Sonic Youth: Classic or Dud/S&D?

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Look up the tracks in my post above.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

I love SYR 1 and SYR 3, but it all depends on what you're looking for in the band. Where are you coming at them from? From indie rock? From noise? From jazz? If you want pop songs or rock songs, search Evol through Daydream Nation as well as the Sonic Nurse and Washing Machine. For things (way) more open-ended, search Silver Session or SYR 4. For a combination of the two I'd suggest Bad Moon Rising for starters.

But, I love almost all of their albums.

― Ian John50n (orion), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

Kim Gordon, with famous Jazz musician Matts Gustafsson,
for anyone doubting that her bad singing is a 'perfected style'
rather than accidental:

http://www.mp3search.ru/album.html?id=19676

Here, Matts off-key jazz accompanies her off-key verbal meanderings..

― Anansie, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

Anansie do you have perfect pitch? I wish I had perfect pitch, or at least an ear trained well enough to recognize these things. Still, whether it's 'well done' and whether it's 'good' are two entirely separate issues.

― Ian John50n (orion), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

Y'know what, I think it's this 'tongue-in-cheek' humour & playfulness which is key to appreciating many aspects of Sonic Youth.
Like Kim Gorden's voice, it's so perfectly off-key it has an addictive quality.. you mind starts naturally predicting what off-key note she will hit next; and aftertime you get good at doing this.
Addictively trashy, druggy voice; when you start to take SY less seriously, they become enjoyable. You can laugh at the things that are meant to be funny. Her style & attitude makes me smile, grin, laugh. Many of their lyrics are blatantly carp/stoopid/silly but said/sung in such an 'earnest' way makes it hillarious. We're *meant* to find a lot of it funny. They will never announce this intention, if they did, that special something which *makes them* would be lost.

― Anansie, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

Ian.. I agree that essentially, the voice you hear on the record is crap. We both agree that it's an intentional style right? If not, that's why I posted the link. Listen to the beginnings of some of the tracks (it's free).. and you'll see what I mean, plus it becomes 'obvious' that off-keyness is the intention pretty quick.
I find it very 'clever' in a very 'arty' way - but then again Sonic Youth are an Art Rock band. Singing perfectly off key isn't as easy as you think.. she really hits every off-key note perfectly, in a consitent dischordant pattern (a musician could probabally map it out in musical notation); here a definate pattern emerges, in SY any 'pattern' would get boring after a while, so occasionally she'll sing well, which collectively makes her vocals very interesting & addictive. Not for everyone, admittedly, but I definately love her voice, as do many others I'm sure.

― Anansie, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

Anansie, I find your assessment of the 'Youth to be very much OTM, though I've never heard anyone describe it as such. Her vocals, the lyrics, the fact that you're not supposed to take it seriously. It's honest, but not too honest. Yes, that is a big part of their appeal for me, even if I don't own all their albums and wouldn't wish to. "Dirty" is definitely the high point.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:52 (twenty years ago)

Art couched in a deceptive form of amateurism.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)

Anansie, that album is excellent, probably the most successful SY avant/'art' project. Thanks for linking it. Track 3 in particular has some intense and arresting moments in the dynamics and textures. And you're right about KG's vocals - it really proves your point that what she's doing is technically calculated, something I wasn't always sure about. I haven't heard her pull off that type of 'jazzy' singing so well - it's a conclusion of things she was trying on Thousand Leaves and the SYR projects but it seems much more fully realized and successful than those.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

and for point of comparison look at her vocal on 'kotton krown'; if she can sing that well it's not as if she sounds the way she does everywhere else just because she can't hack it somehow.

― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 29 May 2005 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

Shangri-la's: Past, Present, Future is the reference point for every Kim Gordon spoken-word song I think. I know some SY songs reference the group as well. Thought I'd share.

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 5 November 2005 08:44 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

So I dug out Made in USA for the first time in ten years and it's actually pretty cool.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 January 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

that might be the only one i DON'T have...
unless you count the Sonic Deth releases.
which i don't.

― eedd, Monday, 9 January 2006 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

I've been trying to get some opinions on the reissues. Any thoughts? What should I get, Goo or Dirty?

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

i'd go with "goo"

― Christopher Costello (CGC), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 01:45 (nineteen years ago)

"goo". But that's just cuz I hate "dirty". Has anybody mentioned that the first ep is being being re released in March??

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 01:55 (nineteen years ago)

Hmmm, bonus tracks too:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/upcoming_releases/sonic_youth_-_sonic_life.html

I wasn't so hot on the EP when I first heard it (just post Confusion Is Sex) but it's aged nicely. Will be interesting to see how it's received the 3rd time around.

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:37 (nineteen years ago)

I have never heard it, which is why I reaaaally want to cuz I'm interested in what came BEFORE "Confusion is Sex", my total favorite.

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

It's nothing like Confusion, which was the problem I had with it at the time.

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 03:18 (nineteen years ago)

I wasn't expecting Confision style stuff anyway from all the stuff I've heard about it, but I hope that it doesn't sound like anything else in their catalog.

― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 03:37 (nineteen years ago)

I love Dirty, and I love the first EP. I like Goo a lot less. The Bad Moon/Evol/Sister trilogy is probably my favorite stuff. Oddly, I don't really care for about half of Confusion. But that's just me. Anybody who likes it should definitely grab the first one.

Hi dlp!

― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 04:04 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

new front cover looks odd:

http://rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s409133.jpg

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

Is it someone looking through a toilet seat??

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

And is it my mind playing tricks, or did I read about a new Lee Ranaldo solo album of songs somewhere too?

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

i'm having an argument with a friend who says he doesn't like sy - his argument basically consists of "how many of their songs can you sing? i bet not any" (he is not a luddite, he's into lots of good stuff, but has a real block with certain bands, artier ones i guess). i seem to spend half my life wandering around singing sy songs under my breath but i think i'm a bit too close to it and half the time i'm singing the texture not the tune, if that makes any sense. so... request suggestions for a melody-based sy comp?

― emsk, Monday, 11 June 2007 14:44 (seventeen years ago)

i'm not sure if i've already commented somewhere on this thread, but of course classic.

and search pretty much the whole catalogue. at the very least, there's something interesting going on in all the records. don't really bother with the nyc ghosts and flowers thing though

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago)

Jaymc made this poppy SY mix for me:

1. Expressway to Yr Skull (1986, Evol)
2. Schizophrenic (1987, Sister)
3. Teen Age Riot (1988, Daydream Nation)
4. Cross the Breeze (1988, Daydream Nation)
5. Kool Thing (1990, Goo)
6. Tunic (Song for Karen) (1990, Goo)
7. Sugar Kane (1992, Dirty)
8. Bull in the Heather (1994, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star)
9. Skip Tracer (1995, Washing Machine)
10. Diamond Sea (Edit) (1995, Washing Machine)
11. Sunday (1997, A Thousand Leaves)
12. The Empty Page (2002, Murray Street
13. Unmade Bed (2004, Sonic Nurse
14. Reena (2006, Rather Ripped)
15. Incinerate (2006, Rather Ripped)

― Jordan, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago)

Hmm, how about Star Power?

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:15 (seventeen years ago)

(In addition to Jordan's list)

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:15 (seventeen years ago)

"how many of their songs can you sing? i bet not any" (he is not a luddite, he's into lots of good stuff, but has a real block with certain bands, artier ones i guess).

Is your friend's name Geir Hongro?

― Mr. Que, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:16 (seventeen years ago)

heheh! no...

― emsk, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:19 (seventeen years ago)

that comp looks good, a good start point anyway, thank you
i had wish fulfilment and my friend goo and madonna, sean and me down too
good?

― emsk, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago)

Madonna, Sean & Me = Expressway To Yr Skull :)

Tis good though yeah.

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:40 (seventeen years ago)

re: NYCGF is to be entirely avoided. I don't generally adore Lee's foregrounded beat trips, but I think the title track on it is pretty thrillingly built, levelled, and released; the rest of the album is mostly meh or worse, though.

― West Lake Wallowing, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago)

haha i am useless
that's what i get for trying to do 4590 things at once

― emsk, Monday, 11 June 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago)

euh, that mix above is like an amalgam of most of my least favorite SY tracks from those albums. except 'expressway to yr skull,' which is possibly the best poppy song SY have ever done.

― the table is the table, Monday, 11 June 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago)

i really love their 'hated' albums, experimental jet set and NYCGAF... 'sweet shine' off ejt&ns just floors me every. single. time. kim's singing is sublime.

― stevie, Monday, 11 June 2007 17:05 (seventeen years ago)

experimental jet set is sometimes my favourite

― emsk, Monday, 11 June 2007 17:10 (seventeen years ago)

Some glorious day I'll have Dirty on CD.

― Bimble, Monday, 11 June 2007 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

(Somewhat surprised Jaymc's SY pop mix didn't include "Little Trouble Girl!")

― nabisco, Monday, 11 June 2007 17:34 (seventeen years ago)

I thought this would be about the Daydream Nation Deluxe cd that leaked yesterday.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 11 June 2007 18:21 (seventeen years ago)

Other songs I would include as tuneful, well-composed SY tunes (sometimes maybe a bit on the proggy side of SY as opposed to the 'pop' side):
"Candle"
"Dirty Boots"
"Disappearer"
"Wish Fulfillment"
maybe "Disconnection Notice"
"New Hampshire"

― Sundar, Monday, 11 June 2007 18:29 (seventeen years ago)

(By and large, though, there's not usually a whole lot going on melodically, which may be what emsk's friend is getting at. They have tunes but they're usually very basic ones.)

― Sundar, Monday, 11 June 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago)

I made a similar comp for Dominique Leone but I never sent it to him, it went:

1. Intro
2. Teenage Riot
3. Schizophrenia
4. Tom Violence
5. Star Power
6. Eric's Trip
7. Dissapear
8. The Sprawl
9. Candle
10. Mote
11. Shadow of a Doubt
12. Sugar Kane
13. Wish Fulfillment
14. Pacific Coast Highway
15. Cotton Crown
16. Xpressway to yr Skull

basically the most hummable numbers from the 86-91 or so period. And anyone who says they don't write catchy singable songs to me will have to hear some of my singing, and it usually starts with "I went away, to see an old friend of mine..."

― dan selzer, Monday, 11 June 2007 21:17 (seventeen years ago)

I like your comp a lot.

"Green Light" is another song I love that hardly anyone mentions.

― Sundar, Monday, 11 June 2007 22:07 (seventeen years ago)

I didn't mean for the mix to be a "Sonic Youth goes pop" mix per se, just a good intro to the band for someone who hadn't heard much of them before. By and large, that tended to be pop-oriented stuff.

I did almost put "Star Power" on there, though.

― jaymc, Monday, 11 June 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago)

Daydream Nation live next month: SO EXCITED YOU GUYS.

― jaymc, Monday, 11 June 2007 22:34 (seventeen years ago)

three months pass...

Expressway To Your Skull

― Bimble, Sunday, 23 September 2007 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

Shadow of A Doubt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSc8957FoSQ

― Bimble, Sunday, 23 September 2007 17:20 (seventeen years ago)

Expressway to Yr Skull

― dan selzer, Monday, 24 September 2007 02:16 (seventeen years ago)

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