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Stephen Malkmus interview in Pitchfork


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http://pitchfork.com/article/feature/14788...stephen-malkmus

 

Pitchfork: So aside from maybe "Fillmore Jive" on Crooked Rain, Brighten the Corners is sort of the first place where you're stretching out in the songs, and playing longer solos. You've become more associated with that now, but what initially took you to that place, with a song like "Type Slowly"?

 

SM: We were touring with Silkworm, and they were having some jam breakdowns, and I remember being like "Yeah, there's a place for that." It was already in the song structures as far back as Crooked Rain, and before that it was more of a post-punk guitar style, I think influenced more by the Swell Maps or maybe Chrome, but there wasn't any noodling going on. I think my melodic ideas were getting more concerned with guitar and less sing-songy ooh-oohs. It just kinda took over. Pavement, from the very beginning, was led by the guitar, the melodies were in the guitar lines, and guitars that were tuned differently. It was in G and D, different tunings that brought out melodies on the high strings, and I was imitating them or not playing them on the guitar, just singing them, so it's always been a guitar band.

 

My interest in music changed, and I was getting into that Fairport Convention electric folk music, and I can't remember exactly what else. Just kinda harder 1970s things, the Groundhogs and groups that were like acid rock bands. It's a typical thing where like punk bands went metal, you know, indie rock bands went...rock, straight rock or something. It happened so many times. We were gonna change, and we weren't going to go techno.

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punk/ metal discussion.

 

Maybe its the same chords played in different progressions/ tempo...?

 

Black Flag comes to mind...

 

maybe others, too..

 

i'm blanking... any suggestions?

 

full disclosure:

last week I promised to not post (i mean limit!) after midnight.

guess i can't help myself..

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punk/ metal discussion.

 

Maybe its the same chords played in different progressions/ tempo...?

 

Black Flag comes to mind...

 

maybe others, too..

 

i'm blanking... any suggestions?

 

full disclosure:

last week I promised to not post (i mean limit!) after midnight.

guess i can't help myself..

 

Bad Religion, Social Distortion? (at least if I understand what you are asking).

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>That's a pretty good interview. At least for Pitchfork.

 

I thought that was one of the most revealing interviews Malkmus has given in some time. I must have read thirty of his interviews when he was pushing the release of the last Jicks album, and each one was just about the same. You could sense he was weary of yet another interview. He was growing tired of Pavement reunion questions.

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punk/ metal discussion.

 

Maybe its the same chords played in different progressions/ tempo...?

 

Black Flag comes to mind...

 

maybe others, too..

 

i'm blanking... any suggestions?

 

full disclosure:

last week I promised to not post (i mean limit!) after midnight.

guess i can't help myself..

 

More guitar solos? Demons and skulls on the album cover instead of poor quality band photos and primitive pen & ink drawings? Leather pants? Fun songs turn into displays of macho-ness (see: Black Flag...I blame Henry Rollins).

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  • 2 years later...

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