Photos: Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks @ Other Music

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks @ Other Music - August 25, 2011

After playing a set at Academy Records in Williamsburg at 6pm, indie icon Stephen Malkmus and his backing band The Jicks rushed over to Other Music in Manhattan at 9pm to play another stripped down set of songs off of their latest release, Mirror Traffic. Malkmus, bassist Joanna Bolme, and guitarist Mike Park all played acoustic, while drummer Jake Morris (who has replaced Wild Flag's Janet Weiss) played solely on a floor tom and a cardboard box, occasionally utilizing a shaker.

It was definitely a stripped down performance, but that didn't take away from the songs at all. Mirror Traffic is yet another strong effort from the band--and the only complaint I have about the album so far is that there's nothing about Beck's production that really screams "Beck" to me. It sounds pretty much like what you'd expect from a Jicks record, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway, considering the fact that the band was playing with the absolute bare essentials, it was clearly the songwriting that stood out. I wish it had been longer (they only played for about 30 minutes), but the intimacy of seeing someone like Stephen Malkmus in a tiny record store was worth it alone. And in case you didn't know, Malkmus is a very funny man.

Afterwards, the entire band stuck around to sign records, posters and random memorabilia, while talking to fans and taking photos. Check out a full set of photos of the show below, and be sure to buy your copy of Mirror Traffic today, or listen to it on Spotify. Also check out their peformance at Amoeba Records in L.A. on Tuesday...

Stephen Malkmus Loves Record Stores, Is Doing Acoustic Sets At NYC's Academy And Other Music

Indie rock legend Stephen Malkmus loves independent music stores. Not a huge shocker there, but what IS extremely awesome about that fun fact is the news from Matablog that Malkmus will be stopping by NYC two days after the release of his new album with the Jicks, Mirror Traffic, on August 25 for not one but TWO free acoustic in-store performances.

As stated in the flyer above, Malkmus will hit up Academy Records in Williamsburg for a 6pm set before he crosses the river back into Manhattan to rock Other Music at 9pm. Both sets will be followed by signings.

One of our favorite artists ever stopping by two of our favorite local record stores... yep, kind of a no-brainer that we'll be there. Hopefully that will be the second time this year that we've stood within a foot of an indie rock hero.

Get excited, but in the meantime check out the first two tracks we've heard from Mirror Traffic below the jump: "Senator" (along with info about the renaming contest) and "Tigers." Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will also be touring this fall - all dates below, including their NYC stop at Terminal 5 on September 26.

Photos/Review: Thurston Moore @ Other Music

Thurston Moore @ Other Music, May 23rd, 2011
Photos: Chris; Review: Kid Kaboodle

For three decades, mop-headed noise guitar god and Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore has laid waste to pop’s status quo, questioning what rock guitar can and should be and pushing past the limitations of his instrument’s voice into heretofore undiscovered realms of sound. Arguably the most tuneful of the group of bands associated with the magnesium flash that was NO WAVE, Sonic Youth’s noisy experiments in chaotic ambience and song structure have proven profoundly influential, to an extent that was probably unimaginable when they first exploded onto the New York underground post-punk scene in the mid 80’s. Against all odds, their jagged aesthetic gained ground and it’s echoes were soon heard in the early alternative and grunge scenes of the 90’s, effectively setting the stylistic tone of the era. Where before, glistening production and the illusion of flawless performance were the industry standard, suddenly dissonance, low fidelity and raw emotion ruled the day.

At the time of this writing, the stylistic innovations that Sonic Youth helped popularize have been thoroughly assimilated by the modern rock milieu and the gritty soundscapes and frenetically angular tonalities that were the band’s hallmark are routinely mined and recycled by newer bands with differing levels of success. Through it all, Sonic Youth have resisted the temptation to compete, choosing instead to focus on their craft, releasing consistently interesting (and increasingly more melodic) music, with no sign of abating. Their story thus far has been one of gradual refinement; of taking something scuffed-up, dirty and presumably worthless, and transmuting it into sonic gold. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that in Mr. Moore’s latest Beck-produced solo outing, Demolished Thoughts, the dreamy menace of the sound he helped to create with SY is further distilled and refined into something solitary and crystalline; a deceptively rustic song cycle that for all of it’s organic beauty and cozy familiarity to the initiated is every bit as unsettling as the album’s name implies.