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All over America today, it’s No Kings Day, as the people rise up to make the kind of protests none of us thought we’d ever need to make in our lifetimes. It’s a day for defiance, for solidarity, as we watch the whole idea of a constitutional republic get dismantled piece by piece — not just by one man, but by a regime, an entire political party that no longer even pretends to have a platform, committed to the abolition of American democracy.

So what better day to blast Pavement?...

Just in time for summer, Lifeguard have arrived with the kind of guitar record you can play loud all day without wearing it out. They’re a young, raw art-punk threesome from Chicago, finally putting out their debut album with the hotly awaited Ripped and Torn, on Matador. They started making noise when they were still in high school — two-thirds of Lifeguard are still in their teens. But they’ve already got a fervent following. They released the twin 2023 EPs Crowds Can Talk and Dressed in Trenches; last year they...

The prevailing initial state of the two actors tasked with portraying Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus in Alex Ross Perry’s multifaceted, genre-warped film Pavements was, reasonably, confusion.

Pavements — which releases in theaters across North America June 6 — is nominally, and for the most part, a documentary. It follows Pavement as they prep for their 2022 reunion tour and uses archival footage to tell the story of a band of alternative-nation outsiders who made erudite, inscrutable, and irresistible tunes; navigated the post-Nirvana Nineties with blasé circumspection; broke up as cult heroes; and returned decades later as widely-recognized,...

Pavement have released their first new studio recording in 25 years: a cover of Jim Pepper’s “Witchitai-To.” Stream it below.

The cover arrives as part of the soundtrack for the recent experimental biopic Pavements, directed by Alex Ross Perry. Though a cover, it’s Pavement’s first new release since their 1999 EP Major Leagues.

The song — first released by Pepper in 1969 — was recorded by Pavement during the rehearsals for their 2022 reunion tour, and was subsequently performed by the band throughout the run. In December 2024, Pavement co-founder Scott Kannberg teased the recording as the “new Pavement song” on an appearance of Vish Khanna’s podcast Kreative Kontrol. Stream it below.

Filling out the tracklist of the Pavements soundtrack is more recordings from the band’s 2022 reunion, dialog snippets, and cast recordings from the jukebox musical Slanted! Enchanted! Scroll below to stream the full album.

Pavement recently returned to television for the...

It hasn't been easy keeping up with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in recent weeks as the show bounces between on and off the air. CBS provided another update for the show's schedule beginning tonight, May 26.

Fans tuning into The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week will find reruns instead of new episodes, as the show is on a scheduled break for the week of May 26. This hiatus should come as no surprise given the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 26. It's become a common practice among late-night shows.

Other shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, After Midnight, and The Daily Show, are also off this week. That just leaves Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which will air new episodes starting Tuesday night.

While CBS hasn't provided an official reason for the break, it's typical for late-night shows to pause during major holidays,...

Pavement staged their first late-night TV performance in 15 years Thursday, playing their surprise viral hit “Harness Your Hopes” on The Late Show.

While the reunited cult alt-rock band don’t have any gigs on the horizon this year, they have been on the road promoting the quasi-biopic/rockumentary Pavements, which is in select cities now ahead of its nationwide release on June 6.

The Colbert performance marked Pavement’s first late-night TV appearance since the band played The Tonight Show back in 2010. “Harness Your Hopes” — a non-album track from an EP...

Pavement made their first late-night television appearance in 15 years on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday night, performing their song “Harness the Hopes.”

The appearance comes ahead of the band’s new experimental biopic-doc, Pavements, starring Joe Keery, Jason Schwartzman, Nat Wolff, Tim Heidecker, and others. Directed by Alex Ross Perry, the film will blend documentary footage with scripted re-enactments, a musical element, and more. Pavements will premiere in theaters nationwide on June 6th. Watch its trailer here.

A companion soundtrack to the film, featuring the band’s first new music in 25 years, will be released digitally on May 30th, with the physical edition arriving at a later date. Pre-orders are ongoing.

Compiled by the band with Pavements producer/editor Robert Greene, the soundtrack album features dialogue snippets, scenes from the film-within-the-film Range Life, and cast recordings from Perry’s Slanted! Enchanted! jukebox musical, as well as live...

On Thursday May 15 2025, CBS broadcasts The Late Show With Stephen Colbert!

Bernie Sanders; Pavement Season 10 Episode 118 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” promises an engaging mix of politics and music. Scheduled to air on CBS, this episode features Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont as the special guest. Known for his progressive views and candid discussions, Sanders is expected to share insights on current political issues and his vision for the future.

In addition to the political conversation, the episode will also showcase a performance by the band Pavement. This iconic alternative rock group has a loyal following and is known for their unique sound and influential music. Fans can look forward to hearing some of their classic hits, along with possibly new material.

Stephen Colbert’s blend of humor and serious dialogue often creates a lively atmosphere. With Sanders’ experience and Pavement’s musical talent,...

Variety received 92 nominations from the Los Angeles Press Club during the 2024 calendar year for the organization’s annual SoCal Journalism Awards. Its reporters earned nods in 57 categories, including print journalist of the year for Daniel D’Addario, online journalist of the year for Clayton Davis, and entertainment journalist of the year for Owen Gleiberman and Chris Willman. In addition to being recognized for best traditional news organization website in the online category, the org further received kudos across magazine and entertainment journalism, video, audio, online content, and social media.

In addition to dominating the entertainment journalist category, Variety took three nominations for commentary/ analysis of TV: Jenelle Riley for “This Emmys Season, Don’t Forget About: Heidi Gardner, the Scene Stealer of ‘SNL’,” Brian Steinberg for “TV Talkers From Pat McAfee to Rachel Maddow Gain New License to Blast Bosses On-Air” and Aramide Tinubu for “Kamala Harris’ Speech Was Powerful and Heartfelt,...

In case you had any doubts, André 3000 is living his — or anyone’s — best life. Instead of doing what people want or expect, he’s out here following his muse wherever it takes him. In 7 Piano Sketches, he goes for almost literally the last thing you’d predict from one of the greatest rappers ever: 16 minutes of improvised doodles, mostly recorded at home in 2013, with his iPhone sitting on the piano. “I’d rather go amateur interesting than master boring,” André told Rolling Stone last year, and he lives...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Venice Film Festival. Utopia releases “Pavements” in select theaters Friday, May 2, 2025.

The question Alex Ross Perry asked himself before embarking on the mad, four-faced project that is “Pavements” was: “What if Pavement was the most important band of all time?” It’s a fun idea, and Perry’s commitment to the bit cannot be questioned. An off-Broadway jukebox musical named after their breakthrough debut studio album “Slanted and Enchanted,” a fake “Bohemian Rhapsody”-style biopic starring Joe Keery and Jason Schwartzman, a museum exhibition Perry helped devise and that brims with mostly unimportant memorabilia, and an actual documentary all exist in service of “Pavements.” If the assignment in making a film about Pavement was part sincere, part fuck-you, a dash of incoherent anti-establishment thought and a tablespoon of self-indulgence, “Pavements” understands it perfectly. Making a film about the band any...

Pavements, Alex Ross Perry’s experimental biopic-documentary on the band Pavement, has received its first official trailer.

Arriving in theaters around the US on June 6th, Pavements combines elements of the traditional musical biopic with that of a rock documentary. The film captures all five members of Pavement in 2022 as they launched their reunion tour, their own museum, and a musical based on their catalogue. All the while, Joe Keery stars as frontman Stephen Malkmus in a fictitious documenting of the band’s history, alongside fellow actor/musician performers Jason Schwartzman, Nat Wolff, Tim Heidecker, Zoe Lister-Jones, and more.

This biopic-style presentation of the band’s origins story was captured as Range Life: A Pavement Story, which is both its own separate companion movie as well as the “film within a film” portion of Pavements. Range Life received its first trailer earlier this month, though it does not have a...

Pavements, Alex Ross Perry’s experimental biopic-documentary on the band Pavement, has received its first official trailer.

Arriving in theaters around the US on June 6th, Pavements combines elements of the traditional musical biopic with that of a rock documentary. The film captures all five members of Pavement in 2022 as they launched their reunion tour, their own museum, and a musical based on their catalogue. All the while, Joe Keery stars as frontman Stephen Malkmus in a fictitious documenting of the band’s history, alongside fellow actor/musician performers Jason Schwartzman, Nat Wolff, Tim Heidecker, Zoe Lister-Jones, and more.

This biopic-style presentation of the band’s origins story was captured as Range Life: A Pavement Story, which is both its own separate companion movie as well as the “film within a film” portion of Pavements. Range Life received its first trailer earlier this month, though it does not have a...

Alex Ross Perry’s Pavement movie flips the name of the indie rock band into the plural, Pavements. It’s fitting given the ambitious scope of the film, which is all at once a documentary and musical with an additional film-inside-the-film accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage of that same film topped off with mockumentary clips to bring it all home. The first official full-length trailer for Pavements fits this content overload into just over two-and-a-half minutes and lays out just how strategic the introduction to Pavements has been. The complete film...

Stranger Things star Joe Keery makes his hilariously melodramatic debut as indie rock great and leader of the “slacktivism” movement, Stephen Malkmus, in the new trailer for Alex Ross Perry’s Pavement movie, Range Life: A Pavement Story.

The film is kind of a mix of, well, everything — rock doc, biopic, jukebox musical, museum exhibit, performance art piece — all of it treated with the irreverent suspicion one would expect from a Pavement film. Case in point: The new trailer is a perfect send-up of overwrought, self-serious biopic trailers, set to...

The world of music documentaries is a complex one.

There are plenty of films covering the biggest artists in the world from Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Hulu’s Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band and Martin Scorsese-produced Beatles ’64.

But under the surface, music like alternative music scenes themselves, there’s a phalanx of weird and interesting films about lesser known artists, where the story is often as strange and endearing as the artists. These often become the films that have longevity, from The Decline of Western Civilization to Dig!

This is where the Sound Unseen Film Festival comes in. Held in the Twin Cities across a variety of cinemas in and around Minneapolis, the festival showcases a slew of leftfield films from interesting directors and filmmakers such as Omar & Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted,...

In 1973, the world saw George Harrison as the Beatle who was winning the break-up. He became a solo superstar with All Things Must Pass, his big triple-vinyl extravaganza, then his noble and star-studded Concert For Bangla Desh. He’d finally broken free of the Fabs and gotten everything he’d ever wanted. Right? Well, not exactly. George turned his spiritual crisis into Living in the Material World, his slept-on masterpiece — the most profoundly weird album of his life.

It might seem strange they didn’t think of doing this new...

In the romanticizing of 90s indie music, it's oft said that no band better epitomized the rock & roll slacker ethos of rebelling against establishment/commercialism/‘whatever else ya got’/etc. than Pavement. If true enough, then how exactly do you make a movie about Pavement? The answer as put to Alex Ross Perry by Matador Records seems to be to make every movie about Pavement… and a museum exhibit… and a community theater-style musical. The result is Pavements, a hilariously kaleidoscopic telling of the band’s mythologized story and ostensible meaning, while simultaneously functioning as an appropriately wise-ass satire of the non-music mediums that typically seek to capture the essence of musicians. Paraphrasing Perry’s words, is there any high-brow film genre lower than the music biopic? If not,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Joe Keery has found the role of a lifetime in Stephen Malkmus, the enigmatic and ambivalent frontman of seminal rock band Pavement. Like so many performers inspired by the particular charisma of a music icon, Keery has thrown himself into the role with zeal and commitment, studying countless hours of...

Some bands make their journey to the Fountain of Rockness to take a sip or two; others merely to gargle. But the Hard Quartet dip their four sets of lips into those waters and drink deep. They gather together for an indie-rock supergroup of kindred spirits, resulting in a shaggily delightful album of casual guitar kicks. In this corner: Stephen Malkmus, from Pavement and the Jicks. In that one: Matt Sweeney, from Chavez and Superwolf. They’re joined by Dirty Three drum legend Jim White and Ty Segall bassist Emmett Kelly.

Alex Ross Perry was approached to make a documentary about Pavement. There was a slight hitch: The band kinda sorta did not want a documentary made about them. Or rather, they didn’t want one of those things where fans of the band talk about how amazing the quintet were, in between archival concert footage and Behind the Music-style interviews and cute animated transitions and all that jazz. The group had announced their first show in a decade, set to happen in 2020 — only to have the pandemic shut the world down.

Alex Ross Perry’s 2019 backstage rock drama Her Smell is bookmarked by cutaways to faux-documentary video footage, capturing its fictional 1990s alternative group in moments of camera-friendly bliss. Placed next to the emotional apocalypse that comprises most of the rest of the film’s runtime, the supposedly “real” Behind the Music-style footage can’t help but feel like an obfuscation of the band’s true story.

Perry avoids such pitfalls with Pavements, a docu-fiction about indie rock titans Pavement. The band’s legendary status, quickly achieved in the early ’90s indie underground, has always felt somewhat at odds with the sense of shaggy self-effacement that their critics often mistook for a conscious lack of effort. Wisely anticipating that the traditional rock-doc format would be a poor fit for such a group, Perry has crafted a far less easily classifiable tribute.

Pavements pulls together at least four different strands for its...

Arthouse streamer Mubi has secured the rights to Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements following its world premiere in the Orizzonti section at the Venice International Film Festival.

Mubi nabbed the portrait of the influential ’90s indie band in all rights deals for the U.K, Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, and Canada. It also scooped up exclusive SVOD rights in the U.S., where Utopia is releasing the film theatrically.

Perry, known for features like Her Smell and Listen Up Philip, is also a prolific music video director and helmed Pavement’s video for Harness Your Hopes in 2022. For Pavements, he uses different formats and genres — from documentary to musical comedy to museum exhibition — to present the work of the alt-rock band whose reputation has only grown since their ’90s heyday.

Calling the two-hour-plus result both “exhaustive and enthusiastic,” THR reviewer Jordan Mintzer noted “You don’t have to be a major fan of Pavement,...

Out of Stockton, California, came a band in the late 80s that would help shape the sound of alt-rock for decades to come. Pavement blended melody with experimentalism, crafting songs that were equal parts witty and weird. Led by the laconic Stephen Malkmus and alongside musicians like Scott Kannberg and Bob Nastanovich, they became icons of the 90s underground scene.

Now director Alex Ross Perry pays tribute to Pavement in a uniquely unconventional documentary. More than just concert footage or interviews, his movie celebrates the band’s 2022 reunion through a plethora of creative projects. We see rehearsals for their tour alongside scenes from a faux biopic and an off-Broadway musical based on their songs. But this is no straightforward recap—Perry plays with the lines between fact and fiction, mirroring Pavement’s own subversive spirit.

With its blend of archival material, staged scenes, and made-for-the-movie elements, the film takes an...

In Alex Ross Perry’s exuberant tribute to Pavement, Tim Heidecker gives a succinct descriptor of what made the band a staple of college radio stations in the ‘90s: “For kids who thought everything was stupid and everything sucked, they were your band.” In an era when rock stars gave up hours doing big hair in the makeup chair to instead wear the flannel they walked in off the street with, the band, fronted by Stephen Malkmus, cultivated a fan base that cared quite a bit when they looked like they didn’t care much at all, standing out in the grunge period for their ironic detachment and a general lack of pretense that belied the sophistication of their songcraft.

While passion didn’t necessarily appear to be part of Pavement’s persona, Perry feels obliged to overcompensate, declaring them to be “the world’s most important and influential band...

You don’t have to be a major fan of Pavement, or director Alex Ross Perry, to enjoy his exhaustive and enthusiastic two-hour-plus love letter to the beloved ’90s alt-rock band. But it certainly helps.

This multifaceted meta-movie is at once documentary, musical comedy, faux biopic and real museum exhibition. In its attempts to capture the quintessence of a much appreciated but never all that famous indie group, it throws in everything but the kitchen sink — including vintage muddied t-shirts from Lollapalooza 1995.

And yet, with its onslaught of footage both old and new, staged and captured live, split-screened, chopped and screwed, Pavements oftentimes seems to be preaching to the choir more than trying to win over or welcome new admirers. It’s something of a sincere if self-indulgent inside joke about a band that always had a strong undercurrent of irony, whether about itself or the music business. At some point,...

This year’s Riot Fest is just around the corner, taking place September 20th-22nd at Chicago’s Douglass Park. Consequence is giving away two VIP passes to the three-day extravaganza, which boasts headlining performances from a reunited Slayer, Beck, Fall Out Boy, and Pavement, along with sets from dozens of other notable acts.

After initially announcing a move to Bridgeview, Illinois, for this year, Riot Fest recently revealed a last-minute switch back to the familiar Douglass Park in downtown Chicago, where the multi-genre fest has taken place for the past several years.

Slayer will be performing their first show since they ended their farewell tour in November 2019, after an unexpected reunion announcement earlier this year. The legendary thrash metal band’s set will be one of only three scheduled performances this year.

As part of their own farewell tour, punk stalwarts Nofx will be playing a different set at...

When Alex Ross Perry set out to make a film about Pavement, he wanted it to be as absurd as some of the ’90s slacker band’s lyrics. For the indie director, known for “Listen Up Philip” and “Her Smell,” that meant pushing the very boundaries of what a film could be.

“Pavements,” premiering on Wednesday in the Horizons section of Venice Film Festival, is a documentary-musical-biopic hybrid that imagines a world where Pavement has achieved Rolling Stones-level success. The film follows the group on its 2022 reunion tour, tracks the progress of Perry’s “Slanted! Enchanted!” musical that also premiered that year, takes the audience inside a pop-up museum dedicated to the band and pitches a tongue-in-cheek biopic starring “Stranger Things” breakout Joe Keery as lead singer Stephen Malkmus and Nat Wolff as guitarist Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs. If it seems like that’s a lot for one film,...

Chicago’s Riot Fest is reversing course, choosing to move back to its long-time home at Douglass Park just months after announcing plans to relocate to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, and only weeks before this year’s festivities are set to get underway.

Riot Fest initially announced its move to Bridgeview after festival organizers were unable to reach an agreement with the Chicago Park District. However, the relocation to Bridgeview was met with a mixed reaction from fans due its distance from downtown Chicago and limited access to public transportation.

Get Riot Fest 2024 Tickets Here

In explaining its decision to return to Douglass Park, Riot Fest cited “the overwhelming support” the festival had received from “the City of Chicago and our fans.”

In its own statement, the Chicago Park District said Riot Fest was returning “by community demand” after the two sides were able to “come together with a...

Farewell to the great Martin Phillipps, the New Zealand indie-rock pioneer of the Chills. He was one of the most brilliant songwriters of his era, with a string of Eighties and Nineties guitar classics: “Pink Frost,” “I Love My Leather Jacket,” “Heavenly Pop Hit,” “The Great Escape,” so many more. Phillipps had battled liver disease for years and recently entered a Dunedin hospital, but his unexpected death, at only 61, is a real loss. His tunes were full of alienation and misery, yet with his own distinct touch of human warmth.

Martin Phillips, whose New Zealand band the Chills served as an influence on R.E.M. and Pavement, has died. He was 61.

His death was announced in a statement posted Sunday on the Chills’ social media accounts. No cause or date was given. New Zealand’s Otago Daily Times reported that Phillips had recently been admitted to Dunedin Hospital with liver problems.

The Chills were known for jangly guitar pop. Phillips was the band’s only constant member in a career that attracted an international following across four decades.

Neil Finn of Crowded House issued a statement Sunday, calling Phillips “one of Nz’s greatest songwriters” and described him as having been “fascinated by and devoted to the magic and mystery of music.”

Phillips formed the Chills in 1980 with his sister, Rachel, and the band signed to Flying Nun Records in 1982. The band’s first studio album, Brave Words, arrived in 1987.

Their follow-up,...

More than 30 summers have passed since Pavement filmed a music video for “Summer Babe,” but now they have decided to release it. The clip shows three of the group’s five members performing the song on a pier in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

In a statement, the clip’s director, Tanya Small, said they held onto the clip for so long because of the absence of multi-instrumentalist Spiral Stairs and drummer Gary Young, who were both in Stockton, California at the time.

“The story line for the video is the same as...

Riot Fest has unveiled its 2024 lineup, featuring Fall Out Boy, Slayer, Pavement, Beck, Rob Zombie, Sublime, Public Enemy, The Offspring (performing Smash), St. Vincent, and Bright Eyes topping the bill.

Other notable acts include The Marley Brothers, and Damian) performing the music of their legendary father Bob Marley, plus Spoon, Sum 41, Cypress Hill, The Hives, Gwar, Waxahatchee, Tierra Whack, Taking Back Sunday, Dr. Dog, Manchester Orchestra (performing Cope), Mastodon (performing Leviathan), Clutch, Suicidal Tendencies, Lamb of God, and Something Corporate.

Get Riot Fest 2024 Tickets Here

Riot Fest 2024 goes down September 20th-22nd. This year will also see the Chicago music festival moving to a brand new location. After calling Douglass Park its home for nearly a decade, Riot Fest will head south to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois to establish what it’s calling RiotLand.

As part of their farewell tour, Nofx will play three separate sets over the course of the weekend.

Soccer Mommy welcomed guest Phoebe Bridgers onstage Tuesday during her Los Angeles gig, with the duo delivering a rendition of Elliott Smith’s “The Biggest Lie.”

Taking the stage at the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Soccer Mommy (a.k.a. Sophie Allison) and Bridgers first reminisced about touring together in 2018 before launching into their take on the closer from Smith’s 1995 self-titled LP.

Since the release of Soccer Mommy’s third album Sometimes, Forever in 2022, Allison has been on a streak of cover versions, which she collected...

Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival is returning to Seattle this September with a lineup led by Pavement, James Blake, Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett, Kim Gordon, Freddie Gibbs, and Aly & Aj. The event takes place over Labor Day weekend (August 31st – September 1st) at the Seattle Center campus.

Other confirmed acts include Cypress Hill, Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry, Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, BadBadNotGood, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Mercury Rev, Lol Tulhurst x Budgie, Hurray For the Riff Raff, Squirrel Flower, Pom Pom Squad, Pink Sifu, Moor Mother, Kassa Overall, Ladytron, and more. Check out the full lineup and 2024 festival poster below.

As with previous years, Bumbershoot features a centerpiece visual arts program curated from artists throughout the Pacific Nortwest, alongside food and beverage offerings from more than 50 regional restaurants, wineries, and breweries.

This year, Bumbershoot is also introducing the animation district as part of its visual arts celebration — the 2024 programming is set to feature visual exhibitions,...

Pavement celebrated a major achievement this weekend: “Harness Your Hopes,” a B-side later placed on the 1999 EP Spit on a Stranger, has achieved Gold status from the RIAA. It marks Pavement’s first ever RIAA certification.

“Harness Your Hopes” was originally recorded for Pavement’s fourth studio album Brighten the Corners, but frontman Stephen Malkmus opted not to include it on the album “for no good reason,” and relegated it to B-side status. Years later, however, “Harness Your Hopes” received a major boost in streaming numbers around 2017, has since gone viral on TikTok, and has now been certified as selling over 500,000 units.

The song’s original spike in notoriety hasn’t been tied to anything specific, but Stereogum attributed the rise in streaming numbers to a 2017 change in Spotify’s algorithm. It then exploded in popularity around 2020 when TikTok users began posting choreographed dances to the track.

“Harness Your Hopes...

He might be technically retired from what we consider regular fiction filmmaking, but since his TIFF premiered Her Smell back in 2018 Alex Ross Perry‘s output has been fruitful, plentiful and now we this hybrid we can say imaginative and not trapped by conformity. Announced late last year, the project as Perry called it will be a mix of items tossed into a blender. Putting together the members of Pavement, Zoe Lister-Jones, Michael Esper and Kathryn Gallagher, the behind the line crew folk include cinematography Robert Kolodny and editor Robert Greene. Perry first visited Park City for Listen Up Philip in 2014.…...

“Her Smell” director Alex Ross Perry is developing two nonfiction projects, including the as-yet-untitled doc about video stores.

“I can’t speak for everybody but yeah, I miss them,” he tells Variety at Poland’s American Film Festival, where he also picked the Indie Star Award and treated the audience to work-in-progress footage.

“I’m trying to tell this story while it’s still within our grasp. You only have so much time when something is both a present tense memory for one half of your audience and a completely new experience for another. In another decade, everything I’m talking about will be ancient history.”

Perry, who has been working on the project for 10 years, is also putting finishing touches on “Pavements,” about an indie rock band.

“I think both this video store movie and the Pavement movie are examinations of the unexamined era,” he says.

“It was something...

Soccer Mommy has dropped an EP full of covers called Karaoke Night, featuring her unique take on songs by Taylor Swift, Pavement, Slowdive, and more. Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

Along with Sophie Allison’s excellent reimaginings of Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun” and Swift’s “I’m Only Me When I’m with You,” the five-track Karaoke Night includes her renditions of “Here” by Pavement, “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M., and “Dagger” by Slowdive. Nothing surprising here — if you’re at all familiar with Soccer Mommy’s catalog, you can hear how all five artists have influenced her music, from bubbly pop to scrappy indie rock.

“I’m Only Me When I’m with You” originally appeared as a bonus track on Swift’s 2006 self-titled debut album. Soccer Mommy’s version swaps out the fiddle solos for a screeching, Bilinda Butcher-style electric guitar riff,...

The National announced the impending release of a new album titled Laugh Track during the band’s opening night set at their Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati.

Arriving just five months after the band’s 2023 LP First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Laugh Track will be released digitally on Sunday, singer Matt Berninger told the crowd, with a vinyl release to follow in November.

“We have a new record coming out, it comes out Sunday night at midnight,” Berninger said. “The new record is called Laugh Track, and we have some pre-pressed...

Soccer Mommy has covered Taylor Swift’s 2006 track “I’m Only Me When I’m With You.” The emotive, punk-tinged rendition will appear on the musician’s forthcoming five-song covers EP, Karaoke Night, out Sept. 22 via Loma Vista.

“I really wanted to cover this song because it’s one of my favorites from Taylor’s first album,” Sophie Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy, explained in a statement. “I listened to that record so much when I was a kid and I think it had a lot of influence on me then.

Gary Young, the original drummer for pioneering indie rock band Pavement who played on its revered debut album Slanted and Enchanted, died Thursday at his home in Stockton, CA. He was 70. The group shared the news on social media but did not provide other details.

Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus wrote on Twitter, “Gary’s pavement drums were ‘one take and hit record’…. Nailed it so well. rip.”

Born Garrit Allan Robertson Young on May 3, 1953, in Stockton, he played in various local bands in the 1980s while booking punk acts in California’s Central Valley. When singer-songwriter-guitarist Malkmus and guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg formed Pavement as a duo in in 1989, they recorded their first EPs at Young’s home studio Louder Than You Think, and he drummed on the tracks.

Gary Young in ‘Louder Than You Think’

Young earned a reputation for eccentricity and indulgence in those early days, playing...

Gary Young, the influential and enigmatic drummer on Pavement’s earliest releases including their 1992 debut album Slanted and Enchanted, has died at 70. He passed away at his home in Stockton, as confirmed by his wife Geri Bernstein Young.

Young was born on May 3rd, 1953 in Mamaroneck, New York. After touring in punk bands and working as a talent booker through the ’80s, the ex-hippie settled down in Stockton, California where he eventually crossed paths with Pavement founding members Stephen Malkmus and Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg in 1989. Young offered to play drums for the duo while producing a session at his home studio Louder Than You Think that resulted in Pavement’s 1989 debut EP Slay Tracks: 1933–1969. After the release gained traction, Young was enlisted to produce and perform on their follow-up EP’s, 1990’s Demolition Plot J-7 and 1991’s Perfect Sound Forever.

As Pavement launched into a full-fledged touring band, Young...

Gary Young, the original drummer for pioneering indie-rock band Pavement, has died at the age of 70.

Frontman Stephen Malkmus confirmed Young’s death on social media Thursday. “Gary Young passed on today,” he wrote. “Gary’s pavement drums were ‘one take and hit record’…. Nailed it so well.”

Malkmus and guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg formed Pavement in 1989 in their hometown of Stockton, California. That year, they recorded their first EP at a small studio in Stockton owned by Young, the colorful local who would soon become the band’s first drummer.

This post contains spoilers for "Barbie."

In "Barbie," Gloria's heartfelt monologue about the pressure for women to be perfect resonates so strongly with the Barbies that it snaps them out of the subservient spell they're under in the patriarchal Kendom. Alongside her daughter Sasha, Gloria leads a covert mission with some of the Barbies to take back Barbieland. They do this by giving Ken exactly what he wants: by stroking his ego. While one of the enlightened Barbies distracts Ken with her adoring gaze and innocent questions, the others capture the brainwashed Barbies — former writers and doctors turned into cheerleaders and maids — to re-educate them. Then, they plan to storm the pink Capitol Building and rewrite the Barbie constitution.

Tired of being "just Ken," the Kens use mansplaining as a way to overpower Barbie. In addition to chugging beers and admiring horses, these new hypermasculine Kens love to condescendingly lecture...

It seems like distant memory, a relic of a bygone era, but “punk cred” was once currency in certain corners of rock culture. To be perceived as inauthentic, cynical, or ambitious meant losing stock with a sizable chunk of the music press as well as your peers, and few bands felt the brunt of that as much as the Smashing Pumpkins. Indie icons from Stephen Malkmus to fellow Chicagoan Steve Albini criticized the band in songs and interviews, and even as recently as 2015, Kim Gordon called the group “in no way punk rock” in her memoir Girl in a Band.

Led by the mercurial Billy Corgan—or William Patrick Corgan, as he’s preferred in recent years—the Pumpkins started as a mopey goth band but gradually addended their love of the Cure and New Order with Black Sabbath-inspired riffs and psychedelic guitar. Their debut, 1991’s Gish, boasted bombastic production...

Hopscotch Music Festival returns to Raleigh, North Carolina this September, and they’ve revealed their jam-packed 2023 lineup featuring headliners Pavement, Denzel Curry, and Japanese Breakfast. It marks the fest’s biggest lineup since its 2019 iteration.

Other large-font acts hitting the Hopscotch grounds between September 7th-9th include Alvvays, Digable Planets, Soccer Mommy, King Krule, Margo Price, Dinosaur Jr., Sunny Day Real Estate, and American Football, with even more acts to be announced soon. What’s more, Hopscotch will host a batch of comedy sets throughout the weekend featuring Whitmer Thomas, Saturday Night Live breakout Sarah Sherman, and more.

Three-day general admission wristbands are on sale now for $129, with VIP going for $375. Grab yours over at Hopscotch Music Festival’s website, and check out the lineup poster below.

Curry shared his most recent album Melt My Eyez See Your Future in March 2022. In addition to supporting Beck and Phoenix on their...

The National have announced the lineup for the 2023 iteration of their Homecoming Festival, which will of course be headlined by the band themselves along with performances from Patti Smith and Her Band, Pavement, and The Walkmen. The two-day event returns to Smale Park in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15th and 16th.

While headlining on Friday and Saturday, The National will perform a different set each night. The other acts on the bill include Weyes Blood, Snail Mail, Bartees Strange, Arooj Aftab, Julia Jacklin, The Drin, Leo Pastel, Carriers, and Ballard.

Single-day, weekend, and VIP passes will go on sale Friday, May 19th at 10:00 a.m. Et via Ticketmaster. Members of The National’s Cherry Tree fan club will have first access to pre-sale tickets beginning May 18th at 9:00 a.m. Et.

“When we launched Homecoming in 2018, we were overwhelmed by the response from the community...

Pavement are extending their reunion tour to Fall 2023 with another four-night run in New York City.

This time around, Pavement will play four nights at Brooklyn Steel from September 11th through 14th. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 12th at 10:00 a.m. via Axs.

Prior to the fall shows, Pavement will play Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party and Bilbao Bbk Live. Grab your passes for those dates via StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. They also have a three-night residency at Harpa Center in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Last year, Pavement shared reissues of their final album Terror Twilight and 1999 EP Spit on a Stranger. They also released a 30th anniversary edition of their debut album, Slanted and Enchanted.

Read our recap of Pavement’s first show in Osaka, Japan in 13 years and revisit our ranking of their 10 best songs.

Pavement 2023 Tour Dates:

05/14 – Salt Lake City,...

Lewis Largent, the one-time host of MTV’s alternative music program 120 Minutes and prominent radio DJ for Kroq, has died at 58. His family confirmed the news via Variety, revealing that the MTV VJ passed away on February 20th following a long illness.

Largent, who was born and raised in Southern California, launched his career in the music industry with an internship at Los Angeles’ famed alternative rock radio station, Kroq. He landed a full-time job with them in 1985, and was promoted to a music director position in 1989.

After departing Kroq in 1992, Largent jumped to MTV as the Vice President of Music Programming and assumed hosting duties of the channel’s established alternative rock show, 120 Minutes. During his tenure from 1992 to 1995, the music television tastemaker interviewed countless up-and-coming alternative artists at the time including Radiohead, Björk, Smashing Pumpkins, and Pavement as well as legends like David Bowie (sitting beside a young Trent Reznor) and Tony Bennett.