Sonic Youth: Classic or Dud/S&D?

creative nerds with zero chips on their shoulders

Love love love this description

Scott OTMFM. Lived for 10+ years in that area, and my experiences were that T&K were unfailingly kind, approachable, and generous. They did major solids for local endeavors/art spaces.

The super cheap house prices in the area that Scott links to occasionally keep getting into my head, making me think W.MA might be a place to relocate to someday.

tarfumes you still coming to the record show on sunday? think i got a keith moon promo 45 with your name on it.

Yes, will definitely be there! Especially now!

(picture sleeve?)

no, unfortunately. i can't even remember what song it is. my gift to you for showing up.

meanwhile, this is up the road from us in charlemont and i want it! but i already have a house. you could host whispery indie-folk shows there:

http://www.trulia.com/property/1044612503-165-Main-St-Charlemont-MA-01339#photo-1

Do you have an EXIT sign in your bathroom too?

also, the couple's admiration of some specific underground art scenes during the years is narrow minded and sometimes pretentious in a broad minded kinda way,if you know what i mean.

i feel i don't even begin to know what you mean!

who knows? i guess they could have done better? but how many did it for better and longer than sonic youth? who handled success better? they are not one of my favorite bands of all time but they are the ultimate success story of US underground rock, and they did it all without ever once feeling like they compromised anything artistically (even the artistic peaks and valley's seemed like it was of their own vision)

i mean ppl with legit ties to a scene as small and unpopular and abrasive and NYC centric art scene as fucking no wave are going to be in the rock n roll hall of fame right next to eric clapton, you watch

to say it's an unlikely story is such a massive understatement

otm scott and UMS and a lot of other ppl
also creative nerds w no chips seems ideal

ok so that's the branca article upthread...who was it again who claimed she/they weren't too bright?

but thurston always seems kinda childish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzC-KD-8fCc

1988 Kim Gordon Tour Diary!

http://www.saucerlike.com/articles.php?x=display&id=15

Atlanta, 9/16

On the drive from Athens to Atlanta there's this great Sno-Kone stand run by a six-year-old who offers a million different flavors -- poppy seed or corn dog, for instance.

...Thurston is really hung up on having to protect women, must be his upbringing.

Boston, 10/18

At our first gig in boston about four years ago, Conflict editor Gerard Cosloy, Forece Exposure's Jimmy Johnson, and this drunken fan-boy were just about the only ones there. During the first song the fan-boy picked up this broken drumstick that had flown onto the floor and threw it back. It speared into my forehead. At first I thought it had bounced off Thurston's guitar. Shocked, I didn't know whether to cry or keep playing, but then I just felt incredibly angry. It took a long time to resolve that incident, 'cause it really made me feel sick, violated, like walking to the dressing room after a set, having some guy sat, "Nice show," then getting my ass pinched as I walk away.

I blamed it on the music for a while, because it did draw fans who really want to see you hurt yourself. It's not that I don't share similiar expectations; there's beauty in things falling apart, in the dangerous (sexual) power of electricity, which makes our music possible. But what was once a hazy fantasy has since clarified itself. I don't want my blood to be entertainment.

and lol at the "secret message". v sonic youth.

want that sno-kone stand to still exist. but the kid would be 30 now. that's like a million in snow years.

i think excerpts from that tour diary were in Sassy! Magazine when I was in high school -- one of those formative experiences.

it was also reprinted in the excellent Rock She Wrote anthology iirc

I always winced when either of them bandied about words like "bourgeois." Dunno if they're dumb, but they're definitely at their best when the music does the talking.

you have a genius and a sex maniac living together
Taking lots of drugs and, and fucking all day

Probably the smartest/wisest thing he could do at this point:

Were you surprised by Kim's recent interview in Elle in which talked about your marital problems?

I'm not gonna talk about it. There's no aspect of that I will ever talk about.

And that's it.

lol at this

What do you make of current indie rock, like Vampire Weekend, the National or Spoon?
I'm totally open to it.

sort of funny that no one in the band will say that sonic youth is over and done with...

Bands have found ways to keep making music after worse incidents than this. I, for one, hope they make music into their 70s. I could see them coming out with a great record following this kind of break/life-changing event, but of course would understand why it would never be possible.

"It was the idea of the director, Eva Prinz."

Dud.

yea sy is dead glad i saw em when i did, thurston ever the coolest starting to look exceedingly lame in all the CLM promos

The bit in RS about getting blown off the stage by Tegan & Sara was sad, and I like Tegan & Sara...

sy is dead glad
eh i don't know, i wouldn't be surprised if in a couple years they did high profile festival things -- coachella, primavera etc. they probably won't do another album though...

the bit about him thinking all those young girls were there to see him was . . . uh. . . telling

http://www.impawards.com/1980/posters/middle_age_crazy_ver2.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDF31Vy42E0

god that CLM song sucks

Yeah, sounds like some local bar band.

Man, for a song that's just over two and a half minutes long it seems to go on forever.

Not really my favourite period but a pretty intense show/video regardless, with a cool noise jam on "The Diamond Sea": http://dangerousminds.net/comments/teen_age_riot_ferocious_sonic_youth_concert_from_german_tv_1996

Wow, Kim really killing it on Washing Machine, which was the only track I really wanted to see. I'm glad I watched that.

Classic show. In high school I rode 8km on my bike with a blank videotape to a friend's house so he could record it, because we didn't have the right German channel in my house. Those were the days...

Bought a boot of that on CD shortly after the show. Saw them for the first time on that tour (London Forum), Washing Machine is one of my favourite SY periods.

Washing machine the track is awesome.

still get chills from "starfield road", when the main riff sets in, with Lee's massive, swirling vortex of static electricity elevating the whole thing. first part of "washing machine" sounds dope as hell.. the sinister (for lack of a better word) vibe of those interlocking riffs beneath Kim's initial verses, minimal cymbals. that like, up-to-no-good, preying, roaming the premises vibe. and then the magic, ringing bridge into the super feel-good 'light' of the 2nd half. it's awesome. thanks for posting that video

This is cool, a show from August 2000 where they did one set of individual solo projects (including solo TM acoustic versions of "Rain on Tin" and "Disconnection Notice") and one full rock set of NYC G&F material plus older classics. I found that NYC G&F songs sometimes came across better when I saw them live (though I never disliked the album per se) and I get something of that here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/152688686497/sonic-youth-cats-cradle-carrboro-north

yeah, that one is highly recommended -- those NYC G&F tracks sound awesome. I've got another cat's cradle show from the sonic nurse tour i'll probably put up too, really really good.

There's a great NYCGAF-era show in Japan too, the title track feels like your stereo is about to implode

Going to see Lee in Edinburgh tonight. My first gig for a loooong time

That was awesome, btw.

Timely thread bump - I just dug out the Helen Lundberg/Eyeliner single from 2006. I think it was the first 7" single I ever bought. Great couple songs.

I'll check out that show, I had no idea Thurston had already written Murray Street material in 2000. does anyone know if a recording of the 10/9/01 benefit show is circulating in full? i believe it was at the knitting factory. the album version of Karen Revisited/Karenology segues into a recording of the show at the end

murray street stuff on that 2000 tape is acoustic/instrumental/sketchy, but still recognizable.
have we talked enough about how great that Spinhead Sessions disc they put out this year is? it is great!

OK I'm confused after looking at that - this is different material than the Made In USA ost? cuz I found that to be a total snooze back in the day.

ha, it's rehearsals for Made in the USA, I think? Stronger than that OST, I think.

ah cool, will listen

Made in the USA was basically snippets of Secret Girl over and over again iirc.