[whorefrost]

The purpose of this post is to relay two incidents when I heard new Sonic Youth records and was all, to employ the parlance of our times, WTF?!

1) Murray Street - Midway thru Disconnection Notice when that classic rock solo kicks in, first time I was listening to this I was all, whoa, this does not sound like Sonic Youth. That, combined with the production on that record which was quite lush in a way that I would never have associated with Sonic Youth so much before. I was like, shit, this is the new Sonic Youth record, whoa. In a way, I could not believe it. I felt as if I had inhabited a parallel universe where a subtly different version of Sonic Youth existed. I remember coming home from college drunk on the bus, listening to Murray Street on my mini-disk walkman and being like, shit, I cannot believe this is the new Sonic Youth record. It was different and great and acutely weird.

2) Rather Ripped - Midway thru Incinerate where someone stomps on a chorus pedal. I had never heard such a pronounced chorus effect in a Sonic Youth track before. To use the parlance of our times, I was... yeh, you get the idea...
First time I heard Rather Ripped I despised it to the point of despair. I could not believe how shitty it sounded. As I listened, I imagined tacky mid-to-late 90s music videos with loads of flare videography/photography you know where the screen flashes all white and there is slo-mo christ I do not know how to describe it properly and what's more I am quite inebriated.

2.5) The Eternal - I am choosing Walkin' Blue and am not assigning it #3 status becuz the effect is comparatively mild. This song sounds really quite very late 60s early 70s to these ears unlike most Sonic Youth songs which are multi/layered or else deceptive in their spatial referencing. But it's still very Sonic Youth and I dig it a lot. I also really dig Disconnection Notice a lot. Hell, Incinerate is OK too.

Please relate yr own experiences of hearing new Sonic records and experiencing un-anticipated sounds.

I have been listening to this shit for just over a decade so did not have the pleasure of listening to anything pre-NYC Ghosts and Flowers at the time of release. But I know some of you guys did and what were your impressions?

xx