When I first dug into Chavez’s catalog, I felt like I’d discovered some well-kept secret in Matador’s discography among the Pavement and GBV records I always associated with the label. Surprisingly, though, I quickly found on the interwebs that Chavez was the label’s best selling band ever at the time of their 2006 compilation Better Days Will Haunt You. I was a bit dumbfounded; not Pavement or GBV or even Yo La Tengo had trumped this band I had never heard of? But then I actually listened to Chavez and the reasons quickly became clear. Somehow the band found a sweet spot between the clear production and full sound of 90s radio alt-rock and the “indie” songwriting of their label mates. And unlike GBV or early Pavement, this stuff didn’t sound like it was recorded in some dudes basement on a fifty dollar budget that was spent on beer and a thrift store tape recorder.
Chavez’s most triumphant moment is their 1996 LP, Ride the Fader, which combines some of the best pieces of noodly math-rock and jagged post-punk bands into one glorious, listenable whole. Guitarist/singer Matt Sweeny performs a tricky and rather amazing balancing act between downtuned and super heavy guitars and his mostly calm and melodic singing. I expected screaming when I first heard these riffs, but what the band delivers is something so much more than the average sludgy and forgettable sound of most 90s alt. Instead, the guitars are equal parts crushingly heavy and surprisingly playful while the vocals contain most of the hooks that will stay stuck in your head.
It doesn’t hurt that Sweeny is backed by a fantastic band — just listen to some of those drum fills — that blow up everything he writes into epic anthems. After a few spins, I wasn’t so shocked that these guys sold better than all their label mates as they sounds good enough to hook almost anyone on first listen but still have the depth and wide sonic range to keep bringing you back for just one more riff. Somehow while Pavement was surging again in the late 2000s, Chavez has stayed in the background, overshadowed by most of Matador’s other 90s acts. Hopefully with their first new material in over decade on the way, a new group of listeners will discover one of Matador’s hidden gems.