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Do you remember when Supertramp was awesome? I don't either. Somehow, apparently, Stephen Malkmus does because he's spent most of the last 6 years trying to sound like them.

Pavement were the closest thing to an indie rock Beatles as there ever was. Their influence was great and the output was consistent and often amazing. They influenced Blur to sound more blurry and Radiohead to stop sounding like Nirvana. The clear creative mastermind behind Pavement was Stephen Malkmus. Upon their demise at the close of the 20th century, all eyes were on him to see what would come next.

With the release of his first solo album, there was much to be excited and relieved about. It contained material as good, if not better than the last two albums Pavement released. Unfortunately, the two subsequent releases were mostly self-indulgent, proggy missteps.

In 2007, it was announced that former Sleater-Kinney and Quasi drummer Janet Weiss had joined Malkmus as part of his backing band, the Jicks. This was promising and exciting news based on Weiss' track record as one of the best and most underrated percussionists around. Maybe her influence would wake Stephen from his 70's daydream and back into form.

With the release of Real Emotional Trash we have our answer. Nope. Not at all. If anything, it's only getting worse. Malkmus seems more concerned with masturbatory guitar excursion than actual song writing. Even his ability to turn cleverly oblique lyrics into something provocative and often embracing has been lost. Now the lyrics are an afterthought; almost a hindrance.

As with his last two releases, there are occasional moments of promise, but they are few and far between. The albums opener "Dragonfly Pie" comes in as a heavy stoner jam but quickly shows its weakness as the lyrics are comically stupid.

"Gardenia" has glimpses of his first solo album. Its concise and catchy but would still probably only be a B-side on that album.

For the most part it seems as though these songs are only excuses for guitar solos. Someone, please tell Stephen that we all know he’s an amazing guitarist. Maybe someday he will be return to writing the kind of influentially brilliant music he is known for. Unfortunately, it seems that he is taking the long way home.

Reviewed by: Ghostly

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