Starlite Walker
If it looks like Pavement and sounds like Pavement, then it must be Pavement, right? Not if it's the Silver Jews. While the Jews do in fact feature Pavement's Steve Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, the main Jew is their old University of Virginia chum David Berman. Berman, who writes and sings most of the songs, is apparently a fan of his buddies' other band, though, because there isn't much to distinguish Starlite Walker from a lo-fi, pasted-together Pavement record. The loose electric guitar, the squawky singing, and the obscure-cool lyrics make this the record Pavement fans have been waiting for--at least until the real band's next album comes out. Beneath all the alternative trappings--the dissonance, the herky-jerky changes, the slack voices--Berman and friends manage to merge pop with art-punk experimentalism. "Trains Across the Sea," "Advice to the Graduate," "New Orleans," and "Rebel Jew" are among the more melodic and cohesive, while "The Country Diary of a Subway Conductor" is a study in guitar noise and oblique rants. Like Pavement, but to a lesser degree, the Jews know the way to please all our seemingly contradictory sensibilities.--Roni Sarig