One of the vanguards of indie rock is playing here in New York much sooner than Pavement. Tonight, actually. And they just released an album full of new material — some of their best in recent years — which is more than the Pixies or Pavement or Modest Mouse can say for themselves, not that we have anything against those guys... but maybe they should take a cue from Doug Martsch, eh? That wiseman beard ain't for nothing.