C/D: Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

you're lonely.

i'm not sure why i even posted, rssvldonalds and sleeve already said everything i had to say. DITTO'D

I'm a big Eric's Trip fan.

well, I bought Goo this past summer and fell in love with it-- and then they came out with a deluxe version two months later. so, now i want to pick up Washing Machine, but if they're going to do a deluxe version, I might as well just wait until that comes out... yafeelme?

K!z!K:
It is 8pm here on KUCI 88.9fM in Irvine...
Voice:
It's 8pm...

K!z!K:
Pacific time of course! And we're on the phone right now with Mark Hosler of Negativland, so, say hi.

Voice:
[Gurgling] "GGGH-GHGGHG-GGHGHGHHG-GHGHHGHGHG_GGHGMmmm..... GGHGHGGHGG- GHGHGHGHHG-GHGHG-GHGHGmmmm"

K!z!K:
[laugh] Well, there you go... well, anyway, you released the Fair Use book about a few months ago, and it ended on a somewhat positive note. You reached an out-of-court settlement with SST. Island records and affiliates finally agreed to give permission for the re-release of the U2 single, provided of course that Casey Kasem give permission. So that only leaves that one obstacle...the "Casey" barrier... I wanted to ask how far you've gotten along in tackling that barrier, and in perhaps convincing Casey to finally give the OK.

Voice:
[Gurgling] "GHGHGHG-GGGHGHGHGHG_GHGHG GOOOHHGmOGHGGHM GGGANNSWERR GU GGHGAT GGGESTIONGGh.... GHIM GNONT GGHGMARGHGK GHGOOSLEGLER... GHGHI GGHAAM GNOT.....[in background] he wants to know about...U2"

Mark Hosler:
Hi.

K!z!K:
[laugh] Did you hear my question?

MH:
No, I didn't hear your question. They...they wouldn't let me use the phone. Someone else had the telephone, and I just...[LOUD BANG AND CRASH] ...got it from him. That was, man... [LOUD TONE PITCH BENDING].... wait a minute... you're going to have to repeat that question. Real sorry.

K!z!K:
[laughing] No problem! The question was this: Fair Use was released about a few... well, almost a year ago...

MH:
See, now everyone here is talking while you're talking...[CRASHING SOUND]...and I can't hear...the question.

K!z!K:
Well, OK, then...now can you hear me? Am I coming through clear?

Voice [background]: I was not talking!

MH [to Voice in background]: Will you shut up? [SCREECH AND ANOTHER LOUD BANG] I'm trying to talk on the RADIO... in Southern California after a lame Sonic Youth song. [to K!z!K] OK, go ahead.

LIstening to this again now after perhaps a decade. No Queen Blues is great. Actually, the whole thing is very good.

this one = good.

A Thousand Leaves = much, much, much better.

title track = awez

This is perhaps my favourite Sonic Youth album. It certainly was a few years ago, though Daydream Nation may edge it now, since I've become a lot more familiar with that album in the last year or so.

It's the only one since Sister that I really like much.

now i want to pick up Washing Machine, but if they're going to do a deluxe version, I might as well just wait until that comes out

i doubt that this will ever happen

I've never actually heard this album but I've played "The Diamond Sea" more than any other Sonic Youth track.

Then you should probably check this out...

I think this is one of their best, still a rewarding listen. A Thousand Leaves is similar and fine but a bit more on the SYR side...

My least fave SY album.

Love "Unwind" and "The Diamond Sea," can't remember anything else.

'Little Trouble Girl' turned me off Sonic Youth for YEARS. It took a chance encounter with EVOL to change my mind about them.

And the vocal melody is "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys, which is a much better song.

I'm trying to work out what Vic meant by this. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is definitely more sophisticated in terms of melody-writing craft but I don't see a strong similarity with the melody of "The Diamond Sea". Nor would it have occurred to me that SY was attempting that kind of songwriting with this song.

This was my favourite album in high school. I still really like "The Diamond Sea", as basic as its melodies are.

This is one of my favorite SY records. Probably my most favorite.

Actually, this thread made me take it off my shelf. Now listening. This a great record. That guitarlead in the beginning of Saucer-like is a total hommage to the guitar lead of The Byrds' 8 Miles High.

KILL YOURSELF NYC DOUCHEBAG

haha Ø_Ø man "the diamond sea" is probably my favorite sy track

I'm trying to work out what Vic meant by this. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is definitely more sophisticated in terms of melody-writing craft but I don't see a strong similarity with the melody of "The Diamond Sea".

I see the similarity, but I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. If you hum the line that goes "Wouldn't it be nice", it sounds very similar to the main melody of "Diamond Sea."

Get it on vinyl. Out of this world.

I think the little bluesy part of Washing Machine (where Kim does her monologue and says the title phrase) was one of those little oases of (mostly unfulfilled) hope scattered among the albums from this period...

ohhh man the part where shes like "i looked up at her" and then *guitars*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqfiLORd6_g

title track is such pure unadulerated goodness

sonic youth i think have the highest good music to good vocals ratio of any band. which is to say that sure they can play a guitar, but goddamnit mothafuckas can't sing for shit. actually this is like, a really difficult thing for me to get past and always makes me hesitate before putting a sy record on.

love this record -- why don't they play this stuff live anymore?

the vocal distortion/effects on most of the songs on Washing Machine bother me more than the vocals themselves. it ain't bad, but WM is ultimately probably my least favorite of their 90s albums, and I don't dig "The Diamond Sea" nearly as much as other people.

Wow, that Washing Machine video is just about perfect, and basically eliminates the need for anyone to buy the album. Diamond Sea is indeed oddly overrated.

This is why I rate "The Diamond Sea":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW22NBmZJLo

i rate the tightened up 'single version' over the album version too

really it just bugs me that they have at least a dozen 7-10 minute songs with long instrumental sections that are really tightly structred and well written, but the 20-minute song that's 75% aimless and kinda boring can handily win a poll like this: IT'S THE SONIC YOUTH EPICS POLL

I'd never call "The Diamond Sea" boring. Aimless, yeah.

it ain't bad, but WM is ultimately probably my least favorite of their 90s albums, and I don't dig "The Diamond Sea" nearly as much as other people.

wow really? i feel that way about all other 90s sy like yah this is ok but not something id reach for. except their simpsons appearance and "youth against fascism" fukken love those

"unwind" kills too btw

Does "rate" mean good or bad? Wow, I can't imagine anyone who doesn't know the band watching more than about 30s. of that video. I sat through it just in case the studio caught fire at the end or something, but no such luck.

"rate" = "good"

That performance was the first time I'd heard the song; even with the out-of-tuneness all over the place it instantly struck me as something special.

depends on what you're into, but I love every minute of "Diamond Sea" ... and I love the extended version that came out a few years ago even more!

good live version iirc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW7oVPcCYo