Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Lariat
Former Pavement man teases January album with tantalizing, tongue-twisting single. Hear it now.
FANS OF STEVE MALKMUS’S post-Pavement incarnations have never known quite what to expect. Dull gig, amazing gig, Zappa-esque guitar solo… The time your correspondent last caught the Jicks – at Koko in London in November, 2011 – was one of the best Malkmus experiences I’ve had. Nearly a quarter-century since his emergence with Pavement’s Slay Tracks (1933–1969) EP, he’s still throwing curveballs. And don’t forget this is the guy who gave us this. Lariat is the vanguard of a January 2014 album, brilliantly titled Wig Out At Jagbags, and apart from being engagingly loose in a manner somewhow reminiscent of Pavement’s Wowie Zowie at its most organically grooving, it’s full of the dynamic lurching and gonzo wordplay of which Malkmus is the master. “We lived on Tennyson and venison and The Grateful Dead,” recalls the singer in a rockin’ ramble that turns into a hymn to the “music of the best decade ever”. But which decade would that be, exactly? “…Talkin’ ’bout the A-D-Ds…” Eh?
And I’ve really no idea what’s going on in the video, either…
We’re told the track was produced, as per the entirety of Wig Out At Jagbags by the band (Malkmus, Joanna Bolme, Jake Morris and Mike Clark) and Pavement’s Dutch soundman Remko Schouten in a studio in the Ardennes with “a farmhouse vibe”. Check out the awesome song titles: Shibboleth, Chartjunk and Cinnamon & Lesbians. Cor!
Keenies can already pre-order the album via Dom Mart – CD, LP and limited edition LP with a strawberry red coloured one-sided 7” Pick Up The Spare. You get Lariat instantly with all orders.
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks return to the UK for four dates in January 2014 as follows:
Mon 13th Leeds, Brundell Tues 14th Glasgow, Oran Mor Weds 15th Manchester, Gorilla Thurs 16th London, Forum