The Society of Rockets
The Society of Rockets, a relatively new band, came out with a new album called, Sunset Homes, which I recently had the pleasure of listening to a bit of.
I highly reccomend this band ... you can get a track here or here. They are a bit of old-ish 90s alternative rock mixed with Pavement, but they also use piano and some of their stuff just sounds straight up ballad-y.
When I first heard this band, I kind of thought they sounded like Pavement (one of my all time favorite bands), but since then, I have decided that they have a pretty distinctive sound of their own, and certainly no Malkmus.
Anyway, regardless of how they compare to Pavement, they are a pretty good band, I would love to buy their album sometime in the near future!