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SONIC YOUTH: Rather Ripped |
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Tuesday, 04 April 2006 |
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1990/91/92: (Goo, Dirty, TV Shit)
They released the LP "Goo" in 1990 and spent that summer blasting across America with Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the Ragged Glory tour. With "alternative rock" and "grunge" sweeping the nation (Nirvana sold a zillion records and the industry was a new deal----sort of) SY recorded "Dirty" in 1992 and raged globally on the Pretty Fucking Dirty tour from whence the live TV Shit 12" (featuring Eye of the Boredoms) on Ecstatic Peace came from.
1993/94/95: (Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star)
SY toured and toured and in 1994 they released the odd and rather zapped LP "Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star"
In 1995 they headlined Lollapalooza and toured with REM.
1996/97/98: (Washing Machine, A Thousand Leaves, SYR 1, 2 + 3, Silver Session (for Jason Knuth)
In 1996 they released "Washing Machine" recorded in the deep south of Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1997 SY built a studio, played the Tibetan Freedom Festival for the 2nd year running and recorded soundtrack music for Richard Linklater and Eric Bogosian's Suburbia film. They also recorded a series of EPs on their own homegrown label SYR (Anagrama, Slaapkamers met Slagroom, and Invito al Cielo). This music was extrapolated, mostly instrumental forays into wild improvisatory meditations and sub/conscious structural creations. This work helped develop the 1998 lp "A Thousand Leaves" as well as the "Silver Session" (for Jason Knuth) CD in benefit to suicide prevention awareness.
1999-2004: (NYC Ghosts & Flowers, Goodbye 20th Century, Murray Street, Sonic Nurse)
In the summer of 1999 SY were liberated from all the signature sound tools they developed for the last 12 years or so. They came home and picked up hammers + nails and started afresh writing the LP entitled "NYC Ghosts & Flowers."
Jim O'Rourke helped out on that LP and actually toured with SY during this time. With additional input from Bay Area percussionist William Winant the band recorded an homage to an array of 20th Century new music composers (John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, Yoko Ono, Steve Rich and others) entitled "Goodbye 20th Century" released on their own SYR imprint. This expanded line up toured playing these pieces across Europe. Jim continued working with the band participating in the writing/arranging of the subsequent "Murray Street" LP as well as recording music for Olivier Assayas' Demonlover film- all amidst the ruined landscape of the World Trade Center. They curated the first stateside All Tomorrow's Parties festival in L.A. spring 2002 and toured hard throughout the summer. The band regrouped for 2003's Coachella Festival and did a short tour with Wilco. They then finished the summer off doing a handful of gigs with, and by invitation of, Iggy & the Stooges.
Injected with fire they cut "Sonic Nurse", a motherfucker of an LP released June 2004.
2005-2006: (Rather Ripped)
2005 had SY revisiting awesome Japan, touring the boroughs of New York, rollicking at the first Arthurfest in L.A., and releasing the special deluxe edition of GOO. After one final gnarl out in Brazil w/ Flaming Lips, The Stooges and others Mr. Jim O'Rourke decided to concentrate full-time on his Japanese studies of language and film and SY was subsequently back to it's OG nucleus of Kim-Thurston-Lee-Steve. Songs were written, Jim recommended engineer TJ Doherty and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) recommended mix engineer John Agnello and SY created the oddly titled "Rather Ripped". The whole deal was recorded in the waning hours of 2005 into the dawn sunshine of 2006 at the venerable Sear Sound studios in NYC's fading theatre district. Partially mixed there and at Hoboken, NJ's Water Music by the golden juice ear of John Agnello it exhibits SY in positive vibration mode. 12 songs of forward motion and harmonic/melodic surprise. Vocals shared by the frontline of Thurston, Kim and Lee with Steve groove gluing the rhythms into rock n roll infection.
They bust out o' the sonic barn with Incinerate and Reena then contemplate holy war mind games with Do You Believe in Rapture? and keep cruising strong with track after track of risk-laden rock jammers until floating out with the curious Or.
This is a straight-up Sonic Youth field on fire, with a compact potency of rock n roll enlightenment. Rather ripped, indeed.
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