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

THE SONIC YOUTH POST

So... since my blog is named after the band, what's my unhealthy obsession with Sonic Youth?

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.

Flashforward: 10 years. 2005, with the mini-ipod mentioned in the first post, I looked into my old collection of CDs to upload (I was "only" using 1 GB of 4 GBs (which I thought I would never use)) and that pretty much started it all. So I was now looking up all things Sonic Youth on the internet and Yahoo had a few of their videos, including "Bull in the Heather." cool, I watch it and there's that girl again dancing around being obnoxious and...

... 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."

The three lead singers all have a distinctive style and yet they never seem to get in the way of others. I suppose Kim Gordon is my favorite becuase of her energy and her "grounded insanity." Thurston is more like a rock and roll guy and Lee Ronaldo has a very interesting commercial announcer like voice and great lyrical style. Then there are the supporting cast: the two guitars clashing and doing all kinds of "riffs" and it all somehow works.

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

I got my cat one of those carpet trees and it's taller than me. That's cool since I didn't get her anything for her 1st Christmas or her 1st birthday. So far she seems to like it ok. I love how she smells everything new so carefully before deciding if she likes it and so far she is being her adorable self with it.

1776

My copy of Avalon Hill's 1776 arrived this past weekend. It's an interesting game and it's neat to go back in time (in more ways than one) and see a hexboardgame from the early days (2nd ed. published 1975). It has the usual Attack Strength and Movement Points, and it's divided into Basic, Advanced and Optional rules. I can't wait to play it.

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. :(