Pavement has been inactive since the ’90s (aside from a 2010 reunion tour), but Stephen Malkmus has stayed busy since then with his band Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks. His most recent proper solo album credited just to his name, a self-titled album, came out in 2001, and 18 years later, he has announced its follow-up. Groove Denied isn’t the type of music fans are used to from Malkmus, though, as it’s a more electronic-focused effort.
Malkmus has proved that with the video for “Viktor Borgia,” which shows off the Kraftwerk-like song. In case you weren’t convinced he’s going fully electronic, the video features a virtual dance-off with some low-poly CGI characters: “Stephen,” “random businessman,” and “Ariana,” the latter of whom doesn’t look dissimilar to a certain pop star who shares that first name.
In a recent interview, it was revealed that Malkmus had been working on Groove Denied for “12 to 13 years,” and that after he submitted it to Matador in 2017, “the president and founder flew to Portland to personally inform him it wasn’t the right album to release at the time.” He went on to describe the album as “not that experimental,” saying:
“It’s not that experimental. It’s just me with drum machines. […] It’s only me on all the instruments and production and engineering. Guitars are not the focus. They’re on there, but the guitar player’s not really the alpha. Towards the end, it starts bleeding into guitar-ness. It’s waters I don’t usually swim in. I don’t think it’s too much of a head-scratcher.”
Watch the video for “Viktor Borgia” above.
Groove Denied is out 03/15 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here.
