Almost as exciting for Pavement fans as an actual reunion (which duly happened last year, on their 21st anniversary) was the news that Stephen Malkmus would be enlisting Beck as a producer on his fifth album with the Jicks. And what a fine pairing. Gone are the meandering, proggy excesses of 2008's Real Emotional Trash, and in their place are sharper, melody-driven tracks that foreground Malkmus's distinctive oblique wit. "Asking Price" is particularly intriguing ("too busy putzing round the internet/revel in the disconnect") but every track reveals more pleasure with each listen.