We saw Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks last night in Brooklyn; I'd been looking forward to this show and it was good. I left the show buying into the Janet Weiss hype fully, although I wonder today if I've dismissed Moen unfairly due to his seemingly excited participation in some lame-to-me Decemberists stage schtick.

The setlist was basically the new album, so it's a good thing that I am liking the new stuff. They did start with Pencil Rot, from Face the Truth, which is a favorite from that album. I was somewhat surprised that they only played one song (Oyster) from the first two albums, but the show was too enjoyable to really complain. There was a bit of excitement for a snippet of Old Jerry, which reminded me of the other good stuff from the Pig Lib bonus disc. People are pretty excited about Pennywhistle Thunder, an outtake from this album which hopefully show up on the Buy Early site at some point. I've only heard a live version.

There's probably more than enough stuff for some kind of post-Pavement Malkmus b-sides/outtakes collection. It would be nice for something to come out. For a while I was buying the Domino singles for things like Polish Mule, but I don't think I've really kept up.

John Vanderslice opened. I've seen him open for other bands, too, and from what I read on blogs and such I should like JV, but I don't. I really don't get the appreciation for JV; interestingly we had the exact opposite reaction to the JV set than did fluxblog.

Here's a Malkmus radio thing.
Here's an interview.
Here's an interview in which Malkmus distinguishes his variety of indie rock from the Rilo Kiley type. (I wonder how Rilo Kiley feel about the fact that their name must get somewhat confused with the whole Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana thing.)
Another interview with the Village Voice; I find it kind of disappointing that the Malkmus involvement with I'm Not There turns out to be pretty minimal--or he seems to minimize it anyway, and not really have any interest in playing the songs or doing much else in that direction.
Here's the DC show audio from NPR. I haven't listened yet.
The NY Times reviewed the first Bowery Ballroom show; everyone seems to figure that it's not that fair a review.