The “rejected” electronic album that Stephen Malkmus has been telling everyone about will see the light of day on March 15^th (Matador Records.)   But Groove Denied isn’t a full-blown plunge into EDM or hiptronica.  In fact, there aren’t any purely instrumental tracks on the album.  Every song is precisely that: a song, featuring Malkmus staples like an artfully askew melody and an oblique lyric.  

Today we get a taste of the album, with the release of single “Viktor Borgia,” and its accompanying video starring Stephen alone in a dance club — until he turns into a digital avatar and dance-battles the digital avatars of a Random Businessman and a pony-tailed pop-star named Ariana.