I'm Listening to Sonic Youth Right Now...

[AFK]

I actually have a fairly limited catalog of their work but have been slowly adding on albums. 

But man, if you add in all of the side project, collaborations, one-offs, they have a pretty massive discography. 

[LMNO]

Dude, if you take into account when they were essentially practicing in a recording studio with the mics on for years after Dirty, and releasing one-off CDs monthly, their output is insane.

[AFK]

This is one I need to add to my collection.  I had it in my hands once in a record store but for some inexplicable reason put it down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Session_for_Jason_Knuth

Silver Session for Jason Knuth is a 1998 EP by Sonic Youth. Its eight tracks consist entirely of guitar feedback with occasional drum machine. Jason Knuth – of the album's title – was a Sonic Youth fan who committed suicide, and proceeds from the record's sales were donated to San Francisco Suicide Prevention Hotline. An explanation of the record is found in the liner notes:
"Silver Sessions were taken from an evening when SY had to do vocal overdubs for 'A Thousand Leaves' – the band upstairs was hammering out some funky metal overdrive and we couldn't "sing" properly (?!) – we decided to fight fire with molten lava and turned every amp we owned on to 10+ and leaned as many guitars and basses we could plug in against them and they roared/HOWLED like airplanes burning over the pacific – we could only enter the playing room with hands pressed hard against our ears and even then it was physically stunning – we ran a sick outmoded beatbox through the P.A. and it blew out horrendous distorted pulsations. Of course we recorded the whole thing and a few months later we mixed it down into sections, ultra-processing it to a wholly other "piece" – in a way, it's my favorite record of ours – I hope Jason [Knuth, to whom the release is dedicated] digs it --- keep on keep on keep on --- thurston/sonic youth/nyc 1998."

[LMNO]

Yeah, that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.  There are some real gems in there.

[Vaud]

I've always been a big fan of Dirty and Washing Machine, but last year I got into a pretty big kick with The Eternal.  Fantastic band, I'll go along with that.

[AFK]

http://youtu.be/q-E7RT1NoRo

[AFK]

A great performance of one of my favorite SY tunes, "Mote"

http://youtu.be/yRIWwxZN8Fk

Thanks for indulging me in my SY fanboi moment guys.

I like to think they are definitely a band in line with Discordia.

Their music is quite the embodiment of "creative disorder". 

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

I was turned on to them with Goo. Kind of blows my mind that was only a year before Nevermind. Everytime I listen to Titanium Expose I'm still the hippest fucking 15-year-old in Laporte, Colorado. And Kool Thing remains one of the sexiest things I've ever heard. Dirty Boots made me nostalgic the first time I ever heard it...

Experimental etc, is one of their few albums I've heard and never much cared for. Might give it a re-listen now that I've mellowed. May have more appeal.

I'm really digging on A Place To Bury Strangers...A lot of their raw noise stuff very much reminds me of SY with other noticeable influences mixed in there. A lot of times I hear them and think "so this is what it would sound like if SY included Al Jourgenson and Nivek Ogre...oh and here's Sonic Youth as fronted by Ian Curtis. They're worth checking out if you haven't.

[AFK]

I hope they find a way to soldier on even though Thurston and Kim are splitsville.  They are definitely one of those bands where pretty much everyone in the band is irreplacable.  I'd even put Steve Shelly in that category even though he isn't the original drummer.  His drumming style is definitely an intricate part of the SY sound now, and I think he doesn't get the credit he's due for that. 

I love his maraca/drumming technique. 

[Doktor Howl]

Make remarks.

[AFK]

I take it you're not a fan then. 

They're not everyone's cup of tea, I'll confess. 

[AFK]

Maybe you're more of a Gumball guy Dok. 

[AFK]

I bet you'd love Hum. 

[Mangrove]

Washing Machine was the album that got me into Sonic Youth. It was on a listening station in a record store (remember those?). I listened to a bit. Wasn't sure. Went back on a different day. Still wasn't sure. For some reason, I kept going back so, in the end, I bought Washing Machine on cassette (remember those?).

I think I bought every studio album from that point on and picked up Goo & Dirty in revamped double CD editions.

[AFK]

Washing Machine was the album that got me into Sonic Youth. It was on a listening station in a record store (remember those?). I listened to a bit. Wasn't sure. Went back on a different day. Still wasn't sure. For some reason, I kept going back so, in the end, I bought Washing Machine on cassette (remember those?).

I think I bought every studio album from that point on and picked up Goo & Dirty in revamped double CD editions.

Man, I've got boxes of cassettes, but no working cassette player.  I've contemplated adding a cassette deck to my car.  There's tons of stuff I'd love to listen to but I don't really want to shell out a lot of money to buy CDs. 

Washing Machine was the first Sonic Youth CD I bought, though my first real exposure was their tour video.  Which, yes, I bought because of all of the Nirvana performances.  I'd heard a Sonic Youth song before, I'm sure Kool Thing was one of them....but seeing them in that raw state really sold me.  That and I was already immersing myself into improv music as a performer, it was just natural.