Touching

A Wary Voice

There's a new interview with Stephen Malkmus up on Pitchfork. It's rambly and not the interview I would have done, given the opportunity, but strangely compelling for fans of his work in Pavement and as a solo artist. The reason, I think, is that interviewer Paul Thompson transcribed the phone conversation in a way that does a great job of capturing Malkmus's distinctive voice, right down to the nasal diffidence that annoys people who would otherwise dig his music:

Pitchfork: To switch gears a bit, is there anything in particular you're exploring lyrically on this album? We music journalists like to hang these themes on these albums, so if you've got one for us, that would help.

SM: Not really. It's kind of line to line. It's still a mixup of imagery and lines that are varying degrees of connected with what they're supposed to, so it's not really anything overarching. I don't really know the spirit of it exactly, it's just the same spirit that I've always had: cool lines and just going with the flow of the music. So it's kind of meaningful and not sometimes, and sometimes funny and sometimes just weird. Going through it, it's hard to say-- it's just how it flows, too, like a rapper, sort of. For this kind of music, that's kind of the key. You just do what comes out and what goes with that music. That just goes with me. It's kind of hard to explain, I guess.

Pitchfork: Okay, pretty much the same way you've worked with lyrics before?

SM: Yeah, I would say. There's no big coming out party or something, like, finally setting the record straight or something. [laughs] This is what we do, and we do it best, or something. But you know, that's maybe not saying much. [laughs] 'Cause it's what we do, only. So you might say, I don't like what you do... best.

Pitchfork: Can you tell me a little, in the same vein I suppose, about the music on Real Emotional Trash? I gather it's a little harder this time out?

SM: Yeah, there's a few triple part saga acid mind blowers, there's a token weird time signature, in your face one, there's a couple of short ones far more direct and straight ahead. There's not really anything that's pop on there, I would say. Maybe "Hopscotch Willie" is catchy. There's some catchy things. It's like if you look at eBay rare acid folk psych albums and the guy will describe it in a positive way saying "I don't see how there's any way this could possibly have sold a single copy when it came out," and that's a good thing, you know? [laughs] But there's also catchy stuff. I don't know.

While many might find it maddening that Malkmus makes it seem like he is unwilling to commit fully to his own work and at times even seems to mock it -- "a token weird time signature" -- his wariness resonates with me. The experience of meaning it while also not wanting to be seen meaning it is one with which I am very familiar. What I like best about the interview is that, in resisting a tight edit, it demonstrates how the play of Malkmus's voice, even when reduced to a shadow of itself on the page, is determined by a series of subtle refusals, first and foremost -- and this is where Malkmus's involvement with the soundtrack for Todd Haynes's I'm Not There, mentioned elsewhere in the interview, proves illuminating -- the refusal to "be" anything in particular long enough for it to gel into being. It may seem a cop out for him to assert that his lyrics are "kind of meaningful and not sometimes," but the self-negating syntax speaks to his preference for "flow" over fixity.

Hall of Notoriety

It seems clear from the names on this list that the only common denominator in the taking of performance-enhancing drugs is the taking of performance-enhancing drugs:

Here's a list of Major League Baseball players listed in the Mitchell Report.
The following players were connected to steroids, either use or possession, in the report:
Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Ricky Bones
Kevin Brown
Ken Caminiti
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Paxton Crawford
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Lenny Dykstra
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Grimsley
Jerry Hairston
Phil Hiatt
Matt Herges
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Ryan Jorgensen
Wally Joyner
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Exavier "Nook" Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Derrick Turnbow
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Todd Williams
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

The following players were cited under "Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball" in the report:

Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Paul Byrd
Jose Canseco
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jose Guillen
Darren Holmes
Gary Matthews Jr.
John Rocker
Scott Schoeneweis
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard

The following players were linked through BALCO in the report:

Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

If your performance was good before you started taking them, it might have been good or perhaps even better after you started taking them, unless, of course, it turned out to be worse. And if your performance was not so impressive beforehand, it probably wasn't much different afterwards. I'm glad so much time and money was spent to provide such piercing insight. Sarcasm aside, though, at least they had the courage not to redact Roger Clemens's name.