Pavement

Perfume-V

Photo: Getty/Gie Knaeps

lGood morning!

Today we’re listening to “Perfume-V” by Pavement

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In 1992, I didn’t want to think when I turned the radio on, I just wanted it turned up to 11.

With abstract titles, and off kilter time signatures bands like Pavement didn’t really lend themselves to that. Somehow I wound up with a cassette of “Slanted and Enchanted” anyway, and gave it a listen.

And another. And then another.

“Perfume-V” is probably the most straight ahead song on the album. Structurally, it starts with fractured guitars, drops down into the first verse, then explodes into a fuzzy chorus.

She’s got the radio active
And it makes me feel ok
I don’t feel ok
She’s got the radio active
And it makes me feel ok
I don’t feel ok

“Cut Your Hair” might’ve been getting a decent amount of airtime on college radio and MTV’s 120 Minutes, but “Perfume-V” was the song I had on repeat, and it was the one invariably shared on any mixtapes I made.

And it sounded great turned all the way up.

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More:

Though this might not sound particularly appealing at first, specifically to the auto-tuned ears of some readers, this is one of those many aspects of Slanted and Enchanted that makes it so magical.

The lo-fi production gives the listener an affinity with the band because knowing that the songs are not indebted to a producer's signature sound or vision, or sullied by over-production provides one with a more precise sense of what it was like recording this album, an impression almost of what it would have felt like to have been there at the time.

Read the rest of the retrospective here.

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Listen:

“Perfume-V” by Pavement | Slanted and Enchanted, 1992

Click on the record to listen on your platform of choice:

What do you think of this song? Good? Bad? Meh? Share your thoughts below!

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

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