Stephen Malkmus "Groove Denied", album review – Rolling Stone

In 1987, Stephen Malkmus had a bad trip with the MDMA. That was one of the reasons, according to the press release of his new album, that he was giving a large place to rave culture in the next ten years. He was also busy making several clbadic indie-rock albums with Pavement at the time. But a few years ago, Malkmus was living in Berlin when he started exploring the city's club scene and developing an affinity for techno. It was the seed for his new electronic album, Groove denied, on which one of the great poets of the rock guitar mixes synths, drum machines and a vaguely British accent.

Malkmus played all the roles on Groove denied itself, using, among other things, Ableton software, a Moog, a mellotron, andE drums with an addictive battery. " According to a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the Human League, "Louie Louie" and, hey, why not, the cantina in Star wars. The more electronic tunes discover with satisfaction a casual icon that looks for new ways to make noise after the kids have gone to bed. The essentially opening part "Belziger Faceplant" sounds good before opening up to electro-funk to the hard throat. "Viktor Borgia" is an arch-synth-pop circa-1982; the "forgotten tour de rôle" sounds good on the headphones.

Malkmus wrote most of the album a few years ago, but Matador refused to release it before the release of the label. Hard spark, who introduced his long-time group The Jicks. This album was light on the ironic humor of Malkmus is known for; Groove denied feels like a more player companionnot. But this is not a mbadive departure from his past work. On the one hand, the focus on the exploration of texture and sound is reminiscent of Pavement's early EPs, which were also filled with amusing sounds played on instruments with invented names, interrupted by real songs. For another, it becomes heavier guitar on the back half. "Rushing the Acid Frat" sounds like home made Nuggets "Ocean of Revenge" is an eye-catching sketch that gently sweeps a Scottish sharecropper who is hanged for ax murdering a Mississippi plantation owner. The man himself best describes "Love the Door": "A bit like a stereo ad, a jazz badtail, but with bad vibes and a strange time signature."

If you come for the textures, stay for the songs. The best is perhaps the last, "Grown Nothing", a sound that resonates and a slight humming on what looks like a programmed bossa nova drums. (Insert a wonderful guitar ballad at the end of your playful electronic album: very Malkmus.) Not all about. Groove denied works, but it's gratifying to see a great songwriter still busy.