Bozulich, Malkmus Offer Some New Alternatives

Carla Bozulich and Stephen Malkmus may be familiar faces and voices to the alterna-rock cognoscenti, but on Wednesday they offered something completely different, appearing in unaccustomed formats and playing previously unheard music at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Moonlighting from his band Pavement, one of the leading fixtures of ‘90s indie rock, Malkmus gave his first solo performance since he was a novice songwriter. Bozulich and guitarist Nels Cline are two pieces of the shattered Geraldine Fibbers, the acclaimed Los Angeles band that went on leave after losing its record deal early this year.

Cline and Bozulich, billed as Scarnella, played challenging, off-center material from a forthcoming album, ranging from songs for a sad cabaret to a cathartic, double-guitar feedback onslaught.

The only familiar touchstone for fans who may have turned out because they’re fond of Pavement or the Fibbers was personality--but personality counts for a lot.

Bozulich aimed her husky, wounded alto with the dramatic acuity and transfixing intensity of a fine actress; it was a welcome chance to hear her in quieter, less cluttered arrangements than Fibbers’ sets typically allowed.

Sonic Youth-like guitar drones, and occasional bursts of static and noise from Bozulich’s sampling keyboard, steered Scarnella even further off-center than the stylistically free-ranging Fibbers. But with Bozulich mainly playing bass and Cline sometimes stomping a beat on bass drum while playing resonant chords, Scarnella generated rock momentum with minimalist means.

Malkmus’ set fit the imprint he has made in Pavement: a mixture of careless performance, underdeveloped technique, puzzling lyrics and very dry humor thrown up as a bulwark against his own amateurism. Nevertheless, his talent as a song crafter and the emotional focus of his peak numbers made it worth bearing with him through some taxing sloppy bits.