Now a 41-year-old father of two,
Stephen Malkmus has settled into a
comfortable mid-career groove, avoiding
self-parody and creative complacency
with a series of albums that have
explored his inner guitar geek while
toning down his impish charm. With
Real Emotional Trash, he proves he can
retain both, leaving behind the controlled
one-man-band environment of
2005’s Face the Truth and issuing his
most eclectic and
unpredictable
album yet. With
former Sleater-
Kinney drummer
Janet Weiss
anchoring a muscular rhythm section,
Malkmus has a Jicks worthy of his
trust, and he plays with more imagination
and whimsy than he has since his
playful 2001 solo debut, spinning yarns
about murder mysteries, and unfurling
marathon guitar solos. Here, all the
influences that have percolated below
the surface of his body of work burst
forth, as Malkmus presides over a classic-
rock parallel universe where Black
Sabbath doom ri½s rub up against
Grateful Dead boogies and Bostonaping
pop anthems, with prog-rock
detours and multi-section epics thrown
in for good measure.