Wig Out At Jagbags

Malkmus is now six LPs deep into his solo career, which makes for one more album than he produced with Pavement. His self-titled solo debut from 2001 sounded a lot Terror Twilight Part II, but on his second album, Pig Lib, Malkmus took a significant departure from his former band’s sound by making a psychedelic blues album.  Three albums later, we finally see Malkmus come full circle with Wig Out at Jagbags, which sounds more like a Pavement record than anything else he’s done as a solo artist.

I suppose that the same thing was probably said about Mirror Traffic when it came out, which is a far more pop-oriented album than the preceding Real Emotional Trash. The difference on Wig Out is Malkmus’ vocals and lyrics. Quirky wordplay coupled with a So-Cal slacker delivery has always been his signature, but on this album it takes center stage in a way that Malkmus has only teased with since Pig Lib.

That being said, it is also no coincidence that most of the songs have more stripped down arrangements than Malkmus has been doing on his past couple of records. This gives the album a loose and live sounding feel. “The Janitor Revealed”, “Shibboleth”, “J Smoov”, and “Scattegories” all sound like they could have maybe come off Brighten the Corners or Wowee Zowee. The rest of the album doesn’t sound as much like Pavement as those tracks do, but it has a similar fun energy and that carries it throughout.

AllMusic gave this album 4.5 stars, the same rating it gave for Malkmus’ previous two albums. Personally, I like Wig Out much more than those albums, and I think that most Pavement-first fans will agree. That being said, Wig Out is far from a rehash. It sounds fresh and is full of surprises. My favorite track: “Lariat” was the first single and is pretty much the epitome of everything there is to like about Stephen Malkmus.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks are playing in Philadelphia on 3/1 at the TLA. That date is also my birthday, so feel free to meet me there and buy me a drink.