Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

5280 fans
MODESTY and plain good manners might prevent them from saying so themselves, but the fact that Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks have thrived, rather than simply endured over 17 years and delivered six albums of buzzy, sub-cultural significance, constitutes an impressive legacy. The challenge with album number seven is one that any successful band with integrity faces: how to safeguard that legacy and hold on to their identity without rehashing old ground (unthinkable), and also say something meaningful while (crucially) having fun doing it?

Meeting that issue head on in the run up to The Jicks’ seventh record involved some “navel gazing”, according to singer, songwriter and guitarist Malkmus and not only in terms of what it means to be releasing music in 2018. If, like him, you’re a voracious consumer of all kinds of culture and feel the need to interact with it, rather than just react, then inevitably “there’s a world that prompts you to put your best foot forward”. With Sparkle Hard Malkmus, Mike Clark (keyboards), Joanna Bolme (bass) and Jake Morris (drums) do exactly that. And they hit the ground running – on air treads.

It’s light ’n’ breezy, head-down heavy, audacious, melancholic and reflective, goodtime and bodacious, and it pulls off the smartest trick: it’s both unmistakeably The Jicks and – due to the streamlining of their trademark tics and turns, plus the introduction of some unexpected flourishes (Auto-Tune! A fiddle! Guest vocalist Kim Gordon! One seven-minute song with an acoustic folk intro!) – The Jicks refashioned. If 2014’s Wig Out At Jag Bags balanced the lengthy prog workouts of Pig Lib with Mirror Traffic’s sparky pop moments, then Sparkle Hard bears less obvious direct relation to what’s come before. It also has turbocharged energy and enthusiasm by the truckload.

“It’s refining what we’re doing,” Malkmus explains. “I was trying to keep it direct, for the most part. I’ve been ‘zigzag-y’ and I like that, but I wanted to keep it tight, even if there are some long songs. People are quick to get things today; attention is low and there’s a lot of noise out there. We’re aware of it, so I was thinking about how I could cut through the noise a bit. In a way, that sounds kind of pop, but it’s not really – it’s just acknowledging the reality of how we all take things in now.”

Malkmus started writing Sparkle Hard in 2015. He’d upgraded his home-recording equipment and bought some electronic drums and had been working on the Netflix series Flaked (he penned the incidental music and the end theme song). During that period, he was “messing around with different genres and various instruments. I was just working up the kind of songs that I thought would put an album together, so I was a little more focused.” Demos were done in one day in April of 2017 and then in May, The Jicks started recording at a new studio in Portland called Halfling, which is managed by multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk of The Decemberists, who produced the album.

The fact that the band was up for “breaking out of a pattern, within reason” has resulted in an album of brilliantly contoured peaks and valleys, that’s instantly impactful and full of dynamic contrasts in both sound and mood. Take the languid and slightly forlorn “Solid Silk”, a mid-paced slowie with a vivid instrumental passage and sumptuous strings (written and played by Kyleen King) which Malkmus reckons “sounds like it’s fall, and you’re driving through Vermont on the way to your first day at boarding school”. It’s radically different from “Bike Lane”, which follows. Here, a thick motorik groove is matched with guitar choogling and a glam-punk feel, which is strikingly at odds with the lyrics, that mention the murder in 2015 of Baltimore’s Freddie Gray, while he was in police custody: “The cops, the cops that killed Freddie/Sweet young Freddie Gray/They got behind him with their truncheons/And choked the life right out of him/His life expectancy was max. 25”. This breaks new ground for Malkmus, but he set the verses in a particular context. “I was looking for a contrast with middle-class, first-world problems – like a bike lane – and was hearing people saying this is a time to huddle with your loved ones and read great novels and ride out this administration. I read about Freddie Gray and felt terrible – he’s one of many. It was a contrast in a simple way between something in one bubble, like a bike lane, and this other… thing.”

“Rattler” (“a kind of metal sci-fi tune”) surprises in a different way altogether: Malkmus uses pitch editing on his voice for the first time. “I’d just bought this plug-in called Nectar and started fooling with it. It was really fun – although you’re always worried people are gonna ask what the hell you’re doing. But it’s not like it’s Cher or something,” he jokes. Midway through the record is “Shiggy”, an insanely gleeful, old-school stomper guaranteed to trigger universal outbreaks of moshing. Malkmus admits that sometimes, “it’s nice to just play a four-chord banger”.

Clocking in at almost seven minutes, “Kite” features a fragile and folk-ish acoustic intro, some double wah-wah action and a far-out, prog-ish intro to each verse. It’s a fresh incarnation of a much slower version of the song that didn’t make it onto Wig Out At Jag Bags, but was an obvious keeper. As to the content, Malkmus says, “It’s a melancholic one, with themes like vulnerability and fear, loneliness, about wanting to connect but wondering how to; it’s not self-pity, just… reality.”

Self-indulgent escapism has never been The Jicks’ bag, but on Sparkle Hard, the reality of modern life sits closer to the surface, communication cutting to the chase whether it’s a proto-punk grind or a back-porch country duet doing the talking. A cleaner burn for dark and complex times.
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Top tracks

09
Craw Song
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
02:41
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
11
Us
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
04:16
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Dark Wave
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
02:25
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
10
1% of One
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
09:11
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Sheets
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
03:19
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
Ramp of Death
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
02:37
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Vanessa from Queens
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
03:21
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
10
Wicked Wanda
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
05:05
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
07
Shiggy
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:16
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
08
Witch Mountain Bridge
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
05:22
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
10
Refute
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:24
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
(Do Not Feed The) Oyster
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
04:49
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
Animal Midnight
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
05:11
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
01
Water and a Seat
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
04:18
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
Future Suite
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
02:43
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Middle America
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:31
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Solid Silk
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
04:37
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
08
Elmo Delmo
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
06:41
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
06
Rattler
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:08
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
01
Cast Off
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
02:54
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Out of Reaches
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
04:51
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
07
Gardenia
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
02:53
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
12
Forever 28
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:35
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
01
Dragonfly Pie
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
05:08
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
06
Baltimore
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
06:37
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
02
Hopscotch Willie
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
06:56
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
09
We Can't Help You
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
03:04
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
03
Cold Son
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
03:42
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
04
Real Emotional Trash
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
10:08
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
08
Kite
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
06:40
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Bike Lane
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:34
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
14
Fall Away
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:18
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
09
Brethren
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
02:51
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
08
Chartjunk
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:48
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
10
Share The Red
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
05:19
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
Asking Price
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:41
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
10
Scattegories
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
01:53
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
12
Surreal Teenagers
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
05:38
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
09
Independence Street
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:01
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
11
Difficulties - Let Them Eat Vowels
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
07:03
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Stick Figures In Love
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:45
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
13
All Over Gently
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:10
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Lariat
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:05
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Brain Gallop
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
05:02
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
01
Tigers
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:24
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
No One Is (As I Are Be)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:58
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
01
Planetary Motion
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:04
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
11
Cinnamon and Lesbians
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:00
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
11
Tune Grief
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:19
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Rumble at The Rainbo
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
01:41
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Shibboleth
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
02:43
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
J Smoov
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
05:06
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Houston Hades
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
04:45
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Jumblegloss
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
01:13
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
09
Long Hard Book
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:48
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
15
Gorgeous Georgie
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
05:01
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
The Janitor Revealed
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:34
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Senator
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
04:25
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
09
China Cat Sunflower -> I Know You Rider
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Day of the Dead
11:24
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia - Traditional
08
Spazz
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:38
Composers: Stephen Malkmus

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  • Discography
Albums
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
18-05-2018
Sparkle Hard
01
Cast Off
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
02:54
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
Future Suite
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
02:43
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Solid Silk
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
04:37
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Bike Lane
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:34
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Middle America
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:31
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
Rattler
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:08
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Shiggy
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Sparkle Hard
03:16
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Access the complete album info (11 songs)
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
06-01-2014
Wig Out at Jagbags
01
Planetary Motion
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:04
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
The Janitor Revealed
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:34
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Lariat
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
03:05
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Houston Hades
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
04:45
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Shibboleth
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
02:43
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
J Smoov
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
05:06
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Rumble at The Rainbo
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags
01:41
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Access the complete album info (12 songs)
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
22-08-2011
Mirror Traffic
01
Tigers
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:24
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
No One Is (As I Are Be)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:58
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
Senator
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
04:25
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Brain Gallop
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
05:02
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Jumblegloss
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
01:13
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
Asking Price
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
02:41
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Stick Figures In Love
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mirror Traffic
03:45
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Access the complete album info (15 songs)
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
04-03-2008
Real Emotional Trash
01
Dragonfly Pie
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
05:08
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
02
Hopscotch Willie
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
06:56
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
03
Cold Son
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
03:42
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
04
Real Emotional Trash
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
10:08
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
05
Out of Reaches
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
04:51
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
06
Baltimore
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
06:37
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
07
Gardenia
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
02:53
Composers: Janet Weiss - Joanna Bolme - Mike Clark - Stephen Malkmus
Access the complete album info (10 songs)
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
18-03-2003
Pig Lib
01
Water and a Seat
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
04:18
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
02
Ramp of Death
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
02:37
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
03
(Do Not Feed The) Oyster
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
04:49
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
04
Vanessa from Queens
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
03:21
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
05
Sheets
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
03:19
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
06
Animal Midnight
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
05:11
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
07
Dark Wave
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Pig Lib
02:25
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Access the complete album info (11 songs)
Singles
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
07-02-2018
Middle America
01
Middle America
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Middle America
03:31
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Stephen Malkmus under exclusive license to Matador Records
13-06-2011
Senator
01
Senator
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Senator
04:25
Composers: Stephen Malkmus
Featured in
The Red Hot Organization under exclusive license to 4AD Ltd
20-05-2016
Day of the Dead
01
Touch of Grey
The War On Drugs
Day of the Dead
05:16
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia
02
Sugaree
Phosphorescent
Day of the Dead
04:59
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia
03
Candyman
Jim James & Friends
Day of the Dead
05:34
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia
04
Cassidy
Moses Sumney
Day of the Dead
03:13
Writer: John Barlow / Composers: Bob Weir
05
Black Muddy River
Bruce Hornsby
Day of the Dead
07:38
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia
06
Loser
Ed Droste
Day of the Dead
05:15
Writer: Robert Hunter / Composers: Jerry Garcia
07
Peggy-O
The National
Day of the Dead
05:35
Composers: Traditional
Access the complete album info (59 songs)
Matador Records
29-05-2012
Matador Intended Play 2012
01
Don't Hustle For Love
The Young
Matador Intended Play 2012
02:17
Composers: Hans zimmerman - Jason Costanzo - Kyle Edwards - Ryan Maloney
02
Life's a Beach
Kurt Vile
Matador Intended Play 2012
03:48
Composers: Kurt Vile
03
My Ma
Girls
Matador Intended Play 2012
03:57
Composers: Christopher Owens
04
Hysteria
Ceremony
Matador Intended Play 2012
02:33
Composers: Andy Nelson - Anthony Anzaldo - Jake Casarotti - Justin Sean 'Tore Davis - Ross Farrar
05
Brothers
Tanlines
Matador Intended Play 2012
04:08
Composers: Eric Emm
06
Off the Wall
Lee Ranaldo
Matador Intended Play 2012
03:04
Composers: Lee Ranaldo
07
Into The Light
Fucked Up
Matador Intended Play 2012
03:18
Writer: Gulag / Composers: Mr Jo
Access the complete album info (11 songs)