Wowee Zowee in Bloomington, MN

With its vast array of musical styles,
Wowee Zowee
isn't as accessible as
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
or as immediate as the bracing, noisy
pop
of
Slanted & Enchanted
.
Pavement
never abandon their warped
aesthetic, they simply expand it, incorporating elements of
folk-rock
, English
music hall
,
soul
jazz
country
, as well as adding asides to such contemporaries as
Suede
(
"We Dance"
),
Ween
"Brinx Job"
), and
Stereolab
"Half a Canyon"
). Alternating between majestic epics like
"Grounded"
and ragged narratives like
"Rattled by the Rush"
and
"Father to a Sister of Thought,"
to song fragments like
and the punkish
"Serpentine Pad,"
the record might seem disjointed at first. After repeated listens, the songs play off each other, creating a dense collage of '90s
rock & roll
that recasts the past and present into one rich, kaleidoscopic, and blissfully cryptic world view. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine