PAVEMENT

Formed: 1989, Stockton, California; Disbanded 1999

Members: Mark Ibold, bass (born 1967); Scott Kannberg, guitar (born 1967); Stephen Malkmus, songwriter, vocals, guitar (born Santa Monica, California, 30 May 1966); Bob Nastanovich, drums (born 1968); Steve West, drums (born 1967). Former member: Gary Young, percussion (born Marmaroneck, New York, c. 1954).

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

Hit songs since 1990: "Cut Your Hair," "Gold Soundz," "Shady Lane"

The off-kilter harmonies and nearly discordant guitar playing of the band Pavement made a huge impact on the mid-1990s independent rock scene popular with college students and disaffected twentysomethings. Under the direction of singer and guitarist Steve Malkmus, the lyrics lean toward the episodic, elliptical, and purposefully obscure. Pavement songs start off in a nearly atonal manner and end in a paroxysm of guitar squalls, with Malkmus occasionally screaming the vocals. The band enjoyed decent record sales on the Matador label, and broke up in 1999 to pursue other interests.

College dropouts Malkmus and Scott Kannberg formed Pavement as a studio project in 1989 and quickly added three members, Gary Young, Bob Nastanovich, and Mark Ibold, to round out the band; Young left in 1993 after their debut release Slanted and Enchanted (1992). Sam West replaced him. Critics and college indie rock fans praised the band for its free-for-all guitar playing and vague lyrics. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) followed the debut, and it had a near-hit with the song "Cut Your Hair," in which Malkmus cautions a girl against cutting her hair to impress her no-good, punk boyfriend. The song, with its chorus of "oooh-ooh-oohs" in the background, is goofy and anthemic, yet it reached number ten on Billboard 's Modern Rock chart in 1994. The sprawling nature of the album, from the country rock of "Range Life" and the improvisational, jazzy, space-age tune "5 – 4 = Unity" exemplifies the band's modus operandi: Anything is fair game.

Malkmus told Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, "I never felt like we needed to reach 'the next level,' whatever that is. We're doing well at the level we're at." This principled defiance pervades Pavement's songwriting. Examples include the quirky, experimental, eighteen tracks of Wowee Zowee (1995), the melodic and engaging "Shady Lane" from Brighten the Corners (1997), and Terror Twilight (1999), the band's swan song, which surprisingly landed in the United Kingdom Top 20.

Pavement never aimed to "make it big" and they remained firmly within in the lo-fi independent rock world of the mid- to late 1990s. They tossed off songs with a casual but insouciant style, and not without making a mark on American underground music before their breakup.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Slanted and Enchanted (Matador, 1992); Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Matador, 1994); Wowee Zowee (Matador, 1995); Brighten the Corners (Matador, 1997); Terror Twilight (Matador, 1999).

carrie havranek

pavement the wearing surface of a road, street, or sidewalk. Parts of Babylon and Troy are believed to have been paved; Roman roads were noted for their durable stone paving. Cobblestones were common from late medieval times into the 19th cent. A pavement known as macadam road, introduced in England in the 19th cent., is still used today; it consists basically of compacted layers of small stones cemented into a hard surface by means of stone dust and water (water-bound macadam). However, the main pavement surfaces in use today are bituminous/asphalt coverings and concrete. Desirable qualities in pavements include durability, smoothness, quietness, ease of cleaning, and a nonslippery surface. The requirements conflict to a degree, so no one material is ideal in all respects. The foundation of a pavement must be crowned, or slightly arched, for rapid shedding of water; it must be strong enough to withstand heavy dynamic loads, but capable of responding to temperature changes. In the bituminous macadam pavement, the foundation is macadam, upon which a bituminous material that penetrates at least 2 in (5 cm) into the foundation is poured, forming an impervious binder. In the bituminous-mixed macadam pavement, a mixture of crushed rock, ground glass and other additives, and bituminous binder is spread over a macadam foundation and rolled into a compact mass. The two other pavement types use a concrete road slab as a foundation. In the sheet asphalt pavement, a binder course and a wearing course are laid over a concrete foundation. The binder course, whose function is to prevent creepage of the upper course, is composed of broken stone and asphalt cement. The wearing surface is a mixture of fine sand, filler, and asphalt. By far the most common type of pavement for heavy use is rigid concrete. The first concrete pavement was laid in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1894. A modern highway will have a 6 in (15 cm) base of concrete, on top of which 3 in (7.5 cm) of steel-reinforced concrete will be laid. Pavements that must withstand only pedestrian traffic may use brick or wood-blocks, set in a 1 in. (2.5 cm) bedding of sand, cement mortar, or mastic. For ornamental pavements, see mosaic ; tile .

pavement
1. In geology, bare rock surface resembling a road, e.g. limestone pavement.

2. The floor of a coal seam.

3. In roadway construction, any material spread on the subgrade to distribute load and protect against erosion and traffic wear. The types of material used and thickness depend on the type and use of road. Generally the pavement has four layers. (a) The wearing course is the top layer of the carriageway. It must be durable, impermeable, skid-resistant, and resistant to polishing. On the most heavily trafficked roads the polished stone value (PSV) (see AGGREGATE TESTS) must exceed 60%. The wearing course lies on a surface provided by the basecourse. (b) The basecourse is a layer of gravel or crushed rock (aggregate) of specific dimensions to provide drainage, distribute load on to the road base, and protect against freezing. (c) The road base provides the main load-bearing foundation or ballast and consists of irregular-sized rock aggregate, either bonded or loose. (d) The subbase is a layer of coarse aggregate below the road base. It provides extra support or drainage. In cold climates large pore spaces are necessary to prevent water rising by capillary action, leading to the collapse of the structure after thawing. (e) The subgrade is the rock or subsoil on which the subbase is laid.

pave·ment / ˈpāvmənt/ • n. any paved area or surface. ∎  the hard surface of a road or street. ∎  Brit. a sidewalk. ∎  Geol. a more or less horizontal expanse of bare rock. PHRASES: pound the pavementsee pound² .

pavement Pilate's judgement seat on a stone pavement, called Gabbatha in

Hebrew (John 19: 13) or Aramaic; it was either adjacent to Herod's palace or in the courtyard of the fortress Antonia on high ground, north of the Temple, where a Roman gaming board has been discovered carved into the stone.

pavement. Path surfaced with stones or other materials, including cement, cobbles, flags, rag-stones, square-setts, tarmacadam, etc.