Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Dragon Fly Pie (Live)

With Pavement, Stephen Malkmus arguably helped create the largest and most influential music catalog of the 90s. Along with Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices & a few others he helped define what would eventually become the "indie" sound. In 2001 he made his solo debut with a self-titled release and although he has continued to put out high quality music it has never reached the same level he attained with Pavement. It seems as Malkmus becomes more skilled with the guitar it moves further into the forefront of his songs and in doing so the clever storytelling and rapid machine gun delivery he so effortlessly employed slips into the background. This isn't to say the trademarks he carved out with Pavement have disappeared all together, but there has been a noticeable shift. With Dragon Fly Pie the transition is very apparent as Malkmus almost seems to evoke the likes of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or maybe even a Jethro Tull (replace the flute with a xylophone and we may be getting somewhere). A slow lumbering fuzzed out guitar sets the mood as Malkmus spits out a few nonsensical lines which eventually makes room for one of his classic transitions, though using the aforementioned xylophone this time around. The outro of the song features some nice guitar work as he and the Jicks show off their exceptional musicianship. The album version of Dragon Fly Pie is probably the highlight of the album and is an excellent track by every measure, but there is something about the rawer live version that appeals to me and is why it has been included below. It is difficult to blame Malkmus for wanting to move beyond the Pavement days and frankly if he hadn't set such a high watermark with them it would probably be just as easy for everyone else to move on as well.