Stephen Malkmus — Groove Denied
Stephen Malkmus Groove Denied Matador I have to admit to not paying any attention to Stephen Malkmus since the demise of Pavement back in 1999, much to the consternation of my friend, Max. Max spent a lot of time in the early 00s trying to convince me of Malkmus’ genius with his new band, the Jicks. But Max also once tried to convince me of the Mouldy Peaches’ greatness. So there’s that too. Anyway, I digress. This is the first time I’ve listened to Malkmus in any serious was since Pavement went kaputski. It seems I picked a good point to re-acquaint myself the man. In my head, I think of Malkmus and I hear his voice in the county-tinged ‘Range Life’ off Pavement’s second, classic, album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, wherein he explains how the Smashing Pumpkins don’t make much sense to him. His voice is clear and young and kinda bratty. He was 27. He’s 52 now. HIs voice has aged like fine scotch, it’s deeper and I wouldn’t recognize it if I didn’t see the name on the album. I like this version of Malkmus’ voice. Groove Denied is perhaps his first completely solo album. His first album after Pavement split, the eponymous one from 2001, was actually recorded by the Jicks, the band he’s worked with since, but Matador wouldn’t release it under that name and...
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