All This Sounds Gas [Import]

1. Whalebones

2. Falling Away

3. Treasure @ Silver Bank

4. Encyclopedic Knowledge Of

5. History Of The River

6. Doping For Gold

7. Solitaire

8. Blu Son

9. Monkey Heart And The Horses' Leg

10. Idea Of Fires

11. Take A Stand

12. Walls Of Grain

13. Suddenly Stable

14. To Squash It For Good

15. Imperial

16. Most Common Method

17. I've Done Nothing Wrong

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track

Tracks:

Whalebones
Falling Away
A Treasure @ Silver Bank (This Dynasty's For Real)
Encyclodepic Knowledge Of
History Of The River
Doping For Gold
Solitare
Blu Son
Monkey Heart And The Horses' Leg
The Idea Of Fires
Take A Stand/All This Sounds Gas

Amazon.com

Unfazed by the dissolution of Pavement in 2000, Scott Kannberg chose, for All This Sounds Gas, to return to his four-track recorder, and began work anew as the cryptically named Preston School of Industry. For a while, it looked like Kannberg was going to become the man that alt-rock forgot. Going under the pseudonym Spiral Stairs, Kannberg was the founding member of the charming Pavement along with Stephen Malkmus; it was his laconic, effortlessly gorgeous guitar lines that elevated albums such as Slanted and Enchanted above the rest of the shambolic indie-pop crop. All This Sounds Gas sounds like a real blast from the past--think the winding left-field ramble of Wowee Zowee over the refined perfect pop of Terror Twilight. Without Malkmus dripping his honey-glazed surreality over Kannberg's gliding melodic skree, it can't be denied that there's a little something missing. But Kannberg's lead vocal is more than just functional; "Whale Bones" and "Falling Away" are elegantly shrugged-off lo-fidelity beauties, "Solitare" nods slyly towards Lou Reed's "Kill Your Songs," and on the closing seven-minute "Take a Stand," Kannberg plucks up the confidence to lay on his grand Wayne Coyne impression and, impressively, just about pulls it off. Spiral Stairs lives! And this sure beats retirement. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews:

A Positve Review.......2005-03-24

I realize that every review I've ever posted on Amazon has been a negative one. I'm not a negative person; I just want to prevent people from making the same mistakes I've made, such as buying "The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss." So, I wanted to finally add something positive to this website and rather than give OK Computer its 1,200th 5-star review I'd like to try to turn someone on to this tragically underrated album. Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) took all the most melodic and beautiful elements of Pavement's best work and brought them to PSOI. I wholeheartedly agree with other reviewers that All This Sounds Gas easily trumps any of Malkmus's post-Pavement efforts. Download the free Whalebones mp3 above. If you don't like that than take a high-powered rifle and kindly remove yourself from the gene pool. If you do then buy the album; you won't regret it.

P.S. I got a chance to meet Kannberg at an LA show and he's a geniunely nice guy!

Worthy effort with the promise of more to come.......2002-08-22

When Mick Jones left the Clash and formed Big Audio Dynamite, the joke among Clash fans was that if you dubbed the Clash's final Jones-less album and the new BAD album together on a tape you could pretend that the band had never really broken up. In some respects, this logic applies to Pavement with regards to Malkmus' wonderful solo debut and Scott's new band, PSOI. Much like Mick Jones, Scott had very few songs of his own with Pavement, but the ones he did have always stood out and his guitar work was a prominent part of the band. Can his songs hold up on their own however? "All This Sounds Gar" proves that indeed they can; Scotts guitar work is as strong as ever, his vocals hold their own, and his song arrangments are interesting. Unlike most Pavement releases, however, the music is far from groundbreaking. Scott's mix of guitar based indie rock with the slightest influence of twang-free country is tried and true, and purely a matter of preference; this is one album where fans know exactly what they're getting when they buy it, and it's consistent enough the few fans of the genre will be disappointed. There are a few standout tracks: Solitaire has some interesting keyboards, Doping for Gold has some stellar guitar work and vocals and, ending on an emotional, energetic note that recalls Scott's work with Pavement at its best, and Idea of Fires is an upbeat bit of folk-rock that slows down for it's brilliant sing-along chorus, only to pick up again for some trademark buzzing guitar. It's these standout tracks that make one believe PSOI is capable of much more, however. At recent live shows, the band ripped through only the best tracks on the album (and unofficial confirmation that other songs perhaps weren't up to par) with such energy that most of the crowd who had never heard of them were drooling. Doping For Gold, in particular, benefitted from the frantic and intense drumming; it rocked so hard most of the crowd had goose bumps , and the new found energy only made the underlying emotions behind the song that much stronger. Thus, it's not illogical to believe and PSOI is capable of producing songs much better than some of this material. Keep your eyes out for future releases by the band, we can expect great things. In the meantime, "All This Sounds Gas" is a rewarding way to pass the time before the band's inevitable "Wowee Zowee" epic is released.

This one is really growing on me.......2002-08-15

I bought my first PSOI recording ('idea of fires' single) by accident on a CD buying binge. Luckily I'm a big-time pavement fan.

Idea of fires is a cool song, but it was the last track 'save our happiness' that got me hooked.

I had to get 'all this sounds gas' imported (i live in a cultural back-water) and i'm not regretting paying a huge amount for it. It's really just as cool as any pavement album (except crooked rain crooked rain and maybe not as cool as twilight terror) but it's different. The singing sounds different and there are alot more sounds going on and it takes a bit to get used to, but after a few listens, you'll love it.
There's also some wiered, cool lines that'll just get stuck in your head and give you a smile that will last a while. Lines such as 'jets are breaking sound, my feet still stuck into the ground' and others.

What can I say, i'm no music schollar, but if you are into pavement, or any cruisy, popy, rock and roll, give it a listen.

SS was Harrison to SM's Lennon &..........2002-07-20

...McCartney. So, I guess what I'm trying to say here is: if you're the kind of person who thought "You Like Me Too Much" was a really GEAR song, then by all means ante up and throw yer hard-earned pesos into Stairs' purse -- and smile while you do it, pal. Or at least pretend like you're enjoying it. That way you won't look like a fool. Really. You won't. "'Cuz you like me too much / and I like yooooo.....".

For Sale: The Idea Of Fires.......2002-05-21

All This Sounds Gas is another record released in 2001 by an ex-Pavement member. This time, the honour goes to Spiral Stairs [aka Scott Kannberg], who contributed guitar and occasional vocal duties to Pavement. Apparently some of these songs were written by Spiral for Pavement's final album 'Terror Twilight', but obviously weren't released on that record. However, on their new home on All This Sounds Gas, these Spiral written songs have more room to breathe, as opposed to being surrounded by Malkmus' songs on the Pavement albums. The album has a raw lo-fi feel (as it was recorded onto 4-track minidisc), and continues the Pavement trend of having many different genres blended into one album (and in some cases even into single songs). Being a debut album, there are one or two obligatory dud songs, but the standout tunes (including 'Whalebones' and 'Solitare') outweigh the duds by far. Discussion has been rife over whether the PSOI or SM album is the best post-Pavement album so far, I say pick them both up and compare for yourselves, as both albums are fine indeed.