Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @ Paradise, 4/3/2008

After last night's show with the Jicks at the Paradise, we're pretty sure that Stephen Malkmus' brain must be an interesting place. He riffed on guitar, and then he riffed on just about everything, from hairy Estonian men to European pot regulations. He also marveled over an audience member's green hat: "Bet he gets lucky a lot ... in the Greater Boston area. Probably more in the suburbs."

Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme tried to bring the audience closer to the band's mindset when she wondered why the crowd wasn't smoking pot: "I smell no weed at this show at all. What's wrong with you?"

Very little, actually. The music did an excellent job of mind expansion. The band played many cuts from the record Real Emotional Trash, stretching each song into dangerous jam band territory. However, ex-Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss (who has quite the vocal fan base) kept things from getting too loosey-goosey. Her style is more metal, and the powerful drumming helped keep Malkmus' guitar noodlings in line, except for a few spots in which songs dissolved into feedback, like the live version of "Hopscotch Willie" from Real Emotional Trash.

A highlight of the night included "Baltimore," which is great when heard on an album but which was transformed into an epic when performed live. Another surprise came in the encore, when the band did a cover of Fear's "I Don't Care About You."

Opener John Vanderslice and his band also gave the audience a treat. Like Malkmus and the Jicks, he combined strong musicianship with a spirit of playfulness, as shown when he headbanged several times in his set and then decided to move his band into the audience for the last song.