More experimental: Washing Machine or 1,000 Leaves?
 

Couldn't tell ya.

Definitely A Thousand Leaves!

Especially when you can see the assemblage of that record through SYR 1-3.
I remember Lee saying in an interview he was a little bit worried about the opening song Contre Le Sexism scarying people off.

That opening song followed by Sunday is the most beautifull transition of two songs they ever did. So fucking awesome!
The structure of Karen Koltrane is amazing with all those different textures and shifts of melody combined with perfect hints of experimental gesture. Same goes for Wildflower Soul although the true beauty of that song lies in the live version called 'Wildflower' on the Tibetan Freedom cd. The shift in the middle of the song is AMAZING, it really grooves and reeks of -experiment- .

And then 1000 leaves live,whoaw. Those sets where so noisy and beautifully arranged. Like a house of cards ready to fall at any time, so fucking fragile!

Washing Machine itself is an awesome album (definitely one of my favs) but less experimental, more the opus of their past reputation. WM and Diamond Sea are total killer songs but their structure was less fractured then 1000 Leaves.

I need to listen to both of them then i'll get back to you.

Agreed...

yeah they went more spacey on thousand leaves. i heard some bootlegs from atl era and it sound amazing live. great album. yes, atl soundz bit more experimental then wm to me....still i like wm more (more because of personal reason).

Are you guys kidding? I love a thousand leaves, but really the only 'expirimental' stuff on their is the opener 'Contre le sexism'.

A thousand leaves is just a lot of really good guitar jams jammed to the shit....amazing. I don't know about the songs being too 'fractured', they all follow some sort of crescendo. (wildflower soul has that fuzz meltdown part though... i'll give you that)

The last couple of songs may make a thousand leaves seem a little more on the expirimental side too ...'Snare Girl' is a great example of that.

Washing Machine is more expirimental. The music is all really dischordant and the guitars all chime like bells and are more out of tune than any sonic youth record. And yet somehow, the songs are all really poppy and surprisingly easy to listen to. 'Panty Lies', 'Washing Machine' are both retarded songs that are simply amazing.

Saucer-Like has those sweet harmonies and weird double guitar play. amazing.

Eh. They're about the same.

Washing Machine:
- the split-up parts of "Becuz," with the unlisted 9th track being the song's coda, 8 tracks later.
- the first time Kim picked up the guitar and they recorded as a 3 guitar / no bass band.
- their only record made outside of New York City.
- the last 10 minutes of "The Diamond Sea"
- Thurston and Lee dueting on "Unwind"
- the two distinct parts of "Washing Machine"

A Thousand Leaves:
- first record made in their own studio
- "Contre Le Sexisme"
- those freakout noise bits in "Karen Koletrane" and its weirdo tape-fucking-up ending.
- the patience-trying extended guitarinterplay that makes up most of "Hits of Sunshine"
- this feeling I have that "Heather Angel" is barely a song
- that whole thing about how they took the whole end portion (the better portion, if you ask me) of "Female Mechanic" from their recording at Live on West 54th or whatever that show was called.

The band tries to experiment on every single record, I think. That's why we love them. Similar lists can be made for every one of their records.

This has nothing to do with anything, but I always thought the Lee songs on Washing Machine and A Thousand Leaves were his absolute best.

ATL.
sy's last great record. a thousand leaves and confusion are as good as it gets. could it have something to do with wharton tiers?

Agreed, those are his best songs. Better than the three on DDN, though Rain King is fucking mean.

I really really really wish I could've seen ATL live.

ATL.

And yeah, ATL is their last great album.

I think NYC Ghosts + Flowers (which is even more experimental than ATL) and Murray Street were there last GREAT albums.

Some people really like Nurse (and it's an "acceptable" album for SY), but to me it isn't really a "GREAT" album.

Rather Ripped is just detritrus.

I like Nurse more than NYCG&F or Washing Machine. NYC doesn't really strike me as that experimental. It used to I suppose, but now it feels more like going through certain motions, and not being able to make them work like they used to. A lot of music on that album is gorgeous but is ruined by the vocals.

I disagree so much it's rediculous.

And yes it is still experimental (and one of their best albums taboot)

A Thousand Leaves is probably the more challenging in terms of sound, but overall I reckon feelyat's got it about right here.

Maybe I'd like NYCG&F and Murray Street more if the VU meters had been allowed to go past -8. I don't consider, "hey, let's make it sound dinky as shit!" to be a successful experiment.

it doesn't sound dinky at all to my ears.

ATL actually has a "dinky" sound, and actually has lower vu levels.

Do you even know what you're talking about?

You found an interview where they specifically said that when they were in the studio, they allowed higher levels on NYC and Murray than on ATL? I doubt it. The sound of ATL is MASSIVE. The guitars sound huge. On the next two albums they sound brittle and timid. If "Empty Page"'s intro, for example, had been recorded the way ATL was, it wouldn't sound like someone playing in Guitar Center, not allowed to turn up too loud.

Washing mashine I think, 1000 leaves is a 2 version of WS. They finally said new sound, now lets see how far we can take it with this one kinda thing..

They're both produced/recorded in really interesting ways. I can't think of another album that has the sound of either of them. The end of "Junkie's Promise" sounds like aliens having a tribal gathering to me. But then, the end of "Female Mechanic..." sounds like a bunch of little kids who just saw something really scary trying to comfort themselves, like what the soundtrack to the adaptation of the book "IT" would've been if it had been a decent movie. They both have a lot of "fractured lullabyes" on them. ATL is more free jazz while WM seems to be playing with the idea of early 60s pop melodies. Eh, who knows.

As for whether or not ATL sounds dinky, can you seriously listen to the opening gash on "French Tickler" and think that? Or the huge, menacing moodiness of that three-strum chord at the beginning of "Karen Koltrane"?