stephen malkmus
Big Slack Attack: Our 1994 Pavement Interview
This interview originally appeared in the April 1994 issue of SPIN. I’ve been coming up with lots of theories lately, for no special reason except maybe to kill time between episodes of the Larry Sanders Show. Here’s one: When I first heard Pavement‘s new album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, I was convinced it was secretly an answer record to R.E. M.’s Reckoning (“Range Life” was “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville,” “Cut Your Hair” was “Pretty Persuasion,” umm. . .). This isn’t as stupid an idea as you might think: Pavement contributed a song to the recent AIDS-benefit compilation No Alternative called “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence,” a paean to the Athens, Georgia, combo, and specifically to Reckoning (from which we learn that “Time After Time (annElise)” was singer-guitarist Stephen Malkmus’s...
Stephen Malkmus Unveils B-Side From Traditional Techniques
Just before the pandemic hit, Stephen Malkmus released his latest solo album Traditional Techniques. He wasn’t able to properly hit the road for the late-spring, early-summer tour in support of it for obvious reasons. But, if it’s any consolation, it seems like there’s a bunch of solid leftover tracks that didn’t make the album. One such is “Juliefuckingette,” a tender, folky acoustic number that would have fit in well with the songs that comprised Traditional Techniques. Listen to the song below. [embedded content] Additionally, Malkmus announced rescheduled tour dates for 2021. Check out those dates below. Tue. March 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music CafeWed. March 3 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner HallThu. March 4 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia HallFri. March 5 – Louisville, KY @ HeadlinersSa...
The 25 Best Soundtrack Albums of the 1990s
In the 1980s, music and film collided for cross-promotional blockbusters both transcendent (Purple Rain) and transcendently cheesy (Footloose). In the ‘90s, soundtracks continued to sell in the millions, capturing cultural moments like the Seattle grunge of Singles or the Britpop and electronica of Trainspotting. Auteurs like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson reached deep into their record collections to set the mood while movies like Above the Rim and Menace II Society pioneered the concept of soundtracks as hip-hop mixtapes. A great soundtrack can propel an unsuccessful single, like Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose,” to the top of the charts, or revive a decades-old hit, like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It can also push a cult singer-songwriter like Elliott Smith or Aimee Mann to an Oscar perf...
