Oh, dude, the deluxe edition is remastered really hot. The drums got squashed. The 1993 DGC CD sounds pretty different: it has more space and the drums are cleaner.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Sunday, 14 May 2017 20:36 (six years ago) link
oh word, i'll check that out then
― flappy bird, Sunday, 14 May 2017 20:38 (six years ago) link
thanks for the heads up! i love a lot of the songs on DN but never got obsessed w/ it
You can really hear the difference on e.g. the drum fills after ≈5:05 in "Teenage Riot".
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Sunday, 14 May 2017 20:44 (six years ago) link
more space
More dynamic range anyway. I sort of get the 'claustrophobic' point.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Sunday, 14 May 2017 20:51 (six years ago) link
I guess this is an ultra-conventional opinion but "DN" is still my favorite SY album and has been pretty much since I first heard it, which was a bit after I heard "Goo" and "Dirty", and before I heard "Sister" or "EVOL". "EVOL" through "Goo" is my favorite SY run, though I also like "Murray Street" a lot.
― o. nate, Monday, 15 May 2017 01:13 (six years ago) link
sweet shine is the one on EJTNS that presages the kind of more polite, modal, jammy period of SY from washing machine onwards.
― linee, Monday, 15 May 2017 03:31 (six years ago) link
really weird to see thurston rocking a les paul in that conan clip flappy bird posted - if ever there was a band who seemed less likely to be jimmy-paging it up with a low-slung gibson...
i guess i'm a corny received-wisdom fuck cuz my favourite periods of sy are sister-evol-daydream nation and murray street-sonic nurse-rather ripped, although i'll stan for bad moon rising anytime too
the guitar breaks in 'unmade bed' are some of my favourite-ever guitar sounds, not just sonic youth ones
― The Patricia Routledge Meatspin Gif Has Made You Gay (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 15 May 2017 10:13 (six years ago) link
My favorite SY albums are EVOL, Dirty, and Thousand Leaves, and I mean, obv they sound like completely different bands on each of those. I guess I feel like they peaked at least once every decade, which is why I'm not voting!
― the rockists' red glare (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:00 (six years ago) link
Also, "Sweet Shine" is easily my favorite song on Experimental so I guess that's pretty congruent with my opinions xp to linee
― the rockists' red glare (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:02 (six years ago) link
xxp ha i thought it was fitting & funny that for a tv appearance promoting their most out there experimental album ever, Thurston would play a standard issue Les Paul.
― flappy bird, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:25 (six years ago) link
EVOL is tremendous
― marcos, Monday, 15 May 2017 17:45 (six years ago) link
xp haha I like Lee & Thurston's matching Terrence and Phillip guitar decals
― the rockists' red glare (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 15 May 2017 17:55 (six years ago) link
i love the way that song ends - you keep expecting everyone to drop out, but they just gradually play quieter and weaker until it ends in a whimper
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 16 May 2017 04:05 (six years ago) link
sorry, a bit OT.. i feel like they (BEAK) somehow captured the feel of "expressway to yr skull" on this song:https://beak.bandcamp.com/track/kidney - maybe it's just the loping quality of it
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 19:38 (six years ago) link
I can see it.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 02:52 (six years ago) link
WOOI'M CUMIN HOOOOMMMME
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 03:15 (six years ago) link
Multiple peaks. Murray Street was their most recent peak but the records since then all had much to recommend them.
Alfred, Sweet Shine would have to be in my Sonic Youth Top 10. Kim's vocals on that track are sublime.
― pickety third (stevie), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:29 (six years ago) link
I love the seven album stretch from '83 to'92.
fav album: Sisterfav song: Starpower
― nicky lo-fi, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 15:10 (six years ago) link
listened to this show yesterday and I'm willing to say it's a Sonic Youth Peak https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/152688686497/sonic-youth-cats-cradle-carrboro-north
― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
yeah that show is so sweet - i had no idea they did two sets on the 2000 tour. there's some videos from that tour on youtube, but i haven't found any with O'Rourke performing his solo material.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 16:35 (six years ago) link
lol
http://www.head-records.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/3605-420x423.jpg
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 00:20 (six years ago) link
"Schizophrenia" was their peak followed closely by "Candle" and most of 'Daydream Nation'. I couldn't really be bothered after that although I vaguely enjoyed the few things I heard on the radio.
― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 02:50 (six years ago) link
great interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdzY49xlvdY
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:18 (six years ago) link
syr 7........ really? fuhhhhhhhhhh
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 23:21 (six years ago) link
I think (Murray Street), Sonic Nurse and Rather Ripped are three amazing albums for a bunch of people who've made a tonne of music and are 40-something tour dogs, tbh
I love the s/t EP, love Confusion Is Sex, EVOL and Sister, enjoy Experimental Jet Set and Ciccone Youth most in the period after that and then skip ahead to Nurse
― fgti, Thursday, 8 June 2017 03:20 (six years ago) link
Oh and imho the SYR series is utter trash :/
― fgti, Thursday, 8 June 2017 03:21 (six years ago) link
master=dik /whitey album for me
― massaman gai, Thursday, 8 June 2017 04:10 (six years ago) link
oh, not is utter trash - but personal peak
syr 4 + 5 were pretty worthwhile, for me. 1 + 2 are pretty nice, for the most part. i like the hi fi version of the "ineffable me" riff on syr2. syr3 (with o'rourke) was off-putting at first, and densely layered, but it's a grower.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, 8 June 2017 04:30 (six years ago) link
Goodbye 20th Century is one of the best things they ever did (especially their version of 'Having Never Written a Note for Percussion' by James Tenny).
Their live performance of SY4 at the Royal Festival Hall in London is the only time I've ever seen a headline act get loudly booed by sections of the audience.
― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 8 June 2017 09:54 (six years ago) link
I like almost everything they've done to some degree, often despite myself. Their recording of the Tenney is a good example: I recognize that it is far less impressive, and probably less faithful to the intent behind the score than e.g. this. (It's an open piece but I'm not convinced that it really makes sense to interpret it as an ensemble piece where different members get to hammer away at different pitches.) That said, the result is still enjoyable to listen to for me.
― Tomorrow Begat Tomorrow (Sund4r), Thursday, 8 June 2017 15:05 (six years ago) link
i really love sonic nurse
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 8 June 2017 15:06 (six years ago) link
daydream nation has never clicked with me for some reason, idk why, but i love sister and goo
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 8 June 2017 15:07 (six years ago) link
can i vote for all three
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, June 8, 2017 1
my man
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 June 2017 15:08 (six years ago) link
Wrt the production discussion upthread, this guy managed to bring out and clean up the drums a little on Sister.
― Tomorrow Begat Tomorrow (Sund4r), Thursday, 8 June 2017 15:55 (six years ago) link
80s but they were never really that good.
― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, 8 June 2017 16:14 (six years ago) link
^urban dictionary definition of a challop
― flappy bird, Thursday, 8 June 2017 17:42 (six years ago) link
I hated Sonic Youth, then I was intrigued by them, then I loved them, then I was annoyed by them, now I'm absolutely bored by them.
Can't really see voting comfortably for any of these choices, as every era seems to have just as much brilliance as it does pretentiously posturing wankery.
― Austin, Thursday, 8 June 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link
wankery in music is good, tho
answer is daydream nation, btw
I'm not a head but I like all their records that I've heard
― brimstead, Thursday, 8 June 2017 22:39 (six years ago) link
Sometimes it is, sometimes it's just, like I said, pretentious posturing.
I consider the Grateful Dead and electric Miles some of my favorite music ever, for what it's worth.
― Austin, Thursday, 8 June 2017 22:58 (six years ago) link
i was gonna claim that intent is inaudible but i'm not sure it's true. it's easier to parse when discussing a group making a radical sonic departure or making a dumb movie or something. i don't know really know what sonic youth aren't that they're pretentiously posturing to be.. aren't they super innovative in terms of rock music? pretentions of "serious art music"-ness? sorry to pick, just braindumping
― brimstead, Thursday, 8 June 2017 23:56 (six years ago) link
I pretty much always have that problem with the criticism "pretentious". It's one thing to criticize someone for e.g. trying and failing to write a meaningful concept album but it seems odd to me to add an additional criticism for pretending to write a meaningful concept.
― Tomorrow Begat Tomorrow (Sund4r), Friday, 9 June 2017 00:52 (six years ago) link
this guy managed to bring out and clean up the drums a little on Sister.
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Friday, 9 June 2017 01:22 (six years ago) link
Washing machine/A thousand leaves is the peak.
Our maybe self-titled/confusion is sex/kill yr idols
I dunno, definitely one of those 2 eras.
― silverfish, Friday, 9 June 2017 01:51 (six years ago) link
I guess I am throwing that word out there (the dreaded "pretentious" — which I don't like either, but if the shoe fits) because of the way the band presented themselves. Well, not so much the band, as much as Thurston and Kim. Like it or not, they were definitely out there to make an "ARTISTIC STATEMENT WITH GUITARS." Which, I don't know, just bugs me.
― Austin, Friday, 9 June 2017 03:29 (six years ago) link
isn't that every art rock band ever
― flappy bird, Friday, 9 June 2017 03:31 (six years ago) link
i get what you're saying though - they (Thurston & Kim) had an aloofness that was really irritating
― flappy bird, Friday, 9 June 2017 03:32 (six years ago) link
how they positioned themselves as unflappable coolhunters and tastemakers... i only hear it in the music when they go in that wack ass beat poet shit
― flappy bird, Friday, 9 June 2017 03:33 (six years ago) link