Dude, You’ll Never Understand The Malleable Hammer!

Scroll down to the second consumer review. How’s this for condescending elitism?

i recently saw this title on display at a barnes and noble or borders, or one of those stores, and you really just have to appreciate the irony implicit in all of that, of a band like this appealing to more of a pop-culture audience, who probably won’t understand the full implications of the liner notes, the malleable hammer with the words “hope” inscribed on it, or any of the aforementioned wind fueling the sailing of the ship on the sea of doom, or even the name of the band, really

I mean, really. Because, y’know, people who shop at book stores are such dumb illiterates, right? Why is it ironic that a store which stocks many of the books and periodicals that have either inspired or echoed Godspeed You Black Emperor’s political views would also carry their album? Let’s be honest, this is a self-conciously arty instrumental record which is great for background music while you read books or clean the house. Bookstores that cater to yuppie tastes are pretty much the best place on earth for selling Godspeed records. And so what? If you like the record so much, isn’t it better that more people have access and exposure to it?

If this jackass has such a problem with chain bookstores, then why’s he shopping there? I’ll tell you why. Because this guy lists his location as being in Albany, which I can tell you from experience is not a city big on bookstores. There’s a lot of places all over where there aren’t places to buy books and records, much less ones that appeal to a small hipster/intellectual audience. While it’s true that the world would be a better place if more people frequented smaller, independently owned shops, I think that we should be grateful that in some places there are any bookstores at all.

This guy can be as smug as he wants; insult as many people’s intelligence as he sees fit; but when it comes down to it, at least half of the copies of Yanqui U.X.O. that’s been sold in Barnes & Noble and Borders has likely been sold to a person just as pretentious and self-satisfied as himself. I’d bet that nearly every one of them, on some level, was thinking “Ha! As if anyone else here would understand this! I’m sure the cashier doesn’t even know what this is! How transgressive and esoteric! Oh, the irony implicit in me buying this album here!” when they paid at the register. Then they go home and listen to the record, thinking about how great they are for understanding the “implications” of the liner notes, things that so few others could possibly grasp. And they can all thank Barnes & Noble or Borders for supplying them with that refreshing feeling of detached superiority.

This Is Clearly My Lucky Day

I never thought it would happen – but The Gorch is back!

Chatting Up A Panda In A Bar

Psst. Spread the word – Matador has an MP3 from Pig Lib, and it’s called “Us”. It’s quite good, but quite different most everything else Malkmus has ever done. It’s fairly mellow jangle-rock with three-way vocal harmonies, not that far off from what Wilco were doing on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It also reminds me a lot of the Jicks’ cover of the Fairport Convention’s “Tale In Hard Time”, or “Folk Jam” off of Terror Twilight. It’s not Malkmus’ best work, but it’s a worthwhile experiment, I’d say. It’s funny; in its own way, it’s one of the most experimental and brave songs of Malkmus’ career, and that’s almost entirely to do with how blatantly uncool and relatively conventional it is. “Us” sounds very relaxed and confident to me, mature in all the best senses of the word. Malkmus sounds very content with himself, and where he is in his career now.

To those people who may be put off by “Us”: if the other new songs that Malkmus had been playing live are anything to go on (and to a certain extent, they are – most of them are confirmed as songs that will be on Pig Lib), this song is not very indicative of what the other songs will sound like. So don’t get too worried or alienated by this song, but please – if you’re put off by it at first, keep with it. I like it more and more every time I hear it, it’s a definite grower. I can’t wait to hear how “The Oyster”, “Animal Midnight”, “One Percent Of One” et al turned out.