I saw that show also! Very improvisational, in the big arena. Some kid in front of us said to his friend "I thought you said their songs had words, man"
― sleeve, Monday, 8 October 2018 20:21 (five years ago) link
they closed with "She Is Not Alone" iirc
I just listened to "The Destroyed Room" collection... that's some serious minor-key atmospherics right there!
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 20:33 (five years ago) link
"beautiful plateau" from that one is an all-time fave SY instrumental — i named this playlist after it: https://open.spotify.com/user/tywilc/playlist/5ma1sgJzXVU1NCc2vtnLpV
― tylerw, Monday, 8 October 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
Thx, will give this playlist a listen^
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 20:40 (five years ago) link
Of the early albums, I think EVOL is the clear winner for me. There's something about its dark, ominous, echo-ey sound, with vocals that sound like they're being intoned from halfway across the room...
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 21:31 (five years ago) link
"Expressway to Yr. Skull" sounds like 5 or 6 different songs to me (in a good way) -- none of which I can identify. It probably influenced all of them, whatever they are.
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:07 (five years ago) link
something about its dark, ominous, echo-ey sound
I don't know, I really think they benefited from the warmer sound, especially two albums later.
― timellison, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:09 (five years ago) link
I mean, I won't deny that Daydream Nation is a klassic; but I've owned it over 20 years, and have only listened to it all the way through a handful of times (at the beginning). Sometimes I'll start listening; go "yeah!" at Track 1; and then lose interest a few tracks later. It's just not my "style," I guess.
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:16 (five years ago) link
if you don't like listening to it so much, then it's not a classic for you, imo. no shame in that! i feel the same way about tons of "classic" albums (and there are a million threads about that, i think, so no need to list which ones)
― 1-800-CALL-ATT (Karl Malone), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:18 (five years ago) link
it's not a klassic if you don't like it. fight the canon!!!!
(i love dn)
― brimstead, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:22 (five years ago) link
I'm the same way about Daydream Nation. I do like it, there are loads of good songs on it, but I like Sister & Evol and probably Bad Moon Rising more to listen to as albums (which tbh I basically never do, I've always been into individual songs more than albums and that just got more easy to do with mp3s)
― Colonel Poo, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:23 (five years ago) link
i'm into daydream nation as an album. a couple of the songs work magnificently on their own as a hit it and quit it sampling - teenage riot and 'cross the breeze come to mind first - but most of album gains additional power in the context of the endless lurching between pretty ambience, noise, and pop. and a song like "hyperstation" just deserves to be heard as a climax to an epic journey (i was always meh about Eliminator Jr as the actual closer)
― 1-800-CALL-ATT (Karl Malone), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:31 (five years ago) link
eliminator jr has a secret track vibe
― brimstead, Monday, 8 October 2018 22:35 (five years ago) link
I forgot I like "Candle" a lot, too...
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:42 (five years ago) link
teenage riot has to be one of the most praised songs of all time so i'm sure this is commonly expressed, but it might win the award for longest song that feels like the shortest song. almost 7 minutes and it just flies by
― 1-800-CALL-ATT (Karl Malone), Monday, 8 October 2018 22:43 (five years ago) link
Man, The Eternal is really not good. I take no pleasure in passing that judgment on their final album, but... the dropoff is remarkable. Some of the grooves are OK, but the lyrics and vocal melodies are really bad, and the songs don’t go anywhere.
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 01:04 (five years ago) link
It's been a while since I played The Eternal. I think there was maybe one song I liked, but otherwise it's the SY album I like least (or second least since I'm no fan of NYCG&F).
― Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 01:24 (five years ago) link
I liked "Antenna" but barely remember anything else from it.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 01:38 (five years ago) link
I like pretty much every other album they ever did so it might just click if I give it another try.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 01:39 (five years ago) link
I like "The Eternal"! 'Massage The History' is my fave tune off it
― . (Michael B), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 09:11 (five years ago) link
I also like The Eternal but then I like all their "official" albums so...
― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 09:43 (five years ago) link
My read was that the album was a strategic "let's make a real Sonic Youth album"... kind of their version of the "we wanted to get back to the sound of 5 people playing in a room" mentality. It ended up being a little too overdetermined in my view. Still I'd agree that Antenna & Massage the History were high points that equaled anything else they'd done. It's a shame that their personal drama got in the way of being able to cut another LP with that lineup to see if there was anything there. I'm sure the people running Matador probably felt the same way.
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 12 October 2018 03:39 (five years ago) link
"Expressway to Yr. Skull" sounds like 5 or 6 different songs to me (in a good way) -- none of which I can identify. It probably influenced all of them, whatever they are.― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp)
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp)
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Friday, 12 October 2018 06:13 (five years ago) link
Some of these long jams on Murray St. kinda sound like Television, huh? Television, mixed with a little late VU...
― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp), Saturday, 13 October 2018 00:35 (five years ago) link
I heard a Chelsea Light Moving song the other day and it was way sicker than I expected. Real sludge/punk/metal riffage thrown in with the pretty noodling.The bits I’ve heard of Body/Head also really good. Latter day SY is kind of a snooze imo, unfortunately delayed my interest in checking out their other projects.
― circa1916, Saturday, 13 October 2018 01:43 (five years ago) link
the new Body/Head is superb if a bit on the harrowing/intense side, smoldering ruins of sound
― sleeve, Saturday, 13 October 2018 03:32 (five years ago) link
way more digestible & immediate than the debut 2LP, they really got it dialed in on The Switch (new LP)
― sleeve, Saturday, 13 October 2018 03:33 (five years ago) link
i hated that CLM album when I listened to it. maybe i'll give it another shot.
― akm, Saturday, 13 October 2018 06:46 (five years ago) link
Yeah, can’t speak for the album, but Alighted was what I caught and it pleasantly surprised me.
― circa1916, Saturday, 13 October 2018 06:58 (five years ago) link
Calling out tylerw's Beautiful Plateaus playlist linked above. Great selection. Thanks.
― Pyschocandles, Saturday, 13 October 2018 20:25 (five years ago) link
https://www.elektronauts.com/talk/128
Lee Ranaldo's working with Elektron samplers, and a drum machine. Maybe he'll put out some interesting, more avant garde sort of material.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 13 October 2018 21:45 (five years ago) link
they're selling off a ton of gear: https://reverb.com/shop/official-sonic-youthbut the coolest thing is that they've started posting live shows over yonder: http://nugs.net/search/sonic%20youthjust getting into the williamburg 2011 show (their last NYC show), which i'd heard an audience tape of, but the multitrack recording is amazing. the sweetest guitar sound.
― tylerw, Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
ooh thx for the tip
― sleeve, Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:51 (five years ago) link
oh wow so much cool stuff in that reverb sale!
― la bébé du nom-nom (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
Omg I cannot afford any of it.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
haha yeah
― tylerw, Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:57 (five years ago) link
8000 quid for a Telecaster. No thanks, guys. Are they short of money or what?
― Alma Kirby (Tom D.), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:11 (five years ago) link
not just ANY telecaster but the Sonic Youth one (to be fair art pricing does work like this)
― Evan, Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:26 (five years ago) link
Tbf, I think their guitars were modded?
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:28 (five years ago) link
SY didn’t sell much in the way of records and I don’t hear their tunes get licensed all that much so I’d imagine they need the $$$$
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
all that stuff is just collecting dust, I assume, they may as well get a little cash. that said, I don't know who buys this kinda thing. rich tech bros who also love noise?
― tylerw, Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:43 (five years ago) link
haha what the heck is this bag of garbage?
https://reverb.com/item/16087880-sonic-youth-live-used-skrim-owned-by-sonic-youth
― Herb Achelors (NickB), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:48 (five years ago) link
they should sell it to primal skrim
― Herb Achelors (NickB), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:50 (five years ago) link
Like the £200 fuzzbox that doesn't work.
― Alma Kirby (Tom D.), Thursday, 1 November 2018 17:55 (five years ago) link
I noticed they're also selling a hand-made guitar that was given to them by a fan (the aluminum one). Kind of a prickish thing to do, imo.
― nickn, Thursday, 1 November 2018 18:32 (five years ago) link
happy to blame thurston for that tbh
― la bébé du nom-nom (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 1 November 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
Well there is only one bass on sale - I bet you that's Thurston's too.
― Alma Kirby (Tom D.), Thursday, 1 November 2018 18:46 (five years ago) link
^^I think you're right. I first saw them live in 2001 and swear I got pictures (since lost in a move) of him playing that blue P-Bass.
― The Greta Van Gerwig (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 1 November 2018 20:30 (five years ago) link
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 1 November 2018 20:52 (five years ago) link