MOG

In a recent interview for Pitchfork, Steven Malkmus, discussing the band's forthcoming album Real Emotional Trash, states that, "there's not really anything that's pop on there." This got me thinking about the show I attended last January 9th at Plush in Tucson, where, although most of the new material he played inclined toward the lengthy "acid mind blowers" he mentions elsewhere in the interview - the track 'Baltimore' that MOG master Michael Goldberg recently made available for streaming here is a fine example - the band also played a short, sweet ditty that reminded me of Pavement's poppier moments, with a dash of neo-Sixties sugar imparted by the two female voices accompanying Malkmus. The recording I'm posting here is pretty good, but doesn't capture the exuberance that swept over the crowd during the chorus, when the payoff of having Janet Weiss join the Jicks was revealed to consist of more than her rock-steady drumming. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, despite Malkmus's protestations to the contrary, this track will be on the album. If that Plush show and the solo acoustic gig I saw in Portland in September, 2006 are any indication, it could be his best work since Terror Twilight faded to black. And I love all of the post-Pavement music he has released, even if it makes me sad to acknowledge its "postness."