Face the Truth
The truth is, after Pavement broke up, my interest in Stephen Malkmus waned. It might have been that he named his backing band "The Jicks," which sounds like some sort of unfortunate venereal disease. Another reason is I read reviews of early Jicks shows that stated SM was covering Oasis songs. Ironic or not, anyone doing Oasis deserves to be dragged out in the street (it is just not funny).
When I finally broke my boycott of Stephen Malkmus I was pleasantly surprised. There were great country ballads like "Freeze the Saints," which reminded me of late era Pavement. "Loud Cloud Crowd" features a palace-y guitar lick, with a great pavement-ish chorus. I think the most interesting song on the disc is "No More Shoes." This seven minute-plus late era Sonic Youth-like jam flies by in pleasant fashion.
"Mama" has the best lines of the record. "Upstairs Mama's making some crepes from a fancy recipe book. To me they look just like Tortillas. Boy that Mama can cook." This song I think is the hit of the record--at least it is for me.
Overall this record was a lot better than I thought it would be. For some reason I got it my head that I did not like Stephen Malkmus. I think when I lived in a town like Portland it was easy to dislike the Homeboy Hero, even if it was completely unjustified (well, he did cover Oasis). It feels good to be back in the fold. The No Pro-Tools seal of approval is a nice touch. (Matador) (Dan Cohoon)
