Burnin’ Up
I cannot wrap my head around it. Earlier in the week I was reading the newspaper and noticed Thurston Moore’s birthday amidst other celebrities as he was turning fifty-one. Unbelievable. But then again some might say it is also unbelievable how this band remains so vital in a cutlure whose landscape changes on whims and passing trends, Sonic Youth maintains a voice that matters. With most of its members past the fifty year mark, I don’t think it presumptous to suppose the band might still be making gorgeous racket into their senior citizen years. Dinners at 4 p.m., shows at 8.
Sonic Youth plays Oakland’s Fox Theater on Sunday August 2nd, and we were there. Albeit a bit late, and missing openers Awesome Color. Note to self, Sunday shows require earlier departure times as many folks from San Francisco and the Bay Area use the weekend to get up to the mountains and Tahoe, therefore their return in massive numbers made for slow, slow moving traffic for much of our journey. The only saving grace is that I had seen Awesome Color twice before and was not impressed. Given Thurston Moore’s seal of approval and a spot on his Ecstatic Peace Record Label, meant I had to give the Awesome Color a chance no matter how many Stooges references I waded through. I caught them on the Rather Ripped tour in Sacramento and Reno. Both shows saw the trio deliver a few inspired moments, other than that I could only day dream of all the bands that might have opened; Magik Markers? Dinosaur Jr? Blonde Redhead? Deerhunter? Okay, we missed Awesome Color, and I assured my friend and traveling buddy that he would survive this minor setback. We had been at the Fox Theater for not even seven minutes and Sonic Youth was taking the stage.
Sonic Youth introduced “No Way” off of The Eternal with “This is a song about love!” Drum sticks click, band hits opening chord and comes to a grinding halt. Thurston: “Okay, what I meant to say is . . . This is a song about hate!” This time of course, the band hits it and keeps on punishing the number in a manner that breathes new life into a song that is pretty good on the album, and live, a classic.
Thurston seemed a bit subdued this evening, While his guitar playing and performance were energetic as usual, his silly jokes, and hilarious comments were notably absent. Look, I realize people did not pay tickets to see Carrot Top, but nonetheless, I love Thurston’s crazed humor between the songs. I really missed it this time around. I would imagine that touring means an individual is not going to be gregarious, charming, and full of piss and vinegar 365 days a year. Let the guy be a human being. That said, out of the thirteen times I have seen the band, this show easily ranked as one of the top three. The last time I had caught the band was during The Daydream Nation tour where they played the double album from start to finish at a UC Berkeley Hall. That show might have been my least favorite of Sonic Youth’s as the format demanded the band ‘play the album’ - while there were some moments of improvisation and spontaneity, they were few and far between. It felt like the band started breathing again when they came back for the encore and played a bunch of songs of Rather Ripped, joking and having fun.
Sunday’s show featured most every song off The Eternal. Highlight’s included “Calming the Snake”, “Sacred Trickster”, “Anti-Orgasm”, “No Way”, “Leaky Lifeboat”, and “Antenna”. One of the oddest things to see was Thurston Moore sitting down with an acoustic guitar for the entirity of “Massage the History” - which worked massively well; it’s hypnotic passages winding, uncoiling, and falling into another one of those glorious noise meltdowns that Sonic Youth surely have trademarked as their own. Euphoric and perfect.
From their back catalog, most was saved for the encores. The band brought new energy and dynamism to “The Sprawl” and “Cross the Breeze” from Daydream Nation. Admittedly, I have never really cared for those songs on record, but this very evening, live, they made me a believer. The way in which the band performed these songs was anything but perfunctory - it was evident, the band cared and enjoyed these songs themselves. When a band displays this sort of ‘buy-in’ it is always evident to the audience and they in turn are carried with the moment.
Evol is perhaps my very favorite Sonic Youth album. Some of that might be because this was the album I was exposed to first. The band played “Tom Violence” earlier in the set to an enthusiastic crowd. The song never fails to impress with its monolithic, towering chords; “…left home for experience, carved ‘Suk for Honesty’ on my chest.” “Tom Violence” is one mysterious dark dark dream. “Shadow of a Doubt” was also played. As much as I love it on album, I think the live version they are performing on this tour proves even more compelling. The delicacy in which the band took this one was as if a veil had fallen, cutting through the audience’s drunk chatter, and forcing one’s attention on the harmonics and hush that wrapped up the song. As beautiful as the song registered, it still seemed a bit too haunted for the lovey couples around us to be kissing, whispering, fondling. I wanted to tap a pair of star crossed lovers on the shouder and recommend they rent Alfred Hitchock’s “Strangers On a Train” - and oh yeah, your swapping spit to a murder ballad my friends.
Sonic Youth - White Kross Live ‘87
Sonic Youth: The MIchael Jordan of Indie Rock?
Sonic Youth is so good at what they do at this point in their career it is difficult to discuss with each new album exactly how it compares to their vast catalog. Sonic Youth albums never disappoint just as Meryl Streep’s acting never seems to be less than perfect, or Michael Jordan’s game was never anything but dominant. While I find Streep and Jordan boring because of their perfection and lack of surprise, Sonic Youth’s dominance in the underground rock sweepstakes never means they dial it in. Each new album in itself works as a whole (sterling arguments counter to the old ‘the album is dead!’ proclamation) harboring a multitude of thrills and unexpected avenues you suspected someone must have explored somewhere but didn’t.
The Eternal is Sonic Youth’s first album for Matador and a reunion of sorts with Gerard Cosloy whom issued the band’s seminal Bad Moon Rising. The album holds its own identity yet feeds from the playful looseness of Rather Ripped combined with the politico noise pop of Dirty. “Sacred Trixter” is a two minute rush with a breathless Kim Gordon working against grinding/sighing guitar strings. “Antenna” is a melancholic mess of chiming guitars and hooky lyrics much like “Disappearer”. ”What We Know” and “Walkin Blue” are Lee’s strongest songs in years.
Much was made of Jim O’Rourke’s time in Sonic Youth, but I would have to say the albums that have followed his residence are much stronger. Rather Ripped saw the original quartet serve up their best songs since Dirty. The Eternal is similarly focused, appearing as if the band’s core, the four, are what make the machine get up and go. Mark Ibold (Dustdevils, Pavement) plays bass for the band now, as he did on its last tour. Hard to tell from the liner notes if he contributed to the recording, though the bass line on Lee’s “What We Know” sounds decidedly different for the way the bass plays against Thurston and Lee’s guitars.The Eternal will stand as one of 2009’s best, but how do you rate a fantastic album in a fantastic band’s catalog? It’s all subjective - there’s no science - It’s all your heart. . . Ron Asheton forever indeed.
Sonic Youth - Antenna (Link Removed By Request)
ONE LAST NOTE: Concerning the removal of link - I was contacted by Matador with a polite notice to not post songs from Sonic Youth’s new album. Sonic Youth is my favorite band, and in no way was the post meant to hurt. As a record store employee might share a song with a customer is how I saw the post - regardless, I also see the point a small label has in calling it a pirate copy. I love the band, I love the label, I have zero problem removing any link that is asked to be removed. I can only say, go out and buy this album now as well as the Slash autobiography I am reading right now. What a great summer read!!! The Eternal might make the best soundtrack for Slash’s musings on teenage lust and Black Sabbath . . .