Sonic Youth is streaming their entire new album, The Eternal, via ilike.com (and probably some other sources as well). The album, clad in the rags of another generation, is properly “released” in a week’s time (June 9), but the old-fashioned definition of a “release date” hardly means a thing anymore. But the confluence of two releases is what has me going: two collections by two very influential bands in my sphere, coming out years after I had frankly ceased paying attention to either of them. A fair-weather fan of sorts, I’ll admit, but sticking with a band for more than 10 years or 8 records has always been a tough prospect for me. AC/DC … Rush … Rolling Stones … all played an enormously potent role in my early musical formation, but I admit that I abandoned each of them as they and I aged, writing them off as no longer relevant as I moved from passionate, nerdy grade-schooler to angst-ridden, wish-I-was-cool-and-Rush-is-not-cool-like-the-Clash teen.
Likewise, in my thirties, I left Dinosaur, Jr. and SY behind … for a time. The clamor of Indie rock moving into the main stream, for better or worse, opened up a universe of great music that in years past was hard to find and as a result, unsustainable for the artists in question. The blitz of great new bands in the post-SY era (remember, 1991: The Year Punk Broke was about SY, not Nirvana) made SY seem dated, formulaic, predictable. The love affair was over.
I’m pleased to report that what I have heard from both records (both, perhaps not coincidentally, recorded with volume and panache by John Agnello) re-uncovers what first captured my imagination about both bands back in ‘85-‘86. More guitars. Better song-writing. Lou Barlow.
Here’s Mote, featuring J Mascis with backing vox on one of Lee Ranaldo’s best-ever compositions.
