Seems like I’ve been a fan for nearly as long as the band has existed, but I guess that isn’t true. Probably 23 years ago I bought my first Sonic Youth album, from the used record section at Waterloo Records. Truth be told though, their last dozen releases have been meh, but I keep hoping the next will spark some connection.
‘Bands are usually a young man’s game,” says Thurston Moore, the guitarist with Sonic Youth for nearly 30 years. “Historically, they don’t stay together. We never had any animosity towards each other. I guess we never felt like we hit a wall with what we were doing. We never really had any ambitions for reaching a certain goal. We never had a hit we had to repeat.”
“Lots of bands don’t survive that kind of spike in popularity, or ego, or finances,” agrees fellow guitarist Lee Ranaldo. “We came into this feeling fairly serious about ourselves as artists and this is our medium, which happens to involve a collaborative group – it’s just never gotten boring or rote. It’s still incredibly fulfilling and interesting.”
Sonic Youth played their first gig 28 years ago this month, at the Noise Fest in New York City. Few bands stay together for that long, and fewer still remain so vital. The quintessential New York art-rock group have survived and flourished both through a rare internal democracy (Ranaldo likens their composition process to “making a group sculpture”) and, it seems, by simply being too busy to become disaffected. Sonic Youth’s discography is a sprawling affair, now encompassing 16 official studio albums, various compilations and a slew of self-released, more experimental releases.
All four core members (Moore, Kim Gordon, Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, who have recently been joined by former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold) work extensively outside the group, producing poetry and visual art, solo albums and collaborations with other musicians and artists, and running record labels
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Am looking forward to getting my copy of The Eternal on June 9.
After years on Geffen Records, Sonic Youth return to an indie label with their sixteenth studio album. “The Eternal” is a supercharged rocker, recalling aspects of the Evol-Sister-Daydream Nation holy trinity, but with cleaner, louder production and more straightforward momentum. With Pavement’s Mark Ibold joining on bass, and producer John Agnello back at the controls, “The Eternal” takes the melodic songwriting of 2006’s “Rather Ripped” and slams down the accelerator pedal. Initial pressing in a 4-panel wallet with two printed inner sleeves; one containing disc, the other a sticker and card with credits. Subsequent pressings are jewel case. Double LP hyper-deluxe HQ 180 RTI vinyl analog in heavy duty Stoughton gatefold sleeve, printed inner sleeves, and MP3 coupon.
How do you like The Eternal? I’ve enjoyed it, but then I liked Rather Ripped a lot, too.
I like it, but not as much as their classic-to-me albums like Sister and EVOL. Actually though, it is growing on me. Some albums take a while to penetrate your musical consciousness (if that makes any sense)