I’ll Try The Things You’ll Never Try

Thank you to Todd for pointing me in the direction of Nickel Creek’s version of Pavement’s “Spit On A Stranger”. It’s a super-glossy pop-bluegrass hybrid, and I like it a lot. I think the squeeky-clean sound really suits the song, I like how they’ve made it so cutesy and square. The harmonies sound lovely, and I like the strangely inhibited distortion towards the end, and how the lead singer really goes for those high notes where SM would just deliberately flatten them out. This is probably my favorite Pavement cover (and I’ve heard a lot of them), because it is the first one I’ve heard that really seems like a tribute to Stephen Malkmus’ incredible gift for pop songcraft and adds something to the song that wasn’t already there. I hope this becomes a hit for Nickel Creek, because this song really deserves to be a hit, and because Malkmus deserves those fat royalty checks.

Happy Birthday, Russ

Exactly what it says above: Happy birthday, Russ.