Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic (Matador, 2011)

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Mirror Traffic
Matador
2011

Rating: 7 galloping stick figures out of 10

After five Pavement records and this the fifth solo record, I think the majority of folks are more than familiar with Stephen Malkmus and his detached cool indie pop songs.  Now, it's not about what the records sound like, cause they all sound kinda the same...no, now it's about how good and/or catchy is this particular chunk of songs.   And this is a quality collection of songs.  Malkmus seems to have stepped away from his Blue Oyster Cult-style fascination with seventies hard rock, and perhaps as a result of the Pavement tour he seems to be coming back to some mid-nineties catchy-as-hell indie pop.  Not as many guitar solos but a lot more hooks.  I've sorta wandered away from most of his solo records, but this one has reeled me back in.

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