Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
I’ve found Malkmus’s past work hit and miss myself, not always a fan of drawn out guitar for lengthy periods personally so admittedly i approached this cautiously. I was pleasantly surprised in general. Typically, there are long instrumental parts but Real Emotional Trash is full of psychedelic and of guitar improvisation that really works. Also prominent is the electric piano and poetic lyrics that sometimes work but largely it’s the music which is the focus and makes up for some lacklustre lyrics.
Opening track “Dragonfly Pie” sets the tone for the album, crackled guitar accompanied with electric piano and it works this time for Malkmus. This is an album he has been searching for and his persistence has paid off to some degree. “Gardenia” is different though, a short jangly pop-esque track, which fails to interest much. Sometimes the guitar riffs are overdone however and like his past work, descends into an uninspiring ramble that just doesn’t interest. Fans of Stephen Malkmus will enjoy this no doubt as it isn’t much different to his past work. I personally found some of the tracks on this effort more enjoyable than the past stuff i have listened to. As a consequence to it sounding similar to previous work, it sounds somewhat stuck in the past sometimes. Yes it is melodic, yes it contains some interesting lyrics, albeit rare but overall it just isn’t quite as good as it may have could of been. Nevertheless i enjoyed it. I’m not really inclined to say whether it’s good or not, I’m on the fence so to speak. For fans of Malkmus this will no doubt be a good listening experience. For somebody new to him, they maybe put off by some of the lengthy instrumentals. “Cold Son”, “Dragonfly Pie” and “Out of Reaches” are my personal favourites. Plenty to be enjoyed but takes a while to appreciate it at times.
By John Siwicki
