Slanted and Enchanted

Slanted and Enchanted was recorded at the home recording studio of Pavement drummer Gary Young on what was described as a "tight budget" over a span of ten days. The process was said to have been "relaxed." Stephen Malkmus recorded playing a Fender Stratocaster, and Scott Kannberg recorded with a Fender Mustang and a Gibson SG. Kannberg played through a Fender Silverface Twin Reverb amplifier, and Malkmus played through a small boutique Epiphone amplifier that was borrowed from the father of one of his friends. They used ProCo TurboRat and Boss DS-1 distortion pedals. The recording sessions were split between South Makepeace Studios in Brooklyn, New York (recorded December 24, 1990) and Louder Than You Think Studios in Stockton, California (recorded January 13–20, 1991). ==Release history==

The album's first single, "Summer Babe", appeared in August 1991. and as number 292 in the 2011 update of the list. The album's second single, "Trigger Cut", was first released in the UK by Big Cat Records on July 13, 1992, before appearing in the US market through Matador the following month. Slanted and Enchanted was officially released on April 20, 1992, to critical acclaim, originally reaching a peak of number 72 on the UK Albums Chart. As of 2007, the album had sold 150,000 copies. In 2002, Matador Records released Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe, a compilation containing Slanted and Enchanted in its entirety, as well outtakes and other rarities from the same era. Matador released Luxe & Reduxe on October 20, 2002, alongside the Slow Century DVD. Luxe & Reduxe reached number 5 on the US Billboard Top Independent Albums chart and number 152 on the US Billboard 200. == Music and lyrics ==

Slanted and Enchanted is noted for its "stripped down" sound and heavy use of distortion. The original Pavement EPs were recorded without the presence of bass guitar. Some tracks on Slanted and Enchanted, such as "Summer Babe", were recorded with bass, while others, such as "Fame Throwa", have detuned guitars substituting for bass guitar. Songs such as "Here" are said to be "entirely bass-free." Davis described the album's sound as consisting of "slapdash drums, bells, catchy choruses, sha-la-la-las, guitars played so loose and confident they're almost smiling at you." The album has been noted for its stream of consciousness lyrical style. == Critical reception and legacy ==

Slanted and Enchanted received critical acclaim. In a contemporary review of the album, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was highly positive, writing that Pavement are "always good at both tune and noise" and that the music on Slanted and Enchanted yields "a message complex enough to offer hope... that the lyrics will catch up". and in 2003, the website ranked it as the fifth greatest album of the 1990s. Rolling Stone called Slanted and Enchanted "the quintessential indie rock album" and placed the record on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Slanted and Enchanted was included in the 2014 reference book Gimme Indie Rock by music journalist Andrew Earles. He wrote: "The 1992 release of Pavement's proper full-length debut did not result in the permanent transformation of the musical landscape across the entire underground-to-mainstream spectrum the way Nirvana's Nevermind did that same year. But Slanted and Enchanted was responsible for a kind of miniature variation of that same kind of change, when viewed from an indie rock perspective. [...] Slanted and Enchanted is such an excellent album that that it begat a sort of cure, generating unrealistic expectations of the band that created the record, while producing many would-be clones of that same band." In 2017, Billboard called it a "slacker masterpiece" and "the definitive indie rock album." Accolades == Track listing ==

Original 1992 Version Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe (2002) Disc One - Slanted & Enchanted Disc Two - Watery, Domestic ==Personnel==

Pavement • Stephen Malkmus – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar • Scott Kannberg – bass guitar, lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals (tracks 1–2, 4–5), lead vocals (track 10) • Gary Young – drums Additional personnel • Cy Jameson – engineering (track 9) ==Charts==