Pig Lib

Stephen Malkmus was one witty, creative, intelligent 24-year-old burnout; not just while he was 24 either. Pig Lib, Malkmus and company’s followup to 2001’s Stephen Malkmus album, marks Malkmus’ birthday — not only is he not 24 anymore, he’s jumped into his thirties! How indie. Listening to “Do Not Feed the) Oyster” could kill ones sense of reason, or it could just reassure you that Malkmus is still hitting the bong pretty regularly. Clearly Malkmus has made steps towards growing up; while not a very serious album, Pig Lib does have its moments of maturity that have been almost completely absent in Malkmus’ back catalog thus far. 

As leader of the band Pavement, Malkmus led the indie rock scene through the 90s, giving the rock world five consecutive arguably classic albums. Pavement broke up in 1999, and Malkmus began working with his current band The Jicks in 2000, later releasing his self-titled album in 2001. Now on his second “solo” album, Malkmus may be the one current rock artist who has yet to disappoint. Pig Lib marks Malkmus’ seventh great album in a row. Not to say Malkmus is the best rock artist of all time, not a chance, but in his decade and a half of recording he has yet to put out an album that someone somewhere won’t fight to the death defending. Everyone screws up at some point. Everyone loses it. If David Byrne went too far, you can expect that someday Malkmus will as well.

Pig Lib is progressive in spirit and simple at heart. Malkmus shows more than ever that he is a great guitar player and understands the elements of classic rock. Don’t be fooled; this isn’t a Who album. It’s still quirky, absurd and, as always, charming. Malkmus has always had “style for miles and miles,” even into his thirties. With songs like “Water and a Seat” Malkmus continues to surprise us with his ambition and creativity.

In a perfect world there wouldn’t be a war going on, there wouldn’t be cigarette ashes in my food when I go to Taco Bell and at least five songs from Pig Lib would be playing on the radio. Malkmus and the Jicks don’t care. They’re having fun and making great albums. Pig Lib is yet another Malkmus album that is both too good to be on the radio and too good to be lost into obscurity. Malk will never die ... although I’m sure he will eventually “burn out.”    9/10

Written by G. William Locke