The Beatles produced their entire recorded output in just seven years, a fact that inspires a quiet sense of awe among the music cognoscenti. Genre-defining act Pavement generated its tremendously influential catalog in the same slim slice of time. On just five full-length albums, released between 1992 and 1999, the Stockton, California-based quartet pioneered and perfected the indie rock sound, an angular and introspective pop that was a welcome alternative to the plodding grunge of the Pacific Northwest. Each Pavement record was a miniature milestone of experimentation and innovation, from its challenging and offbeat debut, Slanted and Enchanted (1992), to its commercial breakthrough Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994). The group's final act, 1999's Terror Twilight, was a band-in-breakup document which surely ranks alongside Let It Be.

The unequal partner in this collective was lead singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus. He infused Pavement's music with surreal lyrics rich with highbrow references and pop-culture name checks, along with a spectrum of musical influences as disparate as Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Pixies and British post-punkers The Fall. Malkmus was also never afraid to toss in a healthy dose of ironic self-deprecation -- who else could sing a smarty-pants line like "I'm an island of such great complexity" and get away with it?

At 36, Malkmus finds himself in unmapped territory again, staging a creative second coming that's as ambitious and rewarding as his first go-round. In 2001, Malkmus released a self-titled solo offering (backed by his new band, The Jicks) that continued in Pavement's low-key, lo-fi tradition. This month sees the release of its second album, Pig Lib, that's sure to satisfy disenfranchised indie rockers everywhere with its mix of jagged, jangling melodies, labyrinthine lyrics and abstract song titles ((Do Not Feed the) Oyster).

Speaking from his home in Portland, Oregon, a multi-tasking Malkmus simultaneously reflected on where he is going and where he has been, paused to poke fun at a few contemporaries and burn a few bridges, and single-handedly reconciled indie and classic rock, all while concentrating on a complicated cooking project. And he still insists he ain't smart.