Record Rack

*** Pavement, “Terror Twilight,” Matador. “Bring on the major leagues,” sings Stephen Malkmus, and while that may be unrealistic for his veteran indie band, in producer Nigel Godrich’s hands he shows new depth and warmth. As on Beck’s “Mutations,” Godrich’s imaginative ornamentation favors melancholic humanism over Gen-X smugness and spurs stream-of-consciousness flow. They also open new musical dimensions--the near-epic “Platform Blues” more or less quotes Led Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days.” Not quite major-league stuff, but worth a tryout.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four s (excellent).