Xgau Sez: September, 2025

African American science fiction, Eno before and after rocking, where (or who) in the world is Stephen Malkmus, first musical loves, variants of the art-rock mindset, and listening without prejudice.

Any recommendations for African American science fiction novels? — Amy, Taiwan

Two of the most renowned science fiction novelists are Black. One is the also quite feminist Octavia E. Butler (I’ve read Wild Seed and Kindred, which I admired though they didn’t stick with me—this was well over a decade ago). The other is Harlem native Samuel R. Delany, a great. The acknowledged classics are Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand and The Motion of Light in Water. Plus there’s the wonderful East Village memoir Heavenly Breakfast. Delany is gay and writes about it sometimes. He’s 83. I deal with him at some length in Book Reports.

Hello Sir, After recently streaming the wonderful new documentary film ENO, I immersed myself in his catalog of solo albums and collaborations and most of them sounded better than ever to my ears. I found two in particular to be absolute gems: 1973’s No Pussyfooting credited to Fripp/Eno and 1983’s solo Ambient 4: On Land. Checking your website, you gave both of these albums B+ grades so I’d like to ask if you have listened to either of them lately and if so has your evaluation changed? If not, I’d highly recommend you give them a spin when you can. I agree Another Green World is Eno’s masterpiece but I’d be surprised if you didn’t agree that these two albums are almost as good. Hope you are doing well. — Tarun Bahaj, NYC

I have not encountered the film but will keep an eye out for it. Another Green World is the only Eno album I play anything like regularly—I mean, I own something like over 10,000 CDs not to mention LPs, so give me a break. But your letter inspired me to return for at least four-five tracks to Taking Tiger Mountain, Before and After Science, and Here Come the Warm Jets. They all sounded good, but (as I’d anticipated) Warm Jets was tops. Rocked a little more, for one thing.

What did you think of the Pavement movie? Appreciate you getting me into Pavement so I could enjoy it for the nostalgia as well as the delightfully weird meta elements. — Griffin Han-Lalime, Damariscotta, Maine

Structurally, I found the film abstractly experimental in a mostly impressive but sometimes overly experimental way. Its operative conceit is an interesting one: that it’s a semi-fictional or play-acted music doc. Found myself unsure at times where or who exactly Malkmus was. Was nonetheless glad that I saw it, just as a film.

Hi Bob, hoping you and yours are well. What do you make of the notion that our first musical love is eternal? I reckon it’s impossible to truly view anything in a vacuum, as lived experience necessarily dictates personal preference, but do you find any particular difficulty in remaining impartial about the music that reared you? — Ryan Abraham, Muskegon, Michigan

I’m not familiar with this truism, but it’s sensible enough—up to a point. Among my early faves I certainly remember buying remember buying Doris Day’s “Secret Love and via my Aunt Mildred a Platters album while at the same time enjoying my parents’ 78 of Fats Waller’s “All That Meat and No Potatoes,” which in an early book dedication I mistook for Fats Waller’s “One Meat Ball.” For sure I still enjoy them all. But that doesn’t mean I regard any of them as titanic or foundational.

I’ve been thinking about your comment in your 2024 year-end essay, about the dearth of catchy songs with good beats in Pitchfork’s year-end: “it could also be that America’s greatest gift to world culture is going out of style.” Have there been other periods when you’ve wondered anything like this? Is the worry limited to American music and culture specifically? I find more catchy songs/good beats than ever before, but the vast majority come from outside of the United States. This seems different, even as a longtime globally curious listener. — Dave Moore, Philadelphia

That clause was intended as a mild dig at the current manifestation of Pitchfork, which without having done a statistical breakdown certainly seems to be tending toward a less songful and more abstract aesthetic than I prefer, probably in the hope of nurturing a less fun-prone, more snobbish editorial identity and hence market. Not that this isn’t the editors’ true aesthetic penchant. But I’ve been poking holes in variants of the art-rock mindset for most of my career.

You’ve mentioned you still give the occasional listen to new albums by artists you don’t necessarily love but respect or have a personal connection to a la Paul McCartney. But what about artists you “turned against”; did you give a spin to the Who’s most recent album from a couple years back? After a series of bad reviews, do you still give a spin (or stream) to new records by Nick Lowe? Cheap Trick? Or to groups you once dug but haven’t officially reviewed in some time such as Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, or Elton John? Obviously, you spend less time with “classic rock” survivors now that commercial considerations don’t play into it, but how curious are you to artists you obviously spent some time on in the past who may have irritated or bored you in recent years? — James K, Queens

I hold no grudge against “classic rock” on the level you posit, and would almost certainly give new albums by almost every artist you name a spin. All are clearly talented. But whether their aesthetic retains sufficient vitality is another matter. How many such albums would I get to the end of? I truly couldn’t say. Most, probably, but people run out of gas, artists and critics both.