Real Emotional Trash

"I am not a present to be opened up and parceled out again," our man insists on "Gardenia", track seven on his new album. Ha! That's what you think, pal. From the day nigh two decades ago when the first scratchy sounds of Pavement floated in the ether above Stockton, California, the music of Stephen Malkmus has been the gift that keeps on keepin' on.

'Real Emotional Trash', his fourth "solo" LP (this one credited with The Jicks, like his second,Pig Lib), is decidedly low-down and heavy. It could hardly be otherwise with monster drummer Janet Weiss now a full-fledged Jick, alongside bassist Joanna Bolme and guitar/keyboardist Mike Clark. Meanwhile, Malkmus the guitar hero is on full display here.

Check out how 'Real Emotional Trash' begins as a modern-day 'Tonight's the Night', before evolving into a road trip from the Mexican border to Marin, in the tradition of Pavement's "Unfair." And dig those Allman Bros. leads (really!). Elsewhere, "We Can't Help You" channels the Band's "The Weight," tapping that same vein of late-night melancholia and early-morning lucidity. "Cold Son" sounds like a cruise down the Ventura Highway.

'Real Emotional Trash' was recorded with TJ Doherty whose recent engineering credits include Wooden Wand, & Wilco.