Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 81/82 - 2008

81
2008/06/08, Den Haag, NL
Alright, alright, alright

Mungo Jerry cover from a concert in the Netherlands on the 8th of june. I got this from YouTube and hung onto it because it sounds like everybody's having fun. You can hear the band went over this a couple of times in rehearsal to get it right.

Mostly though, it's the Jicks edging towards that alluring and lucrative second career as a wedding band (an ambition they would fulfill in 2009). It's alright, dunno if it's thrice alright.

82
2008/07/19, Siren Music Festival, Coney island, NY
Phantasies
Hopscotch Willie
Elmo delmo
All over gently
Astral facial
Two tickets to paradise
Real emotional trash


You can always identify this Coney Island show from the sound of the amusement park rides wooshing past every minute or so. People don't usually scream so hysterically at Jicks show.

Another good to very good show, captured in acceptable sound (it's alright actually, just very soft). I selected the highlights above. 'Phantasies' sounds almost comically out of place between the 'Real emotional trash' heavy hitters. It reminds of simpler, more innocent days. Janet can't quite give it the quirky, sideways shuffle this popsong needs – ends up a bit too four to the floor.

'Hopscotch Willie' and 'Real emotional trash' have evolved into aggressive, noisy stompers – passages of random chaos, in between biting rock snapping at the heels. Maybe they could do a cover of Jimi Hendrix' 'Machine gun' to cool off a bit. It's getting that dark and heavy.

To my knowledge these are the earliest known recordings of new prospective material for 'Mirror traffic': 'All over gently' and 'Astral facial'. You may recall previous albums being built around key gateway songs – in other words, the first song to appear usually carries the germ of the direction the new material would take: '1% of one' for 'Pig lib', 'It kills' for 'Face the truth', 'Carl the clod' for 'Real emotional trash'. With that in mind, what do these two songs tell us about 'Mirror traffic'?

'Mirror traffic' is by design more of a catalogue record (a little bit of everything), so it's harder to pinpoint a key track. But these two tell us a lot, I think. Both are a lot shorter than the 'Real emotional trash' for starters – Jicks members were beginning to talk about the exhaustion of the 'Real emotional trash' material. Stephen always makes sure subsequent albums take different directions, but this time the change was a more pressing concern.

On the one hand, 'All over gently' (which would make in on to the record) – a rolling, riff based mid- to uptempo song, lightweight by design. Something of a CCR riff in there, but more abstracted (an adjective I'll use often to talk about the new material, it sounds more borne out of intellectual contemplation than out of gut feeling, some of it is sparse to the point of parable-like concentration). This early version isn't too different from the final form, but misses the 'random noise' section of the released version (clearly a studio addition – a good one). Like an older, more resigned, more abstract version of the riff songs that didn't make it onto 'Pig lib' ('Memory pull', 'Grab it and gone', 'Too high'). More songs in this direction would turn up shortly (and they fill the second half of the record).

On the other hand, 'Astral facial' (which didn't make it – in fact this is the only recording of it I know). 'Astral facial' is the mold from which he would soon form several more sparse, sober ballads ('Share the red', 'Long hard book', 'Asking price') – maybe following on from 'Out of reaches' (on 'Real emotional trash') but with all the rock action sucked out. These songs sound like an empty, cold husk, like a sad middle-aged man. (And I mean that as a compliment!)

So there you have it – a sober record with a recurring glimpse of middle-aged sadness through a veil of abstraction – my review of 'Mirror traffic' in a nutshell. And I adore the record.

But had you asked me at this time (2008) what would become of these songs, I'd've singled out 'All over gently' as prime b-side material, while I might have guessed 'Astral facial' would evolve into one of the new album's highlights. It's a gorgeous track, even with the vocal improvisations (some of those are clearly not words yet). The melodies are full of yearning sadness, the solos are ace (both post-first chorus and full solo after second chorus). During the first solo the 'woosh' of the amusement park ride is perfectly timed with the music! It could have been of 'Mirror traffic''s highlights.

(I remember some discussion here around the time of the record's release, if 'Astral facial' was an early version of one of the songs on the album. Don't know if it was ever agreed upon. My opinion is it's in the same mood, but melodically it's definitely its own creation.)