Traditional Techniques

The wry, heartfelt "Cash Up" and truly touching "Amberjack" are highlights; that he exits on the breezy, sardonic bonus track "Juliefuckingette" is a reminder, though, that yes, it's still Malkmus. [Apr 2020, p.30]

Traditional Techniques is an album completely out of time — a folk(ish) record about the present day that might be one of the most future-proof of his career.

There’s no stridency, special pleading or chewing of scenery, just gentle enactments. This is what folk music used to do before Volk became toxic. Malkmus represents his characters via traditional techniques. [May 2020, p.54]

One of the finest of his career. [May 2020, p.109]

These loose, predominantly acoustic arrangements area fine fit for Malkmus's usual shtick; shaggy, ambulatory songs full of odd twists and rococo angles that seem designed to undermine pretension rather than amplify it. [Apr 2020, p.90]

Even at their most carefree and explorative, these tracks are tight, well crafted, and time conscious.

Traditional Techniques is less a revealing personal statement than a change of palette, with the singer-songwriter coloring his usual sarcastic wit with somber, muted tones.

It's not a record that's overly concerned with coherence, but the freedom to experiment suits Malkmus well, especially when he lets the ideas dictate the music without trying to adhere to any sort of thematic cohesion.

While Traditional Techniques easily succeeds as a curiosity, its songs continue to delight after the novelty wears off. The most surprising thing about the album isn’t how far Malkmus has strayed from his comfort zone. It’s how at home he sounds there.

He achieves a quality record that expands his sonic palette while also retaining his unique identity.

Traditional Techniques is neither a revelation nor a disaster, it’s neither a winner nor is it a loser. Simply put, this is a very, very niche record that will likely sink, never to be seen again, as soon as Pavement step foot on the Primavera Sound stage in June (coronavirus permitting). But if you were to give it a few spins, who knows where it might end up taking you?

Mostly acoustic folk set, indebted to faves like Fairport Convention and Bert Jansch, and full of fireside beauty. [Mar 2020, p.91]

It’s taken him the best part of 20 years, but with ‘Traditional Techniques’ Stephen Malkmus has finally come up with the blueprint for slacker escape.

Traditional Techniques lands as another solid effort, the third album he's released, with or without the Jicks, since May of 2018.

Fans of folk and Malkmus alike will find something to love here, even if Traditional Techniques doesn’t quite make the grade.

The more direct songs work best – most notably the simmering Shadowbanned and the contrastingly carefree bonus track Juliefuckingette – but there is just as much to enjoy in the album’s hinterlands too.