Review

Rattled by La Rush collects "Rattled by the Rush," from the band's eclectic-sounding Wowee Zowee album, and three B-sides of varying quality and interest. Pavement are up to their usual goofy trickery in calling the song and EP Rattled by La Rush, as opposed to "Rattled by the Rush," the song's title on Wowee Zowee. It's not too funny of a joke, and it's indicative of the somewhat throwaway sound of the EP. The title track is a quality song, in the style of the band's previous album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. There's a bit of country twang, a great deal of semantic play, and dollops of rock aggression. The drums bounce just enough to provide an enjoyable fill under Steve Malkmus' breathless, somewhat indifferent vocals. Guitars wobble to decadent aplomb. "Brink of the Clouds" and "False Skorpion" are a different story; neither song qualifies as more than an indifferent excursion down a one-way street. Malkmus whines over bland guitars and some sort of windy sound effect on "Brink of the Clouds" to no good end. "False Skorpion" at least introduces a bit of attitude and energy into the mix. Malkmus screeches that he's "no woman," he's "a man," before the song devolves into random squalls. You can usually tell how committed Pavement is to a song by the song's length. If a track is under three minutes, as "Brink of the Clouds" and "False Skorpion are here, it's a good sign the song isn't going to be very focused. "Easily Fooled" is much better than the two previous B-sides, but it's by no means a revelation. Like "Rattled by the Rush," it would sound at home on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but only as a lesser, meandering track. It's hook-heavy and bouncy in a way that only Pavement was in the '90s. Their later albums had a tendency to get mired in drawn-out jams, and a minor song like "Easily Fooled" could have easily replaced any of those many missteps. Like Wowee Zowee, Rattled by La Rush sees Pavement experimenting with sounds and styles in a hit-and-miss fashion. It's this lack of focus which makes it hard to give the EP repeat listens, as a 50/50 ratio of hits to misses doesn't leave much to recommend.