February 12th, 2007 1:44pm
Named After Jazz Songs
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks @ Irving Plaza 2/10/07 (Plug Awards)
Baby C’mon / Dragonfly Pie / It Kills / Pennywhistle Thunder / Hopscotch Willie / Jo Jo’s Jacket / Walk Into a Mirror
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks @ Maxwell’s 2/11/07
Pencil Rot / Water and a Seat / Merry Go Round / Dragonfly Pie / Real Emotional Trash / Freeze the Saints / Walk Into a Mirror / Baltimore Again / Animal Midnight / Baby C’mon / (“Psychopath” improv) / Pennywhistle Thunder / Hopscotch Willie / The Hook // Mama / (band intros, including a bit of “School” by Nirvana) / Wicked Wanda / Oyster
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks “Dragonfly Pie (One Music session, 10/3/05)” – This early version of “Dragonfly Pie” was recorded back when John Moen was still the drummer in the Jicks, and though it is quite good, you just have to take my word for it that it’s about ten times better with Janet Weiss behind the kit. Since the Jicks started up, I’ve been excited about John Moen, not just because he’s a cool, funny talented dude, but because his presence in the band meant that Stephen Malkmus finally had a kick-ass drummer rather than someone who was just adequate and/or exceedingly charming. Finally, I thought, Malkmus is collaborating with an equal!
In retrospect it seems that for all his chops, Moen was still subordinate to Malkmus’ style — they were on the same wavelength, but SM called all the shots. Not so with Janet Weiss. She’s an unstoppable force with a distinct, hard-hitting, fill-heavy style that complements Malkmus’ post-Pavement songs so well that it seems as though they were made to play together, and pose creative challenges to one another.
The older songs were pumped up with a level of kinetic energy alien to Malkmus’ career to date, as though the skinny, lanky compositions had all gone off to a gym for two solid years and emerged as buff, toned behemoths without losing any of their melodic grace. “Merry Go Round” and the lovely “Walk Into a Mirror” were tight, poppy, and harmonic, but the majority of the new tunes were epic in structure, but placed a greater emphasis on rhythmic shifts and instrumental passages than meandering solos. I’ve seen people refer to Pig Lib as being almost pornographic in the way that it panders to the taste of Malkmus fanboys such as myself, and this new material is the same way, though also for Janet Weiss. Whenever the album comes out later this year, it’s going to sound like the musical equivalent of indie rock slash fiction. (Click here for the official Malkmus site.)
If you were wondering, the Plug Awards was a total mess. I’ll let Idolator cover the details, but let’s just say that they were damn lucky that a guy as skilled at making fun of stupid shit as David Cross was the host, and was able to salvage its many poorly planned, ill-conceived bits and the generally haphazard nature of the production. The bands were a mixed bag — El-P was good but only performed two songs, Deerhoof sounded like 1993 on stage whereas they sound like 1997 on their new album, and the Silversun Pickups were so bad that I wanted to slap some sense into everyone I saw in the audience who was visably enjoying their set. I’d only skimmed over their music before, listening to enough to know that I had no interest in writing about them, but seeing them live shifted my apathy to outright disdain. Basically, the Silversun Pickups sound like the Afghan Whigs if Greg Dulli had somehow lost his genitals in a horrible accident when he was 8 years old. I’ve seen people compare them to the Smashing Pumpkins, and that just seems totally preposterous to me — they could only sound like the Pumpkins to a person who has never heard any of their albums but is nevertheless convinced that they hate the music based on the fact that Billy Corgan is kind of a douchebag.
Elsewhere: Slate’s Jim Lewis suggests that Factory Girl is actually a mean-spirited homophobic allegory.