Stephen Malkmus has released a new single/video, for “Shadowbanned” off his forthcoming release Traditional Techniques, out March 6th on Matador. The video, directed by Jan Lankisch, features friends and fans of Malkmus, including Kim Gordon, Mac DeMarco, Sharon Van Etten and Jason Schwartzman, performing “Shadowbanned” as a cartoon version of Malkmus (find a full list of appearances below). Their footage is interwoven with clips from older videos by Malkmus and Pavement in which the singer has been blurred, pixelated, and algorithmically replaced in order to render him invisible. Malkmus kicks off his North American tour on May 31st, in Minneapolis, MN.

Shadowbanned
cast

Mac DeMarco
Jason Schwartzman
Kim Gordon
Sharon Van Etten
Kurt Vile
Conor Oberst
Orono Noguchi
Eric Koston
Mary Lattimore
Joe Beddia
Matt Korvette
Jake Morris
Polly Roche
Keshav Purushotham
Sharmila Banerjee
Lucía Castellanos
Charlotte Gfeller
Qais Essar
Maple Judd
Lia Wang
Lara Vinciguerra
Pernille Krogvig
Frederike Wetzels

“The video was inspired by reading about female singers and musicians who were photoshopped from their album covers by an Iranian music streaming site,” says Lankisch, who realized “Shadowbanned“ with the help of Janosch Pugnaghi, Gesa Gadow, Lina Sieckmann and Miri Gossing. The video represents two polar opposites: the involuntary erasure of a person in visual imagery and one’s desire to perform as a persona, thereby leaving the constraints of one’s everyday identity behind. “Identity is a matter of design. People like to play with characters and pretend to be someone else.” For this reason, Lankisch and Pugnaghi developed a filter for Instagram called “Being Stephen Malkmus,” which operates via face detection. The face of the user is overlaid with a stylized version of Malkmus’ face. The “Being Stephen Malkmus” Instagram filter is available today.

Stephen Malkmus
Tour Dates:

Tue. March 31 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
Wed. April 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. April 2 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. April 3 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners
Sat. April 4 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Sun. April 5 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Tue. April 7 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
Wed. April 8 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Thu. April 9 – Richmond, VA @ The National
Fri. April 10 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Sat. April 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Mon. April 13 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Wed. April 15 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Thu. April 16 – Montreal, QC @ L’Astral
Fri. April 17 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Sat. April 18 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sun. April 19 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
Fri. June 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
Sat. June 27 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Sun. June 28 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Tue. June 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Wed. July 1 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
Thu. July 2 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
Fri. July 3 – Santa Fe, NM @ TBD
Sat. July 4 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
Mon. July 6 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Tue. July 7 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Wed. July 8 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
Thu. July 9 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
Sat. July 11 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre