Stephen Malkmus [2014] Wig Out at Jagbags

Album released today (and leaked a week ago).

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2014/01/stephen-malkmus-and-the-jicks-stick-figures-in-love/

... the Jicks make this performance an exacting groove-train and while SM gets major props for covering Ege Bamyasi (sp?), the 2 clips from Fallon show a band that both doesn't give a shit about sales and one that purvas anything higher -- as it must be, i suppose.

Cologne-cum-Stockton; en gratis.

Fuck Cologne-in-theory; i like this in bunches.

I was lukewarm on this initially but it grew on me majorly

7.0 is waaaaaay too low

i'm enjoying this too. i'm one of the weirdos who prefer malkmus solo to pavement (pig lib rules) and this is already hitting my sweets more than mirror traffic ever did

liking this...man...this has some lyrics tho

"If love is like Hades/For all you Slim Shadies"

Too many yep that's Malkmus sing-song melodies here that don't offer anything new, athough a couple are promising. Some lyrics here I like and I always enjoy interviews with him (but I'll still stick with Pavement)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/stephen-malkmus-on-why-everyone-wants-to-be-a-nineties-kid-20140103

So I started making an effort to be positive. It's okay to be funny. Nothing classic is probably going on here, let's face it. So just have fun with your time.

haha, for me malkmus is kind of up there with robyn hitchcock now where it's line to line -- I'll think "man he is such a good lyricist" and then 10 seconds later think "come on, dude". but I kinda find that charming.

I'm down with embarrassing dad rock Malkmus for sure - this era is just so goofy and joyous, which is what I need in my life right now, I suppose.

I'd notch this just above MT

really couldn't stand the whimsy of the last album, looking forward to hearing this later this afternoon.

From that article where he talks about Lorde live "being low on charisma" I thought was funny considering the source.

Malkmus, I kind of respect him from a far, he can be such a great lyric writer & I kind of dig his solo-ing and singing but too often I like the idea of him on paper more than in practice. Like the idea of his doing a sort of goofy dad rock does kind of appeal to me.

i like that malk has never really pulled the "ok, i was kidding around before but now I'm a SERIOUS ARTIST" thing. not that he doesn't take his craft seriously, just that he's always kept his sense of humor.

^^^ so important

agreed

he and Dean Wareham should just hook up already with J Mascis and Rufus Wainwright for a new Wilburys.

woof, that slim shady line

A 7, SPIN?

Wig Out At Denkos is an album by Dag Nasty released in 1987

But you knew that

Oh my lord, thank you, that's been driving me crazy, I knew there was another "Wig Out at" record out there somewhere

"...on Coke & Doritos!"

haha, you guys are too young to know these songs though. Good jam, good memories.

this record is being serially overrated, afaict

underrated imo

overrated underrated bleh

it's the solo album by a guy whose band dissolved during the last year of the Clinton administration. Get in line or find another guitarslinger.

still trying to figure out who would get final sign-off on naming their supergroup -- j, rufus, dean, or malk? and what would it be called? the elegant bachelors?

I'd toss Beck in as Jeff Lynne figure.

then someone's gotta go, if we're sticking with a fantastic four. dean?

(and i kind of feel like the backbeat band was already sort of a proto-version of this)

Impossible. The most elegant of the bachelors! He's fixing elderflower martinis while Malk adjusts the amps.

he is the king of spain, for sure. so a fivesome? the separate but equals?

Poor Spiral, what's up with him I wonder....I was in Great Jones Cafe over the summer and Ibold was in the house, trying to fix the A/C

the preston school of industry had such potential. sometimes i thought that jo jo and the westworld/shaving of the head was spiral's challenged hairline, and malkmus was being a dick

Pretty sure he was a dick to Spiral! The others were yes men

There is nothing here that sounds believable or like it should mean anything to anyone.

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2014/01/stephen-malkmus-and-the-jicks-stick-figures-in-love/

jicks drummer is wearing a frasier t-shirt

I'm digging the Billy Joel parts on "Chartjunk"

There is nothing here that sounds believable or like it should mean anything to anyone. is a comment you would have heard at Ani DiFranco's songwriting workshop

I can't fully enjoy a record where SM of all people gets Jerry built/jury rigged wrong...or is he writing in character?

damn. i love that version of 'stick figures in love' upthread.

i mean, i am really not able to judge his solo work w/o letting the first four Pavement albums cloud my judgment. and i never have been. which isn't fair, but that's the stature he (or at least those records) holds in my world.

to me, this one sounds like all the solo stuff to me: a handful of terrific moments, lots of nice guitar tone/playing, and several spots where I cringe a bit at the lyrics and/or other little details that sound half-baked/assed.

first song and the first single are great, but this thing becomes a bit of a slog as it goes along. giving it more spins, tho.

yeah I dunno. I can't really deal w/ solo malk anymore. fuckin "scattergories"?

that song is not good

I've only heard his first 2 solo records. I love the first one, and I'm about to rediscover his second one. I figure I'll be ready for this one by ~2030.

That said, SM's records are probably better than Dag Nasty's... they were basically an inferior east coast version of the Descendents, which is why I was not surprised Smalley joined the Descendents after they broke up/Milo left.

(..the verses of "Fractions & Feelings" are up there with the greatest work the man has done, pity about the chorus tho)

With solo Malkmus, one problem I have is that there seems to be almost a palpable lowering of the stakes with each successive album. I can see how some might like this though.

when i was 13 (87) i went to "Camp Rock" a guitar camp in northern MN, it looked like a disused church camp that some geniuses decided to turn into a music camp for kids.

i begged my mom to go and brought by pearl white Aria Pro II Korean made replica of a Kramer bass (pointy headstock, p-bass-ish body with a split p-bass pickup in the middle and a straight j-bass pickup at the bridge, this body type was very popular amongst pop metal dudes)....i was a kid very into glam metal of the 80s, just heard about guns n roses

i got stuck in a room with two older guys (they were probably like 16 but they seemed so much older), they were from south minneapolis (i was from a farm in southern mn) who had a hardcore band called Subversive Energy...they gave me a tape of their band, it was an EP, probably terrible if i could listen to it now, but sloppy hardcore with dumb political lyrics...they were nice and kind of took me under their wing. Everyone had to form a band with other campers and then there was a recital for the end for our parents when they came to pick us up....we had a band and did "Glamour Boys" by Living Colour who i guess in some way sorta split the aesthetic/cultural difference between my glam metal and their hardcore...but they plays a lot of stuff for me like "VI" by Circle Jerks (lol) and Verbal Abuse (VA Rocks your Liver)...but anyway they made me a cassette w/Circle Jerks Wonderful on once side and Wig Out At Denko's on the other and Dag Nasty kinda blew my mind...

like back then i guess i didn't know stuff could be rocking and sad at the same time? Because metal guys only got sad on slow ones (mostly i guess i'm sure you could contradict me but I was 13 not Chuck Eddy)....

so anyway that record probably sucks but it means a lot to me

a lot of really bad records changed my life

a lot of really bad records changed my life

i love this, it's so true

haha ditto

i don't know if it's actually better or if i was just in a better mood when i heard it but really enjoyed this alot more than the last few

a lot of really bad records changed my life

brb gonna listen to Peter Murphy again

I couldn't have cared less about this album until I found out there was a song called "Scattergories"

i'm tempted to say most all of his post-pavement albums are littered with gems... real emotional trash seemed like the most obbv. pavement retread, of course he's got his tropes. new one's a slog, i ffwd to track 8, maybe it's called "chartjunk." to get me pumped. lead guitar is hanna barbera-like, as ever.

*chartjunk

dunno how they manage to make the drums sound like rubber on all his records. most of his music sounds cartoon-ish to me, but it's so sweet w/melody and feel. it's a fantasy, obnoxious-ass sort of neil young music, imo

pavement:buffalo springfield :: jicks:crazy horse

in terms of the quality of musicianship/musicians involved, that doesn't quite compute

ie Malk went from sloppy/amateurish to more conventionally tight, Neil went the other way

i'm thinking in terms of awesome

Shibboleth is my jam.

its funny how with Pavement my biggest gripe was Malkmus' tendency to not give a shit (during live performances especially) and with his solo career it's like he gives even LESS of a shit

it's weird, i must be at the wrong (or the right) shows, because i've never seen anything worse than a solid performance from malkmus, w/ or w/o pavement.

i've seen him lay down some sick guitar solos during jicks shows that are doug martsch-worthy. still gaming the 'effort/practice is bad!' rock-critic orthodoxy after all these years

i've never seen anything worse than a solid performance from malkmus, w/ or w/o pavemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI5akIHu99E

so many moments like this throughout their career

altho granted that set was probably the worse

funnily enough they were great the night before

haha, well i didn't see that coachella show. i'm sure they had bad nights, just saying that malkmus has always put on a good show when I've been in the paying audience.

and yeah, i've seen him take serious chances on guitar, which sometimes work out amazingly, and sometimes fall flat. but regardless of the result it seems like the opposite of "not caring" when he does that sorta thing, like he actually wants to do interesting things on stage, rather than just cruise through the songs.

lol at Ibold's shorts and Nastanovich's sweat stains in that Coachella vid

You know they broke up in 1999, right?

Pavement embarked on a six-month world tour in support of the album, during which time relationships within the group frayed, especially between Malkmus and the other members of the band. Steve West later recalled times on the tour bus where Malkmus would put his coat over his head, refuse to speak to anyone, and call himself "The Little Bitch". Critics noted that their setlist had started to include a number of their early songs, much like a band playing their greatest hits on a farewell tour. Malkmus's attitude continued to deteriorate as the tour wore on, finally coming to a head during their slot at the 1999 Coachella Festival. During the concert, Malkmus refused (or was possibly unable, due to illness) to sing, effectively turning their set into a mostly instrumental one. Nastanovich called a band meeting after the show, and Malkmus finally confided to his bandmates: "I just don't want to do this anymore."[22]

LOL SHAKEY MO

I knew all of that dunno what's so lol about it

It's a bad example

"so many moments like this throughout their career, when their lead singer/songwriter didn't want to tour anymore."

*farts*

palpable wealth is on display

is that a lyric?

palpable wealth on display
relationships hey hey hey

i can't afford to want you

fuck, that video made my day.

Have I had too much to drink or is that clip at the top of this thread like/as bad as the recent British Sea Power album?

trick question! the recent british sea power albums isn't bad

Change in assessment.Shibbloleth and Rumble pretty good. Rumbles lyrics seem pointed but make me think Malk is being hypocritical though. I like when he writes these kind of pointed lyrics though..... See Senator also.

Possibly point about pointedness not pointed enough.

That video Mo posted is great. This album kind of blows.

I liked it when it was playing at the record store, enough to borrow the promo copy we had, then listened to it on headphones on a plane and didn't like it nearly as much. Ugh, those Kim Deal basslines, for the love of God...

Also, sorta like how Malkmus sorta owns the 'losing his voice' thing in that clip and just commits to sounding like Henry Rollins making an obscene phone call

agree w/ waterface, tho, that, sure, they had plenty of (lovably) *sloppy* moments in their career, but there weren't THAT many "frontman stays out too late the night before, loses his voice, does death metal vocals for the big single while possibly drunk and barely playing the guitar at a massive festival months before they break up b/c he's sick of his bandmates" moments.

the other guys (specifically West/Bob/Ibold) trying to soldier through and do their jobs is very sweet. ah the perils of going into business with a brilliant artist.

http://thequietus.com/articles/14532-stephen-malkmus-the-jicks-wigout-at-jagbags-review that's what I think anyway

Wigout At Jagbags (for Pete's sake)

lol

also, "early Yes after a burglary" is gold

jicks should cover yes's cover of richie havens's "no opportunity necessary no experience needed" with gary on sticks

http://rookiemag.com/2014/02/ask-a-grown-man-stephen-malkmus/

huh
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41cJHSYLU9L.jpg

^still think about this weird cover connection sometimes

Haven't thought about this album in years, and I certainly haven't deigned to listen to it again since I wrote that (yikes, much more scathing than I think I must have originally intended) review upthread. Still, definitely his worst album

It's the only one I really f with! – I like the songs and sound, loose and crunchy.

(the bridge of "Lariat" is one of his few solo moments that just really does it for me)

Revisited this one on a whim yesterday and was shocked at how much I loved it--an extremely feel-good 40 minutes. Lyrically he definitely leans into his free-associative goofy side, but that's how I prefer it with him. More importantly it's packed with catchy hooks and melodies, light-prog time shifts, and sick guitar leads throughout. Especially love "Lariat" -> "Houston Hades" back to back. Probably my favorite of his post-Pave albums after the self-titled. Sparkle Hard was really nice too but had more of a self-serious vibe that doesn't suit him as well. And Traditional Techniques was even better. Would love to see him explore that psychedelic folk direction further.

Guess I finally need to check out Groove Denied lol

This is a record that is far better when it’s playing that when I’m thinking about it, if that makes any sense.

Yeah that totally makes sense. I remembered it as "just another solid Jicks record" hence my surprise at how much I enjoyed it when I dug it out yesterday after like five years