Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 73/74 - 2007/2008

73
2007/12/21, PDX

Baby c'mon
Dragonfly pie
Hopscotch Willie
Out of reaches
Gardenia
Baltimore
Animal midnight
Real emotional trash
Wicked Wanda
Elmo Delmo
Pencil rot
Pennywhistle thunder
Church on white

2007 was a productive year – from january's test shows for the new material, over the recording of 'Real emotional trash', the solo set at Pitchfork, band sets in august, undated contributions to 'I'm not there'. Here, at the tail end of the year, all that work would start paying off, with the start of the promotional tour for 'Real emotional trash' which would be released early the next year (march). This PDX show is the only official full concert release by the Jicks, as a download extra with the album (if you went for the 'Buy early get now' deal). It has its fans, but I could never quite take it to heart, sort of ends the year on a lull.

Basically, the set feels much like the Warsaw set of december 7, 2002 (you'll have to scroll all the way back for that one). It's not the recording quality, which is high. It's not a halfhearted performance, they appear primed for months of touring this set. But what is it? While the january performances of this material sound so alive, full of possibilities, while the album versions sound so nuanced and richly detailed, so full of captivating moments, what is it that makes these performances sound so...well, so dead? They hit the songs hard, but everyone is in their own little corner of the stage battling it out. It's aggressive and it gets wearying, there's a layer of distortion over everything. The new songs don't interact with the (few) old songs.

What I think the matter is, they're picking up where they left these songs six months ago. The performances are still the same, but the people are not. And they find out this specific set of material can get played to death pretty soon. It sounds like they all take a deep breath before they start and then they exhale about 75 minutes later (which, I can tell you, is uncomfortable). 'Made it! I remembered all the parts!' But nothing breathes, no one's listening to the other people, no one's allowing themselves to try out something different, some tiny detail that makes all the difference. Which is where the aggression and the distortion comes in.

There's this old interview (for Rolling Stone) where Stephen mentions this set:
I'm not keen on rehearsing. I realize it's necessary and I know that for our new record a lot of stuff wouldn't have come out so unique if we hadn't have been rehearsing a lot or playing a lot of shows. I realize the necessity, and I like what can come from it. Maybe before a concert tour I don't need to go over everything four times for days and some people do, like the drummer and the bass player, but I can understand that. I've listened to some of the live tape from our last two shows. Normally I wouldn't listen to a live tape, but we're going to release them as an extra for the CD, and I noticed, "Oh, we're playing that too fast" or "We don't really have that part." When I heard it, I thought, "Maybe I'm gonna point out that we need to practice this part."

I don't care about the parts, Stephen, but here I get the feeling that the performances were freeze framed the last time they played a couple of months earlier, and it's only at the first shows that they're getting them out of the mothballs.

74
2008 feb, A Take away show, Paris
Hopscotch Willie
We can't help you
Wicked Wanda

2008 started with a flurry of sessions and solo appearances – album release promo work, but very good performances, some surprising (re)arrangements and covers. A nice time to visit in the Malkmus career.

But the recordings I've found for that year are fragmentary and non-definitive. From the sessions I'm pretty sure there must be more performances recorded than the ones I've located. Later in the year, there were of course a lot of Jicks concerts, but there again I haven't yet found the perfect combination of great performance and recording. So I'm definitely on the lookout for more from this era.

Anyway, we're starting off with a solo acoustic video session on the streets of Paris, for the Take Away show. It's nice. The first two songs, I get the impression that somebody should have called for one more take. Nice ideas but Stephen seems to be discovering them while playing. During 'Hopscotch' he trips over the rhythms, in 'We can't help you' the female vocal part is – even to my tin ears – out of tune. But you keep listening, because, well, in absence of a definitive take of these solo arrangements, I'm just happy these sketches were recorded. So that I can hear the possibilities.

'Wicked Wanda' is all there, and is quite possibly my favorite version of this song. Really brings home the air of resignation and finality. 'Strike me square into the arms of the air' indeed.