Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Sonic Youth throws another one on the pile.
Scenario: a band can consistently create really good albums in the vein of this one, Murray Street or A Thousand Leaves, or for that matter, EVOL, Sister, and Washing Machine.
Question: do they have a duty (to themselves, to God, to me) to do anything else? Should they risk it all on a colossal mistake?
Consider The Whitey Album, from “Ciccone Youth,” the stunted Madonna-wallowing alternative path they took in 85 or so. It is huge fun to listen to. Thurston Moore’s folk-rocky solo album Trees Outside the Academy, featuring Steve Shelley, was a great follow up to Rather Ripped, which itself was a revelation that SY could successfully drop the distorted tone-clusters, edited freakout jams, and sucker-punch vocals in favor of beauty, structure, and really excellent singing from the usually murky Kim Gordon.
Is it dictated by the popular music market? Look at Beck, whose innate appeal to frat boys and hippies (to the extent there’s a difference anymore) means his core audience is much larger. He took pretty much the opposite approach, creating a unique sound-world for each of his albums, at least up until Guero. Even if this was an artistically worthy choice, with Odelay and “Loser” looming in his discography, every move he made was considered not on its own but in terms of what that crazy Beck was going to do next. Since Guero, he has relied more or less on his old formula.
Why can’t Sonic Youth do something like Trees Outside the Academy? More to the point, why don’t they make something that will really clean clocks and take out the trash? They may be unable as a group to cooperate in any other endeavor. Perhaps it’s a business choice, to create a consistent brand. Maybe they are imitating modern artists who make an endless string of “Untitled #” paintings, all the same sampling of colors and shapes.
Tied with Bill Callahan’s Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle for best sounding record of 2009.
5 months ago
