Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
It’s been almost four years since we heard any new music from Portland barnburners Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, but the just-released single “Middle America” was worth the wait. Malkmus is a mountain-man poet of sorts, playfully twisting language to spin evocative laments like this tune’s chorus, “Crush me back to where I belong, hold me down anchor strong, fill me up ‘til I overflow, in the wintertime.” Advance press indicates that the tour coming to the Casbah on July 20 will feature Malkmus & the Jicks working out new tunes planned to accompany “Middle America” on an upcoming full-length. Opening act Dommengang is a slightly paisley hard rock trio, founded in Brooklyn and currently based in L.A., specializing in electric blues and outer space jams with a new album to promote, Love Jail. Guitarist Dan “Sig” Wilson has also collaborated with Castanets, led by former San Diegan turned New Yorker Raymond Raposa.