ethanaustin

Slow Century is about Pavement. You should probably own every album(or its equivalent in EPs and imports or whatever) before attempting to successfully appreciate Slow Century. As a documentary intended for hardcore Pavement fans, I couldn't imagine anyone other than a fan reading this and consequently shelling out twenty-five to take it home anyway. And so I am going to highly recommend it. The documentary creates a pitch perfect representation of everything i remember about the early nineties indie darlings. Lance Bangs, spawn of Spike Jonze, who busies himself almost exclusively with rockumentaries like this one, works efficiently, compiling the little footage of the band (the surviving recordings are akin to the era, mostly low-fi and awkwardly shot). The resulting material is merely filtered through with maximum production and minimal narration, relying mostly on band member anecdotes and interviews. An altogether solid documentary, Slow Century brings back the indie scene nostalgia and ironic, slacker sincerity unique to Pavement. The segments with Malkmus in a sauna discussing Gary Young's propensity to throw things, are by themselves fascinating to any fan. The DVD version is two discs; the documentary, all thirteen music videos (some with alternate-versions) and selected footage of two live performances (Manchester and Seattle).