Crib Notes

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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On Wednesday night a slew of jazz, noise and otherwise head-cleaning sounds are making a stand at Capsule in Grant Park (in the former Youngblood space on Glennwood Avenue SE and Waldo Street SE near I-20/Boulevard).

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth says of headling act, Michigan reeds/electronics duo Slither, “If two improvising horns in fug-mind gut interplay is not jazz then the form is dead. We say it is more alive than anyone in moldy fig land will ever know at this point. Slither is excellent reed street waste. Today’s jazz for today’s playboys.”

Also performing …

Steve Kenne of Wolf Eyes’ side-project Demons also plays a set of solo synth.
New Pledgemast (member of The Jasons playing solo vocals and electronics.
DJ Dirty Pillowz (member of of local long-standing noise improv. act Zandosis wielding turntables, broken records and a bent mind).

It should be noted that the show will end early. Music starts and 9 p.m. and will wrap up at 11 p.m. sharp. Cost is $5.

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