Indie Rock Hero Comes to Saskatoon

Indie Rock Hero Comes to Saskatoon

Stephen Malkmus is an indie rock legend. He championed lo-fi recording techniques at their infancy while playing in one of the most influential bands of the 90s.

Pavement was formed by Malkmus and his friend Scott Kannberg in the late 80s, releasing 7 inches and EPs while slowly building the momentum and media buzz which surrounded the release of their first full length Slanted Enchanted in 1992. The band had ironed out their distinctive sound, culled from influences ranging from the Pixes to the Fall, R.E.M., and Sonic Youth, and the lo-fi quality of the recording exemplified a growing independent movement in 90s rock. Slanted’s success helped to establish this movement into what would become a fully fledged new subgenre.

Indie rock's new heroes continued to record and tour, cleaning up their sound for their follow-up record Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain in 1994. The cleaner production allowed Malkmus' clever wordplay to stand out a bit more within the band's melodic country rock jams and squeals of feedback. The single, Cut Your Hair, became a modern rock/ MTV hit, but served more to draw new fans into the underground with them than to propel the band to mainstream super stardom.

Malkmus' next recording project would be with the Silver Jews, a band fronted by David Berman. While Pavement had been enjoying rare success amongst independent bands, Berman had been trying to protect his band from being labeled a side project. He and Malkmus had been playing together since around the time Pavement formed in 1989, recording several EPs. The Jews abandoned their walkmen and other lo-fi recording techniques for their debut full-length Starlight Walker, polishing their sound and showcasing Berman's lyrical ingenuity.

Pavement returned the following year with Wowee Zowee, their most expansive, sprawling album yet. It received mixed reviews critically, but was a hit with fans. Their growing notoriety led to a spot on Lollapalooza’s main stage that summer.

Pavement’s next recording came out of a botched Silver Jews recording session. Berman had walked out in frustration, leaving Malkmus and two others with prepaid recording time in the studio. Rather than waste it, the trio recorded the Pacific Trim EP. The full band then began writing their next album, Brighten the Corners. Released in early 1997, Corners was a more accessible album than Zowee had been and was positively received.

The band decided to take a break in 1998. Both Malkmus and Kannberg went off to work on their own solo projects; Malkmus played solo shows wherein he introduced new Pavement and Silver Jews songs, Kannberg played drums in an 80s cover band and started a label. Malkmus had also been hinting at Pavement’s coming end during his gigs, but the band reunited that fall to record Terror Twilight. Consisting entirely of Malkmus penned tracks and a brighter, cleaner sound then previous albums, Twilight has been considered to be, essentially, Malkmus’ first solo record. Not surprisingly, then, this is the bands most focused and cohesive album, owing partly to Nigel Godrich’s production (Radiohead, Beck).

Malkmus officially announced the end of Pavement at a gig in London on November 20, 1999, with a pair of handcuffs hanging from his mic to represent being in a band. The band’s label, Matador, took the stance that it was just going to be a hiatus, perhaps thinking that they could make everyone get along and record more albums by pretending things were okay. Things weren’t okay, though; both Malkmus and Kannberg were working on solo projects by the summer of 2000. Kannberg had started a band called the Preston School of Industry with Pavement’s original drummer while Malkmus’ band was called the Jicks. A Jick is, according to Malkmus, “the first letter of Jagger plus Mick minus the m”. He was also playing with the short-lived Sonic Youth side project Kim’s Bedroom.

By the release of the Jicks’ first album, the band had been signed to Matador and renamed Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks because the label thought he had a marketable name. The album, titled Stephen Malkmus by for the same reason, was the song-writers most energetic, creative, and fun work in years. Written outside of the confines and expectations of the band and the label (although Matador did end up releasing it), Malkmus was free to write and do whatever he wanted.

Malkmus’ second album with the Jicks was Pig Lib. The band sounded more comfortable this time around, with extended jam sessions and less of the jokey lightheartedness of the debut. Lib’s follow-up, Face the Truth, was recorded almost entirely by Malkmus. The album is a collection of pop songs, a shift back to the lighthearted songs he was writing after Pavement’s dissolution.

Amidst his time with the Jicks, Malkmus also found time to record several more Silver Jews albums with Berman, the most recent being Tanglewood Numbers. He also supplied Cate Blanchett’s singing voice in Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There last year.

Real Emotional Trash, the Jicks’ album released earlier this year, is a return to the guitar-rock sound that Stephen Malkmus can’t stop paying tribute to. More a collection of sprawling jams than pop songs, the album is nonetheless one of Malkmus’ most focused recordings. This may be due in part to the addition of ex-Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, who acts as a fresh anchor to the band’s expansiveness.