Click here to talk about the next Sonic Youth album - The Eternal

i think it was them messing around with drum machines/loops/etc. Don't know if there's actually much sampled stuff. Could be wrong though.

Kim Gordon sounds deranged. Nights out in Manhattan. A Piet Mondrian grid, seen from the air. Sleek lines. Brake light red. Street light yellow. White Light. White Heat.

i will never understand rapturous writing about SY voices.

The Eternal according to Sonic Youth:

Sacred Trickster
Out-of-the gate hardcore matinee track with Kim singing salutes to French painter Yves Klein and Western Massachusetts noise artist Noise Nomads.

Anti-Orgasm
Inspired by the story of Berlin 60s model/activist Uschi Obermeier and the gang at Kommune 1. Free love, dominance and submission, and other political states-of-confusion.

Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)
The NYC beat poet Gregory Corso once referred life on Earth as a leaky lifeboat. This tune expounds on this rumination.

Antenna
Melodious ode to fleeting fantasy and unresolved desire with the sound of two analogue radios communicating the emotional action.

What We Know
Charging forth with a riff in reference to Sonics Rendezvous Band, Lee sings a triptych to identity and unity.

Calming the Snake
One of the first tracks written, musical references to the Dead C, the MC5 and Neu. Kim musing on visions of Death in painting.

Poison Arrow
Dedicated to the lust groove of Kevin Ayers where thoughts of love as pretty poison rejoice in surrealist deliverance.

Malibu Gas Station
An ode to the flash moment of the camera as you knowingly step from your SUV sans panties.

Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn
Flashing back to a wishful existence in the original Masque basement on N. Cherokee in Hollywood, crashing through lawns and garbage cans en route to the Canterbury/Disgraceland to jump up and down on beds with Helen Killer, Mary Rat and Trudi.

No Way
First song written for the album, with a nod to The Wipers of Portland, Oregon. A confrontation with the devil in his guise of temptation and staking a distinct place amongst the black legions.

Walkin Blue
Lee with his arm around yr shoulder, getting you through a seemingly impenetrable day of dread to a clear vision towards sweet foreverness.

Massage the History
The long way home, where blood rules the universe and time becomes myth.

Massage the History
The long way home, where blood rules the universe and time becomes myth.

Funny, that's the way I usually take home too!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QIdnmsC1Luk/SZg1HQgIoPI/AAAAAAAAAKc/9uVTcu_xEUQ/s320/the+eternal+-+sonic+youth.jpg

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/ad6659c8aa81f52ab6dc51d6ac954c05/82427.jpg

The bloody vortex of existence.

when will this fucker leak already

um

It leaked a few days ago

Aye, I had a listen to it this morning.

My post above was meant to have the cover of Disco Inferno's The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea, too. They're very similar.

mostly disappointing.
too straightforward-rock,almost no depth, and the songwriting is kinda weak and banal.
2nd half seems a bit better though.(thunderclap and walking blue are nice)

Haven't heard a note from this yet, but the prob I have with Sonic Youth (and not quite Neil Young)is that each Sonic Youth album increasingly feels like nothing more than "the next Sonic Youth record." Not really generic, and certainly enjoyable, but not any sort of "next step," either, just missing something compelling. I mean, I've liked the last few Sonic Youth albums fine, but Young, even on his fourth-ish decade of making music, still seems capable of releasing something truly galvanizing or ambitious amidst the missteps. I'm not sure which of the past several Sonic Youth albums I'd consider either of those things. The ones I haven't gotten into haven't been bad, just boring. Maybe my expectations are indeed too high, but, like, yes, the Dead, the Youth seems to be coasting a little, at least in the studio.

Last time I saw them live was very bad.

Kim consistently writes some of the worst lyrics in music.

Are we not asking too much with this 'step forward' thing? I mean, could we not simply enjoy 'the new Sonic Youth record' and not hope for another 'Daydream Nation' feel? Because I see the same reaction here in all the 'new album from classic band' threads.

Just listened. Did not expect or ask for step forward. Did not enjoy.

x-post Except that bands like Mission of Burma show it can be done, and if Burma can do it, I bet Sonic Youth can do it, too. I mean, I'm rooting for them!

sinking feeling during first two tracks, but after that I liked and liked. generally my favorite SY I dislike on first hearing fwiw.

"sinking feeling during first two tracks" - which are Kim's tracks btw +
"Kim consistently writes some of the worst lyrics" (and music imo)=

you are the weakest link.goodbye.

"could we not simply enjoy 'the new Sonic Youth record' and not hope for another 'Daydream Nation' feel?"

we could, if it was a good record, but it isnt.

i liked it, and i don't really like sonic youth

Thurston has the relatively better songs on this album ,i think

x-post Except that bands like Mission of Burma show it can be done, and if Burma can do it, I bet Sonic Youth can do it, too. I mean, I'm rooting for them!

I think there may be some differences in the two bands' recording histories that might be significant in what MoB has been able to do.

the question is, if sonic youth didnt exist,what would people think of this record,without the "burden" of their sacred cow name attached to it?

i would think this band really loves the electric guitar

I saw them live in Luxembourg on Saturday. The new stuff sounded great, but 'generic Sonic Youth', which pretty much reflects what people have said upthread about the new record. Cracking gig, though. Can't believe Kim Gordon has just turned 56!

would i like this if i really like rather ripped?

thurston's voice has really withered with time, hasn't it?

omar: probably not!

i like thurston's voice more than ever now; it has a convincing gravel where as it used to be a guy trying to sound punk, like a teenager. cf i'm not there, never light especially.

would i like this if i really like rather ripped?

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Wednesday, April 29, 2009 3:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omar: probably not!

― Beatrix Kiddo, Wednesday, April 29, 2009 3:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

oh that is a bummer :( i liked rather ripped

Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)

The NYC beat poet Gregory Corso once referred life on Earth as a leaky lifeboat. This tune expounds on this rumination.

The last two SY albums are among their very best. I don't expect Great Steps Forward from them -- I expect them to keep showing new wrinkles.

"what we know," lee's first song i think, is pretty sweet

I don't hate this on first listen, but I'm not sure it holds up to the last two, which struck the right balance between sparkling pop and relaxed groove. This feels a little more indulgent, which isn't a bad thing by any means, since I like their sound, but not quite as essential.

Thurston has the relatively better songs on this every SY album ,i think

Fixed, sorry guys.

i am seeing both sides of the disappointed generic sonic youth lp thing. it's like mogwai who release albums of mogwai songs and sometimes you wonder i they couldn't have written some better mogwai songs, picked better riffs to jam out and get louder on. some of the things on this record just feel too straightforward, like autopilot with autogenerated SY lyrics etc.

BUT then part of me thinks that maybe it's like a textural record and you'll learn to love the feel of it with time, like the second song when there are these varying bluntnesses and directnesses to the guitars, like it's more about the mastery of tone and inflection than about the songs themselves. will see how it grows.

the last song feels like it should be the first song of a different record.

They're on Jools Holland in a few minutes on BBC2.

"what we know," lee's first song i think, is pretty sweet

Not just sweet, but one of his better SY songs ever methinks.

yeah i just watched the clip of the Jools Holland performance on YouTube -- which was "What We Know" -- and that was pretty damn nice. Great song (first song of the record I've heard, I don't do "leaks".)

- 'what we know'
- 'sacred trixter'
- 'antenna'
- 'teenage rito'

from the Jools Holland show

I wish I could be
Music on a tree
Noise nomads and me
Levitating on the ground

Bahahahahahahaha.

there's really no reason for this band to be making this music in 2009, but "antenna" is a nice song

there's really no reason for this band to be making this music in 2009

The fact that I want to hear it is a valid enough reason, but it's not even just me thank goodness.

We can agree NYC Ghosts is better than this, right?

That applies to me, yes. But I happen to like NYC Ghosts & Flowers a great deal.

I'd say it's similar to NYC Ghosts in terms of self-indulgence, though first song aside I couldn't take that album

That clip of "What We Know" up above sounded great!

if there's a winner here, it's gotta be LEE - i can't remember the last time he had so many incredible songs on an SY album

i havent heard this album, but lee rules pretty consistently

WTF. I kind of loved this on first listen.