C/D: Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

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

the other 90s albums all have songs that are perennial favorites for, but how much I like "Skip Tracer" or "Washing Machine" or "Unwind" tends to fluctuate over time. xpost

Sold my double vinyl of this on eBay last year. Absolutely pristine. Suspect I never did make it through to side three, but felt absolutely no inclination to slip it on when I was grading it.

Didn't net me much more than it cost when it came out, so if you're looking for a copy, might not be so hard to find.

ha thurston's vox are so bad on dan's clip

i like the diamond sea (and washing machine) a lot

Sold my double vinyl of this on eBay last year. Absolutely pristine.

I may have bought this from you!

the diamond sea is very ver good but not much else on this record really catches me (maybe unwind)

For the longest time I thought Diamond Sea was great, but lacked a proper conclusion...then I finally heard the full version on "The Destroyed Room", which I found entirely satisfying.

Sparkle, if you have my copy, I wish you joy of it, but for me it was goodbye to SY.

I think I paid $40 for it. Sound right? Anyway, well worth it to me, I love the record.

this is such a great album, haven't heard it in years

Oh yeah man, it is great. "Saucer-Like", the title track, and "Unwind" are all great, along with obvious big numbers from the album. Just some beautiful guitar tones all over this thing.

just had a weird moment of frission....when at the end of "Skip Tracer" he keeps saying "Hello 2015!" haha...and I suppose at the time that felt like such a long time in the future ...damn....

such a low-key album

Yeah, definitely have been into that period of the band recently, this leading into "A Thousand Leaves" (which I did not love at the time but have gotten way into the last few years) and the three records that follow it are all great in my opinion. I wonder what Lee's deal is with listing out dates/years in songs. For some reason it hits super-hard as a lyric for me despite being pretty abstract (the other notable moment being "Hey Joni" on Daydream). But yeah, here we are ....

Against all likelihood I sure would like to think that SY will make another record some day. I would think that with the break and bad shit that happened it may actually fuel a really interesting return/reboot of the band, but I am not sure it would make any sense for Kim to do it. Also, they owe me nothing, I have seen them live so many times and have found very few diminishing returns from the catalogue overall, so I have plenty to return to.

love this record, grandavis otm

that gtr solo after Kim says "and I looked up" in the title track... something about it hits me just right, my favorite SY solo

totally. that part was so good live too (at least in my memory of that tour). mindsplitting.
i might be a little surprised if SY made another album, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they played shows in the future. have they ever officially said "we're broken up"?

Yeah man the title track really has some just great moments in it, but I completely hear you on that one in re the solo at that point.

I mean, SY kind of spoiled me in that I want moments like this from most bands, and most do not deliver. A brief set of them: Lee's solo in "Pacific Coast Highway", the totally bitching screaming note that precedes the second "freak out" in "Theresa's Sound World", the whold instrumental outro of "Rain On Tin", etc. etc. etc. I can tolerate all of the dismissive "screw that band" comments about SY (don't like Kim's vocals, they are pretentious NYC dorks, they are boring) cause I just point to those things and say "other bands do not provide payoffs like this". Pretty much the only reason I post about music online, or what got me started and eventually led to me finding ILM, was getting angry at a Stylus piece by Ian Mathers in which he tried to make the case "I don't care what people say, I am done pretending to like 'Daydream Nation' just cause I am supposed to, it is dull/boring". I mean, fine, but dude was slinging Mogwai or something and it is just like fuck give me "Cross the Breeze" alone over the whole catalog of most bands.

that gtr solo after Kim says "and I looked up" in the title track... something about it hits me just right, my favorite SY solo

― polyamanita (sleeve), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 10:38 AM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^^!!!!

This is my favorite Sonic Youth album. Top to bottom, perfect. Maybe not their "best" (that'd be Sister, I think) but definitely one of my favorite albums by anyone ever.

Sonic Youth live from 1997-2004/5 was so good. All the songs from those albums translated well live, and they seemed really into playing them. So glad I went to every show I could get to during those tours.

Fuck, I gotta get a new copy of "Washing Machine", I have no idea where my copy of this is.

haha, me too! could probably get a CD used for under a buck i bet.
and yeah i agree w/ what you said about payoff--they were almost always just a great rock band.
coincidentally, i'm seeing thurston tonight in boulder! he's doing some kinda thing w/ anne waldman.

Is it just a poetry/reading thing or is he playing too?

Haven't heard it in 10 years but yeah it's probably my favorite of theirs. I'm happy to see that it seems to have been canonized by now. The title track captures so well the feel of a very warm and pleasant dream.

xp - i think it's some kinda music/poetry action. should i yell out for "teenage riot" or not?

Nah, you should ask him what he thinks of Body/Head and whether SY is ever going to get back together.

it is a taping for a radio show, i almost wouldn't be surprised if the host dude (who can be a bumbler) asks something along those lines.

Will try to listen to that radio show if it airs online.

I loved this album when it came out. Listening to it again now, I'm not crazy about it, mainly due to the lack of bass - it sounds too thin and brittle. Still some classic SY songs on here though - Diamond Sea, Little Trouble Girl, Unwind, and Skip Tracer in particular.

not sure if it's my setup, but this record seems to lack a lot of bottom-end frequencies... bass feels a bit petrified, brittle. have always loved the album, however. even "pantie lies"

edit: wow, posted the same time as Immediate Follower...

It's the first album where Kim mostly plays guitar but they don't have a bass replacement so a lot of the songs just don't have bass.

Was this the record where Kim switched to playing guitar? She should have played through a bass amp.

Lol, NA on some preemptive mind-meld shit today.

For some reason the lack of bass never bothers me, it just has a different sound (and I get to bask in the glow of the guitars that much more).

lol i was starting to wonder if this thread revealed that Jersey Al had NA killfiled

beginning of proper dreamy shimmering guitars era sy. the WM solo is my favourite sy moment I think