Stephen Malkmus - Wig Out at Jagbags

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 29 / 1 / 2014

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Recorded in Stephen Malkmus' new residence Berlin and in The Ardennes in Belgium, and mixed in Amsterdam, ‘Wig Out at Jagbags’ is already the sixth album from the Jicks and is a return to form. A balanced album and a celebration of various styles from the past four decades, it is at times a cheerful mockery of today's life, plus of how we now perceive the 1960s. It relishes in tender and sweet irony. Bluesy with a touch of 1960’s British pop music on its first two numbers ‘Planetary Motion’ and ‘The Janitor Revealed’, the album then develops into a wonderful pastiche. 'Houston Hades' has a relaxed country rock feel to it, but its composition is typical of those of Malkmus. Pop music flair decorates his often eccentric song structures. 'J Smoov' though is indeed a very smooth last track to round off side one of the LP. 'Rumble at The Rainbo' kickstarts side two in the best tradition of Pavement. Next is an odd blending of soulful horns, quasi Berlin Bi-lingual Ensemble, and lyrical sarcasm on 'Chartjunk'. "Mott The Hoople's got no scruples" is one of the great wordplays on 'Scattegories', and a similarly cryptic idiosyncrasy follows on 'Cinnamon and Lesbians'. A homage of sorts to Pink Floyd's 'Arnold Layne', ‘Surreal Teenagers’ brings to an end this pleasant and equally irate album. Full of geographical references, such as moving from Swizerland to The Pacific in one verse ("Saint Moritz near the Widows Peak. The raclettes is so splendid. (...) I'd like to move to Micronesia”), it is often accompanied by associate idea lines that better remain unquoted.

Track Listing:-

1 Planetary Motion
2 The Janitor Revealed
3 Lariat
4 Houston Hades
5 Shibboleth
6 J Smoov
7 Rumble at the Rainbo
8 Chartjunk
9 Independence Street
10 Scattegories
11 Cinnamon and Lesbians
12 Surreal Teenagers

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Malkmus-The-Jicks/56710584421
http://stephenmalkmus.com/
https://twitter.com/malkmusandjicks
http://stephenmalkmusandthejicksblog.tumblr.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DominoRecordCo
https://twitter.com/DominoRecordCo
https://www.youtube.com/user/DominoRecords
https://plus.google.com/+DominoRecords

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