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Spins: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

| February 3, 2014

Malkmus

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Wig Out At Jagbags
(Matador)

Malkmus has never sounded more word drunk or happy to be so than he does on these 12 freely associating excursions into whimsy for art’s sake.Ā  As he sings in ā€œIndependence Streetā€ and ā€œThe Janitor Revealedā€ respectively, he’s ā€œjust busy being freeā€ (not unlike this album’s many malleable melodies) and ā€œin a constant tizzyā€ (ditto).Ā  About ā€œIndependence Streetā€: The guitar could pass for slow-groove Hendrix, the voice for happy-to-be-sober Alex Chilton.Ā  Unplug ’em, and you’d have the Incredible String Band.

Ditto for ā€œSurreal Teenagers.ā€Ā  But what’s most impressive is that Malkmus and The Jicks don’t seem to be trying to achieve or to say anything particularly important, even (especially?) when they are-about outmoded music-industry paradigms, for instance (ā€œChartjunkā€), or self-defeatingly hypocritical Christians (ā€œShibbolethā€).

Rating: 7 out of 10

– Arsenio Orteza

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Category: Featured, Spins

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