Sonic Youth

Just thought I'd start this thread to discuss an incredible band.

 

I've always been a fan but have only really absorbed the obvious albums: Daydream Nation and Goo mainly.

 

I've been digging deeper and just absolutely falling in love with the raw melancholic vibes and experimental segways they seem to go off on. It's quite ambient in places and sort of dreamy too.

 

These whole albums are absolutely incredible for that vibe. I think I used to avoid as i found them too abrasive but I'm really enjoying now.

 

 

 

 

Share your Sonic Youth stories, anecdotes, links, tip offs etc. It's quite a large discography and yeah, really worth a dig.

 

Cheers

 

 

Yeah they iz gr8. One of the first gigs I ever went to was SY, NYC Ghosts & Flowers tour I believe. That album suuucks but they basically played a Daydream Nation heavy set.

Neglected them for a while now. Most recent album I'm familiar with is Murray Street (fantastic album)

This has always been a personal fave

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by hello spiral

  On 7/25/2018 at 1:55 PM, hello spiral said:

Most recent album I'm familiar with is Murray Street (fantastic album)

I re-listened to Murray Street recently. I hadn't listened to it since it came out and it's really good. I especially like Karen Revisited and Rain on Tin.

 

 

I agree with the comments about longevity. It's a band you can always come back to and be satisfied/find something to love. This is absolutely blowing my mind right now:

 

https://youtu.be/jUegc5J8iZk

 

 

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Thurston's solo album Trees Outside the Academy is one of the best things that has ever come out of the SY universe also.

  On 7/25/2018 at 1:55 PM, hello spiral said:

....NYC Ghosts & Flowers tour I believe. That album suuucks

Very true, terrible album. Dunno what they were thinking. They’ve got lots of stuff like that which is sorta out there and different and naturally for that territory, hit and miss. Washing Machine is a classic, was their ‘big hit’ album if there ever was one. I’m a big fan of Sonic Nurse as well, but I’ve not delved into so much of their stuff. I can also recommend the Anagrama EP, as well as Slapkamers Met Slaagroom (sp?), if you prefer their weirder and more instrumental sound. (Some bits from those tracks turned into tracks on Murray Street iirc).

 

Curious to dig in on the stuff I’m not familiar with that others here recommend. They’re a great band with a pretty sprawling discography.

Edited July 25, 2018 by auxien

^ Simon Werner A Disparu is great as well.

Decided to give The Eternal a quick spin yesterday and was surprised how well it held up. Considering they split up soon after, it's still a really solid album and definitely my favourite of their later stuff.

 

Daydream / Dirty / Experimental Jet Set are still probably my faves, maybe because I was a teenager just getting into noisier stuff when they came out. I think SY along with Curve, Seefeel and MBV were my gateway drugs to more experimental stuff.

Love seeing Murray Street being mentioned here - that was my first Sonic Youth album and is still my favorite. Also like EVOL and Rather Ripped - should probably just run the discography sometime soon.

s quite good

About time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol @ the NYC slatings

Saw them at a show where they claimed it was their first time performing "Diamond Sea" live (this was before Washing Machine came out). It was incredible. Odd show really. They were in an arena opening for REM, but still managed both a 20+ minute rendition of "Diamond Sea", and they played "Eric's Trip".

 

I love the Ciccone Youth EP.

 

 

A lot of the SYR stuff is worth checking as well. Their Stan Brakhage homage record is great, if a pretty direct rebuke to Brakhage's own artistic preferences (although I'm pretty sure the original recording was done in tribute, as it was done like a month after his death).

Rather Ripped is a classic imo

I need to revisit their middle period and explore their later period a lot more than i have. 80s through to goo is absolute gold. And as someone else said, Thurston's Trees outside the academy is superb - Fri/end is one if the most perfect popsongs ever made...

 

Definitely would shortlist for "pretty much the greatest band of all time" award.

  On 7/25/2018 at 3:09 PM, auxien said:

 

  On 7/25/2018 at 1:55 PM, hello spiral said:

....NYC Ghosts & Flowers tour I believe. That album suuucks

Very true, terrible album. Dunno what they were thinking. 

 

This seems to be a common view that I don't understand.  That whole album has this rusty, derelict city street vibe throughout that I find really compelling.  I think it's a far more cohesive album than the few that preceded it after Dirty.  Jim O'Rouke was the perfect collaborator for them.  He really got their sound.  Anyway, I just happen to be in the middle of going through the second half of their discog once again (left off on Ghosts and Flowers), so this thread comes at the perfect time.  One thing I love about SY albums is that I never have a clear recollection of the whole thing, so it nver sounds stale.  With most rock bands I can usually just look at the song titles and recall the entire album.  I can do that with Rather Ripped, and that's probably it for the SY catalogue.  I think they deliberately tried to make that one their "songwriter album", and they really pulled it off.  Eternal shared that attention to songcraft blended with the more experimental tangents that they're renowned for.  It was really the perfect album to end on.  Oh man, really looking forward to revisiting their post 90's albums... I remember them all being pretty consistently great, yet I barely remember any specifics aside from the general sound of each.

will have to check out this Thurston Moore solo album

 

I find their albums patchy but some of their best work is desert island disc territory. Agree with the sentiment that navigating their discography is always an adventure.

Kinda OT:  Kim Gordon's cameo in Last Days is the most Herzog-ian thing I've ever seen where Herzog wasn't directly involved. A lot more could be said on that cameo but that's a different discussion altogether...

  On 7/25/2018 at 8:46 PM, beerwolf said:

 

I find their albums patchy 

 

They are. SY really doesn't put the album on a pedestal.  Their whole approach is p much "we just did it cuz we felt like it".  Which is one of their greatest strengths.  There are some bands where every album feels like a statement, and when that falls short it's always a huge disappointment.  SY just follows this one gradual trajectory, continually experimenting without every straying too far outside the sound they've created for themselves.  Surprisingly few rock bands out there like that who have managed to make a name for themselves.

Love where this thread is going and thanks to all who've contributed so far.

 

Does anyone know much about their custom made instruments and noise generation devices? I think I read that they had a load of custom modded guitars stolen after a show and were gutted about that....can't remember exactly what it is.

 

I've just got so much love for their sound- they can go from velvet underground to noise rock in the space of different tracks.

 

Interesting comments about them not trying to make statements with each album. I like that too.

 

I'm personally trying to work chronologically through their records right now - the earliest stuff is amazing to my ears, I'd like to own a chunk of his on vinyl.

 

 

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thousand leaves is their best album imo and this is their best song imo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xwoux1soKY

 

it took me a long time to warm to them. i had no time for guitar wankery and sonic youth and pavement seemed like big offenders. very different bands obviously but there's a certain late eighties/early nineties indie aesthetic that i couldn't wrap my head around for a long time. i love both bands now and sy have yielded some strong returns with their mid 90s and later work. 

post your fav lyrics

 

"You spinned the discs / now you're moving your wrist
I'm just from Encino / why are you so meano"

 

amazing

One-two, one-two, one-two titty

I know every nook and cranny in New York City

London fuck you're pissing me off

Hollywood weirdo cough cough cough

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx8pF5q6Rf0

 

also my respect for them increased when I saw that they called a track called I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick (that guy was like proto-idm levels of wankery).

You guys know lots of cool SY lore. Teach me.

Christgau is the only reviewer I've actually hated, and also the only reviewer whose name I know.  It's all Wikipedia's fault.  I swear he is quoted on every album wiki there is, only to shit on it.

 

Come to think of it, he's probably one of you guys.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Zephyr_Nova