Stephen Malkmus Cracks A Sonic Code, Putting The '90s Behind Him
Still "the guy from Pavement" to many, Malkmus may have finally escaped his own shadow on Traditional Techniques, a new album with a bold creative constraint.
Last year, the rising indie singer-songwriter Beabadoobee released a single called "I Wish I." In it, she sings about staying at home crying to records, and wanting to attain anything close to ' seemingly effortless cool as the leader of that band. Beabadoobee was born in 2000 just a few months after Pavement broke up, and the song is a good indication of the band's lasting position in the indie rock canon — always a more pervasive reference point than contemporaries like , or . But as much as the song is flattering to Malkmus, it's notable that the younger artist writes about him only in the context of his old band. His solo albums, which span 20 years and far outnumber Pavement's by now, do not come up.
