Stephen Malkmus Is “Rushing the Acid Frat” in New Single/Video
Image via Matador Records
Jicks ringleader and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus has returned with a new cut from his forthcoming foray into electronic music, Groove Denied, out March 15 on Matador Records. The song is called “Rushing the Acid Frat,” and it comes with a trippy new video that channels Yellow Submarine-era animated psychedelia.
“Rushing the Acid Frat” will sound much more familiar to Malkmus fans than the previous Groove Denied single “Viktor Borgia,” which saw him lean hard into the retro synth-pop sound. This time around, there are actually guitars present, and under all the synth wails and phasers is a pretty simple but catchy chord progression. Malkmus describes the song as a Star Wars bar scene in a Deadhead, tie-dye kind of fraternity.
The accompanying video was made by Robert Strange and James Papper. It features an animated Malkmus strolling through L.A.’s Koreatown and Hollywood Forever Cemetery before eventually winding up on the moon, then returning to Earth (specifically, Ben Kweller’s Texas ranch).
Malkmus is embarking on a quick solo tour behind Groove Denied at the end of the spring, to which he has just added new dates in New York and Chicago. The tour kicks off in New York on April 30 with a live conversation between Malkmus and Vanity Fair’s Michael Hogan.
Watch the “Rushing the Acid Frat” video (plus a 2009 Malkmus performance from the Paste archives) and check out his full list of tour dates below.