Crib Notes

Sonic Youth played the Variety Playhouse on Mon., July 13, in support of their latest album, The Eternal. The Entrance Band opened.

Within the first few seconds of pressing play on The Eternal, Sonic Youth’s 16th studio album in nearly 30 years, the band sounds like it has been recharged. “Sacred Trickster” tears the album wide open with a visceral intensity that surges into “Anti-Orgasm,” bringing the album to a frenzied climax of noise and chiming, art-punk dirge.

Sonic Youth hasn’t rocked this hard in years, and the fire was sparked in 2007 when the group went on tour playing the 1988 masterpiece Daydream Nation. “After reacquainting ourselves with Daydream Nation, we were really surprised by the energy of some of the songs,” says guitarist and vocalist Lee Ranaldo. “At first we didn’t think it was such a hot idea, but revisiting those songs really inspired a lot of what’s going on with this record.” Continue reading.

See a gallery of images of both Sonic Youth and the Entrance Band performing at Variety Playhouse on Monday night.

Sonic Youth’s “Sacred Trickster” mp3

(Photos by Perry Julien)

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Within the first few seconds of pressing play on The Eternal, Sonic Youth’s 16th studio album in nearly 30 years, the band sounds like it has been recharged. “Sacred Trickster” tears the album wide open with a visceral intensity that surges into “Anti-Orgasm,” bringing the album to a frenzied climax of noise, and chiming, art-punk dirge.

Sonic Youth hasn’t rocked this hard in years, and the fire was sparked in 2007 when the group went on tour playing the 1988 masterpiece Daydream Nation. “After reacquainting ourselves with Daydream Nation, we were really surprised by the energy of some of the songs,” says guitarist and vocalist Lee Ranaldo. “At first we didn’t think it was such a hot idea, but revisiting those songs really inspired a lot of what’s going on with this record.”

Continue reading “Sonic Youth remains Eternal ever after”

(Photo by Michael Schmelling)

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Sonic Youth’s umpteenth studio album The Eternal hit the streets yesterday via Matador Records, and it is a monster. The gorgeous John Fahey painting on the album’s cover sums it up in one circular and rhythmic motion.

The Eternal is a swirling mass of stark, guitar textures where persistent, avant-garde movements lure the senses into a familiar place before opening up to reveal the truly bombastic nature of the album.

Over the last decade albums such as NYC Ghosts and Flowers, Sonic Nurse and Rather Ripped have upheld the group’s legacy, but The Eternal is easily Sonic Youth’s strongest record in years. “Sacred Trickster,” “Anti-Orgasm,” “Antenna” and “No Way” evoke the energy, the darkness and the noise wrought with such early staples as “EVOL,” “Sister” and “Daydream Nation.” But what sets The Eternal apart is a uniformly brilliant batch of songs that find the band thrashing through chiming melodies, chops, feedback and drones, butted against the vocal back-and-forth of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore who come across sharper and more energetic than they have sounded in quite some time. “Sacred Trickster” sets the machine in motion with urgency and an affinity for the noir side of bleak art for the sake of rock and roll, which is what Sonic Youth has always done best. More on this in the weeks to come.

“Sacred Trickster” mp3

Sonic Youth plays the Variety Playhouse with the Entrance Band on Mon., July 13. $25. 8p.m.

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