Three Imaginary Girls - Matador

Got any Capitol Hill Block Party line-up guesses / rumors? My money is on Thurston Moore...

imaginary liz — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:08:18 +0000

{Photo: Ari Marcopoulos, 2011}

I just heard a song from the new Thurston Moore album {set to be released on 5/24 on Matador} and it's as sweet as a Carpenters cover {listen/download "Benediction" now}. As Thurston describes the song:

"On day one I played the first song sitting in front of a Beck-wired microphone, its design informed by the cut of Joseph Beuys’ cerebellum. The jam is called “Benediction”, where the camera records the adult girl reading a love letter written on the back blank pages of her hymnal where he knew only she could find it."

And while I was reading through his self-penned bio {well done, Thurston!}, I noticed his summer tour schedule -- and oh boy -- it looks like there is a neat little block of time in the Pacific Northwest that could accomodate a stop at the Capitol Hill Block Party?

Somebody pinch us: we've got Pavement tickets to give away!

imaginary victoria — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:05:08 +0000

If you're anything like the rest of the free world, you haven't seen much of Pavement since sometime in the late nineties. Recording, releasing, and playing live music for the better part of a decade, Pavement firmly established themselves in the lo-fi pool of the 'alternative' world in 1989 -- that's just shy of pre-indie, kids -- and fizzled out after their final show almost exactly ten years later. Both fringe- and cult-level fans alike have been clamoring for live performances and speculating on reunion tours ever since, and for those of us lucky enough to have come across / stood in line for / offered our next-born for tickets, the time has finally come!

After a decade-long hiatus, Pavement finally hit the road again this year for a European tour and stateside festival circuit (including Sasquatch, Coachella, and Pitchfork Fest), toting along a best-of comp that was released back in March. They're playing twenty-eight dates in September, and we're lucky enough to have show number two this month taking place at our very own Paramount Theater on Sunday, September 5th. We'll be there with bells on, and we'd love for you to join us! Here's how you can win a pair of tickets to the show:

Win a dream date with the New Pornographers

imaginary keenan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:30:31 +0000

OK, so it's not exactly as if you and Carl Newman or Neko Case will intimately be sharing a bottle of wine and discussing your childhoods (or maybe you will!), but boy do we have a special treat for you!

The New Pornographers are doing something very special for their 7/31 Showbox at the Market stop: inviting a few lucky fans in for soundcheck and a meet and greet with the band, encompassing the theme of their new album, Together. This fabulous package (Bob Barker style) includes VIP tickets to the show as well!

Along with our friends at Easy Street Records and KEXP, we here at TIG have 2 packages to giveaway! How do I win something so marvelous you might be asking? Simple! Just e-mail us at tig@threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line "gettogetherwiththenewpornos" (all one word please!) by 9am Friday, July 23rd for a chance to win! This gives you plenty of time to think of some conversation ice breakers!

If you happen to be reading us in a city that is not Seattle, check out the Matador Records Matablog and Facebook page for the full scoop and to see if this amazing experience is offered in your city!

What to do after the TIG New Pornographers listening party tonight

Chris Estey — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:16:03 +0000

Tonight is kind of special, and not in a weak beer tasting way. There's tons of super fun socializing stuff to do!

First there's the Three Imaginary Girls-sponsored New Pornographers' album Together listening party early at 6 PM at the best coffee shop in Greenwood, Neptune (8415 Greenwood Avenue North). This would be a sweet chance to hang out with TIG people, the Greenwood gang, and New Pornographers' fans, who are to class and sass what a just out of juvie 40 ouncer-lugging Juggalo is to an Insane Clown Posse listening par-tay. The new album has honey-crackling Neko Case co-vocals, tons of sauteed hooks, and deep chocolate cello. Come get your fresh ground bean buzz on and hear it on Neptune's gnarly s-system with fellow underground rock connoisseurs.

What are you doing later then? Here's one suggestion: Ladies lounging at Cafe Society at Sole Repair at 9 PM.

After that, I'm going to take off for with my ride to Capitol Hill, to 1001 E. Pike to see Sole Repair's new swanky lounge lizard-palooza, Cafe Society, hosted by two of the smartest, sweetest, most awesome Seattle leading ladies Jennifer Petersen (of Sportin' Life Records) and Sarah Walczyk (Powerful Voices).

Win your way in to see Mission of Burma at the Crocodile

ChrisB — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:12:04 +0000

Fact: everyone loves Mission of Burma. Amiright?

Proof: if you happened to be in Boston on October 4, less than a month ago, you were in Boston on Mission of Burma Day. Even more convincing, even Wikipedia loves MOB:

Mission of Burma's efforts are largely concerned with extending punk's original vocabulary without losing its essential rebellious spirit. Using rapid shifts in dynamics, unconventional time signatures and chord progressions along with tape effects, Mission of Burma challenges the prevailing idioms of punk while attempting to retain its power and immediacy.

The converse of which is that the exact opposite of the percentage of people who love Mission of Burma is equal to the same percentage of people who like paying for stuff. So, we want to send one of our readers (and a guest) to share in the love of MOB live at the Crocodile on Wednesday, November 11. Just e-mail us by Monday, November 9 at 9am with "BurmaIsNowMyanmar" in the subject line. One name will be drawn at random and it'll appear on MOB's guestlist +1 on Wednesday night.

{Photo by Kelly Davidson}

New Spiral Stairs video: Stolen Pills

ChrisB — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:20:05 +0000

Spiral Stairs, aka Scott Kannberg, guitarist for the reuniting Pavement, has a new album out on Tuesday called The Real Feel (Matador Records). Above is the video to the first single, "Stolen Pills".

(Via Pitchfork)

Bated Breath for new Cave Singers release

Chelsea Werner — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:43:27 +0000

This may be a little early. And I'm definitely too excited about this. But, Beach House, The Cave Singers first mp3 for their album coming out this August, is up on Matador's website. Ever since I heard some of their new songs live at Neumos in February, I've been craving more. The songs they played live were infectious and beautiful and I was humming them without knowing what they were for days afterwards.

Fuckbook

Imaginary Mimi — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:41:06 +0000

8.8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q8FRZI/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

condofucks09apr.jpg

Only Yo La Tengo could come up with a side project with a name as spectacular as Condo Fucks. Only Yo La Tengo could come up with music that is worthy of such a spectacular name. Fuckbook (a wink-wink, nudge, nudge to the 1990's cover heavy Fakebook), the Condo Fucks "5th" release, plays like 30 minutes of rifling through Yo La Tengo's album collection with one of them leaning over your shoulder saying "Yeah, that one is one of my favorites!."

Exceedingly lo-fi (and almost inaudibly lo-fi at times), Fuckbook is a fast, fuzzy romp through 11 cover tracks that one can tell the group really enjoys playing. It has a certain "busted singing in the shower quality," but openly displays their encyclopedic knowledge. The tracks appear to be meticulously selected for cohesion in sound and tone, while still maintaining an air of fun and playfulness. Most all of the tracks had a garagey quality to them to begin with, and those that didn't benefit from the lo-fi garage treatment. One should not expect the classic Yo La Tengo sound. They even make a point to put a sticker on the packaging of the album that says "This is NOT the new Yo La Tengo album." The production quality and sound are much closer to the New Jersey WFMU Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics than anything else in their large and varied discography.

The result of the efforts of "Kid Condo," "Georgia Condo," and, um, James McNew is, to a certain degree, a mixed bag. By far, the best tracks are the stripped down, rocket- fueled Small Faces cover of "What You Gonna Do About It?," Richard Hell's "The Kid With the Replaceable Head" (the very best track on the album), and, surprise of surprises, "Shut Down," by the Beach Boys, with harmonization intact. I have never been a Beach Boys fan, but if the Condo Fucks covered Smile, I think my head would explode Scanners style with glee. Kid Condo's guitar sears through all every track, squealing with feedback. Georgia Condo's expert work at the drum kit may sound garagey and unrefined at first listen, but her attention to detail and ability to keep a beat shine through, especially after one listens to the original version of a track. The only semi-disappointing track was the Troggs' "With a Girl Like You." Though it is always a delight to hear Georgia sing, her demure, sweet little voice had no place on an album this loud. The feedback from the guitar completely engulfed her vocals in feedback, and the louder one would turn it up to hear the vocals, the worse the quality of them became.

Fuckbook is a fabulous album for a side project. It feels like it scratches their itch to play fast and loose, to geek out a bit, and to play simply for the joy of collaborating with people they love to work with. It's short, sweet, and sloppy, and has very high replay value. Fuckbook? Fuck yes!

Fuckbook is a fabulous album for a side project. It feels like it scratches their itch to play fast and loose, to geek out a bit, and to play simply for the joy of collaborating with people they love to work with. It's short, sweet, and sloppy, and has very high replay value. Fuckbook? Fuck yes!

Matador releases special edition vinyl for Record Store Day

imaginary victoria — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:54:02 +0000

Limited edition vinyl releases from Jay Reatard, Sonic Youth, and Pavement!!!

"I Traipsed Over the Washington Border, In a Cheap Caravan, Man"

Imaginary Mimi — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:58:04 +0000

Riding a fantastical dreamboat powered by the lovesick sighs of hundreds of indiepop lovin ladies, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks come to Neumo's tomorrow night.

More Cat Power covers forthcoming

ChrisB — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:58:34 +0000

Less than a year after releasing Jukebox, Cat Power's second album of mostly other people's songs, Chan Marshall and company decided that they still haven't gotten that out of their system and are planning on releasing another covers album this December. This is a double, 10 inch EP called Dark End of the Street.

The album will be, again, out on Matador (as the details came from its Matablog) and it'll be released on December 9, both digitally and as a double 10" record. The six songs are:

1) Auld Triangle (The Pogues)*
2) Dark End Of The Street (James Carr, Aretha Franklin)*
3) Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Sandy Denny / Fairport Convention)*
4) Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revivial)
5) I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) (Otis Redding)
6) It Ain’t Fair (Aretha Franklin)*

* - previously unreleased recordings.

T-minus 1 day: Exile in {Imaginary} Girlville: EIG is re-released - today

ChrisB — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:23:49 +0000

Oh. My. Gawd. Becky. Is it really tomorrow night? All this time practicing all my moves and memorizing the stupid rules and Exile in {Imaginary} Girlville is finally, almost definitely here!?! Just one more night?

T-minus 4 days: Exile in {Imaginary} Girlville: Official videos

ChrisB — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:22:36 +0000

Four days now until Exile in {Imaginary} Girlville!?! Holy shit it's getting close!

T-minus 9 days: Exile in {Imaginary} Girlville: Your favorite EIG song?

ChrisB — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:59:24 +0000

We thought we'd turn it over to you and ask what is your favorite song from Exile in Guyville? Why?

Rook

zlint krommodir — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:33:03 +0000

9.2

http://www.amazon.com/Rook-Ocrd-Shearwater/dp/B0017R5UH8/wwwthreeimagi-20/

shearwater08jun.jpg

I'm never quite sure if I've had enough of Shearwater. The band delivers truth like a dentist delivers novacaine: despite the absence of pain, the nature of the proceedings is abundantly clear. Shearwater writes deliberate and thoughtful songs that tell of the terrible destruction surrounding us--but do so without scaring us, without the physical pain.

In this modern age of polluted oceans and resource wars, hope and optimism can seem to be endangered species. On Rook, Shearwater takes us gently by the hand, and bids we go witness the ruins of our natural world, rather than sit idly indoors, checking our email and catching up on our favorite blogs.

Rook, Shearwater’s sixth album, the group’s second on Matador Records, is a remarkable work from the Austin-based band. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes and one song shorter than Palo Santo – their critically-acclaimed Matador debut – Rook accomplishes more.

If Palo Santo evoked clouds gathering and forming the perfect storm over a landscape of human-driven global environmental disaster, Rook is a stern reflection on the present aftermath. The album dwells elegaically for long moments on pastoral epochs and then dramatically rings out the relentless and surprising incidents that ensue in the face of nature’s new and unapologetic incarnation.

The album follows a majestic arc setting off with an emotionally vast piece called “On the Death of the Waters.” Lead vocalist Jonathan Meiburg opens, singing plaintively to a solo piano figure that sets a somber, melodic tone. Soon after, Kimberly Burke’s elegant double bass enters and Meiburg reaches to his falsetto to issue a dark warning. "Oh my god/ As the spindle flies apart/ turn your bow to the biggest wave/ but your angel’s on holiday/ and that wave rises slowly/ and breaks" – and with it, the band crashes in with a huge wall of guitars, trumpets, and Thor Harris’ thundering drums – but only for a moment. Having now familiarized us with the gravity of their message, the band restores the song quickly to the quiet contemplation of its solo piano introduction.

Shearwater leverages their second track “Rooks” to intensify their statement. The album’s first single, it takes a more forward yet equally apocalyptic stance. The song begins with bell-tone guitar, a driving bass and drum beat, and piles of crows burning in fields by the side of the road. We are now in a world where even the ambulance driver is hopeless, advising we are best off staying indoors and sleeping until the world of man is paralyzed.

This is scary stuff, but it’s done so beautifully we can’t turn away. Furthermore, we ought to be inclined to listen attentively to such lyrics from a man who studies birds for his living when he’s not playing in the band. Meiburg has his Ph.D. in ornithology and has spent a good deal of time in natural refuges such as the Falkland Islands studying the caracara, a magnificent and ever-rarer bird of prey.

The aptly named “Leviathan, Bound” is a powerful and moving piece that is propelled by an amalgam of percussion, sans drums. The harmonies on this one are beautiful, as are the arrangements of strings, hammer dulcimer, and glockenspiel. Shearwater realizes the race toward ultimate consumption.

“Home Life” is complex, a work in itself that requires many listens to fully appreciate the intricacy of its melodies and changes. The song is an epic journey through the mind’s eye that features guitars, clarinet, strings, tribal beats, piano, and a quite chilling story of human expansion.

“Lost Boys,” a likely ode to Peter Pan, is a dark yet fanciful escape from Rook’s austere realities. Set against a cinematic backdrop of alternating strings and bells, a guitar gently picks while Meiburg sings a nostalgic falsetto. Once we are well-entranced in a world of fantasy, Thor’s thundering drumroll signifies we are near the edge of a precipice, and at once we are again in full flight. The band’s dynamic sensibilities are strong throughout Rook but showcase particularly well here.

“Century Eyes” is the album’s rocker, and ponders television. Shearwater must have known their message might not transmit without a measure of force. “Turn it off! Turn it off!/ With our backs to the arch and the wreck of our kind/ we will stare straight ahead for the rest of our lives!” You will die. Probably soon. This is Shearwater’s way of saying stop staring straight ahead. Wake the f*** up people. Thor’s beat on this tune literally has to be seen to be believed. Like Bruce Springsteen might rock the dystopic future Australia of Mad Max, Shearwater wails on this track.

Calm and beauty returns for a spell as “I Was A Cloud” contemplates the waning relationship between the sky and the sparrow.

“South Col” is the consequent void. The song depicts the absence of song and life through a tense and unsettling arrangement of bowed strings and glockenspiel.

“The Snow Leopard,” the album’s impressive climax, opens with a stately piano figure and spins headlong into a potent chronicle of the life lived by a creature of nature. Piano gives way to wrenching guitar and booming bass, each pushed slightly over the edge of overdrive and writhing over a sturdy marching rock beat. Meanwhile we learn that the very will of nature might be giving up, reaching the threshold of its ability to persist. Will its sullen child summon the strength to survive?

One answer may be heard in Rook’s haunting final track “The Hunter’s Star” which posits “No child at all/ would wake to the light/ of a sun that is reddening/ like a robin’s breast,/ and no lioness/ boards a last, great hull/ on the waves/ that close /on a world/ that will never return again/ and no sound escapes/ from the night to come.”

I don’t prefer or profess to be a doomsayer, but I do think it’s about time someone said something acutely provocative about the present state of our natural world. Shearwater speaks truth to the spoils of man and his crippling of nature.

Thank you, Shearwater. May we hear your next album.

I don’t prefer or profess to be a doomsayer, but I do think it’s about time someone said something acutely provocative about the present state of our natural world.

Old Growth

Erik Gonzalez — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:31:30 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Growth-Dead-Meadow/dp/B00109T8LW/wwwthreeimagi-20/

dead meadow.jpg

You might be feeling the need for some good old-fashioned rock, and Dead Meadow will provide you with that.

Old Growth is driven by guitars and, oddly, it is driven in two different directions. On one hand, there are definitely long tentacles of metal that reach into Dead Meadow's sound, but equally they are within the thrall of fuzzed-out shoegazer rock. "Ain't Got Nothing (to Go Wrong)" is like either Galaxie 500 on steroids or Jesus & Mary Chain on depressants — it is really hard to tell. The sound that is produced by Dead Meadow is rich and full of texture, the sort of music that you can just sit back and listen to with your clamshell headphones on and try to absorb the layers of sound, like the depth of "What Needs Must Be" or "'till Kingdom Come."

Of course, the biggest pitfall to this stoner rock is that you can get so lost in your groove that you forget that you're might be trying to write a cohesive song, but luckily Dead Meadow tends to keep things in check, restraining themselves (mostly) to songs less than 5 minutes long. Old Growth is a fitting name for this dark and tangled web of sound produced by the DC band.

You might be feeling the need for some good old-fashioned rock, and Dead Meadow will provide you with that.

Bye bye Okkervil River, hello Shearwater

imaginary liz — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:48:09 +0000

One of our favorite Okkervil River band members (ok, we love them all), Jonathan Meiburg, is leaving OR to focus on his band Shearwater.

"Song for Sunshine" by Belle & Sebastian

Imaginary Shrie — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:42:35 +0000

When I think of Belle & Sebastian I don't necessarily think of disco grooves, but this song makes a foray into sleazy synth moves. They glide around this track, bringing sunshine with their choral pop vocals, the essence of breezy elation. The Life Pursuit is a first-rate album, and "Song for Sunshine" proves that in its sublime perfection. Even if you don't like the cutesy, and sometimes somber, approach of Belle & Sebastian, this song will prove to be hard to resist. With revelatory lyrics like...

Honey'd sweet apples, they're rotting away
Millions of people never start in the race
There's stuff on out plates that has not been alive
Someone else pays the real price of my cheap flight life

...how can you deny the charm of Belle & Sebastian?

belle-and-sebastian-480.jpg

The essence of breezy elation

The Horrible Truth About Burma

Bob Ham — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:46:19 +0000

9.4

http://www.amazon.com/Horrible-Truth-About-Burma/dp/B0000009Q6/wwwthreeimagi-20/

MOB.jpg

The importance of the first batch of recordings by Mission of Burma is something that should not be overlooked. Their jagged artful rock burst onto the Boston music scene in the late '70s like a cluster bomb, and their scant early discography (two 7"s, one EP, one studio album, one live album) further cemented their legacy as one of the finest bands to emerge from the post-punk world.

The good people at Matador have seen fit to bring back into print the documents of Mission of Burma's early years, reissuing and remastering Signals, Calls and Marches, VS., and The Horrible Truth About Burma, and including new bonus tracks and DVDs of era-appropriate live performances.

All of these discs are absolutely essential for any right thinking music fan — not to mention the two albums the band has put out since their reunion (also on Matador) — but the live disc, The Horrible Truth, is probably the best document of what this group was capable of.

The power and incendiary fury is palpable on this album, as well as a fearless abandon with which Roger Miller (one of MoB's three singer/songwriters, alongside drummer Peter Prescott and bassist Clint Conley) attacks his guitar on every song here. This is never more apparent than on a track like "He Is, She Is" where Miller's tones sound like bent radio waves amplified, or the sheets of thrumming anger he spills out on the band's run through the Stooges classic "1970."

This live recording also helped bring to light the contribution of the band's fourth member, Martin Swope. Sitting offstage, Swope would be both mixing the live sound but also manipulating it, using tape loops and effects boxes. The result is bits of songs and sounds being warped back through the PA system, adding an avant garde element that fit with the pure rock/noise side of the band with surprising ease.

Swope's work is all over this album, with bits of tortured vocals and guitar squalls looping back on the band, as well as bits of noise and samples bleeding into the already full mix. 23 years later, the effect is still stunning and frightening in equal measure.

With Mission of Burma reunited and making recordings as urgent and groundbreaking as their initial efforts, the band now seems unwilling to spend much time looking backward. But don't let that stop you from doing just that, by giving these seminal recordings your full attention. The past never sounded as good as it does here.

This legendary band's seminal early work is finally being put back into print, including this brilliant live recording.

Real Emotional Trash

Erik Gonzalez — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:36:38 +0000

8.9

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Trash-Stephen-Malkmus-Jicks/dp/B0012IWHN2/wwwthreeimagi-20/

malkmus.jpg

I think I've said this before, but if anyone can survive the '90s modern rock scene to record that seminal, late career album when he's in his 60s, it would be Stephen Malkmus. I, by no means, am a Malkmus-superfan. Don't get me wrong, I obviously think he's excellent, but I've never stayed up all night listening to Slanted & Enchanted, I've never tried to track down Malkmus in Portland, I've never attempt to start a nascent religion based on the lyrics by the mop-haired troubadour. Maybe people might feel deeply offended that I might dare to offer my opinion on a work by Malkmus without being intimately familiar with Pavement, his solo work, the Silver Jews, Kim's Bedroom, the Crust Brothers and all other projects that Malkmus has been associated with. That is just the sort of hero-type figure he's become. That being said, dang, Real Emotional Trash is great. It probably is the most balanced of Malkmus' solo works, throwing us some perfect pop gems and extended jams and adding to the mystique that is Stephen Malkmus.

Real Emotional Trash marks the first album by Malkmus and his Jicks with former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, which I suppose makes the Jicks a bit of a northwestern supergroup, combining powers of two of the biggest modern rock bands of the last decade. It is hard to tell exactly what influence Weiss has on the Malkmus sound, but there is a tighter rhythm section to a lot of the tracks and Malkmus gets a little more aggressive with his rock and roll. This is apparent right off the bat on "Dragonfly Pie," a song that starts off like an old school '70s rock monster with scorching guitars and thundering drums wrapping around Malkmus' distant and echoing vocals. Yet, somehow, the track wanders its way out of the wilderness and finds a sweet core where Malkmus' pop soul shines into the chorus. This is why we love Malkmus: He knows how to create musical drama, and that is exactly what "Dragonfly Pie" is, a story arc where the music tells the tale.

Malkmus hasn't lost any of his skills in crafting pop gems. "Out of Reaches" is up there with some of the great, laid-back tracks he's put down since Pavement broke up. His sing-song vocal style, half-spoken, half-sung, almost act more like an instrument than a way to convey any clear message, but that is one of the real charms of Malkmus. In this vein, one of the high points of Real Emotional Trash, and heck, in the whole Malkmus discography, is the downright cheery and hummable "Gardenia." This song is a perfect combination of the '60s pop sound that was perfected by Papas Fritas and the slacker sounds of Malkmus, featuring both Malkmus' ramblings and drifting female backing melodies that break us all into the chorus. You could almost see the song as the theme for some sort of Mary Tyler Moore Show redux (and really, that is meant to be a compliment). "We Can't Help You" is a warm, piano-driven song that, again, reminds us why we like the laid-back, playful nature of Malkmus and the Jicks.

"Hopscotch Willie" does skirt dangerously close to '70s jam rock in its rhythm and melody, but Malkmus thankfully doesn't truly go all Garcia on us. This is the real balancing act that Malkmus has to play, attempting not to become a latter-day Grateful Dead with his dalliances into prolonged hippie jams while at the same time not getting stuck just writing three-minute pop songs for the rest of his life. Some of these tendencies are extenuated on the title track, a 10-minute-plus epic that sort of rambles along, a little more like Neil Young or Built to Spill than Jerry and the gang, but the indulgences are there as Malkmus and the Jicks really break it down. However, most of the time, he accomplishes this feat, like on "Cold Son" where you can hear the spontaneous nature of the music but he keeps everyone in check. Of course, it helps to throw in obvious Malkmus-isms like "Who is it that said the world is my oyster? / I feel like a nympho stuck in a cloister." "Baltimore" is another straight-on rock number, yet for some reason all I can think of when I hear it is an amplified version of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Probably the best of the "rock-orientated" tracks on Real Emotional Trash is "Elmo Delmo," an almost psychedelic track where you can hear Malkmus muse about purple Pumas and shamrock justice, among other odd topics while the guitars take on much more of a Matthew Sweet sound. Really, the driving force on "Elmo Delmo" is the guitar work as it really fills 75 percent of the track itself.

Sure, there is nothing as sublime as Malkmus' first solo single, "The Hook," or as outlandish as "Baby C'Mon," but really that was the transitional phase from Pavement in the first place. Instead, the depth that Malkmus shows in Real Emotional Trash proves that even if some of the die-hard Pavement fans have abandoned him as he's stuck out on his own, it is really their loss. He is one of those songwriters who just makes it sound so easy to write songs that can wrap up the listener. This is probably why Malkmus has been able to enjoy such a long career of almost universal love in an arena that makes it a point to drive you into the ground if you don't meet their standards. Somehow, Stephen Malkmus has been able to keep us all entertained and Real Emotional Trash might just be him hitting his musical stride after almost a decade on his own.

Real Emotional Trash proves that even if some of the die-hard Pavement fans have abandoned Stephen Malkmus as he's stuck out on his own, it's really their loss.