really focused on what we're doing. We know how it's going to sound in the studio. We don't have to worry if it's sounding good in the rehearsal space. We take those prescriptions from the great jazz people and applied them to our own framework."
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.
Music
Stephen Thomas ErlewineStephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
and Heather Phares wrote in Allmusic's biography of Pavement that, with Demolition Plot J-7, Pavement "had begun to forge [their] influences into its own signature sound." A review in the Baltimore City Paper
Baltimore City Paper
Baltimore City Paper is a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. Current owner Times-Shamrock Communications purchased the paper in 1987...
likened the EP's sound to "a cross between The Fall (circa Frenz Experiment
The Frenz Experiment
The Frenz Experiment is a 1988 album by The Fall. It was released on Beggars Banquet Records, and like the group's other albums with the label, it has a different track listing across the various formats on which it was released: LP, CD and cassette. A number of the tracks are credited exclusively...
) and Half Japanese
Half Japanese
Half Japanese is a punk rock band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in their Coldwater, Michigan bedroom around 1975. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playing; vocals; and an out of tune guitar...
". A review in LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
stated that "The guitar on 'Internal K-Dart' and 'Fork Lift' is patently similar to Big Black
Big Black
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Naked Raygun...
and
Interstellar Space
Interstellar Space was one of the final studio albums recorded by the saxophonist John Coltrane before his death in 1967, originally-released posthumously by Impulse! Records on LP in 1974.-Composition:...
by John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and Andrew!!!
Andrew!!!
Andrew!!! is a studio album by jazz pianist Andrew Hill recorded for Blue Note Records in 1964, which was first released in April 1968, and subsequently released on CD in 2005 with two alternate takes.- Track listing :# "The Griots" - 6:04...
by Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
as two of his favorite records. The EP is Pavement's first to incorporate keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
.
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
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
-sounding" overdubbed electronic keyboard
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
sounds in the chorus. "Spizzle Trunk" is a punk-influenced track with "thrashy guitars", but it also includes "barroom Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
piano buried in the mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
". 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". The EP ends with "Recorder Grot (Rally)", a 21 second instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
of guitar feedback
Audio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
.
Release and reception
Between the release of Slay Tracks and the recording sessions for Demolition Plot J-7, Koretzky formed Drag CityDrag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
with Dan Osborn. The first release from the label was the Royal Trux
Royal Trux
Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band from 1987 to 2001, founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema .-History:...
single "Hero Zero", which sold well. Despite the new label's early financial struggles, Drag City used the profit from "Hero Zero" to press and release 1000 copies of Demolition Plot J-7. Kannberg designed the cover of the EP, as he had done previously with Slay Tracks.
Demolition Plot J-7 was met with favorable reviews upon its release, though most of these reviews were from underground music zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
s. One of the few reviewers from a major music magazine to review Demolition Plot J-7 upon its release, Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
of the Village Voice gave the EP a two-star honorable mention, citing "Forklift" as a highlight.
Demolition Plot J-7 was ranked as the fourth best EP of 1990 in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
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
Perfect Sound Forever (EP)
Perfect Sound Forever is Pavement's third release, a 10" EP on Chicago's Drag City recording label. The songs on this record would later be made available on the Drag City compilation Westing ....
, as "epochal to ... sloppy early-'90s undergrads."
Track listing
All tracks were written by Stephen MalkmusStephen Malkmus
Stephen Joseph Malkmus is an indie rock musician and icon, and a member of the band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.-Early years:...
, with some early versions attributed to Scott Kannberg
Scott Kannberg
Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg is a musician best known for being a founding member of the indie-rock band Pavement.-Career:...
.
- "Forklift" – 3:27
- "Spizzle Trunk" – 1:23
- "Recorder Grot" – 2:18
- "Internal K-Dart" – 1:51
- "Perfect Depth" – 2:43
- "Recorder Grot (Rally)" – 0:21
External links
- Demolition Plot J-7 at Drag CityDrag City (record label)Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...