Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 129 - 2013

129
2013/09/25, Brisbane, Spiegeltent
Tigers
Forever 28
Flower children
Asking price
Stick figures in love
Phantasies
No one is (as I are be)
Blind imagination
Scattegories
Church on white
All over gently
Spazz
Brain gallop
Senator
Chartjunk
Surreal teenagers
Are you old enough (Dragon)

The last couple of months I've been revisiting the Jicks' past. New recordings that appeared, I saved for the right time. And that's right now. Everything that follows is new to me and it looks like a rich haul, so I'm looking forward to the final entries in this career overview.

After the december 2012 Can show the trail goes cold for a couple of months. Stephen was holed up in Berlin, then moved back to Portland. The 'Wig out' backing tracks were awaiting completion. Finally, late 2013, we hear from Stephen and the Jicks again. Two shows, two consecutive nights at the Spiegeltent in Brisbane. I've been playing these two shows for the last two weeks, and damn, the Jake Morris-era Jicks are just getting better and better.

In total 34 songs are performed over the two nights, only 6 are repeated (so 28 different songs in total). Over the two night, 12 songs from 'Mirror traffic' are heard (all of them except for 'Gorgeous Georgie', 'Fall away' and uhm, 'Jumblegloss'), 9 new songs (6 of which would make the album), 1 cover and 3 songs each from the debut and 'Pig lib'. Nothing at all from 'Face the truth' or 'Real emotional trash'.

Initially it felt weird to be catapulted back into the 'Mirror traffic' era, so long after the 'Wig out' recording sessions. At this point, 'Mirror traffic' had been released for two years. The recordings took place three years and nine months earlier. But they play 'em so well, I don't want to argue. What surprised me even more is that almost a year after recording for 'Wig out' started, the record is clearly nowhere near finished. They don't know which songs are going to make the album ('Flower children', 'Blind imagination' and 'Pick up the spare' all feature among the new songs). And for the songs that will make the album, Stephen has no finished lyrics and is still experimenting with vocal melodies. It's a fact that when it comes to creating new music, progress has slowed down to a snail's pace. It's getting pretty damn slow, though I can't argue with the results. It gives these version an extra edge, you can catch the many differences compared to the album versions.

Some specifics for the september 25 show:

- at the start of the set they are beset by technical difficulties. Jake to Joanna (after she tries to fix things): 'Did you push that one button that makes it not work?' During 'Forever 28' Stephen's pedal drops out. Jake fills in on impromptu drums while the others put everything in order. There's some further amp fiddling throughout the show. Joanna finally declares the tent to be cursed. Musically you hardly notice though, sounds good, it's a very nice recording.

- For 'Flower children' and 'Blind imagination' these versions are the closest we've heard (so far) to what the studio versions might sound like. Both are noticeably more stripped back than earlier versions. In the Rumpus interview Stephen claims the lyrics to 'Flower children' got too heavy. If this fragment is anything to go by, he may have a point:
'Choice is ours to cease to exist / Charlie's right and he's my fist (?) […] So much of our problems began with the flower children'. Still too soon?

- Great 'Asking price / Stick figures in love' combo with extended solos on the second song. 'No one is (as I are be)' also has beautiful guitar playing and another ballad 'Church on white' is equally fine.

- There's a short coda added to 'Brain gallop' which sunds like a melody I know from somewhere – a snippet of a musical quote. But I can't put my finger on it...

- 'Chartjunk' sparkles with newfound groove and pop nous.

- An audience member requests 'Animal midnight' to which they try to comply. But they can't manage even the first verse. Mike: 'Do you want it this way? How bad do you really want to hear it?' They promise to rehearse it for the show the next day. Eventually Stephen sings the opening lines over 'Surreal teeanagers' – 'this song is actually kind of similar'. Stephen hams up the vocal for 'Surreal teenagers' something awful.

- 'Are you old enough' is a nice, rocking rendition of the 1978 Dragon single. Stephen's late 70s and 80s pop rock roots are growing with each passing year. I like it a lot, especially when covers are worked out as well as this one.