without thinking about it too much i'd say a thousand leaves. don't want to get to analytical on all yr asses!

1000 Leaves is more experimental, but I think I like Washing Machine a bit more overall.

as muxh as i love washing machine, it never sounds complete to me.
it always seems as though they recorded alot of the songs seperatly.
a thousand leaves is nothing iike washing machine. the songs for atl evolved over a long time. they played them live for ages before recording and alowed them to develop. its a very well crafted album and to me is the last great record they made.
nyc ghosts and flowers/murray street i still love, but they are just not as 100% bang on for me. there are alot of songs i skip on those albums, and every album since. and that has never happened before with sy except for EJSTNS.

2 great albums. which one is more experimental? i think that question is flawed. what do you mean by experimental? i mean wm has panty lies, the diamond sea freak out, atl has straight edge rock like sunday, then hoarfrost and hits of sunshine......... i dont think eiter are exceptionally experimental but they are 2 great sy albums.....

ok ill stop being awkward, to answer the question atl!

I just got both of these cd's today at Independent Records in Colorado Springs. The Diamond Sea off WM is on now....and I do like the whole thing very much. It definately takes a few listens to REALLY get into it...but first impression is fantastic. I just love the variety SY has....so next...will be A Thousand Leaves....wow...I've been on such a tear...10 NEW SY cd's in the last 6 weeks or so !!!!!

I'm hooked.

I haven't done this with a band.....since...hmmmmm....say Zappa about 30 years ago....I'm so compulsive ! :)

I don't have 1000 Leaves, so I can't really say which is more experimental. I'm not really a fan of Washing Machine, though. What I've heard from 1000 (the two Lee songs) I like more than pretty much anything on WM.

On A Thousand Leaves, they used a lot of new sounds and differnent effects or at least ones they've never based entire songs around before on previous records. It's the last great sonic youth album of the 90's for me.

syr4

I don't really consider any of the syr's on the same level as sy's full length releases, or can't compare the two. They're too different in too many ways. SYR4 is great though.

I would say A thousand leaves because:
-They used a lot of jazzmasters and jaguars
-Songs are longer than ever
-Lots of new FX pedal for Thurston and Lee
-Lots of new percussion device for Steve
-Most of the album has 3 guitars and no bass
-Contre le sexisme
-Karen koltrane is my favorite and the most experimental song on the album (because of its structure, cut end, lots of noise parts)