f Steve Malkmus and Scott Kannberg were to be judged solely on the effect that their last albums have had on me, Scott Kannberg would win by a mile. On his first solo record, Malkmus proved that he could have a lot of fun by himself; he crafted some pretty good songs, but I’m afraid there wasn’t much depth there. His droning slacker voice and bizarre lyrics were present, but where were the interweaving guitars? Where is the clumsy percussive accompaniment? Why is he writing songs about pirates? Without his all-star band of slackers, Steve Malkmus found the former Pavement frontman merely relishing in his pretension for twelve mostly forgettable songs.


Three songs into the first Preston School of Industry LP, I know Kannberg has him beat. Mr. Stairs may be trying a bit to hard in the "let’s remember Pavement" department, but this is a forgivable sin. Here, his songwriting really isn’t as bad as it was on some Pavement songs (does anyone remember "Passat Dream"? Ugh.) Here are some actually good ones like the droning and yet poppy "Whalebones" and "The Idea of Fires," which bounces along excitedly: a simple, yet satisfying feat which Mr. Malkmus failed to accomplish with his debut. As a songwriter, Scott only stands to get better from here.


It is true there are some downright stinkers on this cd. "History of the River" is so frustrating, with its lolling quasi-metal rhythms. This particular monstrosity finds our hero mumbling nonsense during the verses. In the chorus' lyrics he may or may not be mumbling something worthwhile after "History of the river knows," but my primary concern here is staying awake. Several other tunes could have benefited from a pretension check, as the listener is often torn between trying to make sense of the sappy mess coming out of Scott and simply ending it, moving on to another, less ridiculous record. At the very least, these often-painful lyrics show us that Stairs isn’t afraid to risk losing points with his listeners.


More redeeming than the wannabe literary lyrics of these songs is the overall tone; the background noises and the occasional synthesizer give this record so much more soul than anything Kannberg ever attempted with Pavement. A small horn section makes opening lyrics to "Solitaire" seem slightly less idiotic: "Solitaire / is a dare" he grunts. As a listener I am offended, but pacified by the horns, which provide a sort of safety net to his mumblings. The electronic sounds, which abound in the filler piece "Blu son," remind us that there’s more out there than just guitar and bad lyrics.


Nobody ever got Spiral confused as the star of Pavement, and rightly so: most of his songs he wrote for Pavement were lame, and there was just so much more of Steve’s omnipresent ego to appreciate. But while many blindly accepted Malkmus’ solo debut as just some more of good ol’ Steve, Spiral challenges himself and his listeners, and actually delivers some worthwhile tunes in the end.