There's a young guitar band called Dummy out of LA. They've put out some quite excellent records over the last couple of years that take their lead mainly from Broadcast and Stereolab. I commend them to you.
To confuse matters, there is another young guitar band called Dumb out of Vancouver. They've put out some very good records too. Most recently Pray 4 Tomorrow their third album which rakes its lead mostly from Pavement and more evidently Parquet Courts and particularly Light Up Gold the record which more than any other seem to have set up this milieu of Pavement obsession so awash in indie circles.
This is a highly mannered sensibility, that of not being able to play or sing in tune, which goes back way beyond Parquet Courts and even Pavement to the likes of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band and Zappa and over on the other coast The Velvet Underground and The Fugs.
It articulates a basic need that seems fundamental urge in young and not so young leftfield types. The not quite so young bit evidenced by Pavement's triumphant recent reunion tour of these shores. Being cool and not actually as inept as you immediately come across as is an attractive fork in the road. Irony.
Pray 4 Tomorrow is not an essential record. I'd direct you to Kiwi Jr's Chopper and Stroppies' Levity as the 'essential' examples of this particular sub-genre for 2022. They're so good, so utterly assured, that they assume an authority and identity all of their own. Pray 4 Tomorrow doesn't ultimately. In the final analysis it's just too Parquet Courts. Too Light Up Gold.
Still, it's definitely worth a listen if this is your cup of sick, and it certainly can be mine. There are some fine songs. It will be interesting to see where Dumb go from here. There's certainly enough talent here to see them feathering something mre entirely their own nest one day.
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