Photo credit: Kellen Nordstrom
Nearly two decades after the end of the ’90s, is it possible the Stephen Malkmus is still the slacker king? Beck may have given us a timeless slacker anthem (“Loser”), but Malkmus’ days fronting Pavement provided the template for simultaneously sounding intelligent and effortless. The indie-rock veteran’s newly released album, Sparkle Hard, while hardly a retread, carries on in his charismatic tradition. The fact that Saturday’s show at the Back Room at Colectivo was quick to sell out drove the point home how relevant he remains after all these years.
Opening the show were Malkmus’ tourmates and Portland neighbors Lithics. They mined the sound of classic post punk without sounding derivative. The songs had a real timelessness to them. If you mix the dancey rhythms of Delta 5 with the caterwauling no wave guitars of Arto Lindsay and Lydia Lunch, you’re moving in the direction of Lithics’ sound. Taut rhythm and sharp tension drove the songs. The bassist and drummer remained locked in while the guitarists seemingly played against each other. The rhythmic drive and plain faced approach made it a remarkable opening set. With their newly released Kill Rock Stars debut, Mating Surfaces, gaining traction, it’s likely that Milwaukee will be delighted with a Lithics headlining tour of their own.
From the moment that Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks took the stage there was a loose flow. There were stumbles but never outright song stopping flubs. With each stumble the band could be seen smiling at each other. Their laidback approach and obvious enjoyment of their time on stage easily translated to the audience. At one point, Malkmus confessed that they were about to play a song that they hadn’t rehearsed in three years. With a quick Google check for the lyrics and one false start, the band pushed through “Senator” on sheer fun alone.
|
|
At one point, Malkmus sat down to play a song because its required a wah pedal. “It’s on the album so I have to play it that way,” Malkmus said. Amid a near constant stream of self-deprecating humor, Malkmus baited the audience, joking that the next song was called “Cut Your Hair,” without actually playing that Pavement hit. The crowd laughed as Malkmus dove into his extensive solo back catalog. The songs threatened to jam out, but as they inched toward overindulgence it always stopped short. The songs carry the potency of a 12-minute odyssey without the excessive guitar wanking. There were still those periodical moments of the Grateful Dead, but only in focused jabs. Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks may be the world’s most condensed jam band.
