Wowee Zowee

By 1995, Pavement were poised to become alt-rock’s next big things, but with <i>Wowee Zowee</i> they doubled down on their refusal to conform. This sprawling 18-track messterpiece is, at once, crisply recorded and chaotically structured—even its would-be rock anthems, like “Rattled by the Rush”, sound a little wobbly on their feet. But amid brain-scrambling blurts like “Brinx Job” and “Best Friend's Arm”, there are moments of exquisite melancholy, heard in the gleaming guitars of “Grounded” and the forlorn fuzz pop of “Kennel District”.