malkmus PIG LIB: 1% of one

Just got the FIRST one about a month ago, didn't want to pay full price for it. Good stuff.

Still trying to figure out all the words to their songs..."Westy Can Drum." Spirolina, Dixiecrats, what else?

I think SM's also doing really well with the Jicks, now that they've gelled into a rather tight band. I think that one of the best things about Pig Lib is the drumming and bass playing, and how great it is that he's now playing with some really sharp musicians who add something to his playing rather than just supporting it. John Moen in particular suits Malkmus very well, I hope that he sticks with Malkmus on the drums for a long time to come. His performances on "Water And A Seat" and "1% Of One" are really quite special, I think.

give up now, sell your possessions, commit suicide, qed, pdq

I just can't get with The Silver Jews at all. I just really dislike Dave Berman - I think he's a decent poet, but a very bad songwriter. The only Silver Jews song I like is technically a solo Malkmus number, "Blue Arrangements".

after about six songs, though, i left. the new songs sounded really one-dimensional; the time changes and spastic bridges seemed forced and uninspired. the band was really pandering to the hipster crowd; the bass player was particularly unfunny and unintelligent. she kept mentioning that the show was only seven dollars (far below the typical ticket price); at first it appeared as though she was doing so jokingly to explain their mistakes, but she kept repeating it in such a way that i felt as though she really thought we were privileged to pay so little for _the jicks!_. malkmus actually began wincing every time she mentioned the dollar amount.

i hope the new songs sound better in their studio forms, and that he was improvising the lyrics live.

david berman has definitely crafted two albums far superior to the solo malkmus efforts. he just seems more relevant.

I can't agree about Berman, and I'm particularly repulsed by the use of the word 'relevant', but trust me, the studio versions are better.

Westie Can Drum

3:03
The seconds they are sequins
And the minutes string
Raveled round a mannequin
A formless space
A party line at last that
We can all embrace
And segueway to the burning masses

ten to eleven
Don't question, just get in
I think that we are losing our way
Westie--he cannot drum

Half past noon
Visualize a centaur baying
At the moon
His profile is a silver circle
Brings to mind
The portraits of the presidents
And Lincoln's beard
Then why's he got a horse's body?

??
You'll love her
You'll lose her
I think that we are losing our way
Westie--he cannot drum

5:19
Deluded like a Dixiecrat
Why dont'cha
Clog latrine
And clean it like a Dixiecrat
And deck the halls with spirulina

Slow road to Devon
So great, like heaven
I think that we are losing our way
Westie--he cannot drum
No, Westie, he cannot drum

I'VE GOT A KNIFE
I'VE GOT A KNIFE
I'VE GOT A KNIFE

I agree that Jews' output (AW & BF) is superior to the 1st Jicks, as good as that was (someone said bullshit about Church on White just about garnering his respect!? It's the best song on it, I agree, but take your head out of your ass will you.) Bright Flight, in particular, is a humdinging shot of bourbon in the urethra. Berman's lyrics are far superior to Malkmus's, from the opening sweep of 'When God was young ..' all the way on in. He has an inflated poet's vision and perspective that dwarfs Malk's trite and quirky figures. As American Water showed, Malk makes a good lead guitarist in David's band. Why doesn't he stay there? Would Berman even have him?

Greetings from Spain.

Maybe this way?

(pulls out hair, freaking out)
b-b-b-but Malkmus is such a better singer and songwriter than Berman! Berman has no charisma and has no ability to write a decent melody! Eeee!
(/pulls out hair, freaking out)

It's all in good fun.

I'll grant that Malk is a more natural and interesting vocalist. But his voice carries little real emotional weight for me, whereas Berman's deadpan vulnerable drawl and clear diction are heavy with experience. Malkmus's voice is a glorious instrument: he whelps and yelps and does that falsetto and changes register like a vocal trapeze artist turning oval hoops. His 'melodies' are beautifully dissonant and delivered uniquely, like his guitar playing. But so far as emotional gravity is concerned, what does Malk's voice carry to you? I'll tell you what it carries to me: arrogant little slacker kid with his head in the clouds of his own cool. I'm talking about his tone and his posturing and everything that makes his voice so distinctive. And that's appealing on one level, I grant you. He spits on you from a great height, and you are bathed (and grateful). And as far as I can tell, his lyrics are are just slick rollers for his vox sound. He makes lots of incongruous formulations that jar or sweeten as the need arises. But there are no statements, and no simplicity. It's all show. Berman on the other hand has a load of unexpected incongruities (eg 'my horses legs look like four brown shotguns'), but he also hits deep with the kind of simple and direct statement that Malkmus would never write. His croaky brogue is just the ticket for conveying his own America. As is Malkmus's, i spose. I just find Berman's vision more engrossing and feel stronger empathy for what seems his inordinately more compassionate temperament. Malkmus's ego is cool for the kids, and I'm a kid and think wow cool. But for a more elevated justification of being, I turn to DCB. I hope he writes another like Bright Flight and I'd welcome a line to compare with 'My ski vest has buttons like convenience store mirrors and they help me see/ That everything in the room right now/ Is a part of me, oh yeah/ Is a part of me.' (from AW) Malkmus can't write like that. And the argument that Berman doesn't know melody is a nonsense in my view. That line is made by its melody, Berman's effortless execution of it and (yes) the companionship of Malkmus's whining seizure guitar.

I think Berman and Malkmus are like apples and oranges - just because they were/are friends, and Malkmus did the guy a favor by being his guitarist for a while, it doesn't mean they are meant to be compared. I don't really begrudge you for having some unfair feelings about Malkmus, because I'm not very fair about Berman - I just hate that guy's singing so much, and his music just seems like bland faux-Dylan to me. And I don't have much love for Dylan.

or am I wrong? except for a couple of interweb mentalists on this here board (indeed this here thread) I don't know anyone familiar w/this album who doesn't l-l-l-love it, and I'm starting to wonder. (I got rid of my promo copy and no I will not be purchasing it again.) what am I missing here?

Were you one of those people whose interest in Pavement was swayed by that New Yorker article? I was.

Unfortunately, I bought it before I realized that there was a limited edition with a free bonus EP available. How much am I missing?

i saw him live, and the band had want to be better rehearsed than they were that night, let me tell you.

poo! that was what I liked about it. Tracks like The Hexx would've been crap without it and I loved the way the tracks changed style and tempo without warning allt he way through. Not exactly Westing by Musket and Sextant, sure, but something completely different (and imho better).

Wig Out was where I thought "he's finally totally lost it".

Have you heard Groove Denied?

as a Malkmus lifer, i have to say, i thought Groove Denied was ... bad. and seeing him do it live didn't change that opinion at all.

yeah kinda cool in theory but not good

sparkle hard really sounded good today

yeah, i was really excited when it was announced, mostly because when he is indulging his weirder interests, i always dig it. but...

underground

Must be twenty years eh? I had Animal Midnight stuck on my head the other day. This is easily in my top three Pave-related albums

But seriously this is such a classic album. I underrated 'Sheets' at the time but that whole "Hwah Hwah Hwah Hwah Hwah!" section is so great

How to score the bonus EP in 2023? #YSI #Leonardo

This is my favorite SM solo (at least until Traditional Techniques), but my version swaps a couple songs from the bonus disc for Animal Midnight and I think Sheets.

Wait, my version subs:

Vanessa from Queens
Sheets
Animal Midnight

For:
Dynamic Calories (opener)
Fractions & Feelings
Old Jerry

Hmmmm

Old Jerry is straight up one of my favorite Malk solo songs

how to score ;-)

Those are good songs but it's swapping out some of the highlights

Times are gonna change. You will be amazed...

Steve Shasta, I know it's a dirty word but if you're desperate Sp*tify has the Dark Wave EP with those tracks on it

"(Do Not Feed the) Oyster" is the most obnoxious song he'd written to date.

I was quite enjoying it listening back last night.

Think the outliers here are Dark Wave and Craw Song, but they've grown on me now. He got a lot more obnoxious on Face The Truth. 'Pencil Rot' is pretty much 'Dark Wave' but with the annoying factor amped up.

Craw Song took forever to charm me, now it seems essential.

I don’t know if I’d revise the overall tracklist. Every piece is where it needs to be.

Yeah and the little xtra EP works as a piece too. I still can't get into the following two albums despite trying a few times. Might go do a deep dive on what I've missed

Steve Shasta, I know it's a dirty word but if you're desperate Sp*tify has the Dark Wave EP with those tracks on it

― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Thursday, December 7, 2023 2:53 AM (one hour ago)

I need to move to UK I guess. :`(

https://www.discogs.com/release/683373-Stephen-Malkmus-The-Jicks-Pig-Lib

Had no idea Poet And The Witch was a cover!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Qw-J00Dek

there is def something a bit presidents of the united states of america to '(do not feed the) oyster' but there are some elegant flourishes that give it a little extra, he's written more obnoxious songs

Haha yeah, I don't really like it when he flips into wilfully whacky surrealism (following up a track called 'Dragonfly Pie' with a song called 'Hopscotch Willie', I mean"