Tag Archives: face the truth

#797: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Mama

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Eight years. Eight years I’ve been doing this series and the beat goes on. Have a read of the first one. Back to the scheduled post.

I haven’t known ‘Mama’ for as long a time as a lot of the other songs on here. I listened to Face the Truth initially in 2018 when I was at my first job at uni, and I could get away with being on Spotify for the whole day and go home without really achieving anything. It was a strange place to work at. Then as Stephen Malkmus was to release his electronic Groove Denied album in 2019, I revisited Truth again and ‘Mama’ stood out as a highlight.

Face the Truth was listed as a proper solo studio album by Stephen Malkmus, much like the 2001 album. The Jicks are still credited on the back though, and feature on many of the tracks. It’s more or less a Jicks album. I do think though, that Malkmus plays all the instruments on ‘Mama’. He did so on the Pavement song ‘AT&T’ and there’s something about both tracks bring off the same vibe. Maybe it’s the drums, I’m not sure.

In ‘Mama’, Malkmus sings about the good times of his youth. Just being a kid in the house while mum and dad were doing mum and dad stuff. It’s easygoing, very laidback. Very sunny and relaxed. It’s a nice tune. Things pick up a pace in the middle for the guitar solo and middle instrumental before slowing right down into the last verse and chorus. I also think that this was his take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary’. The tracks are too close in tone for it to be a coincidence. Pavement played some CCR back in the day; I think it’s fair to say he’s a fan.

#773: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Loud Cloud Crowd

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The past two years have been a busy time for Stephen Malkmus. Since 2018, he’s released an album every year. That one saw the release of Sparkle Hard with the Jicks, which was then followed by his proper solo debut album Groove Denied, a record that was bit more electronic and definitely stranger in its sound. Then came Traditional Techniques earlier this year, but definitely feels as if it was released in another lifetime the way this year’s been. To cut things short, these releases made me go back and listen to his older albums in the Jicks catalogue.

I came across Face the Truth – which I’ll say is probably my second favourite of his after the 2001 self-titled album – and ‘Loud Cloud Crowd’ got to me on that first listen. It sounds like the soundtrack to the beginning ceremony of an event. Like the Olympics of something. Gives me the same feeling I get with Vangelis’ ‘Chariots of Fire’. Big things are on the horizon. I don’t know. I just get good feelings from this track. I think it’s generally about being optimistic about the future, and how it’s up to you to make your own path to make things happen. Though in the standard Malkmus way, he makes his lyrics just a bit surreal and jokingly cryptic that it’s truly understand what the subject matter is. I’m not sure what a ‘loud cloud crowd’ is; it’s probably nothing to dwell on. What I know is, that type of crowd sound quite important the way Malkmus sings it.

In terms of the music, it plays upon the quiet verse/loud chorus dynamic. It’s a bit more subtle here than how you would usually here it in a Pixies or standard grunge song though. Malkmus sings in the verses alongside a subdued guitar line and synth-bass. Some rolling tom-toms enter the frame to build some layers, and then the chorus comes in with some added synth-strings that add to the sort of regal tone the track is going for. I feel the whole arrangement’s done very well. An unrelated note but this song was also on the soundtrack for Major League Baseball 2K6. That’s a game I don’t have and probably won’t own anytime soon. But that fact is usually a common topic in the YouTube videos for this song.