Malkmus is making records as he did in the heyday of Pavement, treating the Jicks as a backing band that can contribute a little in the studio but is designed for the stage. He lays down most of the instrumental tracks himself, overdubs acoustic guitars, banjos, and sitars, dabbles in synths, and plays around with the mixes so they bend, twist, slur, and suddenly explode. Only on the misleading first single, "Post-Paint Boy" -- a sly swipe at modern art -- does he sound as conventional as he did on Pig Lib, but it's sharper than most of that record, and it acts as a good anchor to this gleefully excessive album.

Track Listing
1 Pencil Rot
2 It Kills
3 I've Hardly Been
4 Freeze the Saints
5 Loud Cloud Crowd
6 No More Shoes
7 Mama
8 Kindling for the Master
9 Post-Paint Boy
10 Baby C'mon
11 Malediction