SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Made in USA (1986 released in 1995).
The liner notes explain a lot of what was behind this disc. The then largely unknown Sonic Youth was asked to score a cool indie film, which later became a less cool more mainstream film and ultimately went straight to video.
The CD is mostly background music, but it is notable for how mainstream it sounds (for Sonic Youth in the mid-80s) and for how bad it sounds–like it was recorded in a can.
It’s mostly completely listenable soundtrack mood music. It’s nothing to rush out and buy, especially if you like the noisier SY stuff, but, and this is something of a shock, its sounds quite nice, almost ambient at times.
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, it’s worth noting that “Secret Girl” from EVOL appears in a slightly different form (twice actually).
[READ: July 29, 2009] The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature
This is the first book published by McSweeney’s Books. And it is indeed handsome, with a nice yellow ribbon for marking your page.
And so, who is Neal Pollack? Well, as you all know, Neal Pollack is the greatest living writer today. He has been writing for decades and has written some of the most important books, and the most important articles that anyone has ever read. His book on life as an African America has not only impressed Oprah, but it has inspired Toni Morrison and Henry Louis Gates.
And, as you can see from the back of the book, everyone from Hunter S. Thompson to Normal Mailer sings his praises. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH in concert from NPR (July 7, 2009 at Washington DC’s 9:30 Club).
I’m not sure how I learned that this show was online. But I was pretty delighted to see 
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-EVOL (1986).
Ah, EVOL. Here’s where Sonic Youth became Sonic Youth. Who knows how much Steve Shelley had to do with it, but he shows up and the band becomes amazing. The cover art is pretty darn scary and yet the music inside is amazingly beautiful. While by no means a commercial album, the album is chock full of melody.
SOUNDTRACK: Songs That Got Us Through WW2 (1993).
My dad was in World War II. He was a Navy man, and he worked on airplanes. He was stationed in the South Pacific. When I was growing up, he listened to a lot of big band music (while most of my friends’ parents were listening to folk music).
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Sonic Death: Early Sonic 1981-1983 (1984).
This document shows just how scary a Sonic Youth show could have been back in their early days. Well, not scary so much as noisy! They mention that they’ve been touring with the Swans, so you can imagine how intense these shows must have been.
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Confusion is Sex (1983).
On the Sonic Death album, a collection of live recordings from 1981-83, Thurston mentions that they are touring with the Swans, a New York City doom and gloom band of thunderous proportions. [This was before the Swans put out their first album, an incredibly slow, bass heavy bombastic disc of nihilism. I can only imagine how raw they were BEFORE that one.] Anyhow, that explains somewhat why this disc sounds like it does…if they were a part of a scene with the Swans, then their music would naturally be all about notes, not necessarily music.
I can’t help but hear his voice when I read his words, which makes it sound even funnier.
Who has ever heard of this magazine? I hadn’t. And then 
A few years ago I was visiting my friend Roman. He asked me if I read 
After the insane hardcore mess of Land Speed Record, this EP is a bit of a change. It’s still pretty hardcore, but now you can tell that the noisiness of the guitar is deliberate. Bob Mould is playing around with multiple layers of feedback and distortion to create a wall of noise that sometimes hides, sometime accentuates the overall sound.
Back oh, fifteen years ago, I subscribed to 
I Just Read About That... 