best Sonic Youth album of the '00s

I like Rather Ripped less and less every year, and "Sacred Trickster" does nothing for me, but The Eternal is overall pretty solid and I'd reccomend it highly to someone that likes Sonic Nurse.

I think on the Rather Ripped thread I called it Rather Tepid. Just seemed like they were going through the motions.

Strangely, I'd still see them live, as they've never failed to put on a good show. Just can't be bothered to follow their studio work.

Weird, I think of Rather Ripped as kind of a pinnacle, taking the same basic formula of Sonic Nurse and whittling it down into these great three- or four-minute gems. The Eternal sounds more like a band going through the motions to me.

MURRAY STREET, PEOPLE (that's what i voted, anyhow)

with Rather Ripped a close second

xpost Too slight for me. I liked the direction they were going with O'Rourke, and without that groovier bottom and prettied up guitars you just had past-prime pros with shitty voices writing by-the-book "songs" as if that was ever what they were good at.

this is all between Sonic Nurse and Murray Street, and it's not a easy pick. every track on MS really sticks out and has a way of its own, where SN is more this thick, sprawling monster all the way through.

can't say that i dislike Rather Ripped or The Eternal but it's still very remote to me that anyone would pick either of them here. then again, like said, that's part of the charm with this band

xp

Yeah I'm not sure how their one album of the decade that actually sounds different from the others is "going through the motions." You might not like it but I think you have to recognize it as an attempt to shake things up a little.

I would have really liked rather ripped if the material was on par with the tone, everything sounds great but they are playing absolutely nothing

Rather Ripped is the first album where I really wondered why they fucking bother

apparently you have never heard experimental jet set trash and no star

people sure are weird

experimental jetset is my go-to album for evidence of sy not giving a frig

NYC G&F sounds pretty different from the rest, n/a! That and Experimental Jet Set sound like patchwork goof-offs, and their peaks did more for me than anything on Ripped.

Does Gerard Cosloy still run the show at Matador at all? I thought it was pretty LOL that the dude who said in Spin he was tired of SY in 1988 would be signing them 20 years later.

I like EJSTANS! I mean, yes, it was the first one I ever heard, so I have some sentimental attachment, but I think it's a pretty interesting album -- lots of echoey space, acoustic guitar, etc.

yeah I don't like the whittling down on RR because for the most part they were whittling away the best parts of the 2 previous albums. the average track lengths for these albums really bears out the fact that i like the longer tunes:

NYC Ghosts - 5:17
Murray Street - 6:31
Sonice Nurse - 6:17
Rather Ripped - 4:19
The Eternal - 4:42

yeah Jet Set was the first for me too and still really intrigues me -- like it's the closest they've ever come to actually reinventing their sound, and they managed to do it with the same producer they had on Dirty.

i'll save my Jet Set argument for after this thread runs its course and i do a best of the '90s poll, though.

Murray Street for me...one of their best albums ever, I think. Sonic Nurse would be second, with the others way below.

Still haven't EJSTANS, but it's no problem finding a cheap used copy.

tylerw otm above re. Murray Street (and the one I voted for). "Rain On Tin" is my favorite SY song.

"Rain On Tin" was the moment where I realized they were still my favorite band and probably will be for the rest of my life.

Anthony, I don't usually expect to agree with you so wholeheartedly about a band like this but this sums up my thoughts so precisely:

I liked the direction they were going with O'Rourke, and without that groovier bottom and prettied up guitars you just had past-prime pros with shitty voices writing by-the-book "songs" as if that was ever what they were good at.

That's more accurate describing SY between 1990 and 1994. They traded by-the-book songs for really good ones in 2002.

They must have used them up by the time that got to Rather Ripped.

Honest question: So, not caring for SY post-'88, should I give Murray Street a listen?

I kinda feel like listening to '90s SY is a prerequisite for listening to '00s SY, even though I generally like the latter more, if that makes sense.

Honest question: So, not caring for SY post-'88, should I give Murray Street a listen?
nah

I purchased through Washing Machine, and have heard A Thousand Leaves, though I no longer own any of the 90s work and haven't for a decade; I feel I can recall the sound of those records without too much trouble.

Is Murray Street that much of a departure/evolution that I will miss something by my unfamiliarity?

nah, it's just that if post 88 doesn't do it for you, i don't think you'll find the same energy/dynamism/power on Murray Street. I love it, but it's more of a rambling/contemplative thing ...

That might be good - it isn't like my favorite (BMR) is full of burners.

Murray Street is kind of like a reward for people who loved the jammy parts of A Thousand Leaves and stuck it out through NYC Ghosts.

like if you remember what "Wildflower Soul" sounded like and liked that, you'd dig MS.

I really should buy these records. I quite liked Murray Street and Rather Ripped the two times I heard them.

That sounds kind of interesting, actually. Maybe I'll have to give it a spin...

x-post

teh temptress bats her eye

trees outside the academy>>>>>>the eternal (seriously!)

and yeah, SYR4 = one of the greatest things they ever did, esp. live - and THERE's something they hadn't really done before

i liked Trees but definitely like the new SY more

gotta do a SYR poll at some point...would also like to poll side project/solo albums but haven't really worked out how to organize or group together those yet.

listening to SONIC NURSE again now, i also want to dispute croupier's lazy 'bad singing' diss - i love the way that thurston's voice sounds on tracks like 'unmade bed' (one of his best songs, i really think so) and 'dripping dream' - the whole feel is VERY solo-career Tom Verlaine, which i also adore, so obv mileage may vary - but yeah yeah, while thurston and kim are 'non-singers' and yes, sometimes sound sloppy or simply weak, they are both still capable of very human and beautiful moments, of playing w/ and using their voices as the grain ages and changes

and lee renaldo is one of my v. fave rock singers, wish he sang more

trees outside the academy>>>>>>the eternal (seriously!)

I could maybe get behind this. Although with fewer >s.

listening to SONIC NURSE again now, i also want to dispute croupier's lazy 'bad singing' diss

this is kinda funny seeing as how I said I voted for Sonic Nurse

Weird, I think of Rather Ripped as kind of a pinnacle, taking the same basic formula of Sonic Nurse and whittling it down into these great three- or four-minute gems. The Eternal sounds more like a band going through the motions to me.

tago mago -> ege bamayasi -> future days

also i really like a lot of the sy lps involved but will happily represent for trees. the first side's pretty much perfect, and the second side has never light or never day or whatever.

i need to get Trees -- remember really liking it when I heard it, but for some reason never got around to buying it ...

Murray Street, hands down. Shows around NYCG&F and Murray Street were also both amazing, the band was really on a roll. All these are solid, but in my mind Murray Street is one of the best records of the decade, most of the good sides of the band and really minimal moments of the bad, i.e.: only one kind of forgettable Kim song, a GREAT Kim song (Sympathy for the Strawberry is my favorite Kim song of this decade, at least), and no duds from Thurston or Lee. Rain on Tin definitely being the highlight, some real primo guitar shit. It's easy for people to criticize this band, but really, who else has created a more consistently worthwhile body of work in rock?

uh, lotsa people

Like?

as far as sheer size + consistency, i agree w/ grandavis, but also i am a huge SY stan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDPLKLnmI0A

this fucking song

I'm actually the wrong person to ask cause I think sonic youth had a run of 4-5 good records and then a vast wasteland but I can pretty quickly name 10 bands/musicians with consistently worthwhile bodies of rock and that's without thinking very hard

rolling stones
black sabbath
swans
ac/dc
ramones
the fall
wire
the cramps
neil young
brian eno

^ sonic youth's highpoints may be higher than some of these folks, but over the course of a career I'd put them as more consistent bringers of joy

can't decide b/w sonic nurse and murray st but it's definitely one or the other.

There is a great version of Death Valley '69 on Walls Have Ears, yeah.

But Brave Men Run, I Love Her All The Time... no?

they're ok but nothing revelatory. i much prefer the "Flower"/"Halloween" 12" myself.

there are 3 songs on bad moon rising: side A, 3/4 of side B, and "death valley 69"

the first 2 songs are awesome

but thanks for yr challops, ioannis

I love "Brave Men Run" and the bonus tracks, and "Death Valley" is a lot of fun live, but yeah Bad Moon is way down among my 2 or 3 least fave SY albums. But then, I'm not a huge fan of the pre-Shelly stuff and my favorite release from that era is Sonic Death.

and wtf, Kevin, the Karen songs are the highlight's of the respective albums they're each sandwiched amidst.

Well, I agree with you on "Karen Koltrane."

but thanks for yr challops, ioannis

no problem.

murray street: 7 songs, half epics, jim o'rourke