The main man of Pavement, Stephen Malkmus, has just released his third single from his third solo album “Traditional Techniques” due out March 6th on Domino.
Shadowbanned is an eastern flavoured sea shanty with a hint of an early T rex.
The use of call and response between the strings and woodwind create a hypnotic mash which occasionally gives way to little flurries of clarity from guitar or flute. These quickly get lost as Malkmus takes up the mic with that familiar drone. The song centres on the modern use of language, particularly in social media referencing Reddit and Amazon, TED Talks and Red Bull. “All hail the once and future kween,” and “May the word b spread via cracked emoji.”
Its a lazy striped back jam and a reminder of what this guy can produce. The production is in particular is very good taking only a couple of spins for the tune to embed and you start hearing all the little details within the music. It’s a huge credit to his songwriting talent.
So worth a listen even if you have never heard anything by this man or the bands he has been in.
Check it out, here.
Catch hime live as follows:
Tue. March 31 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
Wed. April 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. April 2 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. April 3 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners
Sat. April 4 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Sun. April 5 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Tue. April 7 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
Wed. April 8 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Thu. April 9 – Richmond, VA @ The National
Fri. April 10 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Sat. April 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Mon. April 13 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Wed. April 15 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Thu. April 16 – Montreal, QC @ L’Astral
Fri. April 17 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Sat. April 18 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sun. April 19 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
Fri. June 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
Sat. June 27 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Sun. June 28 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Tue. June 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Wed. July 1 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Thu. July 2 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
Fri. July 3 – Santa Fe, NM @ TBD
Sat. July 4 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
Mon. July 6 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Tue. July 7 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Wed. July 8 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
Thu. July 9 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
Sat. July 11 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
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