Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

With Pavement reformed and touring this year, I thought of posting on my favorite Stephen Malkmus solo release (well working with The Jicks that is). This is the 2001 self-titled debut with The Jicks as his backing band, released on Matador Records in both LP and CD form. Pure indie rock in presentation, the group created enough variety within its songwriting avoiding any boredom that might typically arise from trying to write an album's worth of rock songs. There's also an edge to the music, not readily apparent from initial exposure perhaps, but its there. I mean the music is generally on the lighter, catchy, side of things, both in sound and in lyrical approach. But, most notably in some of the guitar parts and segments, you get that dirty, groovy, feel that keeps the band from falling to far toward the "popy" end of things. I find myself content after re-listening to this album. Each song has enough personality giving it character, they don't blend together, rather stand out individually well. For this type of music, being able to do that, I would say is a songwriting strength .


Stephen Malkmus - "JoJo's Jacket"

Okay, this one gets points in the book of point totals that I keep right off the bat because it opens with a clip featuring the actor Yul Brynner and goes on to reference Brynner, the movie The King and I (1956) and particularly his role in Westworld (1973), which is pretty obscure, considering it was a movie where Brynner played a robotic cowboy in a future amusement park, where he ends up killing the vacationing patrons after his programming goes haywire. So anyways, back to the song. The piano intro exemplifies the band's use of different instruments in limited manner to spice up and compliment each song, which also adds to that ability to personalize the songs. Malkmus' vocals carry the load initially, supported by the guitar and drums. Singing through the chorus accents the guitar rhythm, while the drumming does a fine job of accenting at all the expected spots as well. Malkmus covers some ground vocally throughout the song, and creates plenty of good vibes in doing so. The guitar playing is a hidden little gem in this song, be sure to pay attention to it upon repeated listening. The build-up at the end of the song steers toward a big finish, that presents as the perfect juxtapose to the slower more somber intro of the next song "Church On White".


Stephen Malkmus - "Deado"

Straight into it off the top. Its not long before the soft chorus is being sung, one of the most comforting and pulling moments on the the whole album. The lyrics for the chorus are as follow:

Jen, you took me far into a long line.
Divine divine divine divine
Jen, you took me far into a long line.

Acoustic guitar, keyboard/synth and and vocals compose the bulk of the mainline of the song. Electric guitar and additional quirky sounds and vocal parts are added in as well. The electric guitar and keyboard/synth support the soft chorus and add an almost dark driving through the middle of nowhere feel. The song is short, only two versus, a guitar driven bridge/part, and a final return to the chorus. After a brief silence, an organ sound and acoustic guitar play off the rest of the record.

You can find information about Malkmus and The Jicks at there website stephenmalkmus.com. There's alot of information and updated news about the band at the Matador Records, and you can purchase this album from their online store.