JoJo's Jacket

He’s nothing if not unpredictable. I mean, who else would’ve had the level of sheer weirdness it takes to pen a song about a bald-headed movie star freak called JoJo who gets his kicks playing robot-cowboys? None other than Stephen Malkmus, the ex-Pavement frontman who has single-handedly reinvented shouty indie-pop with this gem of a record. There’s the chorus, comprised solely of “woooooooeeeeeee”. There’s the totally gratuitous guitar solo. And perhaps a little less expected, there’s Stephen on the cover, resplendent in dinner jacket, cane in hand and not a hair on his dome-like head. Naked, off-kilter fun.