Stephen Malkmus

conspicuous? yes.
a tad insincere? i don't hear/believe that.
a little disjointed / not fully formed as a concept / political statement? yes, i think that's a fair criticism.

Writing a (good) politically / socially conscious song must be particularly challenging for even a good songwriter

Maybe "insincere" is harsh, I take that back. I mean, I'm quite sure the guy's heart is in the right place. I just don't listen to Malkmus wanting or expecting social commentary. Does anyone?

FWIW I repped hard for Jagbags (see upthread) and am definitely a fan, in case that wasn't clear.

Maybe "insincere" is harsh, I take that back. I mean, I'm quite sure the guy's heart is in the right place. I just don't listen to Malkmus wanting or expecting social commentary. Does anyone?

I care quite a bit more about Malkmus' songwriting than your opinion of it, if that's what you're asking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpi9cAmnfo

malk doing "solid silk" on the 12-string <3

I had missed this interview, it's great: https://www.spin.com/featured/stephen-malkmus-and-tim-heidecker-in-conversation-fleetwood-mac-internet-trolls-and-hating-frank-zappa/

Heidecker: What’s your take on Frank Zappa?

Malkmus: I’m not a fan, to be honest.

Heidecker: I have never met a fan! I’ve never met a fan!

Malkmus: Yeah, I don’t think it’s good music. I know a lot of people compare me to him, especially in Brazil. For some reason, the Frank Zappa underground there thinks of me as Zappa-esque. It’s parody in the end, but you can’t put all your chips on parody unless it’s full parody. Weird Al is one thing, he’s awesome. But that’s a different thing.

Wow, that's a better (off-the-cuff) take on Zappa than I think I've ever been able to put together the many times I've tried to explain my distaste. Zappa fans have much in common with the neckbeard ime

yeah, reducing Zappa's entire body of work to "parody," what a hot take. so original

Malkmus schmalkmus

Could just reduce it to “garbage”

Could just reduce it to “garbage”

Yes, if only there were more music like "Jenny & The Ess Dog"

I hate that song fwiw, that was when i stopped listening to malk

gimme Jenny & the Ess Dog over every note Zappa ever played

I don't particularly love "Jenny" but I love that it's a clear statement that he's not invested in making "important" "challenging" music or pandering to snobs

Another great passage:

Heidecker: You gotta be happy for Mike Campbell a little bit, I guess. He wasn’t expecting Tom Petty to die.

Malkmus: He wants to play.

Heidecker: He was like, “Get me out there! I can earn!”

Malkmus: I met him just the other day. I played at this benefit for Jerry Garcia’s charity in Los Angeles. They had Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell. Campbell was backstage. He came in the room, and he was dressed like a rock star: scarves, that Rolling Stones scarve-y look.

Heidecker: Floppy hat.

Malkmus: A bit of West Coast grizzle. He walked by, and he looked a little like that one Grateful Dead album with the skull wearing the top hat and shiny glasses.

Heidecker: He’s struttin’.

Malkmus: He strutted by and he went, “Yeah, Pavement, man.” That’s all he said. Kind of in a lizard voice, “Pavement, man. Yeah.” Then he was out.

I don't particularly love "Jenny" but I love that it's a clear statement that he's not invested in making "important" "challenging" music or pandering to snobs

― rip van wanko, Monday, September 17, 2018 5:20 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The addition of the quotation marks around those words is the most "Malkmus fan" thing ever

Anyway, long live important and challenging music, death to condescending half-assed 90s dweebdom

dweezil?

lol

important and challenging, two things Zappa is not

omg we got an important and challenging music guy in 2018!

Jenny & The Ess-Dog is great, the first song on the s/t ("Black Book") is the one that nobody likes.

frank zappa is okay

he's the type of guy the typical ilxor would strive to be though so you get a feeling he's really important when he really is not

stevie seems more chill and has a more dgaf attitude which is a very 90s thing, so idk, my heart gravitates to that vibe

and has a more dgaf attitude

ACTUALLY it's dadgaf...

trü

Stephen Malkmus (@dronecoma)'s shelved electronic album 'Groove Denied' out in March https://t.co/96bhdYgjXR pic.twitter.com/sROG7PRfMt

— Stereogum (@stereogum) January 18, 2019

he’s been working on it for 12 or 13 years

!

color me curious

cautiously looking forward to this

It’s gotta be better than his “rock” musik at this point...

i dunno, i like his rock stuff still — last one was very strong. I think he's just made good solo albums as opposed to great ones.

As the world's biggest Modulate fan I'm pretty excited.

Some of it sounds fairly rock-y: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsvd5WtBth9/

Feel like the vibes are older than 13 years...

Malkmus & ex-GF Heather larimer - "Robyn Turns 26" (2000) comp track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuhYhExk_M

Malkmus - "Sin Taxi" (2001) b-side
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiyApoXUt_8

Yeah, I also thought of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3n6Y6OGS78

Awesome cover

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5c472ed66250af5b8085ccf6/master/pass/Malkmus.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlC8uz47qGo

Ugh.

Jesus, that is bad

yeah, not good

groove should have been denied

if sparks weren't good at all.

hmm that's not great

It sounds a lot like something off New Traditionalists (I think?) but I can't place it.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/574e251137771234

Poor Steve, someone pwned his billboard

On the cover of this month's Wire
https://www.thewire.co.uk/img/scale/300/368/2019/02/07/ofc-wire-mar.jpg

xp Where was that billboard?

718 area code is Brooklyn

Good sleuthing

i kinda like the new album!

Yeah I didn't expect to. This song is a lazy river rambler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLeGu_-Bnjk