Album Review Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques

Following the success of last year’s synth-fuelled ‘Groove Denied’ in shifting his sound away from the ‘90s slacker rock he pioneered, ‘Traditional Techniques’ sees Stephen Malkmus take a different route into leftfield. Armed with all things acoustic, he’s created eleven tracks of what only can be described as world-weary, psych-folk hummers. While the album isn’t perfect, it does manage to execute his plan to perfection.‘Xian Man’ and ‘Shadowbanned’ are distinctly Pavement-esque in structure, but somehow manage to wash away the last remnants of slackerdom with a potent combo of wadaiko thumps and twisted twelve-string strums. It’s taken him the best part of 20 years, but with ‘Traditional Techniques’ Stephen Malkmus has finally come up with the blueprint for slacker escape.