Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks in Rio

By Chesney Hearst, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Indie rock icon Stephen Malkmus returns to South America this month and will play for the first time in Rio with his band The Jicks at Circo Voador‘s stage on Friday, April 26th.
Currently touring Brazil and Chile in support of their 2011 release, Mirror Traffic, Malkmus and the Jicks will stop in Rio first before playing for back-to-back nights at the São Paulo venue, Beco 203.

Malkmus was last in Brazil with his former band Pavement in 2010 for the Plantea Terra Festival in São Paulo. He also performed with the Jicks in São Paulo in 2002.

Considered by many to be one of the main voices of a generation – or at least a notable generational subculture – Malkmus is perhaps best known for his work with the 90s indie band, Pavement. There the guitarist-singer-songwriter penned rambling/mysterious lyrics that verbalized a slacker mentality associated with Generation X at that time.

“In the late 1980s Pavement seemed to come out of nowhere,” Rob Jovanovic wrote in his 2004 book “Perfect Sound Forever: The Story of Pavement”.

Jovanovic continued, “While U.S. rock was trying to unearth an identity that had been buried under bad pomp-rock metal ‘hair’ bands and teen-idol stadium worshipers, Pavement arrived from Stockton, California, in a cloud of hyperbolic critical acclaim.”

It seems that the desire to not be iconic combined with a popularity for do-it-yourself, lo-fi productions is what helped Pavement achieve a certain level of success. However, in 1999 after a ten year run and shortly after the release of their fifth full-length album, Terror Twilight the band dismantled. Malkmus moved on, releasing a self-titled album in 2001.

The Jicks were included in the recording but not in the title. In 2003, Malkmus released the album Pig Lib with the Jicks and that was followed in 2005 by Face the Truth, where the Jicks again went uncredited, although they appear on the tracks. The Jicks returned to formal accreditation with the 2008 release entitled, Real Emotional Trash.

If one word best describes Malkmus, it is perhaps, “prolific.” During his time with the band Pavement and later the Jicks, his was also a member of the rock group the Silver Jews. With them, he released four full-length albums, several EPs and vinyl singles between the years of 1992 and 2008.

In 2007 he provided three Bob Dylan covers to the soundtrack for the film based on Dylan’s life, “I’m Not There.”

Malkmus also reunited with Pavement in 2010 for a much anticipated world-wide reunion tour which included a stop in São Paulo. Additionally, Pavement released a greatest hits compilation album entitled, Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement.

Malkmus returned to the Jicks in 2011 and together they released, Mirror Traffic. The album was produced and partially recorded in the home of fellow 90s alternative icon, Beck. With the Jicks, Malkmus’s sound and lyrics have matured but they have aged well. Lyrically he pens more complete sentences and thoughts now but the depth remains.

The doors at Circo Voador will open at 10PM on Friday, April 26th and the Brazilian band, The John Candy will be the opening act.

Who: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks with opening act The John Candy
Where: Circo Voador – Rua dos Arcos, S/N, Lapa
When: Friday, April 26th
Tickets: R$140 (full price) R$70 (students and promotion) available at ingresso.com