 |
| |
|
| |
Album Review
by SashaS
26-5-2005
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Stephen Malkmus: a class songwriting act |
|
Stephen Malkmus: 'Face The Truth'
(Domino)
Stephen Malkmus relaunches eclectic vision
Stephen Malkmus’s fourth post-Pavement [let’s get the reference outta way instantly] album could be his best yet. It’s mad-ish, skewed, inventive, disrespectable to any bullish standard the industry has settled on and points the way to all-new rock kids on the block - how can and should be done.
The man is often referred to as the indie-rock forefather and it is not an exaggerations as it is easy to detect a lot of his influence from Blur to the latest guitar-pop outfit. ‘Face The Truth’ arrives on a dislocated tune of the kind you’d have to scour few continents to hear nowadays. ‘Pencil Rot’ is a cross between ancient [Can] and post-modern [The Fall] but without losing the man’s identity.
Although this album is more of a leaner proposition, its focus is on diversity, music variety being the spice of Malky’s creative life. Returning to his early inspirations of country-rock, faux-disco, pop-adelic and Krautrock song-experiments, this album demonstrates again [and again] that he is a jewel never fully appreciated by masses due to sheer ignorance.
‘No More Shoes’ is a rocker that can’t decide whether to be an indie anthem or a stadium tune before going into this Zappa-like psyche-jazzy ‘mistreatment’. Probably the pivotal song of the whole album at 8 minutes, it is as refreshing as an ice-coffee on a hot day. There are a lot of other elements here that don’t confirm and that’s the most alluring thing about this artiste.
It’s been exasperating to listen to Blur for so many years and hear where Damon Albarn found too much of the band’s direction. If you are looking for music that can send shivers down your spine and engage your brain cells without interfering with one’s basic, raw joy, then it is hard to imagine there could be another record like this this year.
‘Face the Truth’ is a loose and warm collection of songs that offers the whole spectrum of Malkmus’s songwriting to the world that is in a dire need of being saved from the crappy Crazy Frog outselling Coldplay!?
Stephen Malkmus’s talent is a saviour that is as much immediately rewarding as getting more impressive with every subsequent spin.
8/10
SashaS
26-5-2005
Stephen Malkmus’s album ‘Face The Truth’ is released 23 May 2005 by Domino
|
|
|
