Stephen Malkmus | ||
| Allmusic Biography : After Pavement announced they were going on hiatus at the end of 1999, the status of one of Americas finest indie rock bands was a mystery for the first half of 2000. It became clearer that summer, however, when it was revealed that both singer/songwriter/guitarists Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg were preparing solo albums. Malkmus was particularly busy during that time, performing new songs in Holland with Kims Bedroom -- a one-off group that also included Sonic Youths Kim Gordon and Jim ORourke -- and recording them at studios near his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Working with him were the Jicks, aka Portland indie rock veterans drummer/percussionist John Moen and bassist Joanna Bolme. Moen had played with the Fastbacks, the Dharma Bums, and his own group, the Maroons; Bolme played with the Minders and worked as an engineer at Jackpot Studios, where Pavements Terror Twilight was demoed and parts of Malkmus new project were recorded. Initially, Malkmus intended to release the album on his own or through a local label, but when his old label, Matador, received a copy, they agreed to release it. By the time Malkmus officially confirmed Pavements breakup in the November 2000 issue of Spin magazine, Matador announced it was releasing the album -- originally titled Swedish Reggae and then changed to Stephen Malkmus -- in winter 2001. The Jicks made their live debut that January at New Yorks Bowery Ballroom and spent the rest of the winter and spring touring the U.K. and the U.S., including a gig at South by Southwest with labelmates Mogwai and the reunited Soft Boys. Former Pavement percussionist Bob Nastanovich acted as the Jicks tour manager, and Elastica leader Justine Frischmann (another friend of Malkmus) joined the band as a guitarist for selected dates. On 2003s darker, trippier Pig Lib, the Jicks shared credit with Malkmus, reflecting the albums more band-like feel. Released in 2005, Face the Truth found Malkmus embracing domesticity with a whimsical feel missing from his work since Wowee Zowee; the album featured Malkmus with and without the Jicks, who also supported him on tour that summer. On 2008s Real Emotional Trash, the Jicks welcomed former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss into their fold, giving the albums psychedelic free-for-alls greater heft. Mirror Traffic followed in 2011, featuring Beck stepping in as producer and Weiss taking her last bow as the Jicks drummer. Moving to Berlin just before the release of Mirror Traffic in 2011, Malkmus used this uprooting of his family as the catalyst for his sixth album. Returning to the studio in 2013, he enlisted the production skills of former Pavement live engineer Remko Schouten to record 2014s Wig Out at Jagbags. It would be four years before Malkmus and company put out another long-player, but in 2018 the band released Sparkle Hard, their seventh studio album. The LP was produced by Chris Funk of the Decemberists, and it included the lead single "Shiggy," the previously released "Middle America," and the Kim Gordon-featuring "Refute." Just a year later, Malkmus released Groove Denied, a largely electronic solo album. He delivered the album to Matador prior to Sparkle Hard, but the label decided to focus on a new Jicks record first, leading Malkmus to call the 2019 album Groove Denied. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Phantasies Released: 2001 Tracks: 5 Duration: 13:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Phantasies (02:40) 2 Sin Taxi (03:48) 3 Leisurely Poison (01:37) 4 Vague Space (02:44) 5 Malay Massaker (02:49) |
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: Stephen Malkmus Released: 2001-01-24 Tracks: 12 Duration: 41:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Black Book (04:23) 2 Phantasies (02:40) 3 Jo Jos Jacket (04:01) 4 Church on White (03:20) 5 The Hook (03:03) 6 Discretion Grove (03:14) 7 Troubbble (01:40) 8 Pink India (05:54) 9 Trojan Curfew (04:06) 10 Vague Space (02:56) 11 Jenny and the Ess-Dog (02:45) 12 Deado (03:35) |
| Stephen Malkmus : Allmusic album Review : Much like the Pixies Trompe Le Monde, Pavements swan song, Terror Twilight, sounded a lot like a disguised solo album from the groups chief singer/songwriter, Stephen Malkmus. The albums polished production and earnest, ambitious songwriting -- not to mention lack of Scott Kannberg songs -- sounded miles away from the playful, slightly chaotic rock that made albums like Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain so exciting. Yet Malkmus actual solo debut, aptly named Stephen Malkmus, reclaims some of the energetic creativity of Pavements best albums. In fact, it sounds like the most fun hes had in a studio since Wowee Zowee. This may be because he didnt have to deal with the confines and expectations of a new Pavement album; Malkmus didnt originally plan to release the album through Matador, which possibly removed some of the pressure to make a "statement" with this collection. Which is good, because instantly catchy, zany songs like "Troubbble" might not have made it to the album. Stephen Malkmus begins with a rush of these vibrantly playful songs, including "Phantasies," a fey mix of falsetto vocals, pennywhistles, handclaps, marimbas, and other bizarre musical non sequiturs, and "JoJos Jacket," a whimsical, stream-of-consciousness ode to Yul Brenner: "Perhaps you saw me in Westworld/I acted like a robotic cowboy/It was my best role/I cannot deny/I felt right home deep inside/that electronic carcass." Like most of the album, these songs take a few aspects of what made Pavement great and magnify them. The beautiful, chiming "Church on White" is one of Malkmus best sweeping, emotional guitar epics since "Grounded" or "Fin"; "Vague Space" and "Deado"s sweet, quirky romanticism balances earnestness and irony in the way Pavement tried to on Terror Twilight, but avoids that albums oddly distant sound. And while the surprisingly straightforward rocker "Discretion Grove" and "Trojan Curfew" -- a pretty, countrified ballad about the Trojan War that rhymes "doric arch" with "pyhrric march" -- could have fit on Pavements later works, Stephen Malkmus does feature some twists and turns that differentiate the album from Malkmus old band. The groovy keyboards laced through songs like "Pink India" and "Jennifer and the Ess-Dog," a funny, poignant ballad about a neo-hippie couple going their separate ways, give the album different textures than those Pavement explored. Likewise, the Stonesy tale about being a pirate, "The Hook" -- which sounds like the ships crew is listening to a bar band while taking a rum break -- just doesnt seem like the type of song Pavement would have recorded at the end of their career. Actually, the song that sounds the most like late-90s Pavement, the chugging album opener "Black Book," is the most out of place with the rest of Stephen Malkmus fun, lighthearted tone. Though placing most of the zippy, instantly catchy songs near the top of the album works against it somewhat, as a whole its refreshingly free of the typical solo debuts gravity and earnestness. By keeping things light, Stephen Malkmus -- the album and, very likely, the person -- defies heavy analysis from critics and fans. No, its not quite the same as another Pavement album, but its literate, funny eclecticism is almost as irresistible. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Face the Truth Released: 2005-05-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Pencil Rot (04:07) 2 It Kills (04:39) 3 Ive Hardly Been (02:56) 4 Freeze the Saints (03:54) 5 Loud Cloud Crowd (03:32) 6 No More Shoes (08:00) 7 Mama (03:11) 8 Kindling for the Master (03:20) 9 Post-Paint Boy (04:08) 10 Baby Cmon (02:44) 11 Malediction (02:50) 12 Wow Ass Jeans (03:09) |
| Face the Truth : Allmusic album Review : Considering the seemingly plainspoken title of his third solo album, plus the extracurricular knowledge that the former Pavement leader has settled down and is a first-time father, it would be easy to assume that Face the Truth is where Stephen Malkmus finally turns into a self-conscious adult, ironing out the kinks in his music, tempering his humor, and starts making classic rock records for Mojo readers. Frankly, such a leap backward toward respectability doesnt seem all that far-fetched in light of the meandering, monochromatic Pig Lib, which suggested that Malkmus was standing on the verge of becoming a modern-day Tony McPhee, churning out guitar jams to an ever more selective audience. Knee-jerk assumptions shouldnt always be trusted, however, since Face the Truth isnt plain or predictable at all: its a vibrant return to form. Malkmus is making records as he did in the heyday of Pavement, treating the Jicks as a backing band that can contribute a little in the studio but is designed for the stage. He lays down most of the instrumental tracks himself, overdubs acoustic guitars, banjos, and sitars, dabbles in synths, and plays around with the mixes so they bend, twist, slur, and suddenly explode. Only on the misleading first single, "Post-Paint Boy" -- a sly swipe at modern art -- does he sound as conventional as he did on Pig Lib, but its sharper than most of that record, and it acts as a good anchor to this gleefully excessive album. Malkmus is driven by the same mischievous spirit that fueled his first solo album, but where that record had a proudly impish, even silly, bent, Face the Truth has an air of mystery. Its not so much that Malkmus is inscrutable -- a criticism often lazily leveled against him -- but that hes made the album with the sole desire of amusing himself, indulging his whims in a way reminiscent of the wild detours of Wowee Zowee. But Face the Truth isnt just tighter than that album -- its 40 minutes zoom by -- its concentrated, with each track packed until its ready to burst. Yet for as indulgent as the oversaturated mixes are, theyre never overstuffed: each instrument, each overdub, each blip and squawk is there for a reason, and no song, not even the epic eight-minute sprawl of "No More Shoes," lasts longer than necessary. One of Malkmus greatest gifts as a record-maker has been his arrangements, which are initially bewilderingly dense, but they slowly unveil to revealing their intricacies so that on repeated plays its easy to marvel at how the music crests and peaks. Those loose yet exacting arrangements were missing on the straight and narrow Pig Lib, but hes returned to that strength here while marrying it to a greater sense of sonic adventure, and it makes Face the Truth quite thrilling and rewarding. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Cans Ege Bamyasi Played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends Released: 2013-04-20 Tracks: 6 Duration: 41:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Im So Green (03:08) 2 Sing Swan Song (09:12) 3 Pinch / Soup (10:50) 4 Spoon (03:53) 5 One More Night (09:55) 6 Vitamin C (05:00) |
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: Groove Denied Released: 2019-03-15 Tracks: 10 Duration: 33:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Belziger Faceplant (04:24) 2 A Bit Wilder (03:15) 3 Viktor Borgia (03:33) 4 Come Get Me (02:29) 5 Forget Your Place (03:33) 6 Rushing the Acid Frat (02:27) 7 Love the Door (03:09) 8 Boss Viscerate (02:40) 9 Ocean of Revenge (03:30) 10 Grown Nothing (04:20) |