Releases
STEPHEN MALKMUS - TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES LP / CD IN STORES MARCH 6
Stephen Malkmus has announced his new album, Traditional Techniques, out March 6th via Matador,
lead single “Xian Man,” and a North American tour.
Traditional Techniques, Malkmus’ third solo LP without the Jicks (or Pavement), is new phase folk music
for new phase folks, with Malkmus as attuned as ever to the rhythms of the ever-evolving lingual
slipstream.
It’s packed with handmade arrangements, modern folklore, and 10 songs written and performed in his
singular voice. An adventurous new album in an instantly familiar mode, Traditional Techniques creates a
serendipitous trilogy with the loose fuzz of the Jicks’ Sparkle Hard (2018) and the solo bedroom
experiments of Groove Denied (2019).
Centered around the songwriter’s 12-string acoustic guitar, and informed by a half-century of folk-rock
reference points, Traditional Techniques is the product of Malkmus and engineer /arranger Chris Funk
(The Decemberists).
Playing guitar is friend-to-all-heads Matt Sweeney (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Chavez, too many others to
count), who’d previously crossed paths with Malkmus on the opposite end of the longhairs’ map of the
world, most lately gnarling out together back east in the jam conglomerate Endless Boogie.
Malkmus will embark on a North American tour this spring with an entirely new band (more shows will
be announced in the weeks to come). The Traditional Techniques live band is Malkmus (vocals, guitar),
Funk (pedal steel, keys), Sweeney (guitar), Brad Truax (bass), and Jake Morris (drums), joined at times
by Qais Essar (rabab) and Eric Zang (kaval, udu, daf). The band hits Montréal April 16th ((L’Astral) and
April 17 at Toronto Danforth Music Hall.
“An excellent solo career marked by a warmth, humor and generosity.” – Rolling Stone
“Few artists can write a hook as immediately infectious or distinctive as Stephen Malkmus.” – NPR
“He’s remained one of the most consistent musicians working today, delivering muscular melodies and
loose precocity to the acclaim of every project he touches.” – Noisey
It’s called folk music, and it’s taking the country by storm. Stephen Malkmus is only the latest popular
artist to apply this old new approach to their rock and roll sounds.
Created in the spontaneous west coast style adopted so infectiously by young American musicians in this
time of global turmoil, Malkmus took on Traditional Techniques as a kind of self-dare. Conceived while
recording Sparkle Hard with the Jicks at Portland’s Halfling Studio, Malkmus had observed the variety of
acoustic instruments available for use. The idea escalated within a matter of weeks into a full set of
songs and shortly thereafter into a realized and fully committed album. When he returned to Halfling,
Malkmus drew from a whole new musical palette—including a variety of Afghani instruments—to support
an ache both quizzical and contemporary. Stephen Malkmus isn’t one of those “hung up” musicians one
reads about so frequently these days, sequestered in a jungle room of the heart. The jukebox in
Malkmus’s private grotto remains fully updated. Not only is the artist present, but he’s on Twitter.
It’s hard to call Traditional Techniques “long awaited,” because Stephen Malkmus just put out an album
last year, but it’s also exactly that. While he may have taken his sweet time in jumping on the folk music
boom, surely there are those among us who have fantasized about how lovely it might sound if SM would
just get with the times. And it sounds like all that and beyond. Set a day or two aside to transcribe the
lyrics like the Dylanlogists of yore and vibe on the shape of folk to come with Stephen Malkmus.
Selections:
1. ACC Kirtan
2. Xian Man
3. The Greatest Own in Legal
History
4. Cash Up
5. Shadowbanned
6. What Kind Of Person
7. Flowin’ Robes
8. Brainwashed
9. Signal Western
10. Amberjack
