*** Pavement

TERROR TWILIGHT

(Matador)

College rock applauds conundrums, mainstream pop rewards hooks. Pavement have always split the dif. Their knack at pitching the arcane has been obvious since sha-la-las helped grease Slanted & Enchanted's knotty program. The gorgeous turns on Terror Twilight aren't particularly conventional, but after four discs' worth of refinement, Pavement have become expert at making obscurity seem inviting. Between Steven Malkmus's poetry-stimulated lyrics and the band's natural way with hairpin turns, shards have become smooth(er). Win-win in my book. That balancing act positions these sublime misanthropes as skewed classicists, something 1997's Brighten the Corners hinted at too. I'm not using the C-word because allusions to Aerosmith's "Same Old Song and Dance" and Guess Who's "New Mother Nature" flit by -- that's just plain old indie fun. But even the wobbliest moments have an equilibrium. A shimmer, too. A decade down the road, with little chance of sneaking into Hitsville, these wiseacres prove their pleasures aren't based just on wordplay; the music has its own parched glamor. "Tuck in your thoughts/It's there or it's not," sings Malkmus at one point. On Terror Twilight, it's there all the way.

-- Jim Macnie