Artist: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Album: Wig Out at Jagbags
Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001922841&tag=smarturl-20
Pre-listening Notes: For the rest of today and tomorrow, you can stream the new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks album at amazon.com. Stephen Malkmus was the singer and primary songwriter behind Pavement who put out one of my favorite albums of the 1990's, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I still listen to it probably four to six times a year and it is about to celebrate it's 20th anniversary. Since Pavement broke up in the late 1990's, this was where Malkmus went next. This is the sixth album he's put out with the Jicks and I have to admit that outside of a few passing listens to a track or two when each album releases, I have never really given a fair shake to. Considering how each of the previous five albums have been pretty well received, I don't know why I've never gone back and listened. This is exactly the reason I am doing this project, so I don't miss things that I will probably enjoy.
Initial Reaction: Alright, so far so good, this first song has a great upbeat, poppy indie rock vibe to it. If the whole album sounds like this, like they are just having a good time writing a record, I'm in to it.
Random Thoughts: This second song sounds like the sound I love from Stephen Malkmus. It's catchy, good mix of quality instrumentation and good vocals, and it almost sounds like he's smiling as he's singing. I really like the upbeat nature so far in the first third of this album. The first four songs are all great. Okay, J Smoov is the first mellower track, but it's still pretty catchy. This is a pretty quality half way point for the album. Okay, so even though the song pretty Rumble at the Rainbo makes fun of punk rock, it was still a really good song. The middle third is just as strong as the first and the first couple songs of this last third are pretty good. The album closes out with a couple of good tracks.
Final Reaction: Overall, this has made me think maybe I have been missing something by not exploring the whole Jicks catalog. I will be going back and checking them out in the near future. This is a really good indie rock record. I'm not sure how many more of these Malkmus has in him, considering he is rapidly approaching 50. But, for now, he still seems like he can write some catchy songs and it sounds like he enjoyed doing so in these songs.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
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