This is a storming album. Stephen Malkmus’ post-Pavement career has been a little up-and-down, but fans of his work can rest assured that it is very much on-form Malkmus (and band) that is to be found herein.Throughout much of the album you can hear the sound of a band finding enjoyment in its own musical proficiency. Guitar parts are often heavy, bluesy and riff-laden (as on opener 'Dragonfly Pie'), and many tracks continue on beyond what would normally be their natural length with the addition of almost improvised-sounding jams ('Real Emotional Trash', 'Elmo Delmo', 'Wicked Wanda'). Janet Weiss (ex-Sleater Kinney) is a valuable addition on drums ”“ her skills audible notably on 'Hopscotch Willy', and her love of cymbals audible throughout.Much of the album has a late-60s or early-70s feel ”“ either in the aforementioned bluesy riffage (almost Hendrix-like), the use of psychedelic organ sounds ('We Can’t Help You'), or with the pastoral folk music feel that is found, in part, on 'Baltimore' and 'Elmo Delmo'. Other tracks are more straightforward and, dare I say, Pavement-y sounding: 'Gardenia', 'Cold Son'.As one would expect from its author there are many oblique and witty lyrical gems to be found here, all delivered in the customary Malkmus dryly intelligent vocal. I particularly enjoyed “Through all my stoned digressions / Some have mutated in”¦ to the truth”, the album’s opening couplet; “I really love the way you dot your js (”¦) Don’t mean to damn you with the faintest praise” from the lovely, straightforward and jaunty forthcoming single 'Gardenia'; the description of the unfortunate framed hero of 'Hopscotch Willy' as “Panting like a pitbull / Minus the mean” and the evocative “Drowsy blonde carouses on the boulevard” from 'Out of Reaches' (another favourite). The only bum note is found in the slightly corny / playing for laughs couplet “Who was it said the world is my oyster? / I feel like a nympho stuck in a Cloister” from 'Cold Son' which slightly spoiled, for me, what was another of the album’s standout tracks.The title track 'Real Emotional Trash' serves as a centerpiece to the album and is a long extended song that sounds like two songs joined into one. It is slow, emotional and very lyrically “honest” sounding: when he sings “Down in Sausalito we had clams for dessert / You spilled some chardonnay on your gypsy skirt”, it sounds like something that really did happen, and so you get the impression that it is probably Malkmus’ own “emotional trash” that he is airing throughout the track.Fans of Pavement and Stephen Malkmus’ previous work, then, will find lots to enjoy here, but this album also merits attention in its own right. 'Cold Son', 'Real Emotional Trash', 'Baltimore', 'Gardenia' and 'We Can’t Help You' are pretty much essential even as standalone tracks, but the album in its entirety ”“ witty, lucid, emotionally honest, musically skillful and never anything short of entertaining throughout - also thoroughly deserves to become part of your life. 87%Look out for our interview with Malkmus tomorrow!mp3:> Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks: 'Baltimore'Links Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks [official site] [myspace] [buy it]