best Sonic Youth album of the '00s

excellent fashion sense

I think part of SY's strength over time is that, for all the talk of them being innovative or groundbreaking or whatever, they've really never seemed that ambitious or adventurous, just coasting along and tweaking their sound in small ways each time, rarely going overboard in one direction or the other. That's usually a recipe for a really boring career w/ trad rock/pop bands but their sound is just unique enough that I'm really happy to hear them coast.

Which is all really great artists do past a certain age. Whether you care about these tweaks and coasts is up to you.

excellent fashion sense

That is funny.

The closest Sonic Youth came to a "headed for the ditch" period was NYC G&F and Goodbye 20th Century, but they backed off to groove-ville for better or worse fast.

as much as I like the CD-R I made of my fave O'Rourke-era tracks, it might have been kinda impressive if they stayed full avant for awhile rather than turning into a SY tribute band.

maybe the mistake was replacing O'Rourke - someone with their own ideas and ego - with Mark fucking Ibold.

Which is all really great artists do past a certain age.

I disagree with this as a blanket statement. Miles Davis, Igor Stravinsky, and John Cage, for example, were all doing new and innovative things in middle or old age.

I even have the feeling that Sonic Youth was trying to with some of the SYR projects and avant-garde collaborations. It's just that so many of their efforts seem . . . lazy.

I intend nothing on ILM as a blanket statement. Except this: Lee Ranaldo writes fucking shitty poetry.

Like, if they actually grafted Branca tunings (which means more than tuning to EEFFGG etc) onto riff-rock, that might be interesting.

xpost haha

murray st. would be a shoe-in for me if the last three songs were as good as the first four. i guess sonic nurse is my favorite of these? i like them all though, even nycg&f (which is probably tied with exp. jet set as my least favorite sy lp).

murray street; 'rain on tin' should be used to teach jammy guitar clinics and also it is awesome start to finish ('plastic sun' is kind of an aberration in style but i think it's a welcome respite considering how obliterating 'karen revisited' is); only heard parts of rather ripped and i wasn't digging it much

"Murray" for me.

It's kind of amazing how little consensus there is on which SY albums rule/suck. Put me in the "Ripped" >>>>> "Nurse" category. "Nurse" just didn't interest me at all (neither did "A Thousand Leaves"); the songs just don't go anywhere. At least "NYCG&F" had some spark.

weird, Nurse is like the lost sister of Daydream Nation for me; an album about textures

Sonic Nurse, for me, sounds like the leftovers from Murray Street. Same for The Eternal, which is kind of a lesser version of Rather Ripped.

Rather Ripped >> Murray Street >>>>>>>>>>>> The Eternal >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else.

i've only heard murray and nyc g&f of all these. murray is an enjoyable record. i hate nyc ghosts so, so much.

Easy - Rather Ripped! Their best album ever IMHO.

weird, Nurse is like the lost sister of Daydream Nation for me; an album about textures

yeah this is what i tried to say earlier. i think it might be their best sounding record of all honestly.

interesting how their critical stock seems to have been on the up all decade

i mean, i think NY ghosts + flowers is actually a pretty good record

but the way it made everyone think about sonic youth was probably more realistic, fair than the unequivocal elder-statesman treatment they've had since

OK I've listened to all of these A LOT over the past week-plus. I love them all to varying degrees but here's my order:

The Eternal - Yup. After many listens, only that Corso song has failed to imprint itself onto my internal hum matrix. Key: not many slow ones and even those give up swoon-worthy melodies. Song after song, it just keeps dropping the rock on your head in both midtempo "Total Trash" and speedy "Mary-Christ" modes. Plus they're still growing as vocalists, with Kim very Yoko and some impressive swarmonies on "Walkin Blue." Finally, it's the second great album this decade (that I know of) to mention Bobby Pyn. Love it love it love it. Best song: "Anti-Orgasm," their entire career distilled into six fun-then-soothing minutes.

Rather Ripped - This now sounds like a warm up for The Eternal but with a sleepier second half.

NYC Ghosts & Flowers - Easily their most underrated record. Detractors treat it as they would a pure noise record. But the structures are there even if they're not verse-chorus-verse. More like builds and bracing shifts in sonic space. And altogether more disquieting than their early horrorshows.

Sonic Nurse - Sounds like it's scared of being Rather Ripped. Just too goddamned long. And luckily xhuxk won't visit this thread to chew me out for preferring its overall consistency to the high points on...

Murray Street - Great record until Lee shouts "Karen!" after which it takes a serious nosedive.

But they're such a great band that these are all nearly imperceptible shades of one another. In fact, they're so great that I no longer see the value in ripping on their pre-Shelley art racketeering. It's all gotten sucked up into one fantastic song. The eternal indeed.

Murray Street - Great record until Lee shouts "Karen!" after which it takes a serious nosedive.

HAHA. This is hilarious. :)

same could be said of A Thousand Leaves too

NYC Ghosts is definitely my least favorite of these 5, maybe least favorite of all their proper albums, but it's still really not that bad. I remember hearing live recordings of early instrumental versions and it was all kind of exciting, almost kind of a return to no wave after the theft of their instruments. But once the beat poetry vocals were added and they got in the studio, I feel like something went wrong in the production/performances and even songs that should be awesome like the title track turned out kind of tepid.

murray street stands as the victor for me, but i don't figure i'll be inclined to pull it out and listen to it any time soon. when listening to sonic youth these days, i like to relate the music i'm hearing to the band's capacity to innovate freely and influence by virtue of breaking boundaries and setting new parameters. i hear that kind of thing in the earlier records for sure. the 2000s records are a testament to the endurance and longevity of the band and they do plenty of nice things, but mostly just fill in the numbers for me.

Kevin is right except for his mistakenly switching his blurbs for Rather Ripped and The Eternal.

Voted Murray Street at last. Not only one of their best of all times but it is also probably the best record if you wanna introduce SY to someone, which is kind of an odd combination.

Sonic Nurse, not even close. My second-favorite of theirs, actually, after the inevitable Daydream Nation. But yes, I like all these records to varying degrees, most a lot. Rather Ripped is my least-fave, maybe because "Incinerate" sounds so much like a great single that the rest kind of drifts away for me. But I bet I'd like it if I played it again.

But I bet I'd like it if I played it again

This is the case with most SY, methinks. I really dislike Washing Machine, and am comfortable saying so, but I don't want to replay it because I know I'll change my mind.

Kevin is right except for his mistakenly switching his blurbs for Rather Ripped and The Eternal.

― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:32 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if you are saying The Eternal has a "sleepier second half" you are nuts, most of the best songs are toward the end!

I prefer the sequence from "Anti-Orgasm" to "What We Know."

i've gotten closer and closer to wanting to change my vote from MS to SN since starting this thread

anyway for me "Malibu Gas Station" and "No Way" are the immediate winners from the new one, although the first is growing on me too

Upthread somewhere I was talking about my dislike for what I'd heard of this era of SY, but that with multiple recommendations I'd give Murray Street a spin. After 4 or 5 listens, I have come to a decision - I really like it, with one giant caveat. I hate, hate, hate the mix. The songs are wonderful, but the vocals nearly ruin it. The songs drift in and out, instruments rising and falling in the mix, but their voices (except Lee's) just roar over top. As the vocals are, in my opinion, the worst part of any SY tune, it just ruins the effect. I think I'd rather hear live versions where the voices are less distinct.

Of course, this mixing problem I have goes back to at least Goo. I probably shouldn't say I'm a fan if I like roughly 5 years of a 25 year career.

Maybe I should just listen to the SYR releases. More up my alley.

Man, that Murray Street tour was great. They played most of the album when I saw them, and everything came across really well (their live sound is usually pretty great, though I am not a hardcore audiophile, so take my opinion as just that). Vocal mixes are often odd to me on a lot of records, as well, so I think I have learned to just adjust my listening somewhat.

I really dislike Washing Machine, and am comfortable saying so, but I don't want to replay it because I know I'll change my mind.

Plz to explain teh logic behind this 1?

No.

Most SY albums since 1990 are at least okay (never heard EJTANS), so it wouldn't surprise me if I relistened to WM and thought it was more than that.

Yeah I understand what Alfred is talking about completely...in my mind WM is one of their lesser records and there are a few songs I dislike, or at least dislike the idea/memory of, but when I actually put it on it's very listenable. Same goes for most of the SY albums I wouldn't rate very highly.

Murray Street - Great record until Lee shouts "Karen!"...

It's a shout-out to Len's "Steal My Sunshine"

Re-listened to NYC Ghosts and Flowers today for the first time in years and it's even more of a pile of shit than I remembered. Otherwise, the band has been utterly fantastic this decade- I guess I'll vote for Murray Street but it's really a coin toss.

Most SY albums since 1990 are at least okay (never heard EJTANS)

it's the best! the songs are short and striking, really wild but not too noisy. the noise is used actually pretty differently than in their other stuff, really going for contrast and jarring transitions rather than texture or throbbing weirdness. lee had quit the band for the album, and while usually that would suck thurston and kim just wrote way better songs than they usually do and it totally makes up for it. it's the most "punk" SY album i've heard and definitely one of my favourites.

Re-listened to NYC Ghosts and Flowers today for the first time in years and it's even more of a pile of shit than I remembered.

yeah I did not dig this when it came out

Murray Street got my vote ... then Rather Ripped ... then Sonic Nurse ...

while i'd like to say samosa's post is OTM and we should totally continue discussing Jet Set more when i do the 90s thread after this one, i should point out that this

lee had quit the band for the album

is rong, i'm pretty sure. afaik, he quit briefly during the making of Dirty because of "Genetic" being cut from the album, but was back to tour that album and record the next one -- just happens that he doesn't sing on any songs on Jet Set. he's credited in the liner notes and there are photos of him all in it, etc.

cool! i'm glad to hear it, and yeah lee's absense wouldn't make much sense since there are obviously two guitars and the guitar parts fucking kiiiilll.

Experimental Jet Set is a biiiig favorite of mine. Yes, their "punkiest"--their version of lo-fi bedroom pop. "Screaming Skull" is a particular fave: love the full-on Rolling Stones groove they get into at the end. Also love "Androgynous Mind" and "Bull in the Heather" and "Skink."

i love y'all and all but NYC G&F is the best of SY's 00s albums by about a thousand miles? it might even be their best album? what is with you people.

um..who said that?

i always find the criticisms of NYC G&F a little baffling: there's no songs and some of it sounds a bit embarrassing — they never wrote good 'songs' & they're always embarrassing

like, the chorus to anti-orgasm is the campest thing on record this year surely

The thing about NYC G&F is that besides containing an amazing opening track, it's at least sonically (ha) interesting all the way through. The others in this poll are awfully forgettable. So it's not that I exactly love G&F, but it's the one I keep listening to with interest. The others make ok background and that's about it.

Also, production on G&F is radically better than the others, probably due to extra band member.