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Amazon.co.uk Review
A stranger to pigeonholes, former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus is one of alt-rock's indubitable curiosities. Although billed as a strictly solo project in some quarters, his third post-Pavement album, Face The Truth features cameo appearances from members of his more recent sidekicks The Jicks and perseveres with Malkmus' headspinning DIY quest to reconcile popular music's many subcultural stylistic contradictions. While a straighter mythological hand is at play on the childhood domestics of "Mama" (evidently inspired by the Beatles' Ballad Of John And Yoko, the radio soundtrack to Malkmus' rockinghorse years) and the post-punk glam of "Baby C'mon", there's nothing else to suggest Malkmus is about to surrender his propensity for bewilderment. Ironic sci-fi disco, violently red King Crimson-ite prog guitar, drone-rock Simon And Garfunkel and what Jonathan Richman would probably have called "Egyptian Reggae" are all soupcon of the day and the lyrics - there's no use pretending "Freeze The Saints" is about cryogenic beatification seeing as it sounds like a cowboy wagon song - remain enigmatically recondite. Some say Malkmus is the indie Zappa but here's to calling him American rock's ultimate left-field policy wonk .Face The Truth"? If only things were that straightforward. --Kevin Maidment
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
One if not the best Malkmus works of date .This album blew me away the talented git.Buy it its a classic!
Format:Audio CD
Stephen Malkmus is still primarily known as the singer/writer from Pavement, and he'll probably have that tag stuck to him for a very long time. But since the legendary indierock band broke up in 1999, Malkmus has been producing magnificently quirky indierock of his own.
"Face the Truth" is his third solo album, and it's a good one -- Malkmus takes his insane writing and sonic flourishes, and adds a very catchy rhythm to them. It's without a doubt his weirdest collection yet, and probably the first to experiment so much with electronic blips and buzzes. It has some weak moments, but it's not something to be forgotten soon.
The new sound becomes obvious in the first seconds of "Pencil Rot," an angular, herky-jerky eruption of synth, drum machines, and a guy he calls Leather McWhipp. That sound gives way to Malkmus' moaning voice and solid guitars, still tangled up in the looming synth. That chaotic edge seeps into other, more organic songs.
But Malkmus falls back into slow-burning indierock in most of the remaining songs, like "It Kills," which sounds like a Pavement B-side, as well as discoesque rock, Beatlesque pop music, and urgent rootsy rock. In these, synth takes a backseat to the quirky indierock sound that Malkmus has been doing for years.
Stephen Malkmus has made a living of sounding kind of depressed. But in "Face the Truth," he sounds like he's gotten some enthusiasm back -- even when singing in a despairing falsetto, he sounds more gung ho. In fact, as good as his previous solo work has been, he hasn't sounded this earnest since the early days of Pavement.
Musically, it's a bit different. Many of the songs bring older Malkmus and Pavement work to mind, until one listens to some of the weirder songs. Malkmus sounds like he's just discovering synth, and seems a bit excited about it. Some of his synthwork is downright clumsy; in the final song, he inserts a chaotic burst of it, adding a chaotic note to an otherwise lovely song.
However, he uses it in earnest, and has a good idea of how to weave it in with his undulating guitar licks. But at heart, "Face the Truth" is all about the guitars -- undulating, strumming and fuzzing. With this melting pot of styles and music, the lyrics about villains in his brain and bizarre families don't seem quite as weird as they normally would.
Stephen Malkmus' third solo album has some flawed use of synth. But listen it to hear Malkmus sounding refreshed and renewed, and some truly entertaining guitar indierock.
"Face the Truth" is his third solo album, and it's a good one -- Malkmus takes his insane writing and sonic flourishes, and adds a very catchy rhythm to them. It's without a doubt his weirdest collection yet, and probably the first to experiment so much with electronic blips and buzzes. It has some weak moments, but it's not something to be forgotten soon.
The new sound becomes obvious in the first seconds of "Pencil Rot," an angular, herky-jerky eruption of synth, drum machines, and a guy he calls Leather McWhipp. That sound gives way to Malkmus' moaning voice and solid guitars, still tangled up in the looming synth. That chaotic edge seeps into other, more organic songs.
But Malkmus falls back into slow-burning indierock in most of the remaining songs, like "It Kills," which sounds like a Pavement B-side, as well as discoesque rock, Beatlesque pop music, and urgent rootsy rock. In these, synth takes a backseat to the quirky indierock sound that Malkmus has been doing for years.
Stephen Malkmus has made a living of sounding kind of depressed. But in "Face the Truth," he sounds like he's gotten some enthusiasm back -- even when singing in a despairing falsetto, he sounds more gung ho. In fact, as good as his previous solo work has been, he hasn't sounded this earnest since the early days of Pavement.
Musically, it's a bit different. Many of the songs bring older Malkmus and Pavement work to mind, until one listens to some of the weirder songs. Malkmus sounds like he's just discovering synth, and seems a bit excited about it. Some of his synthwork is downright clumsy; in the final song, he inserts a chaotic burst of it, adding a chaotic note to an otherwise lovely song.
However, he uses it in earnest, and has a good idea of how to weave it in with his undulating guitar licks. But at heart, "Face the Truth" is all about the guitars -- undulating, strumming and fuzzing. With this melting pot of styles and music, the lyrics about villains in his brain and bizarre families don't seem quite as weird as they normally would.
Stephen Malkmus' third solo album has some flawed use of synth. But listen it to hear Malkmus sounding refreshed and renewed, and some truly entertaining guitar indierock.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Stephen Malkmus is still primarily known as the singer/writer from Pavement, and he'll probably have that tag stuck to him for a very long time. But since the legendary indierock band broke up in 1999, Malkmus has been producing magnificently quirky indierock of his own.
"Face the Truth" is his third solo album, and it's a good one -- Malkmus takes his insane writing and sonic flourishes, and adds a very catchy rhythm to them. It's without a doubt his weirdest collection yet, and probably the first to experiment so much with electronic blips and buzzes. It has some weak moments, but it's not something to be forgotten soon.
The new sound becomes obvious in the first seconds of "Pencil Rot," an angular, herky-jerky eruption of synth, drum machines, and a guy he calls Leather McWhipp. That sound gives way to Malkmus' moaning voice and solid guitars, still tangled up in the looming synth. That chaotic edge seeps into other, more organic songs.
But Malkmus falls back into slow-burning indierock in most of the remaining songs, like "It Kills," which sounds like a Pavement B-side, as well as discoesque rock, Beatlesque pop music, and urgent rootsy rock. In these, synth takes a backseat to the quirky indierock sound that Malkmus has been doing for years.
Stephen Malkmus has made a living of sounding kind of depressed. But in "Face the Truth," he sounds like he's gotten some enthusiasm back -- even when singing in a despairing falsetto, he sounds more gung ho. In fact, as good as his previous solo work has been, he hasn't sounded this earnest since the early days of Pavement.
Musically, it's a bit different. Many of the songs bring older Malkmus and Pavement work to mind, until one listens to some of the weirder songs. Malkmus sounds like he's just discovering synth, and seems a bit excited about it. Some of his synthwork is downright clumsy; in the final song, he inserts a chaotic burst of it, adding a chaotic note to an otherwise lovely song.
However, he uses it in earnest, and has a good idea of how to weave it in with his undulating guitar licks. But at heart, "Face the Truth" is all about the guitars -- undulating, strumming and fuzzing. With this melting pot of styles and music, the lyrics about villains in his brain and bizarre families don't seem quite as weird as they normally would.
Stephen Malkmus' third solo album has some flawed use of synth. But listen it to hear Malkmus sounding refreshed and renewed, and some truly entertaining guitar indierock.
"Face the Truth" is his third solo album, and it's a good one -- Malkmus takes his insane writing and sonic flourishes, and adds a very catchy rhythm to them. It's without a doubt his weirdest collection yet, and probably the first to experiment so much with electronic blips and buzzes. It has some weak moments, but it's not something to be forgotten soon.
The new sound becomes obvious in the first seconds of "Pencil Rot," an angular, herky-jerky eruption of synth, drum machines, and a guy he calls Leather McWhipp. That sound gives way to Malkmus' moaning voice and solid guitars, still tangled up in the looming synth. That chaotic edge seeps into other, more organic songs.
But Malkmus falls back into slow-burning indierock in most of the remaining songs, like "It Kills," which sounds like a Pavement B-side, as well as discoesque rock, Beatlesque pop music, and urgent rootsy rock. In these, synth takes a backseat to the quirky indierock sound that Malkmus has been doing for years.
Stephen Malkmus has made a living of sounding kind of depressed. But in "Face the Truth," he sounds like he's gotten some enthusiasm back -- even when singing in a despairing falsetto, he sounds more gung ho. In fact, as good as his previous solo work has been, he hasn't sounded this earnest since the early days of Pavement.
Musically, it's a bit different. Many of the songs bring older Malkmus and Pavement work to mind, until one listens to some of the weirder songs. Malkmus sounds like he's just discovering synth, and seems a bit excited about it. Some of his synthwork is downright clumsy; in the final song, he inserts a chaotic burst of it, adding a chaotic note to an otherwise lovely song.
However, he uses it in earnest, and has a good idea of how to weave it in with his undulating guitar licks. But at heart, "Face the Truth" is all about the guitars -- undulating, strumming and fuzzing. With this melting pot of styles and music, the lyrics about villains in his brain and bizarre families don't seem quite as weird as they normally would.
Stephen Malkmus' third solo album has some flawed use of synth. But listen it to hear Malkmus sounding refreshed and renewed, and some truly entertaining guitar indierock.
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