Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 29/30 - 2002

29
2002/06/01, Graceland, Seattle
Fractions and feelings
Witch mountain bridge
Dynamic calories
Grab it and gone
1% of 1
JoJo's jacket
3^rd rate romance
Animal midnight
Too high (?)
Jenny & the Ess-dog

'Pig lib' was recorded between may and august 2002 – this set from Graceland dates from mid-way through the recordings. I edited the full concert, but again, it's a setlist drawing heavily on the new material they were making sense of at the time.

Honestly, I can't really recommend this show. It's ok, but it doesn't seem to catch fire. Maybe it's the recording, which is kinda distant (though very listenable), maybe it's the band who sound like they're suddenly on stage but with their heads still in the studio. Even the banter is about album sequencing – Stephen talking about how track 4 is always the great deep cut. Ironically, while track 4 is always indeed that on Jicks albums (check it: 'Church on white', 'Freeze the saints', 'Real emotional trash', 'Brain gallop', 'Houston Hades'), the one time track 4 isn't that is on 'Pig lib' (my least favorite song). Track 1 shouldn't be too good in fear of appearing over-eager, jokes Stephen. At least, I think it's a joke, cause otherwise he's doing a really bad job.

But this show, actually my favorite moment is right at the end of 'Jenny'. Mike keeps on playing the chord progression on the piano, developing it into some lounge karaoke track. Sophisticated!

Just a quick statistic – the candidates for the new album we've heard in order of appearance (of course, keeping in mind I'm working from fragmentary source material. There may be dozens of other appearances undocumented):

The poet & the witch (cover)
1% of 1
Fly (cover)
Tale in hard time (well, since covers were considered, I'd suggest this one as well)
Dynamic calories
Shake it around
Sheets
Dark wave
(Do not feed the) Oyster
Craw song
Johnny One Take
Witch Mountain bridge
Too high
Old Jerry
Chromatic advisor
Memory pull
Grab it and gone
Fractions and feelings
Animal midnight

That leaves only 4 'Pig lib' songs I haven't heard a prior live version of:
Water and a seat
Ramp of death
Vanessa from Queens
Us

30
May-august 2002
Pig lib
Recorded at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, WA & Jackpot, PDX
Personnel: Malkmus / John Moen / Mike Clark / Joanna Bolme

The last entries are a bit of a detective in reverse, since we all know how it ends. We've lived with 'Pig lib' for a decade. And 'living with' is an important element in appreciating this record, at least it's been for me. Like 'Wowee zowee' it keeps revealing layers of meaning and appreciation. To be clear, all these alternative scenarios I like to think of (what tracks could have been included and so on) don't change the fact that I think the record is great. Exceptionally great even. Next to 'Wowee zowee' it's Malkmus's most unique record. Whoever else ever made a record like this?

In the preceding notes I've touched on many aspects of the record and the songs already (how the early Jicks covers point at the diverse influences on the sound, how this is really the first Jicks band album...). I'll try not to repeat too much of that stuff. But let's talk about the sound of the record. It's a very unified record, very much a record that explores the different shades of a single mood. In that sense it's surprising (at least I've never given it much thought before) that it was recorded at different studios. Most of it was done at Bear Creek Studios but 'Sheets', 'Craw song' and 'Us' were done at Jackpot (where the first album was recorded). I've tried cueing these tracks up to spot the differences, but there aren't any (excepting the deliberate different shade of 'Us', more about that later). The unity of sound was deliberately achieved over different studios. I'll remember that the next time someone talks nonsense about stoned slackers who don't care what sound comes out.

That singular sound is very clean (sort-a like a Television record-clean). If there are a ton of overdubs, it certainly doesn't sound it. Most of it sounds like exactly 4 people playing together (like that often repeated cliché of music criticism 'it sounds like four people playing in a room' – I wonder if anyone ever used that line about Heron?). I'm not familiar with Ryan Hadlock who recorded this, but he did an amazing job. There are some beautiful acoustic guitar tones too. It's not just the recording of course, it's the intricate and well-thought out approach to the arrangements. It sounds to me like a record built around the players' strengths. These aren't some songs developed in isolation and then brought to the rehearsal room (or immediately to the studio) – like some other Stephen Malkmus records you could name. Each of the musicians' playing style was taken into account, so that they could all shine. Everyone's playing at a peak here, travelling these jigsaw melodies, not least Malk himself – at a peak of guitar wizardry and vocal presence (albeit stoic).

I want to mention especially the way Mike is deployed on keyboards and general synthesizer weirdness. It's a strength to place keys next to Malk's guitar, cause really, who's gonna compete on another guitar? It gives the record a nice spacious sound. They'd do it differently on 'Real emotional trash' for instance, resulting in a more crowded sound, which to my ears wasn't as effective (though the record has other strengths).

Right, so, on to the songs. I'll mention the four songs we haven't encountered in the previous chapters:

Water and a seat – the original 'Dragonfly pie', a jigsaw of a wyrd folk riff song.

Ramp of death – one of the most beautiful songs Stephen's ever written. I think just about everything about this recording is perfect. The song, the chords, the words ('Don't abuse the trust', 'Concentrate on giving' – good advice indeed), the arrangement (Mike's wonderful accents using different sounds, the bass embellishments...).

Vanessa from Queens – just to be contrary, my least favorite song of the record, primarily because of the words (all that 'ballerina tights, samurai pose on the bed, Bob Packwood wants to suck your toes' stuff). It's the first instance of a cutesy college rock/indie tradition of songs ('Post-paint boy', 'Gardenia', 'Tigers', 'Cinnamon & lesbians') all containing cringeworthy, preppy joke-lyrics that I just can't get past. That whole line of songs could be excised from the Jicks' canon, and I wouldn't miss it (Most of these songs get pushed as singles, so obviously someone at the label disagrees). Apart from that, there's some nice playing on the track though, I try to focus on that. The only misstep on the record, to me.

Cause what a record, right? The wyrd folk ones are the first that pop into my mind when I think about it – really set the tone of the record: 'Water and a seat', 'Oyster', 'Witch mountain bridge'. Then the post-punk rockers 'Sheets', 'Dark wave'. And in between a series of short college rock vignettes of which the best is 'Ramp of death'. To cap it all off, '1% of 1', all twisting and simmering moody jam.

'Us' – the most effective closing song, like daylight breaking through after a fever dream.

Cause it's a dark record, trippy lyrics, lots of innuendos about sex (and not just with seagulls). A lot of these songs feel like they hint at much heavier versions of themselves. It's filled with elemental language: nature (dust, oceans, tides, water, mountains, waves), animals (oysters, seagulls, alligators), midnight, death, madness, sacrifices, intuition, frozen roses. There are witches and ramps of death. The language of ballads and mad babbling.

The key to the record lyrically, to me, is in 'Witch mountain bridge':
In better times a spell could save you
The wine that we threw into a chasm came right back at you
Now it's all so straight and narrow
And the skeptics rule the nation

Where the self-titled album was made up of travel songs, on this one he's visiting a literary place. I can't discern too many songs with specific meanings. It's more like an extended immersion in folk imagery.
When the 'Sex & the City' speak of 'Vanessa' and 'Craw song' intrudes, it breaks the spell.

Jicks Mark 1 at their collective peak. You wonder where they could've taken it, but circumstances would conspire to make the sequel a solo album again (with playing by the Jicks). But the band was fragmenting – maybe caused by John Moen's other band commitments, maybe by Stephen's new family situation (wanting to record in his basement at his own hours). That's life. Anyway, change is unavoidable, and it just means 'Face the truth' would be its own creation, just like 'Pig lib'. But first, there were some more great shows coming up.