Steven Malkmus Solo albums
 

You can count Terror Twilight if you like, depending on when you think he became independent of the Pavement machine.

For me, Face The truth is the best, a collection of wonderful songs on a par with Pavement's best work
followed by Self Titled
then Pig lib
then Real Emotional Trash, which was underwhelming.

I hope the new one ticks some new boxes
But what do YOU THINK??

Agree on Real Emotional Trash, I was also pretty underwhelmed by it

I do really like the S/T its probably my favourite post Pavement Malkmus record. Closely followed by Face the Truth

I saw him in on the RET tour though and he came on with the line 'Whoa cold weather out there tonight...not in here though....perfect orange shirt-wearing weather...not the album Orange by Jon Spencer though'

Yeah, he's alright. Good guitar player. Always thought Pig Lib was a pretty cool album, listened to that one a lot back in the day. Most of his solo stuff reminds me of the weaker Pavement material, which isn't bad, just not something I find myself wanting to pull out very often. He'll always have good melodies and creative song structures. That song on PIG LIB "Dark Wave "or whatever is probably my favorite song he's ever done, period. Also "1% of 1". His s/t album wasn't to my liking, but REAL EMOTIONAL and FACE THE are both good little albums.

I like him just fine, great melodies, just doesn't get me excited unlike early Pavement which I think is some of the best music ever made.

i think thats unfair (ha)
When he's had free reign over his own songwriting he got progressively better over the course of those 3 albums. I guess having a family and stuff has made him have to change again, i dunno what kids do to a person but thats obviously the reason theres been such a delay between these albums

I edited my post and added a few more thoughts.

But anyway, what excited me about Pavement was the early sloppy noisey-but-melodic stuff. He's a lot cleaner now and technically "better" but it just isn't as interesting to me. No biggy.

He's still good and makes good records, but there's something kinda dull about the sounds -- maybe it's the production. Still, he will always come off with something out of nowhere, like the first few songs on FACE THE TRUTH, how they can change rather unexpectedly and be really addicting. He's still a good songwriter.

Oh, but I just can't sit through Terror Twilight.

We all love listening to Forklift and Debris Slide, those songs never made me feel that i couldnt appreciate the stuff SM did later on. I think those songs are proof he always had an ear for a melody. SM isnt Merzbow, he's not trying to fry our inner ears, he writes catchy songs, and its silly to try and complicate it as anything more than that.

Uhhhhhhhhh...

Huh?

Yeah

edit: I dont think what i said was totally incomprehensible...

Maybe not totally, but it certainly came off as bizarre. What did my posts have to do with Merzbow?

I just prefer the noisier, more energetic stuff, to the cleaner and more guitar-solo-heavy stuff. Not complicated at all.

i mentioned Merzbow as an example of how an artist cant be completely anti-commercial, which SM has never been. I didnt say you were complicating anything, i understand yr point of view, im a bloody pavement fan!

I guess I misunderstood your quote "and its silly to try and complicate it as anything more than that."

Anyway, who cares, it's all pretty cool music.

production has got to serve the songs..(cliche) but then you have this wide spectrum of possibilities and you have to choose only one for the final product...

writing vocal melodies is the same to me. you could go and sing 1hundred different takes on a song and you'll never be sure or certain about it til you probably get bored of it and go all 'yeah this is the one' when you know it isnt.

but sounds are sounds and songs are songs and i like riffage songs better. and they're fun to play. elmo delmo.

amen

I think Pig Lib is his best, especially if you count the b-sides Dynamic Calories and Old Jerry (Which should have made the album). Witch Mountain Bridge, Water and a Seat, 1% of One, Dark Wave, etc are some of his best tunes.

Second would be Face The Truth, then Real Emotional Trash. I love some stuff off of RET, but I think at times it can be a bit inconsistent. On the other hand, I haven't listened to the record in a while, so maybe I'd hear it differently now.

I think his self-titled record is a bit off the wall. You could tell he wanted to forget Pavement, but couldn't get past his tendencies to write like Pavement. Still has some good songs on it though; Pink India kicks ass!

As I said in the Mirror Traffic thread, I think his record will be his best Jicks album, or probably on the levels of Pig Lib.

~Jeremy~

you know what makes real emotional trash so special to me?

"SHAKE ME OFF THE KNIFE CUZ I WOIN'T TO GO HOME."

that whole song. dark as fuck and then when it gets all beautiful on that line. just brilliant.

are there any super dark pop bands? like... you know how islands have those REALLY dark songs that rule -- unicorns have em too -- but they both usually focus on bright happy songs. i guess some microphnes shit is pretty consistently dark. but yeah. i want dark pop!

i've only heard the self titled but thats pretty good.

its no pavement though

Like I said, self titled is easily his worst. It only gets better after that.

~Jeremy~

yeah s/t is by far the worst, BY FAR, imo.

The first record is the weaker in many aspects.

Still has got some good tunes.. 'Discretion Grove' is one of my favorite songs, and there's nothing special about it, just the chord progression I suppose.