Sunday, March 09, 2008

Malkmus

Funny that Drischord mentioned the new Malkmus album as I just picked it up and was coming here to discuss. I have never listened to his solo stuff for some reason. But as of late I've been listening to a lot of Pavement, and I liked the song the AV Club included in their review, so I decided to give it a shot.

So, first things first, this is most defnitely NOT Pavement. I'm with D on that. It seems that Malkmus has really established his own thing with the Jicks now, and that thing is distinctly different from Pavement. Although his voice and guitar style is so distinct that it can't ever get 100% separated from Pavement. But purely on it's own merits I think the album is pretty fantastic. It's very jammy - there are a bunch of songs that clock in over 5 minutes (and one 10 minute one) and usually that's because the songs end in a giant rock out. So if you're looking for the tight little songs from Slanted, or the weird experiments of Wowee Zowee they're not here. What replaces them are these crazy freak out jams. Here's the first track, which is suitably odd, but then finds this great groove at the end that Ijust love. Check out the guitar stuff around the 4 minute mark that sounds more like Queens of the Stone Age then Pavement.



So this makes me curious to check out his other 3 solo albums to see if this is a new rock out style or if this is what he's been doing ever since Pavement.

Anyone else pick this up yet? Do you like it, or is it too over-indulgent, which, I'll be the first to admit, is something that defintely does not scare me away.

3 comments:

texplush said...

by far the best thing about the new album is Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater Kinney on drums...i think Malkmus amped up the jamming due to her presence, which is definitely a positive, since as D put it, his songwriting ain't what it used to be.
This may be my favorite of his solo albums...each one has it's merits, and though i liked each initially, they don't really hold up over time...the first one is the best, but each has a couple great tracks.

drischord said...

My favorite is his first solo record, but I haven't given this one a full shot. Actually I never gave "Face the Truth" a full shot either. I think I just got it around the same time I'd bought a bunch of other things, and consequently never listened to it as much as I'd intended.

So yeah, I like the first one the most. But as Tex points out, each album has its highlights. "Vanessa From Queens" on "Pig Lib" immediately comes to mind.

dr. kittybrains said...

I'm incredibly fond of the track "Out Of Reaches". If you have the disc, go back and give that one a spin. It's a mixtape fave for me right now.