Review: 'Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young and Pavement' OST

Gary Young was a bizarre yet extremely talented drummer and producer who consumed mass quantities of acid in Stockton, California, while listening to Yes; played in a punk band with the extremely punk name The Fall of Christianity; and most bizarrely of all, ended up as the drummer in slacker poster-boy  combo Pavement. While Stephen Malkmus, Spiral Stairs, and the rest of the dewy young guys lurched over their instruments in their baggy shirts with their shaggy hair dangling in their faces, middle-aged Gary would be standing on his drum stool, shirtless, twirling sticks like Tommy Lee. The incongruity delighted Pavement's audience of ironists, and Young's drumming supplied the pro-glue that held the whole melodic mess together. He only made one album with Pavement, but Slanted and Enchanted is the one most often cited as the band's best.  

All this makes for one hell of an eccentric story, and Jed I. Rosenberg upped the eccentricity factor by sometimes depicting its episodes with marionettes (I won't bother to qualify them as "creepy"; you already know that all marionettes are creepy) in his documentary Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young and Pavement. The puppets make the film creative; Pavement makes it must-viewing for anyone who gives a damn about indie rock; and Gary, who died shortly after the film was completed, was quite a raconteur; but there's also the music. The doc features plenty of Pavement, but there are also Edward W. Dahl and Noah Georgeson's synthesizer burblings that heighten its weirdness and spotlights for Young's post-Pavement group, Gary Young's Hospital. No Gen Xer of any worth can forget "Plant Man" ("Shirts!").

Pavement, of course, is one of the most high-profile signees of Matador Records, so their presence on the Louder Than You Think soundtrack LP from Independent Project Records is limited to a few live numbers, including a version of their signature number, "Summer Babe", and backing on Gary's "Please Be Happy (For Us)", which he sings a capella in the movie. Of course, "Plant Man" is included ("Shirts!"...again!) as is the deliriously bouncy "Birds in Traffic" by the Hospital. The rest of the album is left to Dahl and Georgeson, whose instrumental music is often superimposed with speech from the film, and a number of groups from Young's Stockton inner circle. The prevailing sound of these groups is hardcore punk with a slacky undercurrent that helps make sense of Young's involvement with Pavement. The Authorities are my favorite of these groups, banging out punk that is both cynical and melodic and arguably hilarious, but we also hear from Crill, Hot Spit Dancers (who supply the near title cut "Later Than You Think") and Gary's own Fall of Christinaity via a fuzzed-out lo-fi cut. This melange of punk, indie, synth atmospheres, spoken words, and however you want to categorize Gary's Hospital makes for a seriously disorienting, never ever boring listening experience. I think Gary would have loved this record.

The vinyl is quiet and well mastered and flat, though the spindle is a bit off center and I was getting some unwelcome noise in the right channel at times on Side B. The package is lush with a colorful spine band and a booklet insert with liner notes and lots of photos. The gatefold is beautifully designed with a terrific illustration of Gary and Pavement on the front and a lovely shot of the Gary puppet on the rear.

 Shirts!