Preston School of Industry - Monsoon [Bonus Track]

All Music Guide

Nearly half a decade on from Pavement's dissolution, the band's prime movers are making exactly the kinds of music they want to make on their own, for better or worse. With the Jicks, Stephen Malkmus continues to follow his stoned muse, turning out music that's equally fascinating and frustrating. Meanwhile, Scott Kannberg's Preston School of Industry churns out affable, middleoftheroad indie rock on their debut, All This Sounds Gas, and their followup, Monsoon, which, aside from a slightly more consistent track listing and the lack of any songs as immediately catchy as "Falling Away," is virtually interchangeable with their first album. Nearly all lingering remnants of Kannberg's former band's quirkiness have been ironed out, and the shuffling beats and warm, jangly, occasionally noodly guitars on songs like "The Furnace Sun" and "If the Straits of Magellan Should Ever Run Dry" define the album's straightahead fusion of sunny California rock and power pop. Even the album's song titles..., such as "Walk of a Gurl," allude to the classicism that Kannberg is striving for on Monsoon. As pleasantly familiar as this sound is, it becomes repetitious over the course of the album, and Kannberg's subdued vocals make the songs sink further into the background. However, as far as background music goes, the album is hard to beat; its easygoing, eagertoplease vibe embraces the listener in its hazy warmth. Read more Less