Album Reviews

Stephen Malkmus never made it a secret that he considered the last Pavement album to be his unofficial first solo album. “Terror Twilight” did indeed lack the rough edges that normally came with Pavement’s nonchalant pop songs. It turned out to be an excellent precursor to Malkmus’ solo work indeed seeing as that was more folky and bluesy than anything Pavement had ever done.

We’re 15 years later now and “Wig Out At Jagbags” is already the good man’s sixth solo album. An album that very much sounds like the logical sequel to “Mirror Traffic”. The songs still bounce all over the place, there’s still no telling what the hell Malkmus is rambling about when he unleashes his stream of consciousness (did he really just say that he has no lotion? Yes, he did) and it all still sounds very exciting.

“Rumble At The Rainbo” is a nice punky tune while “Lariat” is a sparkling pop song pur sang. “The Janitor Revealed”, “Independence Street” and “Houston Hades” all have a slight soul vibe while “Scattegories” wouldn’t have looked out of place on an old Pavement album. Equally nostalgic is “Shibboleth”, a song that sounds like it has just been liberated from the Pixies vault. Nothing on here sounds the same yet at the same time none of these slightly derailed guitar-drive pop songs could’ve been written by anyone but Stephen Malkmus. Put on your slacker pants, veg out in the couch and enjoy “Wig Out At Jagbags”!