Customer Reviews

Face the Truth (Jewl)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I think of pop, I think disposable but catchy music. Well, Malkmus could not be more catchy and listenable if he really really tried, but there are enough quirks and jerks to avoid the mainstream overkill that makes most music exhausting and thus disposable. You'll sing along everytime and still hear new things that will give you smirky smiles and force you to declare to everyone that Stephen Malkmus is a freakin' genius. Your friends will shake their heads, turn up their radios and miss out on the most listenable and inventive music since four lads from Liverpool landed on American soil. Really.

Yeah, and then I had to listen again and listen some more. That's pretty much the pattern with this guy's best work, isn't it? He doesn't specialize in self-imitation, so you can't easily guess where he's going next with his music. How many people saw the arena-like Crooked Rain coming after the slash and burn indie of Slanted and Enchanted? But the change was welcome, wasn't it? I mean the softening pattern of late Pavement suggested the sort of hippie-ish solo debut, but then Pig Lib got all weird in a new way. Still, Face the Truth gives the feeling of a more rapid change in the man's inner life. And we listeners reap big benefits, because this thing is all over the map. It's like a giant homework assignment. You have to ask yourself if you're really up for it. And because it's so dense and schizo, it yields great rewards to the patient and stubborn alike. Another way of saying this: I got this along with the new Beck, and while the Beck was likeable, I was done with it after two listens. I'm just getting started with Face the Truth. Not for the ADD crowd. Or, to paraphrase SM, the lovers of "Modern Minor Masterpieces for the Untrained Eye."

Malkmus' third solo album is not only a step forward from his last two solo albums, but also revives some of the chaos and spontinaity of his work with Pavement. Face the Truth jumps to life with squealing synths and rolling drums on the opening track, "Pencil Rot"'. It is the best opening track Malkmus has penned since "Silence Kit" from Pavement's 1994 breakthrough, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. Malkmus keeps the momentum going on the next track, "It Kills", a psychedelic jam that wouldn't have sounded out of place on his last album, Pig Lib.

Throughout Face the Truth, Malkmus explores a wide variety of sounds, from the acid-country of "Freeze the Saints" to the synthetic disco-funk of "Kindling for the Master". The album's center piece, "No More Shoes", sounds like a homage to Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" at first, but ends up sounding more like the second cousin of Sonic Youth's "Rain on Tin". As the song unfolds, yet another homage appears (this time to Kiss' "I was made for loving you") before morphing into the sunny, reflective "Mama".

Long time fans used to the guitar noise and freak-outs of his previous work, may be put off by Malkmus' abundant use of synthesizers on Face the Truth. After a few listens though, the quality of the songs speak for themselves, regardless of their instrumentation. Because of that, it becomes clear that Malkmus was not only the brains behind Pavement, but that Pavement, no matter how great the band was, is dead.

If Beck's Guero let you down, this album will definetly appease your inner slacker.

Stephen Malkmus is still primarily known as the singer/writer from Pavement, and he'll probably have that tag stuck to him for a very long time. But since the legendary indierock band broke up in 1999, Malkmus has been producing magnificently quirky indierock of his own.

"Face the Truth" is his third solo album, and it's a good one -- Malkmus takes his insane writing and sonic flourishes, and adds a very catchy rhythm to them. It's without a doubt his weirdest collection yet, and probably the first to experiment so much with electronic blips and buzzes. It has some weak moments, but it's not something to be forgotten soon.

The new sound becomes obvious in the first seconds of "Pencil Rot," an angular, herky-jerky eruption of synth, drum machines, and a guy he calls Leather McWhipp. That sound gives way to Malkmus' moaning voice and solid guitars, still tangled up in the looming synth. That chaotic edge seeps into other, more organic songs.

But Malkmus falls back into slow-burning indierock in most of the remaining songs, like "It Kills," which sounds like a Pavement B-side, as well as discoesque rock, Beatlesque pop music, and urgent rootsy rock. In these, synth takes a backseat to the quirky indierock sound that Malkmus has been doing for years.

Stephen Malkmus has made a living of sounding kind of depressed. But in "Face the Truth," he sounds like he's gotten some enthusiasm back -- even when singing in a despairing falsetto, he sounds more gung ho. In fact, as good as his previous solo work has been, he hasn't sounded this earnest since the early days of Pavement.

Musically, it's a bit different. Many of the songs bring older Malkmus and Pavement work to mind, until one listens to some of the weirder songs. Malkmus sounds like he's just discovering synth, and seems a bit excited about it. Some of his synthwork is downright clumsy; in the final song, he inserts a chaotic burst of it, adding a chaotic note to an otherwise lovely song.

However, he uses it in earnest, and has a good idea of how to weave it in with his undulating guitar licks. But at heart, "Face the Truth" is all about the guitars -- undulating, strumming and fuzzing. With this melting pot of styles and music, the lyrics about villains in his brain and bizarre families don't seem quite as weird as they normally would.

Stephen Malkmus' third solo album has some flawed use of synth. But listen it to hear Malkmus sounding refreshed and renewed, and some truly entertaining guitar indierock.

This is easily Stephen's best solo album and at times it approaches the brilliance that was Pavement. I've noticed lots of reviewers' comments about Stephen's synthesizer/keyboard experimentation on the album, but did anyone notice how freakin' great his guitar sounds? There are some GREAT solos on here. I really like the variety of songs---all of them are keepers, but most importantly, they are all so different from one another and the album is well-paced. The songs will get in your head and stay there---right now Pencil Rot and It Kills are permanently embedded in my mind...catchy, inventive stuff. He sounds like no one else, and he was the heart and soul of Pavement. Are there a few fluffy songs on here? Absolutely...Malkmus was never shy about writing some catchy pop songs. There are also rockers, some great slower songs, some funky experimentation stuff (I love that little funkified break during Pencil Rot...it just comes out of nowhere...this guy is so great)! A true alternative icon, definitely a CD worth buying.

Pop Kulcher Review: Look, there's only so long we Pavement fans can whine about how nothing Malkmus has done since compares. And, to be fair, even Pavement wasn't nearly as good as we may remember, if one limits one's idealization of the band to their peak days of Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and accurately acknowledges the increasing weakness of their subsequent albums.

So I won't do it; no whining about the glory days. Which allows me to cut to the good news -- namely, Face The Truth is the best of Malkmus' three solo albums. If his self-titled debut regained some of the hooks lost in Pavement's later days while losing some spark, and the follow-up was a meandering, rather unengaging mess, Face The Truth manages to highlight Malkmus' latter-day showy, almost prog-like fractured guitar noodlings while still recognizing that even the most challenging indie rock needs a hook or two to engage the listener. Plenty of near-pop moments here, and even a few tracks which sound surprisingly reminiscent of that Other Band he used to be in. "Mama" alone is barrel o' laughs, and a few other tunes ("Post-Paint Boy," "Freeze The Saints," "It Kills") are downright lovely, in that wholly off-kilter Malkmus way. As usual, the lyrics are fascinatingly deranged, but unlike last time out, they're tied to actual songs of some worth. No, this will never be in steady rotation in my collection -- even at his best, Malkmus' post-Pavement output is just a bit too stand-offish for constant airplay -- but at least it doesn't tarnish his legend.

As my heading states, I'm nearly convinced that this is Malkmus' best work since the demise of the late, great Pavement; that's saying something, because I am actually quite a fan of "Pig Lib." This album, as some reviewers have stated, is probably the most Pavement-esque solo record he's made, and man, is that a good thing. The weirder tunes and noises, truly some of the strangest in his entire recorded output, only enhance the quality of the work. His lyrics are typically inscrutable, and also typically brilliant. I don't know what the world would be like without this man's contributions, but it would certainly be a sadder place, indeed.

From everything I've read about this album, most people agree it's Malkmus's best to date, a major return to form after the psych-pop noodlings of "Stephen Malkmus" and "Pig Lib."

I've tried hard to hear it that way, but must be living in some parallel universe. There are some worthy tunes here, sure, but there were on the last couple records too (I think if you compiled the best songs from all three Jicks releases, you'd have one heck of a classic). This one seems to follow the others in oscillating kind of senselessly between soft pop 30-something musings and proggy excursions into electro-synth weirdness with one foot in Zappa and the other in the Krautrock kosmische music that, in all fairness, Malkmus has championed since Pavement's early days. I don't mind the out-there stuff, and I like some of the pop, but I wouldn't make exaggerated claims for either one. It's fun, it's pleasant, but ... O.K., I'll say it. It just doesn't raise the top off my head and pour radiant sonic goodness inside the way Pavement did even on their bad days.

So much about post-Pavement Malkmus is great. The voice is still there, the genius for arrangement, the inventive, witty guitar quotes that fall just this side of irony. But Face the Truth somehow doesn't manage to be more than the sum of its parts. Maybe the Jicks are too tight, or too reverent in the presence of Stephen or something, but I miss the sloppy grandeur of the old band. Now go ahead and slay me on the votes ... then buy it and make up your own mind.

I Really Really Dig this album, i would say i am a moderate Pavement fan, so i picked this album up and was blow away. Best Songs "It Kills" "Freeze The Saints" "No More Shoes" "Mama" "Kindling For The Master" "Baby C'Mon" and "Malediction" It is a super great album, I think it blows away his Pavement work, alot more relized and Poppy. It's amazing!!

This is a fantastic Indie Rock album to start off,and because it's Stephen Malkmus you know it will be good before you even decide to purchuse it just take a look at Pavement. Funny lyrics you can expect as always and whaa pedal solo jams. Great stuff if your in the mood for this kinda stuff pick this one up along with it's two predicessors Pig Lib (which is the best one in my opinion) and Stephen Malkmus self titled disc