"Stephen Malkmus": "whimsical indie rock" or something greater?

what i'm saying is i prefer pig lib !

I'm really hesitant about saying Malkmus is "something greater" (I feel like he's been too chickenshit for that since the arena-moves on Wowee Zowee and the Lollapalooza deal - again, I haven't heard Pig Lib). If he'd drop all the strained vocals and just SING unselfconsciously he could be a new Robyn Hitchcock or something ("Spit On A Stranger" being a great example of that), but he's always drawing attention to his awkward vocal unprofessionalism. Still, since so many indie folks aren't skirting that "something greater" at all, I don't want to say it's JUST whimsical indie rock.

Plus he didn't turn to scientology after his break-up.

Pig Lib is easily as good if not better than a lot of Pavement's output (that's saying a lot), you just need to strip back the layers and sections to realise this - there's so much going on in there.

The first album is the most poppy and accessible thing Malkmus has ever done and I do like it. I always think of it as a cheeky cartoon pop album with loads of daft Beach Boys-esque songs about Yul Brenner etc. But these are all stuck on the first side, with the second side being chocka with some of Malkey's best ballads (Trojan Curfew, Pink India, Deano, Jenny & the Ess-Dog).

I used to really dislike Church On White until just the other week when I heard the awesome guitar harmonies in the bridge.

I'd really like to see Malkum's albums getting more cred. Pig Lib is in my top five albums of the 21st century and even a year and a half after buying it, hating it, warming to it and eventually loving it, I have to admit I still listen to it at least once a fortnight.

I'd say he's now cast himself as a whimsical indie rocker capable of greatness.

where terror twilight's songs mostly had 2nd sections that got sort of proggy / bombastic, the 2nd sections on this are more concise and relaxed guitar excursions. like frank black's first solo record, the overriding motto can be summed up as "keep it small". but whereas frank black was responding to the grunge explosion he midwifed with an antithetical dinkiness and corniness - ie a sort of authentic non-commercialism, the malkmus record is responding to a suspicion among the entire community of indie musicians, fans, store & club owners and college stations that indie rock is dying out. this was a perverse sort of commercialism, an honest commercialism restricted to the smaller sweepstakes of little clubs and stores.

i think malkmus, more than anyone in the indie scene, has made his peace with hi-fi recording in a dignified and productive way - the production touches, thickness & gloss is consistently enjoyable, clever, musical and not overbearing.

there's a great variety to the songwriting tone - from totally silly jamz to totally heartfelt ballads to ambiguous maybe silly maybe serious heavy things, in the vein of wowee zowee and everything before that [the classic years]. but even the ballads don't stack up, church on white great as it is - the guitar bridge is his best since gold soundz - doesn't touch father to a sister, here, newark wilder, etc.

for me, tt > sm > pl > btc, but the last three are all pretty close.

NO

This cover was purportedly considered for the s/t:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T3yPsQnwRo

I like "Dynamic Calories" and "Fractions and Feelings" (from the bonus CD that came with Pig Lib) better than any other Malkmus solo stuff.
― alex in montreal, Friday, July 16, 2004 9:24 AM (thirteen years ago)

Seconded (13 yrs. later)

those are fantastic songs. as is 'sin taxi'

FSR I had an urge to hear that song "Do Not Feed the Oyster," so I dialed it up -- pretty jammin'!

(I do wish that the "Pig Lib" bonus EP was on Spotify, tho -- all those songs are gr8.)

Found the traxx on YouseTube. I luv the solo/bridge/breakdown portions of "Old Jerry" so much (pretty much the entire 2nd half of the song).

(Not all 5 traxx are up there; but I did find the original version of "The Poet and the Witch," by Mellow Candle, which is cool.)