Real Emotional Trash [CD]

Ever since Pavement broke up, Stephen Malkmus has just gotten odder and odder. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

And he really doesn't disappoint in his fourth full-length solo album with the Jicks, "Real Emotional Trash," which strikes a brilliant balance between the sounds of "Pig Lib" and "Face the Truth." Malkmus preserves his insane lyrics and fuzz-freakery, but wraps them around some gloriously eccentric psychedelic rock songs.

It opens with a dark, sludgy bassline, festooned in buzzing riffs, with Malkmus droning wearily, "Of all my stoned digressions/Some have mutated into the truth." But the slow grimy grinds suddenly speeds up... and melts away into a sublime little pop melody ("Taken with pride like a dragonfly/dragonfly wants a piece of pie!") that alternates between stoner riffs and delightfully sunny harmonium melodies.

The title track is a ten-minute bounce of peppy, sputtering guitar rock split by a drowsy, ringing expanse, and fading out to a meandering little guitar melody, as if he were falling asleep at the strings.

But he hasn't, because it's just the start of a whole new string of songs -- quirky buzzy pop, loopy little experimental rockers, and a lot of meandering rock'n'roll with fuzzy hard edges and drips of keyboard. It finishes up with two really delicious little songs -- the sunny shimmers of "We Can't Help You" and the intimate psychfolky sound of "Wicked Wanda."

When listening to a Stephen Malkmus album, I'm never entirely sure what he's crafting. "Real Emotional Trash" happily wobbles between pop epic, experimental concept album, and quirky indie fuzz-rocker without committing to any one sound, and Malkmus does a pretty solid job interweaving them together. This is very much his style, but striking a balance between quirk and listener-friendliness.

And he mostly sticks to what has worked for him in the past -- pleasantly meandering rockers and peppy pop, given some odd edges. His ringing guitar riffs are simply astounding, twisting and stretching beyond what you'd think the instrument could manage -- along with the Jicks' flexible instrumentation. The instrumentation is a fluid, glorious stream of piano, drumming, fuzz bass and rippling hollow keyboard, as in the beautiful opening of "We Can't Help You."

Don't worry, he doesn't just retread. There are some psychedelic twists here and there, while "Elmo Delmo" and the title track both have stretches of spacey, buzzy prog-rock in the middle. While not as accessible as the straightforward rockers, they're still pretty brilliant.

And Malkmus genuinely sounds like he's having fun, as his mellow voice darts in and out of the music. He can be murmuring one minute, and then yowl out at the listener the next. And as expected, his lyrics are really weird and nonsensical, but with some very clever moments here and there ("Who is in the sand?/the world is my oyster/I feel like a nympho stuck in a cloister"). Chuckle.

The title of "Real Emotional Trash" might give you the wrong idea, because Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' latest is anything but trash. It's polished, weird, and very endearing.

I suppose the "frailty" of Malkmus's voice is part of his charm but it really stops this album from being a 5 star beezer for me. The songs are multi layered and melodic yet have jagged edges especially when he wigs out on his geetar! The lyrics are predictably sharp and wacky on occasion so some times it all comes together splendidly and Cold Sun especially hits the mark.

A grower

I love Steve Malkmus & Pavement. I am a huge fan, and have been for twenty years now.

SM's solo career (with the Jicks) started in a mellow vein, but has developed in an interesting manner. No longer tied to a group of sometimes laddish beer-drinking guys in their 20s, he is free to be the muso he always secretly was.

This album is hands down his best work, either with Pavement or not. Great band, great set of songs, great performances, great emotional range. More complex than the earlier solo albums, less afraid to rock out. But always with fantastic songwriting and amazing style.

It has become my favourite album by any artist... and stayed that way. Thankyou Malkmus for this truly brilliant set of tracks. Honestly, it's right up there with Rumours, Arise Therefore and Isn't Anything!

Buy it and enjoy it.