Wowee Zowee isn’t my favourite Pavement album. Not because it’s bad. It has some of the band’s best songs on there. ‘Grounded’ being one…. ‘Grave Architecture’ another. And today’s song, ‘Kennel District’, written by Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg. The record is a hard one to get through at times because for every two perfect indie rock come these other compositions that throw the flow out of the window. And yet, that specific thing is the main reason why a lot of people consider it a classic and the most ‘Pavement’ album.

I wanted to get closer to it and so I purchased the album’s 33 1/3 book in 2018. It’s a fantastic read. I learned a lot of new things about the album and the songs on there. For example, ‘Kennel District’ was written when Kannberg had broken up with his girlfriend and was simultaneously becoming friends with a woman who was feeling trapped in her own marriage. That’s where the line ‘Can’t believe she’s married to rope’ comes from. The song title also has nothing to do with the lyrical content, and was inspired by a thought Kannberg had about New York having its own district where all dogs were kept.

One thing’s for sure. If I didn’t like the song the first time I listened to the album the whole way through, I’m very sure I did after the second listen. It’s one of the most easy-listening, digestible, perfect indie-rock cuts on there. Apparently, the band’s record label wanted to make the track a single but not without re-recording it first. The track is led by a fuzzy bass and a roaring guitar in the left channel that more or less play the same chord sequence throughout. On top of that is a weird keyboard that plays its own little riff on top of that. And with this some great music is made. It worked so well in fact that Kannberg pretty much rewrote the track and made ‘Date w/ IKEA’ for Brighten the Corners a few years later.

I don’t know. I don’t think I have much else to say about it. I admire its simplicity and its ability to still give me some chills after all this time. It was initially recorded during the sessions for Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and it didn’t make the cut, but I’ll put that version below so you can check it out and compare to the version that everybody knows.