The new Malkmus record is much more similar to a Pavement record than his recent solo records. There are no extended jams on this, no proggy asides or hard rock guitar solos. This may have something to do with the production of Beck Hansen, who seems to have brought out the nostalgic side of Malkmus. I found it interesting that Janet Weiss, Jicks drummer and former member of Sleater-Kinney, stated in a NY Times article that Beck wanted to explore some tracks that Malkmus had considered throwaways, leading Weiss to say that the band wasn't sure what they were playing exactly, or more precisely, that they weren't sure of the direction that the songs were taking. This turned out to be beneficial because, although there is a mellow vibe to several tracks, there is also an exuberance to a lot of the music that seemed to be missing from some of Malkmus's solo work. It may just be that I've always wanted to hear a new Pavement record and this comes pretty close.
Buy this record if you plan on meeting up with an old friend again.
www.stephenmalkmus.com
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