Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 91/92 - 2009

91
2009/07/02, Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL
Polvo
Fall away
Jenny & the ess-dog
Gardenia
Senator
It kills
Tune grief
Hopscotch Willie
Share the red
Elmo Delmo
Tigers
Forever 28
Cold son
Real emotional trash
Dark wave
Baby c'mon
Dragonfly pie

More new songs from the final recorded show with Janet in my collection. 'Polvo', a twisting riff, is 'Chromatic advisor' updated for the next decade, just a little more angular in these post-punk's come-and-gone-and-come-and-hanging-on again days. Cool song, which still misses those great unexpected synth blurbs. A minor detail, but they'd make the arrangement. I'm happy this one, at least, got out into the world.

'Tune grief' is a grown man's, a measured writer's impression of the stream-of-consciousness snotty surrealist punk he could deliver 15 years earlier. It fills exactly the right slot on the record to make it shine, but it's not an exceptional song. 'Mirror traffic''s 'Polish Mule'.

'Tigers' is introduced as a very '90s sort of song, sort of 'like Better than Ezra, if they were better than Ezra'. In this version, the first version I heard, I could barely bring myself to like the song. And it didn't even have the 'I saw you streaking in your Birkenstocks' opening gambit yet (possibly my least favorite Malkmus lyric ever – he's just walking in his Birkenstocks for now)! On the album it cruises by, on the pedal steel overdubs, and the great production, but it's one more of those college/indierock throwbacks ('Vanessa from Queens' / 'Post-paint boy' / 'Gardenia' / 'Cinnamon and lesbians') I just don't think do him any favors.

As you may have figured, I'm kinda ambivalent about these 2009 shows and the new-song-performances. I hadn't really re-visited them since the release of 'Mirror traffic' and, well, even though the songs and their arrangements wouldn't alter significantly, there's something pushy and serious about these versions, something uninspiring. (Something that's fortunately absent from the record!)

I get the same feeling from the established songs here: 'It kills', 'Elmo delmo', a version of 'Real emotional trash' that promenades far from the album version. They play'em for keeps, they hit 'em hard, determined, serious. It's impressive (from a distance), but they're stuck. This may be the most stuck they've sounded since, well, since they started.

This is also the final recorded show with Janet Weiss that I have, though of course she drums (fantastically) on 'Mirror traffic'. It's much too easy to point at one band member, especially since she's been part of a lot of great Jicks moments. A band is made up of the interaction between the members. This incarnation of the Jicks had a great idea to be the ultimate hardrock/indie jamband of the '00s, and they took it all the way. They even managed a brief second window, under Beck's guidance (I believe), for 'Mirror traffic', playing with all the nuance and subtlety that very, very nuanced and subtle material required. .

But... if they'd come back in 2011 to play these new songs this hard and determined and serious. Well, maybe it had just run its course, and it all worked out for the best. Time for a new band to interact and come up with it's own identity.

92
2009/11/21(?), Crossing Border, NL
Range life
Trigger cut
No one is (as I are be)
Shady lane
We dance
Spit on a stranger

There is a recording of the Dutch set of this two night Dutch-Belgian festival (which I would love to hear!) but until I find it, I've only got the Youtube-clips to go by. These fragments may date from either of the two nights.

Mostly made up from Pavement songs, it's interesting to compare this setlist and performance with the Great Hall show back in february. If Stephen had decided on the Pavement tour back then already, it was at least still a long way off, and no impediment to a carefree stroll through the back alleys of the Pavement songbook (aka just have some fun with it). In late november 2009 the tour is encroaching, the press is going wild – from these isolated performances this ain't no carefree stroll, more like a recital of well worn veterans from both the Pavement songbook and the acoustic Malkmus shows of the past couple of years. Feeling the weight...

These are considered, vaguely melancholic, troubadour versions – but you miss the experimentation of the Great Hall set. Coincidence or not, the recital mood actually really fits the presentation of another new song, 'No one is (as I are be) – 'Mirror traffic''s best song, and the one 'Mirror traffic' song to really further Stephen' songwriting benchmarks. It's a great performance: focussed, respectful. He really likes this song a lot, you can tell.

He also did an acoustic version of 'Share the red', I've read, but I've yet to hear it.
A set I hope to get a better idea of in the future, if I manage to hear the whole thing.