No artist with roots in the American underground has influenced indie rock more than Pavement's Stephen Malkmus.
While Scott Kannberg's spizzle fuzz guitar, Gary Young's wobbly drumming and Bob Nastanovich's hype-machine antics are undeniable, Malkmus's impact is paramount. Acts like Kiwi Jr., Parquet Courts and Wednesday channel his tossed-off delivery, and even TikTok has celebrated his clever, disjointed lyrics.
With the release of The Hard Quartet, the debut LP from his indie supergroup of the same name, we're ranking Malkmus's entire discography — including Silver Jews, the Jicks and the Crust Brothers, album with Pavement and his solo albums — showcasing how his presence looms over everything he touches. All in the name of slack.
19. The Crust Brothers
Marquee Mark (1998)
This late-1997 live benefit recording pairs Malkmus with Montana indie rockers Silkworm. Split between covers of Bob Dylan and the Band and classic rock like the Byrds, the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd, this is the only unessential release in Malkmus's discography.
Standout track: While the tone is closer to Creedence Clearwater Revival's version, Malkmus delivers early guitar heroics with the anti-soul of "Heard It Through the Grapevine."
18. Stephen Malkmus
Groove Denied (2019)
Like Neil Young or Cat Stevens before him, Malkmus couldn't resist the allure of the synthesizer. Billed as his electronic album and written, recorded and produced without outside help, Groove Denied lacks engrossing material to match this grand vision.
Standout track: While the guitar-assisted second half comes off lifeless, he delivers true experimentation with the CAN- and NEU!-influenced opener "Belziger Faceplant."
17. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Wig Out at Jagbags (2014)
If there's such thing as an album too lyrically sardonic for even Stephen Malkmus, it's this one. Tracks like "Chartjunk" and "Scattegories" sacrifice the clever for the satirical and nearly come off as a full Pavement parody without the sense of sonic adventure.
Standout track: The first Jicks LP featuring Jake Morris shows his ability to hold together Malkmus's fractured melodies, best highlighted on the five-minute closer "Surreal Teenagers."
16. Stephen Malkmus
Traditional Techniques (2020)
A year after his foray into electronics, Malkmus's "folk" album seems like it should come off just as much as a novelty. Luckily, the songs are more fleshed out and inspired. Joined by Blake Mills and Chris Funk, Malkmus delivers an LP that's overtly pretty and nearly sincere.
Standout track: This LP works when Malkmus takes minimal arrangements to new avenues, and his new age angle suites him on the kaval-assisted "What Kind of Person."
15. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Real Emotional Trash (2008)
The second LP properly co-credited to the Jicks finds Malkmus playing off his extremely talented group (now including Janet Weiss on drums) and delivering the most jam band-esque release of his career. Even the Grateful Dead never sounded this elastic and free.
Standout track: At 55 minutes, his longest solo LP includes filler but also many extended numbers that make every note count, most notably the title track, "Real Emotional Trash."
14. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Mirror Traffic (2011)
If there's an underrated gem in Malkmus's discography, it's this one. Perhaps overshadowed by Pavement's 2010 reunion tour, this LP shines due to producer Beck, who managed to illuminate elements that make Malkmus' music enigmatic, adventurous and catchy as hell.
Standout track: Much of the LP leans towards his more pristine material, but the quirky chorus of "I know what the senator wants… a blowjob" is a welcome respite on "Senator."
13. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Sparkle Hard (2018)
Malkmus' most recent LP with the Jicks came as a shock to fans and critics. How he could put out a collection of songs so sturdy and realized at this point of his career is a testament to his dedication to his craft? It's the most appropriately titled LP in his discography.
Standout track: As the LP features gorgeous strings (via Mellotron), glistening synths and even Auto-Tune, the moment that shins is the raw, layered guitar banger "Shiggy."
12. The Hard Quartet
The Hard Quartet (2024)
Featuring Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White and Emmett Kelly, the Hard Quartet sets aside that fraternal energy normally reserved for supergroups, with each member's contribution coming off essential. Perhaps the most try-hard Malkmus has ever seemed.
Standout track: While Malkmus takes lead on approximately half of the LP, the best of the album's 15 songs is the least Malkmus-esque: the almost hardcore punk "Renegade."
11. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Pig Lib (2003)
Just because Malkmus's first LP credited to the Jicks – and his coming-out party as a guitar god – doesn't make our Top 10, that doesn't make it anything less than an all-timer. If it wasn't for the overly crisp production from Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Vance Joy) it might even be Top 5.
Standout track: These tracks' merits are clear in the fact that many still appear on setlists, but nothing tops hearing Malkmus shred irony-free on the nine-minute "1% of One."
10. Silver Jews
Tanglewood Numbers (2005)
While Malkmus was a core member of David Berman's band during Silver Jews' earlier material, he's one of 14 contributors here. This marked a sea change, as Berman began to move away from Pavement-style indie lax into a twangy sound he'd later perfect.
Standout track: Although Malkmus's guitar can mostly be heard on the LP's back half, Berman steals the show on the lyrically illuminating and troubling "Punks in the Beerlight."
9. Stephen Malkmus
Face the Truth (2005)
The last year of Malkmus's 30s marks the last time he'd come off as truly bratty. What makes his second solo LP essential stands in his ability to simultaneously embrace poppy melodies and subvert them. He'll never pack so many ideas into a single album again.
Standout track: Aside from "Silence Kid," no song in Malkmus's catalog opens an album with as much panache, raw energy and reckless abandon as "Pencil Rot."
8. Pavement
Terror Twilight (1999)
What happens when you remove the slack from Pavement? You get the most divisive album in Malkmus's discography. Producer Nigel Godrich aimed to "straighten" their crooked sound, crooked sound. This resulted in an LP that would be a masterwork by any other band without such a high ceiling.
Standout track: The opening four-song run is the most laser-focused of their career, although nobody can meld the pristine and irreverent as they do on "You Are a Light."
7. Silver Jews
Starlite Walker (1994)
The post-Gary Young works of Pavement were highly influenced by Silver Jews, not vice versa. Their exquisitely chaotic debut has Malkmus's fingerprints all over it, as his lyrics would become cheekier simply by bearing witness to David Berman's labyrinthian psyche.
Standout track: Featuring new Pavement hires Bob Nastanovich and Steve West, no song represents the rejection of self-serious grunge like the nihilistic "Advice to the Graduate."
6. Pavement
Brighten the Corners (1997)
Setlists from Pavement's 2023 tour show how beloved these songs have become. Following the unruly Wowee Zowee, their third full-length features some of Malkmus and Kannberg's most complete and realized material. Doesn't hurt that it's also their best-sounding record.
Standout track: No Malkmus LP has more songs that are revealed as classics upon repeat listens than this one, best illustrated by the radiant and complex "We Are Underused."
5. Stephen Malkmus
Stephen Malkmus (2001)
Malkmus suggests Pavement ended due to his bandmates' lax work ethic. Initially envisioned as a full solo endeavor, his debut brilliantly blends his playful and tender sides with an utterly unique approach from Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme and drummer John Moen.
Standout track: Malkmus's later material sometimes suffers from its glut of ideas, but his genius would never again sound so effortless and stunning as it does on "Church on White."
4. Pavement
Wowee Zowee (1995)
Due to its modern-day icon status, it's hard to believe this LP initially received lukewarm reviews. Once deemed overly long and chaotic, it's now celebrated as one of the most daring albums of the alt-rock era. Pavement, it seems, were simply 30 years ahead of their time.
Standout track: Wowee Zowee thumbs its nose at conventional rock across 56 blistering minutes. Even its "slow jams" are minefields of inverted noise, exemplified by "Grounded"
3. Silver Jews
American Water (1998)
In 1998, David Berman was lauded for approaching perfection. Battling drug addiction, he leaned on Malkmus to shape these songs and manage the sessions. The results are stunning, blending pain with insolence in a way no one has dared to replicate.
Standout track: Thanks to Malkmus, there may be a few songs sonically more accomplished, but nothing here matches the lyrical cleverness of "Smith & Jones Forever."
2. Pavement
Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
The biggest coin-flip in indie circles is whether Pavement released the genre's best album on their first or second try. While their debut has the then-trio shaking off the Fall and the Clean comparisons, it distills the frenetic energy from their early EPs into precision.
Standout track: Much like Kurt Cobain before him, Malkmus exhibited an incredible talent for pushing beautiful melodies through walls of noise, as demonstrated on "Perfume-V."
1. Pavement
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
If their debut invented the sound, this one refined it. Now a quintet, Pavement embodied brilliance, absurdity, confidence and irreverence. Their songwriting is sharp, yet oozing with slack, often within the span of a single four-minute track. Perfect sound forever.
Standout track: Each of these 12 songs is so original that not a single idea is repeated. Nothing on LP, and in fact nothing in rock, sounded as sinisterly wistful as "Gold Soundz."