Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Music Box

Check out my photos of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Music Box over at Stereogum.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks at the Village Recorder for KCRW

Check out my photos of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Village for KCRW over at Stereogum.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Echoplex

Check out my photos of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Echoplex over at Stereogum.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks at the Glass House

Stephen Malkmus left the crowd wanting more after his perfomance at the El Rey theatre. Luckily I was in Pomona the next night to see Helmet, so I stopped by the Glass House record store and picked up a ticket for the Stephen Malkmus show at the Glass House. After an hour and a half of traffic, I arrived in Pomona at around 7:15. The doors had not opened yet so I took shelter from the cold at the record store. Some film students were interviewing concert attendees for their school project asking about how the music makes them "feel" and what do the lyrics mean. With song titles like "Pencil Rot", "Jo-Jo's Jacket" and "1% of 1" one does not pontificate that much about lyrics. I just know the music rocks and that Stephen is extremely clever and crafty with his songs. Anyways, Entrance opened the show again and fared significantly better this time. Guy Blakeslee had 3 guitars this time and no technical difficulties with his guitar. Since his music is very groove oriented, the set was much better because the band really stepped it up. His rendition of "Grim Reaper Blues" was especially good. I also noticed he was using a metal thumb pick to get an extra metallic/chimey sound to his guitar style. Paz Lenchantin was holding down the bass duties very well as usual. Their set seemed to go by much quicker than the prior show. Stephen sauntered on stage and proceeded to open with "Baby C'mon". He played a bunch of new songs with "Dragonfly Pie" standing out as well as "Pennywhistle Thunder". I was much closer to the stage and was able to see Stephen switch between his fingers and his pick with great ease. Stephen was more animated on stage as well, jumping around and going to the keyboards at the end of the set. He was also rocking a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory and a sweet Z.Vex Seek wah which is too radical to explain. Go to Z.Vex effects website and check out the video they have on it. I was glad to have made it to the show but I don't think it was sold out like the El Rey was. I was approached by at least 5 people at the El Rey show for my ticket. I was sad they didn't play 2 new songs that I had heard at the El Rey but the rendition of "It Kills" was extremely literal. I can not wait till this new album drops.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the El Rey Theatre

I made it to the El Rey Theatre just in time to greet Stephen Malkmus with a "What's going on?" as he walked in behind me to the venue. I had turned around expecting to see my friend but saw Stephen instead and was caught way off guard. What do you say to the man who has written so many classic songs that were the soundtrack to my college years? I made my way thru the crowd and started to have flashbacks of the Knife show as the temperature in the El Rey was steadily climbing. Entrance was on the stage and rocking out. Entrance is an interesting group composed of Paz Lenchantin(A Perfect Circle, Zwan) on bass, Guy Blakeslee on a flipped over right handed Fender Mustang singing lead vocals, and Derek James on the skins. Their sound was a psychedlic '60s rock/folk vibe with sprinkles of fuzz. You could not help but think about comparisions with Jimi Hendrix due to the sound and the lefty guitar. He did have some technical problems as his high E guitar string broke and he asked the crowd if they had a spare. Paz and Derek played a bass and drum groove in the meantime. After seeing a two hour set from My Morning Jacket, I was expecting an hour and a half set from Stephen Malkmus at the most. I was wrong as the band played for 2 hours! I did enjoy his last album Face The Truth but I still think his first solo album was more accessible as well as Pig Lib. With the addition of Janet Weiss(Sleater Kinney/Quasi) on drums, the new songs were amazing!! One song featured Stephen rocking the bass with good proficiency! Some the highlights included "Jo-Jo's Jacket","Vanessa from Queens","Animal Midnight", "Dark Wave" and "Pencil Rot". One of the new songs "Saga" was the closest sounding Pavement type song that I heard since the disbandment of Pavement. Steven Malkmus was switching between a sweet goldtop Gibson with P-90 Soapbar pickups and a Fender Jazzmaster. His amp setup involved an Orange head with cab and a Matchless amp for clean tones. This show was so good I decided to brave the traffic on Friday after work to see him at the Glass House. If you have any love for the genius of Steven Malkmus, you will be there on Friday. You will be a bigger believer after you hear the new stuff!