Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @ Neumos

Friday night's show was a good sign that the mustache craze has gone too far; Jesse Hughes, sure, but Stephen Malkmus? Even he seemed uncertain of it when, upon arriving onstage, the audience didn't seem to recognize him.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks nevertheless delivered a strong set of indie rock. His solo work (the Jicks really serving as Malkmus's back-up act) seems to take off from where Pavement left off, from the Shady Lane EP era. Songs feature a strong blues rhythm section, against which Malkmus delivers several different guitar movements. For heavy riffs he even played by using a two-fingered finger plucking technique like a bassist.

Still, it's a sign of the times that Stephen Malkmus is now 40 years old. How the time does fly. The Jicks can certainly rock the house, but we left Neumos with our favorite tunes from Slanted and Enchanted in our heads.