Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 19 / 3 / 2008

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Review

Stephen Malkmus returns with the Jicks in tow (now including Quasi bassist Joanna Bolme) for a fourth outing, and very glad we are about it too. Reliably, 'Real Emotional Trash' is a slightly quirky collection of 10 pop-rock beauties which, for the most part, hit all the right buttons. From album opener ‘Dragonfly Pie’s glockenspiel-laced chorus to closer ‘Wicked Wanda’s freaked-out guitar outro, the album flitters between easily-digestible pop tracks to extended wig-outs – these being my only major gripe with the record; sometimes these demonstrations of guitar-wankery go on a little long, in particularly on ‘Hopscotch Willie’ and ‘Elmo Delmo’ – which are otherwise very good songs. Also, it’s very difficult to keep the listener’s interest on a song exceeding ten minutes, as the album’s titular track does, although Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks do manage to pull it off (the lyrics on all the tracks, I should point out, are consistently brilliant). Tellingly, my favourite songs (aside from ‘Dragonfly Pie’) are also the shortest on 'Real Emotional Trash' – ‘Cold Son’, ‘Gardenia’ and ‘We Can’t Help You’; the poppiest songs on the record. Overall, 'Real Emotional Trash' is a great album, and really enjoyable, and if you’re a fan of Malkmus’s past work, and don’t mind the odd extravagant solo, this record should be right up your alley.

Track Listing:-

1 Dragonfly Pie
2 Hopscotch Willy
3 Cold Son
4 Real Emotional Trash
5 Out Of Reaches
6 Baltimore
7 Gardenia
8 Elmo Delmo
9 We Can’t Help You
10 Wicked Wanda

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen
http://stephenmalkmus.com/
https://twitter.com/malkmusandjicks
http://stephenmalkmusandthejicksblog.t

Label Links:-

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