Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @ Café Campus

Show review by Damaris Baker, CJLO Production Team

The first time I heard Stephen Malkmus was in Melbourne, Australia around nine years ago. "Post-Paint Boy" was the track, part of a compilation entitled La Revolution de Spunk. It snuggled up nicely with tracks by Sufjan Stephens, The Books, Akron Family, Anthony and the Johnsons, and Holly Throsby. 

Here I am on the other side of the world, nearly a decade later, watching the colored lights at Café Campus, as Stephen Malkmus walks on stage, his lanky figure fluid and ready to warm to Montreal's attentive crowd. They started with one of my favorites, "Cinammon and Lesbians", lilting through the lyrical and playful song, playing with words, shifting rhythms and guitar riffs reminding me of the music of the 1960s. Strong melodies, simple one minute, epic the next, with psychedelic moments and tinges of indie folk rock to sweeten the effect.

My head is bopping and the band is swaying to the rhythms as the crowd warms up. The third song is "Lariat", the sweet and surprising indie pop that Malkmus is so good at, double-guitar lines echo the tune but harmonise like a conversation full of images and memories. 

We lived on Tennyson and venison and The Grateful Dead
It was Mudhoney summer, Torch of Mystics, Double bummer
You're not what you aren't
You aren't what you're not
You got what you want
You want what you got
Feels so great in the shade

I look down from the balcony and the crowd is dancing, swaying with the band, singing along to the songs. The lights create a polka dot effect on the stage, shifting colors of green, blue and red lighting on Mike Clark (keyboards and guitar), Joanna Bolme (bass), and Jake Morris (drums). 

The set was dominated by the new album, Wig Out at Jagbags, including "Shibboleth", "Houson Hades", and "The Janitor Revealed", with the set ending on the epic "Surreal Teenagers". 

The crowd cheered, refusing to let the band go, bringing on the encore with "The Hook", from Malkmus' first solo album, a new song, and a Pavement song "Father to a Sister of Thought". The energy was high and the crowd loving the show as Malkmus danced with the microphone stand, delivering with the band a delightful rendition of "Swing Town", a Steve Miller Band cover, to finish the show. 

Slowly, the crowd thins out, as we are left savoring the echoes of the songs as we leave Café Campus, walking out onto the snowy Montreal streets. I wonder who is listening to these tracks in Melbourne right now, wishing they were here.