Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

If I could write music the way Stephen Malkmus does, in his raw, original and multi-faceted form, I would. The problem is I don’t have the musical abyss of a mind that he does…and I wasn’t a History major in school. For many, the first time they heard a Pavement or Stephen Malkmus track was most likely a traumatic experience. I can vividly recall the first time I heard the song “Cut Your Hair” by Pavement from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I wincingly thought the song was weird and was annoyed by Stephen’s songwriting style and chaotic, ad-lib vocalizing. Unfortunately for me, “Cut Your Hair” sounded nothing like the rest of the album, or any other Pavement song and was, in fact, their closest brush with the mainstream. Oddly enough, something changed in my heart along the way and today I celebrate Stephen Malkmus’ entire catalog.

In the truest sense of the term, Stephen Malkmus is a freestyle musician who transcends borders, categories, boundaries and demographics in order to convey the weirdness and simplicity of his art. His newest release, Real Emotional Trash, is no exception to that rule. As Stephen’s fourth major solo release since the demolition of Pavement (with his band The Jicks), the album conveys the tensions and oddities that Stephen holds dear within his own strange and fragmented world. “Dragonfly Pie” opens with an attitudinal guitar riff that sounds like it could be the main lick of an early Mudhoney song, coming out of a blown amp. The lyrical theme overrides the musical burn as Malkmus echoes the deep realization of the refrain over and over: “Can’t be what you want to be / Gotta be what you oughtta be”.

“Cold Son” is the first single off the album and nicely displays Malkmus’ simple poppy side and penchant for wordplay. The title track is an incredible 10-minute powerhouse of augmented lyricism that focuses on Stephen’s salt of the earth people adoration (“Point me in the direction of your real emotional trash”). The song features everything from SM’s signature clean electric picking to piano to ‘70’s organ tones and changes tempo three or four times.

Make no mistake - Stephen Malkmus is a de-constructionist. This can be clearly viewed on the well-crafted track “We Can’t Help You” that actually pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the post-modern ideal:

There’s no common goal / There’s no moral action
There’s no modern age in which to run away
There’s no grace and love / without no projection
There’s no sky above for you to cry into
We can’t help you.

It’s obvious that I’m a little biased here but being a listener and a fan of SM for over 13 years, it’s understandable that the common palate does not jibe well with his musical and lyrical flavor. In fact, his songwriting is often so slob-rocky and choppy that it can sound amateur-ish when compared to the sleek, shrink-wrapped musical markets of today. Fortunately, SM has it where it counts and doesn’t really care about his lack of radio play. He has an adoring listener base that spans across many generations and musical demographics. He has been pegged (although Stephen himself denies it) as possibly the pioneer of the indie movement. He is so well respected and known within the music industry, in fact, that his voice can be currently heard as Cate Blanchett’s singing voice in Todd Haynes’ Dylan film I’m Not There. For an original musical ride and nice intro to the work of Stephen Malkmus, I would suggest you pick up Real Emotional Trash (and the ITunes version comes with a bonus track) and then work your way backwards, deep into the catacombs of his collection.