Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Uber-Pop without an expiration date, December 25, 2005
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.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"How's the new Malkmus?" "Weird.", June 7, 2005
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."
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marvelous Malkmus, June 2, 2005
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.
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Stephen Malkmus shares his favorite music with Amazon customers. See all artists' picks on our Music You Should Hear page.
An Amazon.com Best of 2005 selection.
~ Stephen Malkmus
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~ Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
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is Stephen Malkmus' 
