Groove Denied

After a 12-year delay, Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus finally releases his “electronic” solo album. Originally shelved by Matador records in favor of his guitar-based projects with The Jicks, these ten Roland-laced tracks sound surprisingly contemporary given the palette of sounds adopted by #indie in the past decade. As with any of Malkmus’s projects, the lyrics are top-notch and his frail, vulnerable vocals are sweetly distinctive (every time his voice cracks an angel gets its wings). The instrumentation is quirky and varied—a fact made more impressive when you realize Malkmus is playing everything himself. All in all, a really great project from an iconic singer/songwriter. RIYL: Pavement, Pond, Spoon, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Coconut Records

FCC: 9

TRY: 3, 6, 2, 1, 10

*1. (4:25) Texturally varied pop. Strummed guitar, drum machine, distorted vocals, blasts of static, strange sirens and pulsing effects
*2. (3:16) Hypnotic baseline, rippling synthesizer and echoed vocals. The tempo change halfway thorough the track is an amazing touch
*3. (3:33) Badass grainy vintage synthesizer with a minimalist disco drumtrack and Malkmus’s stripped-down vocals. Sounds like some sort of Kraftwerk collab in the best kind of way
4. (2:30) Fuzzy lo-fi rock with a touch of sitar. Classic Pavement sound
5. Pitched-down vocals and a woozy beat. As the lyrics put it, “sky high in the galleria.” Sounds pretty accurate from what I can tell…
*6. (2:27) Full-bodied indie rock with layered guitars, synthesizer and plenty of weirdo effects Cool instrumental meltdown in the final 30 seconds
7. (3:09) Stuttering glitchy intro. Transitions into strummy upbeat indie rocker with tons of pedals and effects
8. (2:41) Acoustic guitar ditty with a clicky preset keyboard drumbeat
9. (3:30) (FCC: Ass) Bouncy piano rock
*10. (4:21) Sentimental piano ballad. Slowly adds more instruments for a denser sound without sacrificing vulnerability