Stephen Malkmus

Good sleuthing

i kinda like the new album!

Yeah I didn't expect to. This song is a lazy river rambler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLeGu_-Bnjk

Album is sounding a lot less "techno" than those interviews last year (about it being bumped/rejected by Matador) led me to believe... I thought there would be, like, no vocals at all.

Seeing Malkmus, Meat Puppets, Joy Division and Bowie on the cover of The Wire really makes me long for the techno baldies and free jazz upstarts of the past

Come Get Me sounds like a Paul Westerberg imitation

^^^The song would fit really well on Eventually.

This album gets off to a rough start but there are some great songs in here. The more electronic songs aren’t bad but I can also feel my standards lowering when I say that - knowing it’s not his wheelhouse and cutting him a break as he tries something new.

I keep forgetting to listen to this. Will do so now!

its like Malkmus does Suicide !

It sure is, ha ha

I like this a lot more than "Sparkle Hard"...

I'm actually pretty surprised that Matador rejected this and demanded he release a Jicks album first

Rather liking this but didn't realise there was going to be an abundance of 'normal' SM tracks to be on there. Was hoping it'd be 'groove' throughout

some nuggets in here that are already making the rounds on twitter, but my question is this:

i don't listen to podcasts, really. are they all as aggressively / poorly edited as this one?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stephen-malkmus-pavement-podcast-838534/

1 minute in and goddamn I hear what you mean - not sure if I can listen to that for 30 minutes, wtf

It gets worse (after where you are) but then seems to get better after maybe 5 or 8 mins.

also

is this the best guy RS has to conduct this interview or is he hamstrung by the publication to talk to SM about Beck, Radiohead and Weezer

Interesting that he’s open to another Pavement reunion.

is it, though? his answer has pretty much been the same since about 5 years after they first split.

Really? I remember him saying “no way” for years, until the reunion actually happened... and I haven’t seen him suggest he was open to another one (let alone “psyched”) until now. I thought the deal has always been that the other guys would do it an second, but Malk hasn’t been interested.

I mean, he might've said "no way" for a while, but I feel like he softened his stance - "never say never, it could happen" etc. - a couple years before the reunion, which happened at 10 years.

But I don't know, maybe I'm remembering wrong. I'm an old man.

I do think you're right that "psyched" is a stronger word than he's ever used before, and I think your second sentence is pretty much always true. So maybe I'm just splitting hairs, too.

I thought that one reunion was mostly because someone in the band needed money?

That was rumored at the time (re: Bob).

Maybe the financial/career upside has become more appealing to Malkmus lately... In his round of interviews for the last Jicks album, it sounded like he wanted to break out of the usual routine (small album followed by tour of the same old venues, etc.)

Those reunion rumors re:Bob always sounded silly to me. I'm sure all the members were happy to earn the money that tour generated.

Re:future reunions, it could just be that after doing it once malkmus realized that the sky didnt fall, his standing as a solo artist (such as it is) didnt evaporate, or whatever else he was worried about didnt happen.

Saw one of the reunion shows and it was great, and the band uniformly seemed sincerely happy to be doing it

nastanovich specifically said that he had financial problems when the last reunion happened but didn't go as far as to say it happened because of that, and said that malkmus had approached him about the reunion happening rather than vice versa

Stephen also seems to have mellowed/softened significantly over the past 5-10 years ... getting old and having kids will do that to you.

He might've done the last one because he felt like he owed it to someone(s) but I bet the next one he'll really enjoy getting the gang back together.

Reunion show I saw was great, people who say Pavement sucks live should be rounded up and shot into the sun.

I've seen them do good and bad shows (when it seemed clear they weren't into it)

Yeah SM seems to have enjoyed the reunion experience itself.

Show I saw was a weird memory - it was on Olympic Island in Toronto during the NXNE festival, openers were Broken Social Scene, and after BSS about half the crowd streamed out. I asked someone who was leaving where everyone was going, and he said him and all his friends were hoping to catch a free outdoor set by Iggy & the Stooges. I was like jfc dude where are yr priorities. Anyway Pavement killed.

Like all praise to the stooges & all but youre picking the band touring The Weirdness over the Pavement reunion show you're already at?

pavement reunion was good! they sounded exactly like pavement, played pretty much everywhere, but didn't overstay their welcome ... would go again if they got it back together!

ha I went to that free Stooges show, but then I didn't have tix to Pavement.

Pavement should reunite every 10 years or so, until they're elderly dudes sitting on stools and playing acoustic "Zurich Is Stained."

Hey, it’s really happening (sort of?):

It’s official. We’re getting back together for two exclusive concerts in 2020. See you next June at Primavera Sound in Barcelona and NOS Primavera Sound in Porto! pic.twitter.com/FQeS1HODpI

— PAVEMENTtherockband (@pavement_band) June 1, 2019

"dammit bob stop gambling"

My wife sez ppl on FB are throwing fits that they’re not playing more shows (U.S., etc.).... Whatcha gonna do? Nice quick payday/vacay for the guys (and maybe there will be more to come...)

it's the adam sandler model of only making movies set in places you want to visit

I’d be surprised if there aren’t more shows announced. 2021 maybe?

Wishing a lot of artists would have the courage to pull the plug on their solo projects for similar reasons https://t.co/OOTgadWzuq

— CSTB (@cstbtweet) July 2, 2019

New (non-Jicks) album coming, w/Chris Funk and Matt Sweeney: https://matablog.matadorrecords.com/2020/01/21/coming-march-6-stephen-malkmus-traditional-techniques-xian-man-premiere-us-ca-spring-2020-tour/

Lead single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LU4rS7XOxw

this sounds cool! surprised he's already got a new one coming out ...

glad he's trying out some folkier moves — I always liked this solo "No More Shoes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3CCA2zHHg

I like the new one. inscrutably lovable

getting heavy Tinariwen vibes from this

Sweeney always brings the vibes
maybe this will be Malk's Superwolf

very happy to hear him in pastoral bluesy 60s psych mode, looking forward

This is brilliance, why aren't people going crazy for it

it's not out yet?

gonna go cop this jawn tomorrow