New reviews of "five important Sonic Youth records" on Pitchfork.
 

EVOL (9.4) "If Daydream Nation is Sonic Youth’s opus, EVOL was crucial research."

Sister (9.8) "a gloriously climactic finish to the quartet of albums that followed Sonic Youth’s eponymous debut EP"

Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (6.8) "about the limbo between begrudging aspiration for pop success and the relief in discovering it was never meant to be."

Washing Machine (8.5) "Their squall had softened into sparkles. At least sometimes."

A Thousand Leaves (7.6) "A polarizing harvest" - "reveals a group that was still full of creative ambition nearly two decades into its career"

I saw this.

I could have sworn ATL had an 8+ rating before. But when I search, I can’t find it.

Certainly deserves an 8+ rating.

And EVOL deserves a 10
And Sister deserves a 10

Why did they do this again? I’m ashamed to admit it, but if this is an important date in SY history, I’ve been out of touch so long I’ve forgotten what the significance is.

Oh shit, I didn’t see the EJST&NS rating

That’s cold.
7.5 at least.

I mean, for me it’s an 8, but I can see how it wouldn’t be for everyone.

Morons.

I love EJS to bits. A rating of 6.8 is abominably low imo.

bass playing?

Yeah, not sure about that one.
Upturned bass, or way, way, way up on the fretboard, but it sounds more like a guitar. I am not a gearhead, so I can’t properly say.

If I remember reading correctly, isn't this the album she really started picking up the guitar more? Playing it through her bass rig?

I also wonder why, if doing this anyways, they did not go back and correct their abysmal NYCG&F fuckup.

/agreed

it's definitely a guitar on becuz.

There’s bass on the track, but the lead riff is not a bass.

Gearheads correct me if I’m wrong. Haven’t been a gearhead in a minute, but pretty sure it’s not a bass.


It wasn’t Kim’s playing of the bass that I took issue with. Kim has played plenty of both bass and guitar, but mostly bass. But I’m almost certain the riff on Becuz is not bass-led

[EDIT: There’s no bass on the track and I forgot that because sometimes I don’t listen to SY for a while. Jesus fucking Christ.]

If you watch the song live there is no bass on it and it doesn't sound like there is anything missing.

The gearography site also shows she plays the guitar on Becuz:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/eq/gearsets.html
scroll down to 01/16/96, and click on "guitar" in the Kim column. It will open this page http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/eq/gtr49.html


and also: http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/sy/song125.html
and here are the tabs: http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/becuz.txt (which I can't really understand, except that I guess she only plays two of the strings)


but yeah, when you hear the song it does sound like she's playing bass. Here's a video, of the coda where you can see how she plays the notes, it looks she's playing only the strings for the high notes, or where the high notes should normally be in regular tuning (the bottom ones, hey I don't know how else to explain this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G48K...youtu.be&t=255


let's just conclude that she's playing bass on a regular guitar :)

OK. It’s been a while since I sat and listened intently to Sonic Youth. Maybe there’s no bass. Idk

There's no bass

Yah yah, listened after posting this. I know I know.

guitar via bass amp

Everyone knows there is no bass on that track.

Not the writer of the article.

Or me for a sec.

So ... y’know ... shhh

Kim's guitar tuning on becuz is BEGDBB... all the strings are detuned from standard tuning, most of the strings are at least 2.5 whole steps down and the high strings even more since the high E is tuned in unison to the B which is not a standard pitch B but a whole octave lower... to summarize yeah thats easily "baritone" territory making it sound like a bass. String gages used have got to be wicked heavy.

Back to to the original topic, I don't know why Pitchfork is "revisiting" these albums, as they also seem to be do this for "classic" albums of significance by various bands/artists. They must not be finding enough current music to review or something or trying to bring important music/bands/music back to the fore.

Call yourself a real Sonic Youth fan!