I know it’s considered culturally inappropriate to admit this (since, you know, we’re all supposed to have forsaken the “rockist” pleasures of song-based music for grime or whatever), but I will still happily go to the mat for the inestimably great Stephen Malkmus, whose in-store performance last night at Sonic Boom on 15th was a sincere sensation, despite the oppressive heat and the crowd spilling out the doors onto the sidewalk. Or maybe because. Unlike what one would have expected, the vibe was really democratic and welcoming. It’s nice to see that the fans of the indie rock-related music aren’t harboring any illusions about their cultural significance anymore. But if this is a (musical) ghetto, I’m staying. I’m still assimilating the new record, Face The Truth, but I can tell already that I like it way more than the other two recent indie rocky LPs I’d been looking forward to for so long and basically don’t like at all (no names, please). I could gush about many aspects of the SM experience, but I’ll refrain, except to say that the difference between his long guitar solos and Doug Martsch’s long guitar solos is exactly why I stopped being able to go see Built To Spill in 1999 and why I wouldn’t even consider missing a Malkmus show in any of the six states (and three countries) I’ve managed to see him play. And no, that doesn’t even count Pavement.