KOOL THINGS The Sonic Youth Listening Club. FINAL THOUGHTS start at post 2431

yeah i’m surprised by the reaction, it’s a good album. that just speaks to the strength of their catalogue tho eh that it’s not a great album, it’s just really good, so people don’t like it

4 Likes

There are some really good guitar and bass moments in most songs. There are a handful of songs I think are quite good, just not as good as those on past albums. I think overall the playing is good, the album mostly lacks in the songwriting and vocal departments.

1 Like

favourite track on Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star

  • Winner’s Blues
  • Bull in the Heather
  • Starfield Road
  • Skink
  • Screaming Skull
  • Self-Obsessed and Sexxee
  • Bone
  • Androgynous Mind
  • Quest for the Cup
  • Waist
  • Doctor’s Orders
  • Tokyo Eye
  • In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader
  • Sweet Shine

0 voters

score out of 10

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

Went with a 5 in the end just to solidify its place in my head cannon of it being ‘the mid one’

that’s as mid as it gets!

it’s bank holiday monday which can mean only one thing: time to load up the Washing Machine

11 Likes

Easily one of their most interesting records sonically speaking. The guitars on this thing are rad

Also incorperate psycadelica and dream pop into their sound. More coming when im at the keyboard

2 Likes

Becuz isn’t even what I’d consider to be a particular favourite on this album but holy fuck I’m already thrilled to be revisiting it

I may start saying things about how Washing Machine is better than Daydream Nation btw

5 Likes

Listened to Goo yesterday to try to catch up on my SY backlog

It was - good

2 Likes

Am I overthinking it, or am I right to suddenly realise that Washing Machine is very much (tone wise) EVOL - but with more confidence, more resources and better production behind it?

2 Likes

Everything in my brain tells me daydream nation is the better album but this one i enjoy more. Just really enjoy how much variety there is without it sounding disjointed and its a really unique sounding album

Theres nothing else quite like it so it fills a super specific niche in my collection that i keep on going back to

Also love how catchy a lot of the songs are whilst simultaniously being experimental and dissonant

It is the natural progression from Bull In The Heather in a lot of ways

4 Likes

Not sure if I like the production on any SY album

Think this might be right up there with my favourite production on any guitar album.

Love how much space the guitars have: how you can separate them doing their own things but then intertwining, interweaving with each other.

I think that Diamond Sea exemplifies this perfectly cos it’s 20 mins and a lot of that is an instrumental freakout but it never drags or gets boring cos there’s so much for your ears to chew on. It’s pretty much the perfect closer.

Anyway, I love Washing Machine. Think they made 4 or 5 10/10 records in their time and this is one of them. So hard to pick favourites because each time I listen to it something else jumps out at me. Listening to it right now and it was ‘Unwind’ that really stood out.

Anyway, yeah, if I’m ever feeling like I’m done with guitars/guitar music this album is the best possible antidote:

10

5 Likes

Listen to the diamond sea and tell me you dont like the production i dares u

Also agree woth scagden that this arguably their best produced record in general. Lots if space and the texture really shines

2 Likes

Unwind has a really cool fan video

1 Like

I’m liking the album a lot so far, I just feel like Steve Shelly is a very punchy drummer and there’s only a few times that actually comes through on SY recordings. Or more to the point, plenty of songs where the guitars and bass are creating an awesome whirl ström - and then the drums are way in the back, tapping along

Have to do the Sister - Daydream Nation run properly still anyway, so the view may change quickly

2 Likes

Skip Tracer

I Love Flirting GIF

5 Likes

Row house row house!

2 Likes

Listening to Washing Machine for the very first time and jotting down random thoughts:

Becuz – love the groove in this, Kim’s vocals are great. Liking the drums, not overproduced, how I like my Youth. Didn’t expect the strutting bass to turn into a drone, nor the more expansive bridge. The “becuz of you, becuz of you…” repeated lyric is lovely. Liking how this doesn’t finish quickly. This is already as good as anything on Jet Set.

Junkie’s Promise – Thurston’s first track and within seconds you can hear he’s more invested in his music than on the last album. There’s a punky swagger to this one. It sounds fairly controlled, even the outro, and this gives the tune a bit of a krautrock feel. Liking this one too.

Saucer-Like – well, this is a bit of a new sound. Sort of like Guided by Voices. And then there’s a bit of Pavement in the guitar solo line. Is that really Lee on vocals or is it Robert Pollard? This is the least SY-sounding song I’ve ever heard. I still like it.

Washing Machine – scratchy guitars and scratchy-voice Kim. How’s this going to develop over 9 minutes? Now it’s cool Kim with “Yeah, I take my baby down to the corner and I buy him a soda-pop”. Ooo, into a second part of the tune. Borderline motorik guitar groove. Enjoying how rough this song sounds. Kim sounds like she’s singing from inside a washing machine. Letting this one settle in now and I’m thinking how much I’m enjoying the production on the album. Can’t decide if I like the longer song lengths or not, yet. Now the guitar’s taking off like a jet and blasting through the clouds until it’s just white noise. And YES there are those welcome guitar chimes to close the song out.

Still listening. Provisional rating: welcome back / 10

3 Likes

I think that’s a fair point about Shelley’s drumming. He’s very much a supporting character here and there aren’t many moments where his playing really shines on its own (I would argue that on Dirty the drums are more often a star attraction). I think that there’s so much going on with the guitars here that he’s ‘serving the music though’: providing the framework and the stability for the guitars to really stand out. I see it as being more of an ego-less stepping back and letting others shine but I guess you could read it as a rubbish production job that under-sells a key element of their sound if you took a ‘glass half empty’ view of it.

3 Likes