Current Release
Face The Truth
ole-650 LP/CD
Street Date: May 24, 2005
Video for "Mama"
Discography
Buy Stuff
Official SM Site
FACE THE TRUTH unveils a new STEPHEN MALKMUS. His exuberance has given way to bliss, and his performances are more disarming and electrifying than ever. The volatile SM who sang "Water and a Seat" as if he were Muhammad Ali extolling his punch and shuffle is missing. On FACE THE TRUTH we hear a beseeching, almost quizzical SM who has - to generalize - returned to his first influences. And he has downplayed his guitar virtuosity behind his singing and arranging.
News
1/17/07 — Stephen Malkmus Plugged with Award
The Plug Awards, known among its founders as "The Indie Grammys," will honor Stephen Malkmus with an "Impact Award" at their 2007 awards ceremony, held February 10 at Irving Plaza in New York. The award, known among its recipients as "The Indie Grammys' Lifetime Achievement Award," was previously bestowed upon such luminaries as The Flaming Lips. More info on the Plug Awards can be found, believe it or not, at the Plug Awards website.
SM & The Jicks are scheduled to make an appearance at the awards ceremony, and will presumably play some music. After which, they'll play a celebratory show at Maxwell's in Hoboken, which is unfortunately already sold out. Sorry. Keep abreast of all future Jick movements on the tour page.
11/15/06 — SM & The Jicks: '07 Dates
(SM and the no-longer Jicked up John Moen, Irving Plaza, June '05, photo swiped from One Louder)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, featuring the drumtastic talents of new addition Janet Weiss, have just announced the following live outings
January 2007
9-Tucson, AZ @ Plush
10-Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
11-Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre
17-Bellingham, WA @ The Nightlight
(more West Coast dates to be confirmed shortly, check the tour page for the most current info)
10/04/06 — Janet Weiss joins the Jicks, talks January tour
The Portland Mercury's Blog beats the Matablog to the punch! Obviously pulling strings with the locals, the Mercury has an interview with new Jicks drummer Janet Weiss. In it, Weiss talks about a possible West Coast tour this January, and drops hints about new Malkmus material:
"Steve's got a bunch of ballsy new songs. I'm enjoying getting inside a new and very different brain, trying to find the drum parts that suit his creativity. I appreciate how far out and wild he gets with his playing, and look forward to forging into some new territory."
Weiss was acquired by the Jicks in a complicated four way trade spurred by the folding of Weiss' popular Sleater-Kinney franchise. Former Jicks drummer John Moen went to The Decemberists, and Weiss' other team, Quasi (like Dion Sanders or Bo Orlando, Weiss is a double threat), gained touring rights over Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme.
Jicks CEO Marge Schott couldn't be reached for comment.
08/23/06 — Discography Updated; European Remix EP
The long out of date discography page has been brought back...to the future! Well, for another week at least. That's when Domino Records will release "Kindling For The Master," a new EP chock full of remixes. Find out more at Domino Records, and check out the new and improved discography page while you're at it.
04/27/06 — Stephen Malkmus: In person!
May 28, Les Schwab Ampitheatre, Bend, OR
June 18, Bonaroo Festival, Manchester, TN
11/01/05 — Stephen plays the New Yorker show in Seattle
THE NEW YORKER COLLEGE TOUR
An evening of conversation and music with Stephen Malkmus and New Yorker writer James Surowiecki
Wednesday, Nov. 16th, 8pm show, 7:30pm doors
The Showbox
1426 First Avenue, Seattle
$5 student sold on campus/ $10 public tickets sold through Ticket West. All ticket proceeds will go to a UW campus beneficiary organization.
500 seats total. Some standing room will be sold at the door.
Cat Power and Yo La Tengo have taken part in similar events in the past, and I'm pretty certain the chat portion of this event will be right up there with the time Charlie Rose had Jimmy Gestapo on the show (and no, I cannot make you a DVD of that episode).
10/03/05 — Stephen on the cover of Index magazine
Stephen's bonnie face currently adorns the COVER of Index magazine... big feature inside. Check your local newsstand...
09/22/05 — Video for "Mama" posted
Go to the music and video page to view the video for "Mama," directed by E.J. McLeavey-Fisher.
07/27/05 — July 4th gig was great; myspace page
Though we don't have much in the way of solid SM news this time around, the July 4th gig with the Jicks at Battery Park, NYC was one of the year's knockout performances. If you want to sign up for Stephen's myspace page, by all means, do so before Fox asks us to take it down.
06/08/05 — June tour
I sincerely hope we're all past that Paste ad deparment controversy. Some people have suggested that this was merely a publicity stunt on Matador's part, and to the extent that free expression and trying to get people to check out SM's brilliant new album could be characterized as a "stunt", well, we're guilty as charged. If loving SM's spellbinding guitar playing is wrong, we don't wanna be right. You can check out Stephen & the Jicks at the peak of the powers, playing at the following locations:
6/6-Cambridge, MA at Paradise
6/7- New York City, NY at Irving Plaza
6/9 - Cleveland, OH at Beachland Ballroom
6/10- Detroit, MI at St. Andrew's Hall
6/11-Chicago, IL at Metro
6/12- Minneapolis, MN at First Avenue
6/14- Los Angeles, CA at El Rey Theater
6/15- San Francisco, CA at The Fillmore
6/17- Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom
6/19-Vancouver, CAN at Richard's on Richards
74- New York City (Battery Park) at The Lawn
(supporting YLT; also with Laura Cantrell)
Photo by Roger Kisby
05/24/05 — Malkmus live on KEXP
Go to kexp.org to check out Malkmus LIVE on the radio, 3 PM EDT today (in about 11 mintues, at the time of this posting). KEXP usually archives their performances, so go to the link anyway.
04/28/05 — E-card, tour dates, other performances, and the limits of (P)taste
As we count down the days until the release of SM's ridiculously great 3rd album, 'Face The Truth', we call your attention to the following free instore performance:
Seattle
May 24th at 7PM
Sonic Boom Ballard CHANGED! to Capitol Hill store
514 15th Ave. East
as well as the not free-at-all (well, except for the last one) gigs in finer venues across the land:
June 4- Washington, DC at Black Cat
June 5- Philadelphia, PA at Theatre of Living Arts
June 7- New York City, NY at Irving Plaza
June 9 - Cleveland, OH at Beachland Ballroom
June 10- Detroit, MI at St. Andrew's Hall
June 12- Minneapolis, MN at First Avenue
June 14- Los Angeles, CA at El Rey Theater
June 15- San Francisco, CA at The Fillmore
June 17- Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom
July 4- New York City (Battery Park) at The Lawn
(supporting Yo La Tengo)
You can hear Stephen performing live on KEXP at noon (PST) on May 24.
Download the new Stephen Malkmus e-card and do with it as you will.
Finally, we'd like to offer a shout-out (ie. "fuck you") to the cowards and thought-cops at Paste Magazine who have deemed our proposed advertisement for 'Face The Truth' to be beyond the bounds of "good taste." God forbid that anything might challenge the sensibilities of Paste's Yep Roc-loving, Starbucks-guzzling, Wes Anderson-worshipping readership. Seriously, if there's anything we or SM have done that is a poor fit with this magazine's narrow worldview, that is the highest compliment we've been paid since the last time Spin refused to run one of our ads.