malkmus PIG LIB: 1% of one

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I saw him play last month; it was like being at a John Mayer concert.

You attend John Mayer concerts often, do you?

― dean gulberry (deangulberry), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:23 (twenty years ago) link

Yes, I'm his road manager.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:26 (twenty years ago) link

I saw him play last month; it was like being at a John Mayer concert.

Yeah, Mayer loves those Mellow Candle covers.

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:29 (twenty years ago) link

Does anyone caught up in peripheral Malkmus cred issues care at all that "1% of One" is 9:11 long, as in 9/11, and the next song, called "US," as in U.S., not "Us," starts out "I wish we could get our act together"?

dude, don't.

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:30 (twenty years ago) link

So I looked at _Pig Lib_, and all the song titles are capitalized. I am dim, but still, doesn't anyone else care, in a thread devoted to "1% of One," that the song's 9:11 long? 9/11 . . . political . . . "make some sense of present tense, alright?" . . . prog rock suite by Pavement guy . . . . Anyone? Anyone? Okay, I'll go crawl back into my missile shelter.

― otto, Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:30 (twenty years ago) link

Let me add: Malkmus IS thinner than Mayer.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:36 (twenty years ago) link

Wowee Zowee is the overrated one.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:41 (twenty years ago) link

indie lust wagon confession: i find the older, mellower malkmus very rowr. he's transitioned nicely from "wiry alt-thug" to "lanky, mysterious thirtysomething who's probably a lot less aloof than he looks." also i like the way his sexuality's starting to blossom on this record. i know everyone hates "craw song" but every time i hear him sing "check me out, i love so well" this image i get of malk-as-superstud-preening-over-his-performance really makes me giggle like a schoolgirl. "vanessa from queens" too ("got your ballerina tights around my head/in a samurai pose on the bed").

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:48 (twenty years ago) link

What does "1% of One" (the phrase) have to do with 9/11 then? Tell me that and I may consider this conspiracy theory..

― dean gulberry (deangulberry), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:50 (twenty years ago) link

That "Crust Brothers" CD is the overrated one! Enough with the hosannas, world! It's been six years, for crying out loud!

I think the older Malkmus is indeed sexier than ever, in a way. It's weird: he doesn't necessarily look older - his face has just sort of gotten a little wider or something. He looks like some other guy mixed with Steve Malkmus.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Thursday, 8 January 2004 22:52 (twenty years ago) link

The margin by which Gore beat Bush? SM did tour with those Hail to the Thief people this summer . . . .

Nah, I don't believe it, either. But maybe somebody who knows more than me can help.

― otto, Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:17 (twenty years ago) link

(sorry, but: mellow candle!!)

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:23 (twenty years ago) link

the truth is out there.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:25 (twenty years ago) link

Matos, the link upthread to your Pig Lib review doesn't work anymore. Where can I find it?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:17 (twenty years ago) link

I just want to point out that Malkmus has been performing 1% Of One live since 2000, with more or less the same lyrics, so there's just no fucking way it is about September 11th, alright?

And "Us" is a break-up/love song!

Even when he's making an effort to be heart-on-sleeve, people still want to force him into being esoteric through sheer force of will!

Nothing by Malkmus is overrated. Everything he does is perfect. Believe me.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:29 (twenty years ago) link

And I like "Craw Song" a lot, Jody. I like the lyrics and the backing vocals, especially. Why bother covering "Waterloo Sunset" when you can just make a new song out of it?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, it's "waterloo sunset" by way of early todd rundgren. with some zydeco influence.

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

"everything is he does is perfect"?!?!

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:37 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.ergir.com/saatli/clapton_is_god.jpg

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:37 (twenty years ago) link

Fiddo - I'm a huge Malk fanboy, but I was pretty much kidding around.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:39 (twenty years ago) link

Matthew, have you heard any post-Pig Lib songs?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:40 (twenty years ago) link

okay, i should clarify before someone points out the holes in that question.

"Matthew, have you heard any songs SM wrote post-Pig Lib that haven't be released yet?"

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, and they sound like Pig Lib 2.0, more or less. Not so much the Vanessa/Craw/Ramp stuff, but more like Oyster/Witch/Water/1%/Us. The songs I know don't have fixed titles yet - there's about four of them out there.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:43 (twenty years ago) link

My fervent hopes for the next album - which, for some reason I suspect will come out in Dec 04 or Jan 05 - is that it's messier, proggier and uglier.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:45 (twenty years ago) link

by way of early todd rundgren

i have a specific song in mind here -- "we gotta get you a woman" from runt (the song that starts "leeeeroy, boy, is that you?").

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:47 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, I should mention that one of the songs, the one I call "Daddy" but others call (inexplicably) "Face The Truth," is probably one of the best songs he's ever written.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:49 (twenty years ago) link

Ray, going on the songs I know, you're probably in for a disappointment. He's definitely going for a cleaner sound.

It is getting more proggy, though, but only so much. It's not fucking Rush or Yes, it's more like...Pig Lib.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:50 (twenty years ago) link

I'm torn....I think Pig Lib is way way better an album than his s/t solo debut, but part of me wishes he could do like Paul Westerburg and release two different records, one of proglove and one of his nu-Steely Dan story songs like Jenny and the Ess Dog and Us and Vanessa...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:51 (twenty years ago) link

That'd still do me fine, Matthew. Just as long as it doesn't sound like BTC.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:56 (twenty years ago) link

M@tt: At once?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:57 (twenty years ago) link

Like Speakerboxx./Love Below baby!

Speaking of two-disc Malk....I got the one that had a bonus disc of b-sides (I'm assuming some of you have it)....Was I the only one that thought "Dynamic Calories" would have been one of the highlights of Pig Lib? I have no idea why they didn't sub that for the Craw Song, which I still hate.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:00 (twenty years ago) link

The songs on the bonus disc...I think they sort of belonged there, as they were good but didn't suit the mood of the album, which was sorta dark, while "Dynamic" and "Fractions" were lighter. The other stuff was a tad too messy for the album.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:04 (twenty years ago) link

"Old Jerry" would have worked fine on the record.

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:05 (twenty years ago) link

"Old Jerry" really should have been on Pig Lib. I think it's one of his best songs, and better than everything on Pig Lib except for "Water and a Seat" and "Oyster."

I don't get the dislike of BTC. I adore that record. Most of it was better live, though.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:09 (twenty years ago) link

"Dynamic Calories" is a fantastic song -- while Pig Lib took a while to grow on me, I liked "DC" immediately. But yeah, it def. has a different feel; if you just played me the first few seconds, I'd have thought it was The Biz-era The Sea and Cake.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

Wowee Zowee is the overrated one.

Hmmm, I thought conventional wisdom was that it's Pavement's only misstep, too self-consciously wacky and not cohesive enough. I disagree; there are some days it's my favorite.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:18 (twenty years ago) link

Well, WZ got some bad reviews at first, but it's become a huge fan favorite in the Pavement cult. It's my favorite Pavement album.

I think "Dynamic Calories" wasn't on the record perhaps out of a concern for leaning too heavy on novelty, lyrically. It'd be a better fit on the first Jicks record, probably. Malkmus clearly likes the song a lot, since it was played very frequently on the 2003 tours.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:22 (twenty years ago) link

I get what you guys are saying about it having a different feel....however, "lyrical novelty"....what about "Cooked her a din...ner/and, boy, it's a win...ner" Yikes that drives me nuts...

Y'all are right about "Old Jerry" that would have been good on Pig Lib...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:30 (twenty years ago) link

I liked the songs on the bonus disc a lot more than the songs on the main disc. Though the "Shake It Around" one was a little too close to the old "No Tan Lines" (which I like better).

― Sam J. (samjeff), Friday, 9 January 2004 18:48 (twenty years ago) link

But Matthew, it was recorded in a 9:11 take post-9/11. Sure it's ridiculous, but also interesting (to me at least) to entertain Malkmus state-of-the-world what-ifs, which he invites with lines like "yes it's all over your head and the skeptics rule the nation."
The more excellent music he keeps coming up with, the more he's assuming a Neil Young position with me--ie, I am unhealthy in my fanboy interest about his attitudes and suchlike. And with that I will end this personal confessional.

― otto, Friday, 9 January 2004 19:18 (twenty years ago) link

I think Matthew meant "novelty" like "novelty song," not like "innovative."

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 January 2004 19:29 (twenty years ago) link

Jaymc is correct; that was my meaning.

Maybe I just take too many things at face value, but I always interpret "Witch Mountain Bridge" as being a song about the occult.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 19:46 (twenty years ago) link

I have no idea what "Witch Mountain Bridge" is about. The first time I heard it--stoned to bejesus--I thought it was about me, and I was going to hell--"you can tape that to your devil brow." In my last post I got the lyrics wrong even--"yes it's all so straight and narrow and the skeptics" etc. His lyrics kick up all these bizarre ideas in my head, leading, not sober or no, to admittedly silly ideas like _Pig Lib_ has some political agenda. He's like Wallace Stevens that way. Maybe somewhere down the line he'll set "The Emperor of Ice Cream" to music. Or maybe not.

― otto, Friday, 9 January 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

I get you, Otto. The ability of Malk's lyrics to evoke lots of interesting and unexpected images/ideas/connections in my mind has always been one of my favorite thing about his music.

Not strictly on topic, but am I alone in feeling "Pink India" is tremendously underrated? I've been really loving that one lately. I love the live versions, when he usually freaks out on the "Punjabi's finest, bring me your wine list" part.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 20:30 (twenty years ago) link

malkmus is cummings to berman's stevens

― andrew s, Friday, 9 January 2004 23:08 (twenty years ago) link

"Pink India" is my favorite track on that album.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 9 January 2004 23:12 (twenty years ago) link

Andrew S, are you trying to say that Cummings rules and Stevens sucks?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Friday, 9 January 2004 23:32 (twenty years ago) link

The cummings thing looks like a put-down. I'd say Malkmus is Wordsworth to Berman's Coleridge, Eliot to Berman's Pound, Run to Berman's DMC.

― otto, Friday, 9 January 2004 23:48 (twenty years ago) link

Whatever. Berman may be a decent writer, but a decent musician he most certainly is not. The guy should stick to poetry and stay far away from music.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

I await a collection of nothing but Echo and the Bunnymen covers (or was that Spiral Stairs who was the fan? in which case, fave member of a band who I'm indifferent to evah).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:54 (twenty years ago) link

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