Not sure where this one even came from, but we just noticed a little stack of these hidden away in the back room, and judging from the packaging, an oversized brown paper booklet adorned with a black ink screen print of an octopus with its tentacles wrapped around an arm, and the band name, SOLVENTS, we were actually expecting this to be some sort of noise record, or some avant drone thing, but instead, we were treated to a gorgeous bit of lilting indie folk, piano and violin laced brooding strum and croon, a subtle Pink Floyd vibe happening, but filtered through more modern signifiers like Iron & Wine, Beirut, Bon Iver, Band Of Horses, Mount Eerie, the Low Anthem, a seriously impressive collection of stripped down twang flecked pop, the piano and violin elevating above most of the current crop of similarly sonic popsmiths, and Solvents main man Jarrod Bramson has an incredible voice, and knows his way around a pop song, and Manresa Castle definitely had us wondering what these guys were doing hiding way unreviewed on our shelves instead of being adored by legions of fans, and being worshipped by Pitchfork. Needless to say, for fans of this sort of thing, doesn't get much better. But be warned, we only have 4 or 5 of these, it's from 2007 and odds are it's long out of print...
While there is no shortage of vintage kraut worship going on these days, Germany's Kreidler are one of the groups who have been doing their country's rich '70s underground music scene proud, since they formed in the late '90s. In fact their last outing, Tank, might even be our favorite record from them yet. So when we found out that Kreidler's drummer Thomas Klein had a new solo project, we were super curious and excited.
And we're happy to report that Klein has delivered the goods, as this record is filled with a hypnotic and suspenseful tone which takes us to a dark underworld filled with tribal beats, dubbed out repetition, and kraut like precision and intensity. There is no doubt that Klein's playing comes out of the direct lineage to the krautrock forefathers that so influenced the sound of Kreidler, and his drumming in particular. We think of Jaki Liebezeit (Can), Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru), and Klaus Dinger (Neu). But we could also see this record really appealing to everyone who has been going crazy for all the great John Carpenter/Goblin worship that's been coming out lately like Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, and Jonas Reinhardt. One of those records that gets people asking what is playing whenever we have it blasted on the stereo in the store. So good!
Oh how nice! Want to feel the glow of summer's warmth no matter what it feels like outside. Som Imaginario have got the golden rays for all of us to bask in. Brazil, 1970 -- and yeah start thinking Os Mutantes and the Tropicalia revolution of sound. While they never got the wide attention that some of their peers would end up receiving, their music was just as dazzling, delightful and adventures as those whose names are now much more known (Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, etc). Som Imaginario were a six piece who initially came together to back up Milton Nascimento for his short lived Brazilian TV show. This their debut was never released outside of Brazil until now, and with Os Mutantes launching a reunion tour this spring, the time is ripe for other wonderful sounds from that scene to finally resurface. Equal parts sun soaked pop, fun-freak-out and an underlying irreverent spirit make this one of those reissues that doesn't just sound cool in theory but you actually want to listen to it over and over.
First we've heard from this new local label, and the debut recording from Some Ember, aka Dylan Travis, who was laid up after an accident, and decided to spend his settlement on a bunch of gear (and from the sounds here, he must have been on plenty of pain killers too!), building this record from scratch, and learning to record in the process, but you'd never know it from the results. It's a dark, lush landscape of brooding, swirling post punk cold wave minimalism, all pulsing muted synths, spare percussion, shimmery atmospheres, thick, crumbling industrial swells, hushed melancholic melodies, all blurred into a murky, washed out dirge pop dreamscape, sounding a bit like a more lysergic Talk Talk, driven by Travis' vocals which at times sound like Danzig covering Scott Walker, and at others like some impossible hybrid of Antony and Dave Gahan, soaring and passionate, emotive and dramatic, we really weren't prepared to dig this as much as we do. Fantastic!
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!
After gettin' pretty steamed by the jewelcase's sticker that let us know that "the hit single" was included within (really, the album just came out... thanks record label for deciding that for us!), we gave this record a spin... Seeming almost as though she just popped right out of a time capsule dated '92, Juliana Hatfield is back. Seriously, wearing her stone-faced stare, she doesn't look a day older than she did back then (although she does look alarmingly thin). Anyways, she's got a new band called Some Girls staffed by two similarly just-outta-their-teens lookin' gals... but wait! Those aren't just any young misses, they're her former Blake Babies bandmate Freda Love and her friend Heidi Gluck. Although the overall tone is noticeably subdued by Hatfield standards, fans will be happy to hear her still singing in her unmistakable breathy childlike voice about those familiar topics: prettiest girls, relationship confusion, etc. For sure, if you were a Blake Babies and/or Juliana Hatfield fan you'll wanna check this out. Includes a cover of Robert Johnson's "Malted Milk".
We've always been suckers for a ridiculous band name, usually the weirder and more twisted the better, Fuck I'm Dead, Bathtub Shitter, Tremor Of The Black Manx, The Shitty Listener, Ithdabquth Qliphoth, but for whatever reason, we never listened to Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin specifically because of that name. Maybe it's a fine line, ridiculously inspired versus plain old dumb, bizarre versus precious, but fuck it, we should know better, and when we somehow got over our problem with SSLYBY's mouthful of a moniker, we were treated to a seriously fantastic collection of lush, jangly, super hooky upbeat pop, rife with subtle unlikely instrumentation (banjo! Marimba!), intricate melodies and gorgeously hazy harmonies, it's tough not to love these guys and this record. Especially if you're already a fan of groups like the Shins, Death Cab For Cutie, Animal Collective, Phoenix and other similarly lush janglepoppers. Quickly becoming one of our new favorite pop records of the year. Although to be honest, we're still having trouble saying things like "You should really check out Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin", but we're working on it...
Ever hear of Warren Ng? We hadn't either. At least until THREE separate DOUBLE cds showed up in the shop, two by his blissed out ambient guitardrone outfit Somnambulists, one by his old school post rock combo This Invitation. SIX DISCS, all of them pretty dang amazing, and pretty dang cheap too. We imagine if there's any justice in the world, Warren Ng won't remain unknown for much longer. And we're happy to do our part.
On the sprawling double disc At Daybreak The First Greyness To Emerge, Ng in his guise as Somnambulists, using just guitar, percussion and radio, crafts some deeply effecting, and darkly seductive, but most notably, not at all tranquil guitar ambience. Where other dronelords and soundscapers smooth everything out into shapeless shimmers, and washed out blurs, the music of Somnambulists is actually riffy, it's more like a solo guitar record, that an ambient drone record, sprawling epic tracks that are ever shifting expanses of riff and licks, of tangled melodies and woozy textures, the sounds chug and churn and jangle and swoop, backwards guitars wrap around chiming tones, warm muted pulses percolate beneath thick crumbling low end swells, at times verging on almost rocking, but more often slipping into something a bit more trancelike and softly psychedelic. Creeping skeletal minimalism gives way to jagged angular crunch, which in turn gives way to warped woozy swirls of mumbled melody, haunting and dreamy, soothing and spacey, Ng masterfully weaves lush sonic tapestries that manage the impossible task of actually sounding like someone playing the guitar (or guitars), while subtly effecting and transforming those guitar sounds, so that the whole is so much more than simply a 'guitar record'. Instead, it becomes some sort of psychedelic guitar minimalism. Ng's instrumental guitarscapery definitely sits comfortably along other guitarrorists like Roy Montgomery, Loren Mazzacan Connors, Stephen O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi, Rafael Toral etc.
Two discs, nearly two hours, all for $12, hard not to recommend buying both Somnambulists double discs (this and The Invisible Score, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), they're both incredible, and almost sound like two parts of the same sprawling avant guitar songsuite. So good!!
Ever hear of Warren Ng? We hadn't either. At least until THREE separate DOUBLE cds showed up in the shop, two by his blissed out ambient drone outfit Somnambulists, one by his old school post rock combo This Invitation. SIX DISCS, all of them pretty dang amazing, and pretty dang cheap too. We imagine if there's any justice in the world, Warren Ng won't remain unknown for much longer. And we're happy to do our part.
On the expansive sprawling two disc set The Invisible Score, Ng trades in the relatively spare instrumentation of his OTHER double disc Somnambulists album, At Daybreak The First Greyness To Emerge, and expands his arsenal to include Moog, Farfisa and bass along with percussion and guitar. The results are similarly stellar, a series of lush layered guitarscapes, a very particular type of guitar ambience, that's barely ambient at all, instead, Ng's guitar emits dreamlike tangles of melody, and lets them float atop keening looped high end shimmer, or lets unfurl a slow, smoldering sort of psychedelic drift, hauntingly melodic, alternately strummed and finger picked, gnarled riffs give way to spidery tendrils of sound, the sound hushed and minimal one second, heaving and distorted the next, occasional churning textured drones are peppered with simple crashing cymbals, gorgeous hushed drifts explode into abstract Godspeed style drumless-post rock that eventually splinters into shimmery cascades of metallic buzz and muted clatter and clang, the songs developing slowly, blossoming gradually, lush and dreamlike, emitting a warm sonic glow, that sometimes bathes the sound in its radiant light, and other times is swallowed up by dense waves of crumbling psychedelia. The Invisible Score is definitely experimental, but impossibly melodic and mesmerizing, a perfect companion to the other Somnambulists disc for sure.
Ng's instrumental guitarscapery definitely sits comfortably along other guitarrorists like Roy Montgomery, Loren Mazzacan Connors, Stephen O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi, Rafael Toral etc.
Two discs, nearly two hours, all for $12, hard not to recommend buying both Somnambulists double discs (this and At Daybreak The First Greyness To Emerge), they're both incredible, and really almost sound like two parts of the same sprawling avant guitar songsuite. So good!!
A couple of lists ago, we awarded Record Of The Week status to the fantastic Soundway compilation The Sound Of Siam, a collection of vintage '60s and '70s psych/pop music from Thailand (and it just came out on vinyl too, which we're listing this week). Dunno about you, but The Sound Of Siam only whetted our appetites for more, though we had to wonder, who could possibly top that? Well, if anyone could, Japan's EM Records, one of our favorite labels for eccentric, unexpected reissues, would be a good bet. As if on cue, here's EM's first entry into the '60s Thai music reissue market, by the group Son Of P.M., so named because their manager, one Phayoung Mukda, was the father of their keyboardist and arranger, Khabuan Mukda. (Amusingly, their name is making us think of the '90s hiphop groups Son Of Bazerk and P.M. Dawn, neither of which this sounds like of course!).
Son Of P.M., and spinoff group P.M. Pocket music, who feature on 3 of the 14 tracks here, were part of Thailand's "Shadow Music" scene back in the day, "Shadow Music" being the uniquely Thai synthesis of their own ethnic folk styles with Western rock, surf, Latin, go-go, and other pop sounds. It's an exciting, groovy, colorful hybrid indeed, a good example being the title track, with its swirling keys, chiming Thai xylophone, wailing group vocals, and drum breaks. Specifically, Son Of P.M. considered themselves to play "Modernized" or "Modified" Thai music, as EM notes that means their use of traditional Thai melodies and instruments (various gongs, drums, flutes, fiddles, etc.) has been augmented with electric guitars, keyboards, and other modern/Western instruments. Despite that, though, to Western ears this is still gonna sound way more Eastern than otherwise. Though the final track here, "King Of Drums", does get pretty darn surf-rock, a la The Ventures or the Surfaris, it's a bit of an outlier, the majority of this is less "rock" sounding, and seems to us to have more in common with the orchestral "exotica" of Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny, which is cool too.
Delightful stuff, sure to put a smile on your face and a wiggle in your hip. Another winner from EM. Unfortunately for us, though, the liner notes in this gatefold cd sleeve are all in Japanese.
Yeah yeah yeah, everybody LOVES Wilco. Critics, Fans, everybody. So experimental. So creative. Such heartbreaking magical music. Hey, we love Wilco too. But there was a time, not all that long ago, when Jeff Tweedy, the man behind Wilco, was at least to most of us, the weaker half of the only alt country band that ever mattered. The band whose first album's title (No Depression) became the new name for alt country. Tweedy was merely the whiney vocal foil to Jay Farrar's world weary, whiskey soaked drawl. Sure Tweedy sang some great songs, but Farrar was the voice that MADE Uncle Tupelo, the band he shared with Tweedy. After Uncle Tupelo split, Tweedy went on to front Wilco, and Farrar went on to form his own group, Son Volt. The first Son Volt record was amazing, sort of an extension of Uncle Tupelo, Farrar's voice still so perfect and stirring, framed by kick ass country rock, sometimes soulful and stirring, acoustic and laid back, sometimes rambunctious and rocking. Tweedy's Wilco headed in decidedly more experimental directions, and it suited them, they got weirder and way more interesting, with the band and the songs and the sounds providing the focus, while Tweedy's vocals became just a part of the big picture. But as Son Volt progressed, something started to go wrong, the slow songs sounded too syrupy, the rocking songs began to sound cheesy, the attempts at sounding experimental sounded forced. But the thing was, every record contained at least two or three perfect jems. Gorgeous modern takes on classic bluegrass, full on Crazy Horse style rockers, all with Farrar's amazing vocals, emotive and laconic, soulful intense. Serious classics! So this comp is practically perfect. If it wasn't a compilation, it might just be the ultimate Son Volt record. In fact it sort of still is! Included are the four best tracks from Trace (the first Son Volt album), the best tracks from all the rest, as well as compilation tracks and a handful of unreleased tracks and demos. Loads of photos and liner notes. Both Cup and Andee have been playing this constantly in the store! So good!
Second album from this spawn-of-Uncle Tupelo band, quite similar to their excellent first record...
Jay Farrar was always my favorite part of Uncle Tupelo. That voice. So this is his new band. He brought back Uncle Tupelo's old drummer, and the resulting album is quiet and lovely, not filled with, as one Aquarius customer put it, the 'Nashville hotshots' Wilco features.
Jay Farrar and other ex-Uncle Tupelo folk with their third Son Volt album, this one a bit noisier and looser (in a good way) than previous efforts. We like it.
At his sweetest, Joe Knapp (who is also in midwest indie sensations Bright Eyes) approaches the vocal sugariness of Belle and Sebastian, but mostly his quietly epic music has a solemn, introspective flavor that '70s singer songwriters made popular. Full of
Son, Ambulance's new album is a more mature and fully realized work than any of mainman Joe Knapp's prior releases. Definitely less ramshackle and more focused. Moving away from the meek, self-conscious sound of their Omaha, NE indie folk brethren Bright Eyes and into more psych-ed out trippy late-Beatles / Flaming Lips-ish territory, Key is an album of earthy bluesy folk rock with synthesizers! Speaking of the Beatles, the ninth song has many Hey Jude-isms, the most obvious being a naaa-na-na-nananana chorus. Odd.
Yes, this is a brand new recording by the same Alan Sondheim who made records on ESP and Riverboat in the late 1960's. A multi-intrumentalist, a poet and a visual artists, Sondheim has been making culture a little more interesting and innovative for the last four decades. Ski/nn finds his fingers navigating vintage instruments like a 19th century parlor guitar and a prime alpine zither from the 1920's. The results are so amazing! Primitive psych-folk that is sometimes really pretty and at other times freaked out and menacing. Sharing a similar spirit and freedom as the late Derek Bailey. Short pieces that together create a ghostly and timeless sensation.
Ex-Silver Summit. Comes with download.
Like "Summer Babe"-era Pavement with the addition of tasteful analog synth washes plus an 18-minute drone piece. From Portland.
Even though Jason Molina's songwriting seems endlessly weighted by deep melancholia, there still remain glimmers of hope in his music, and this is perhaps even more so the case on this new album. Yes, once again comparisons can easily be drawn to Will Oldham or classic Neil Young, however from the first song of this album, it's clear there's something else/more going on. Definitely as passionate as ever, but fully fleshed out and a bit more rocked up than 2002's Didn't It Rain. Magnolia Electric Co. features a full ten person band (including Jennie from the bluegrass group Jim & Jennie and the Pinetops) performing Molina's songs. Plus he stepped away from the microphone and enlisted a number of different vocalists to sing the lead on a number of songs. The results are quite splendid. It was all captured live on tape by Steve Albini.
Also keep your eyes/ears peeled for the companion album of sorts, the much more minimal solo vinyl-only release called Pyramid Electric Co.
Songs of Green Pheasant is Duncan Sumpner, an artist and schoolteacher from Sheffield. This, his first release, is dreamy and drifting, primarily recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in Duncan's isolated kitchen, old fashioned kettle tea on the stove, likely, everything as lo-fi as can be.
Snug and fragile, fuzzy and dreamlike. A bit like a folky Slowdive, Drowsy, or what Fat Cat might want from Glenn Donaldson as The Ivytree. Nostalgia slipped like sweet secret liqueur into a cup of Christmas-warm coffee. Influences run the gamut from Simon & Garfunkel to Jeweled Antler, with a little Galaxie 500 and Devendra-esque neo-acid folk brushed over for that rolling around in a magical forest sheen.
Moments of the album make us think about peering at silhouettes of shy femme fatales through a peach & cyan scrim in a room full of hookah smoke. And it just started raining. Double rainbow oil slick sparkles on the pavement, and we're blaming Mr. Sumpner for creating rainy day music that can actually trigger a rainy day. Lovely.
Also, Sumpner is currently working on a side project with Adam Davenport from Vibracathedral Orchestra.
Can't wait!
The prolific Jason Molina and co. bring some scant shades of light into their usually achingly melancholic proceedings on what is -- if my counting is correct -- their ninth full length in less than five years (this count includes the three S:O albums from
Songs: Ohia's fifth proper album is their most skeletal yet. This time around main man Jason Molina is accompanied by members of Appendix Out and Lullaby For The Working Class. The results are eight of the darkest folk tunes you will ever hear. The vocals are more desperate, the instrumentation is more varied (dig the creepy world instruments), and the overall ambience is downright coma-inducing. So what does it all mean? It means the lazy comparisons to other popular indie cum alt-country stars must stop now! This is the most original, most beautiful not-so-folk folk record you will hear all year.
A live performance in Italy by Songs:Ohia is captured on this just-shy-of-an-hour-long cd. Jason Molina and co. deliver eight songs of which five are previously unreleased. Always weighted with much heavy melancholia and gut-wrenching sincerity, Mr.
A scant two songs from Songs: Ohia. Main man Mr. Jason Molina is joined by Jennie Benford and Matthew Derby. With the focus primarily on his vocals and guitar, he keeps his voice down low and subdues his usual emotive falsetto - perhaps to provide space
It can be quite unnerving how similar Jason Molina's voice is to Will Oldham's. So the comparisons to Palace are inevitable, and this record isn't much of an exception. There does, however, seem to be a dramatic difference between Oldham's songs and Molina's songs, both musically and lyrically. While Oldham's songs are certainly beautiful and appalachian and 'old timey', Molina takes the same sound, but infuses it with an urgency and depth not always present on Palace records. It's like every song is sung with his last dying breath, or howled impotently at the gods intent on crushing his spirit. Dramatically theatrical emotions pour out of intense, slow motion country narratives. This time around, Songs:Ohia includes members of Arab Strap and Appendix Out, adding even more depressive murk and heart wrenching hopelessness.
Non-fans of Palace need not apply. Pretty long for an ep, which is good 'cause it's so slow and sad. Recommended.
The cd version comes out this Tuesday (May 12) but the band-released vinyl version is here now. We figure every magazine in the universe is going to put these guys on the cover this spring, so you can read about them there instead of here.
Completely wonderful four-song instrumental ep self-released by the band on their new label, aptly named Sonic Youth Records. Windy saw them play underneath the Brooklyn Bridge a few weeks ago. I'm not even much of a fan anymore, but this performance blew me away. No vocals, no verse-chorus-verse, it was all lovely melodic tension building up and up with glorious climaxes. And the drumming is all CH-ka ch-ka CH-ka ch-ka, nothing too bombastic, very subdued. Excellent direction for Sonic Youth to go, we say. Transparent red vinyl is extremely limited. Strongly recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The title of this Sonic Youth dvd may say "The Videos", but it's so much more than a simple video compilation! This compiles all of their videos from 1990-2002, after they made the jump to the majors. The liner notes suggest a "pre-sellout" video compilation will follow, we're psyched to see that too. But this here DVD is chock full of all your favorites: "Dirty Boots", "Kool Thing", "Sugar Kane", "Youth Against Facism", "Bull In The Heather" and loads more. All with band and/or director commentaries. Bonus goodies include something called Sonic Spiel featuring Mike Watt, Jason Lee, Kathleen Hanna, Todd Hynes, Richard Kern and a bunch of other sonic pals. Also a Spike Jonze montage of his favortie SY memories, a fan letter film, and some secret extras. Pretty damn cool.
ALSO ON VINYL, WHOOHOO!
Still boggles the mind that this underground New York art rock band somehow were permitted into the mainstream... y'know the big leagues, but it's that mammoth wealth of resources that allows the release of special reissue editions such as this one.
So, what's your fave Sonic Youth album? If you took a poll around here, chances are you'd hear the names of a select few of their early albums come up repeatedly -- Bad Moon Rising, Evol, Goo, Sister maybe -- but none may be quite as beloved as Daydream Nation. Simply put, in pretty much every aspect -- album art, title, song sequence and the songs themselves -- Sonic Youth nails it. It's a superbly realized art rock album that balances melodicism and dissonance, traditional song structures and soundscapes.
The extras that make this version deluxe include a home demo version of "Eric's Trip" and an entire disc of unreleased live tracks from the Daydream era as well as some great covers of Kraftwerk, Mudhoney, The Beatles and Captain Beefheart.
Still boggles the mind that this underground New York art rock band somehow were permitted into the mainstream... y'know the big leagues, but it's that mammoth wealth of resources that allows the release of special reissue editions such as this one.
So, what's your fave Sonic Youth album? If you took a poll around here, chances are you'd hear the names of a select few of their early albums come up repeatedly -- Bad Moon Rising, Evol, Goo, Sister maybe -- but none may be quite as beloved as Daydream Nation. Simply put, in pretty much every aspect -- album art, title, song sequence and the songs themselves -- Sonic Youth nails it. It's a superbly realized art rock album that balances melodicism and dissonance, traditional song structures and soundscapes.
The extras that make this version deluxe include a home demo version of "Eric's Trip" and an entire disc of unreleased live tracks from the Daydream era as well as some great covers of Kraftwerk, Mudhoney, The Beatles and Captain Beefheart. Just in time to get us all psyched up for their upcoming live performance of this legendary album in its entirety!
This has actually been out for a while now and even though we were asleep at the switch, figured a bunch of you would still be psyched. However, of all the Sonic Youth records that could deserve the deluxe multi-disc reissue, very few of us would have chosen Dirty. How about Daydream Nation? Or even Goo? I guess it does make sense since Dirty was their commercial breakthrough record or whatever, so ultimately it really depends on where you hold Dirty in your personal SY pantheon. But this reissue is super nice, fully tricked out with a fancy double digipak, a slip cover, tons of photos and a big booklet. Contains the original album as well as 8 b-sides and 12 rehearsal recordings, 11 of which have never been released until now! Good stuff. Now how about a deluxe reissue of Sister or Evol?!?
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY. [/cat/experimental165.html]
The year punk broke? Depends on who you ask and if you care. But the documentary sporting that title centers around Sonic Youth and their tour after their first major label record came out, Goo, in 1990. In many ways this was the record that would shape the course of the indie-rock revolution of the 1990's. As it was more often then not Sonic Youth using their new found major label clout to help other bands get more exposure or even deals of their own (i.e. Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney, Nirvana, etc.). Following up Daydream Nation must have been quite a daunting task and signing with a major label at that time was often the kiss of death for any self respecting band who had roots in the punk rock community. Yet somehow Sonic Youth found a way to forge a new road and rewrite all the rules. While Goo might be one of their more accessible albums it was by no means at all a sellout. SY had always had a pop element in their music and this record let them explore it much more deeply. While not their most critically acclaimed record, we've always had a huge soft spot for Goo, in fact it's Andee's favorite SY record ever! It was the record where SY got to let down their hair and have some fun. There is a playfulness and charisma to Goo that still kicks our ass. And odds are you probably already know and love a bunch of these Goo-tunes.
Aw Goo, a record that would help Sonic Youth reach the masses as it gave them a wider audience than previous albums. Goo launched a decade that would see so many bands flourish taking much inspiration from Sonic Youth. Everyone from Pavement to Sleater-Kinney, Unwound to Blonde Redhead. Years and years later, Goo still sounds so rocking and charming. One of the few bands who have made great records over the course of three decades!
With the deluxe reissue and recent performance of Daydream Nation here in town just a week ago Sonic Youth has been on our minds quite a bit. So we figured we would list the deluxe version of their major-label debut Goo which came out a while back too.....
The year punk broke? Depends on who you ask and if you care. But the documentary sporting that title centers around Sonic Youth and their tour after their first major label record came out, Goo, in 1990. In many ways this was the record that would shape the course of the indie-rock revolution of the 1990's. As it was more often then not Sonic Youth using their new found major label clout to help other bands get more exposure or even deals of their own (i.e. Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney, Nirvana, etc.). Following up Daydream Nation must have been quite a daunting task and signing with a major label at that time was often the kiss of death for any self respecting band who had roots in the punk rock community. Yet somehow Sonic Youth found a way to forge a new road and rewrite all the rules. While Goo might be one of their more accessible albums it was by no means at all a sellout. SY had always had a pop element in their music and this record let them explore it much more deeply. While not their most critically acclaimed record, we've always had a huge soft spot for Goo, in fact it's Andee's favorite SY record ever! It was the record where SY got to let down their hair and have some fun. There is a playfulness and charisma to Goo that still kicks our ass. And odds are you probably already know and love a bunch of these Goo-tunes. Of all the deluxe SY reissues so far this is the one whose bonus material is the most rewarding. The proper album is on one disc followed by 5 tracks of out-takes and b-sides (including a Neon-Boys cover) and the second disc has some totally great 8-track demos as well as a killer cover of the Beach Boys' "I Know There Is An Answer" a good decade before it became all the rage to love The Beach Boys again. Aw Goo, a record that would help Sonic Youth reach the masses as it gave them a wider audience than previous albums. Goo launched a decade that would see so many bands flourish taking much inspiration from Sonic Youth. Everyone from Pavement to Sleater-Kinney, Unwound to Blonde Redhead. Seventeen years later and Goo still sounds so rocking and charming. One of the few bands who have made great records over the course of three decades!
Sonic Youth and the usual suspects (cohorts Willy Winant, Jim O'Rourke, Christian Marclay, and others) team up to pay tribute to a variety of avant-garde 20th Century composers, performing works by the likes of Steve Reich, Cornelius Cardew, John Cage, Yoko Ono, James Tenney, Pauline Oliveros (who specifically wrote a piece for this), Takehisa Kosugi, George Maciunas, Christian Wolff and more. Yes, this is totally pretentious but the music ain't bad at all, lots of bowing, grating, droning, scraping, banging, screaming, etc. The cd version includes a Quicktime video of the band happily hammering nails into the keys of piano (a Fluxus conceptual piece by Maciunas). As a Yoko Ono fan, though, I am a bit miffed that the best SY could do was have Kim and Thurston's kid Coco cover her "Voice Piece For Soprano" (which means, scream for twelve seconds) - but I guess that's as much Ono's fault as theirs, in a way.
Hot off the heels of their most recent reissue campaign come 2 brand new songs from Sonic Youth. These were two of the last recordings made in the band's Murray Street studio. Two Thurston sung tracks that recall the darker and angrier side of SY. These won't be on the new album Rather Ripped coming out this summer, so SY enthusiasts you know you gotta get this.
Yes the cover art is pretty terrible! And yes this seems like a last contractual commitment to Geffen, but you can't deny what's in the grooves on this double vinyl. Some of the best Sonic Youth tracks of all time as chosen by some of their most famous fans. Folks like Gus Van Sant, Beck, Chloe Sevigny, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Dave Eggers, Mike Watt, Mike D, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, and more select the Sonic Youth track that speaks to them the most. So we get an awesome collection of their songs like "Bull In The Heather", "Tom Violence", "Expressway To Yr Skull", "Rain On Tin", "Shadow Of A Doubt", "100%" and more.
So yes all that is a fancy way of saying this is a best of Sonic Youth record of sorts. And full disclosure this was originally released by Starbucks on cd a few years back. hence the cover. But if you ignore all that, you get two slabs of wax full of amazing songs by one of the best bands of all time.
Sister-era glorious din, live from 1987, remastered by Wharton Tiers. Includes two Ramones songs in the encore. Excellent stuff, much better than 1000 Leaves.
Another chapter in SY's more out/free/improv adventures.
It's Sonic Youth's 21st year; this is their 16th album, the 2nd of a "proposed trilogy about the cultural history of lower Manhattan," and the 1st album to feature Jim O'Rourke on bass and the three guitar approach from Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Kim Gordon. All of those things tend to be much more interesting than what is hangin' out on "Murray Street." There's nothing wrong with this album, but it's really a very safe album with pleasant K Records guitar jangle, careful use of harmonics, unassuming rhythmic shuffles. Thurston tends to most of the singing, probably due to the fact that Kim's voice has aged horribly and sounds more gravelly / off key than ever (as her two songs attest). Even the presence of the monstrous sax duo of Borbetomagus on one track doesn't really lift this album out of mediocrity. I'd have to defer to Vice Magazine in a rare moment of clarity for them: "If confusion was next and this is the truth, tell me lies and let me live in the past."
"NYC Ghosts & Flowers" finds Sonic Youth writing songs that are textural and rhythmic in their instrumentation, while placing a good deal of emphasis on the voice to carry the melodies of the songs. Superstar producer Jim O'Rourke did everything he could to make this record sound great - capturing all of the chiming resonance with a crystalline clarity, yet he couldn't get the band to write energy into the tracks, as Sonic Youth seemed determined to make a relatively quiet, mellow record. Nor could he stop Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo from singing really poorly. But said singing is kept to a minimum, making this a pretty great SY album, heavy on the melody with some spoken word pieces (that, amazingly, AREN'T annoying or cringe-inducing) and some great pop hooks. Fans of "Anagrama", volume 1 of Sonic Youth's selfreleased eps, will love this.
We managed to get a hold of a couple copies of this 5 track single which Sonic Youth produced in support of their 1993 Australia and New Zealand tour. The first cut 'Sugar Kane' was from their 1992 "Goo" album, while the rest of the tracks were unreleased, including a New York Dolls cover ('Personality Crisis') and an Alice Cooper cover ('It's My Body'). Definitely fits in with the same hypno-alt-rock that Sonic Youth had produced for "Goo" and "Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star." Once these are gone, they will not be coming back.
