Skink
"now we tone-soul merge ideas of song forms and freedom - miss seafood, miss cheesecake, a coupla miss donuts - the edge of a blade pressed to the throat of your reflected image"
-Lee Ronaldo, Skip Tracer
My first exposure to them was back in Atlanta, 1995. I was watching a music video by them called, "Bull in the Heather" (which I suspect is a name of a fictional horse "bettin' on the Bull in the Heather" - I'm working on what it means, if anything at all) where this girl with pigtails jumps around and is generally annoying the band and I thought, this is so bad but so catchy and unlike the pop/alternative stuff I hear. Somewhere (Mediaplay in Alpharetta, GA probably) I ended up buying the CD (Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star - I no longer have the case) and played it quite a bit.
... the girl is none other than Kathleen Hannah, the lead singer of my previous obsessive band (still top though), Le Tigre! So there it is, somehow she made my obsession from Le Tigre to SY a natural progression.
What makes Sonic Youth so appealing to me? As I mentioned above there is the experiemental/unique factor, but I think it's mostly that I appreciate that genre. In college I was obsessed with They Might Be Giants and I can kind of see a similarity in the two. They both mix genres/styles, have familiar melodies (sorry I have almost no knowledge of music theory, but hopefully that will change), and their lyrics can often times be cryptic or even surreal. And in that sense, they are the post-(post)-modern bands. They use everything: punk, performance, rap, electronica, heavy metal, rock, 60's music, you name it. Some have described their music as the "perfect noise."
Currently my favorite songs are their "fast" stuff like Purr, Pattern Recognition, Kool Thing, Sugar Kane, Tunic (ok maybe not that fast), Washing Machine, Panty Lies, and on and on. I would love to hear your thoughts/theories on this band, what songs/CDs you like, and your history of listening to them.
Lindsay's new toy
1776
Ms. Leah B.
One of my closest friends moved out of the house this past weekend and the house already feels empty and much quieter. She's a wonderful person, one of the funniest people I know and a geniune and decent person. Granted, it takes a while to get to know her (and I guess I'm not sure if she thinks I do (omgwtfbbq?)) and when she opens up, she's that much more amazing. She is one of those characters I never want to lose touch with. Sure, she's only about a mile and a half away, but it still feels far away. :(
3 Comments:
Hey Andy, I love Sonic Youth. One of my favs is Sweet Shine off of Expiremental....I actually got on stage and hugged Thurston when he played up at Lupos in Rhode Island.
I got booted out of the show for their encoure, but it was worth it.
Sorry about your friend.:(
As a late late bloomber to SY, I never got to see any shows, but one of my friends who used to follow them religiously in college told me that they by far had the best live performance. :(
I like Sweet Shine, particularly when Kim starts yelling, "I'm coming home!!!!" Mine from Experimental obviously is Bull in the Heather followed closely by Self-Obsessed and Sexxee and Screaming Skull
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