lyrical style, and features greater influence from pop music than the rest of the EP. "Maybe Maybe" features distorted guitars and indiscernible vocals, and "Price Yeah!" has a sound typical of hardcore punk. The band's hometown of Stockton inspired the band's lyrics and sound. "There's something empty about Stockton," Malkmus said. "I wanted to convey that in our music." He told Melody Maker, "Pavement was originally a pathetic effort by us to do something to escape the terminal boredom we were experiencing in Stockton." Release After recording was complete, Kannberg was tasked with releasing the music himself, as Malkmus had departed on a trip to parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Kannberg designed the cover of the EP and sent copies to various independent labels, distributors, and zines. He recalled, "I had no idea how to do it. I'd send off these little notes to my favorite labels like SST and Twin Tone and ask, 'How do I do this?'" A representative from SST recommended that Kannberg use Erica Records, a Los Angeles 7" manufacturer. Kannberg chose Erica Records to manufacture Slay Tracks but was unhappy with the master recording produced by the company: "It sounds like it sounds now—it's just a mess—but being poor and not really caring I said, 'Okay, that's cool, if it sounds like that–whatever.'" Slay Tracks was pressed in a limited run of 1,000 copies, with a green dinosaur stamp on the label of the first 50 copies. The EP was distributed in the United States and England through Kannberg's own Treble Kicker Records, though Malkmus soon came across a copy in a record store while visiting Austria. Slay Tracks found unexpected attention after The Wedding Present, an English band, covered "Box Elder" on their own 1990 EP, Brassneck. The Wedding Present's bassist Keith Gregory had been introduced to Slay Tracks by future Pavement bassist Mark Ibold while visiting New York City. The cover differs from the original in that the line "that I had to get the fuck out of this town" was changed to "that I had to get right out of this town". The cover version received radio airplay from influential English disc jockey John Peel, generating publicity for both the Wedding Present and Pavement. Pavement had not been asked permission or informed of the cover until after it was already on UK radio. Kannberg said he initially felt