Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, October 10th, 2003 02:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The Preston School of Industry's second full-length album will be released early next year, according to frontman Scott Kannberg. Titled Monsoon, the ten-track disc features cameos from the Minus 5's Scott McCaughey, "who did an amazing Lindisfarne mandolin part," and all of the members of Wilco, who played assorted instruments found in the basement "while high on my BBQ chicken," Kannberg told Pitchfork.

The Preston School's sophomore effort is Kannberg's first since moving to the Seattle area and features an almost completely different lineup than 2001's All This Sounds Gas. Oranger's Matt Harris played the drum tracks live and engineered the basement recording; Dan Carr (Creeper Lagoon) and Chris Heinrich (David Dondero) flew up "while on a sugar high from Top Pot donuts [and] played their little hearts out" on bass and pedal steel, respectively, Kannberg reports. Hmmm, that's the second time he mentioned that his band was high. Got it! "Fucking rad drummer" Lara Scudder rounds out the new lineup.

Monsoon also represents a change in direction for the Preston School since it's the first album for which Kannberg had to consciously create new material. "[It's] pretty much all new stuff," Kannberg told Pitchfork via e-mail. "A couple [of songs] were from long long ago, but I still had to tweak a few things on those. It was some pressure, sure... I only had so much time to write these songs. The others on [All This Sounds Gas] were laying around for years. I think [this album is] much more true to what PSOI is about." Tracklist:

01 The Furnace Sun
02 Walk of a Gurl
03 Caught in the Rain
04 Line It Up
05 So Many Ways
06 If The Straits Of Magellan Should Ever Run Dry
07 Her Estuary Twang (Warm Medicine)
08 Escalation Breeds Escalation
09 Get Your Crayons Out!
10 Tone It Down

Monsoon was mixed last month by Alien Crime Syndicate's Joe Reineke at Orbit Audio. The album is set to be released simultaneously by Matador, Domino, and Trifekta on January 20th, 2004, according to PSOI's official website. However, you can get a sneak preview of the cut "Caught in the Rain" on a split single with the Australian band Gersey, out next week on Trifekta. The Preston School contribute a "pre-mixed" version of the album track; Gersey's side features the Tom Petty-on-wheels anthem "Roll Out The Heartbreakers."

Kannberg will also be previewing some of his new material in a solo setting in full Spiral Stairs regalia at three upcoming shows with the Starlight Mints. Then, it's off to Australia for some late November/early December solo dates supporting Gersey:

10-26 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *
10-27 Hartford, CT - Webster Theatre *
10-28 Portland, ME - Asylum *
11-20 Melbourne, Australia - The Evelyn +
11-21 Melbourne, Australia - The Evelyn +
11-27 Sydney, Australia - The Gaelic Club +
11-28 Byron Bay, Australia - The Great Northern +
11-29 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo +
12-04 Margaret River, Australia - Settlers +
12-05 Perth, Australia - The Rosemount +
12-06 Fremantle, Australia - The Basement +

* with Starlight Mints
+ with Gersey

Kannberg will also appear at this year's CMJ festival at Arlene's Grocery in New York City on October 25th. The Amazing Grease/Jackpine Social Club showcase will include sets from Canoe, Panty Lions, Kelley Stoltz, Sonny Smith, and Oranger. Kannberg will then play the part of Will Sergeant in a tribute to Echo and the Bunnymen alongside Stoltz, bassist Shayde Sartin, and John Hofer (Mother Hips), covering the Bunnymen's first album, Crocodiles, "in its entirety."

Finally, Kannberg confirmed for Pitchfork that Matador will be preparing a deluxe reissue for Pavement's watershed 1994 album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, probably in time for the 2004 holiday season. Kannberg isn't quite sure what material is available for the expanded reissue: "I haven't a chance to get started on compiling and sorting it out. I'll probably get started on it real soon. It should be a nice package, like the Slanted thing," Kannberg told Pitchfork. "There are tons of goodies to pick from."

Apart from the usual assortment of b-sides and compilation tracks, there is a February 1994 Peel session with the unreleased Spiral composition "Tartar Martyr" and three then-unreleased songs, a March 1994 broadcast from Holland's VPRO radio, and a July 1994 JJJ session with the never-released "Candylad" and early versions of several Wowee Zowee cuts.

Kannberg also recalls some early, aborted sessions with original drummer Gary Young: "I remember doing songs like 'Grounded' and 'Cut Your Hair' and others with Gary. I haven't heard them since, but will listen to them when I get to compiling it all. I hope some of it is tapeable. We also played some new songs that were pretty awful on our Australian tour from around that time."

There are also likely versions of a few Spiral songs recorded in New York around the same time as "Hit The Plane Down"; the only one Kannberg vaguely remembers recording is "Kennel District."

As previously reported, 2004 is also the year that UK music journalist Rob Jovanovic plans to drop his forthcoming book on Pavement, tentatively titled Perfect Sound Forever. Publishers Justin, Charles, and Co. will handle domestic distribution on the book, which features the input of all five members of the band, ex-drummer Gary Young, and several other prominent witnesses/supporting characters in the never-ending Pavement saga.

.: Preston School of Industry: http://www.prestonschoolofindustry.com