Mark Ibold with Sonic Youth
 

Can someone please explain to me the point of this? Just saw Sonic Youth for my first time last night at Coachella and to be honest felt a little disappointed with his presence there. It didn't really add anything to the music and he was playing the bass along with Kim and I'm just fucking confused. Is he going to be there for the Daydream Nation shows? His presence for some reason feels a little odd -- I'd much rather have just the 4 person band playing, just feels a little weird to take one's favorite band and add another player into it just because, knamsayin'?

Many songs on Rather Ripped need a 2nd bassist(were written that way). as simple as that.

I think he's just helping them out so that Kim won't have to play bass on the songs she sings in so her wrists won't get as tired. And I don't think songs on RR were written to be played with two basses since only the four of them recorded. Besides, I like Mark in Sonic Youth.

Eh... I am indifferent.

Yeah, I saw R.E.M. play in '95, purely because Sonic Youth were opening, and I was disgusted to see them being carried through their set by sidemen. They were just in their '30s though, and it wasn't helping them particularly. If I can be half as energetic on stage when I'm Kim's age, I'll be incredibly happy.

I definitely liked it better when the extra person was Jim 'O Rourke as a full 5th member, but Jim wanted to leave. The band is making do with the deck they've been handed, and they're still putting on awesome shows.

Mark rocks end of story

Does Mark play on RR?

as far as i know Mar(k) hasn't been in a studio since Terror Twilight

no he hasnt recorded since pavements last will and testament. as for whats the point of mark playing... heis helping out a good mates band. kim cant play bass all the time now as her wrists are in arthritic agony, this is totally visible in any recent photos an so why the fuck not bring in a talented and like minded individual in to aid with the playing. this also allows kim a bit more freedom. if mark wasnt in the band then no way could sy carry on playing, they are no spring chickens yknow, and i mean tha in the highest respectful way.........whats the point????????? thats the point!!!!!!!!!

rm, how is that possible considering only the 4 core sy members were in that recording writing proces. jim had long gone by then!

Mark's seemingly unfussy attitude is in perfect keeping with SY's vibe.

And on stage in Burlington, Vermont the sound wasn't just chunky, it was morbidly obese. GORNK!

But yeah, the "finesse" that Jim brought might maybe could be of use live in the byzantine DDN songs.

Somebody on this board wrote it best: "I sure miss that little guy."

I think it's fine for him to be playing with them for the regular tour stuff, but it should just be the four of them for the daydream shows. I don't think a second bassist would be a good thing for that.

Honestly, it really should just be whatever is easiest for them, makes things less difficult, and makes them happy/more confident performing. There is no reason for Kim to be pushing the limit when they can get a backup to help her; additionally, Mark was a great choice.

The other reason is Kim's arthritis, but there are very many parts where they are both playing the bass feverishly. It makes absolutely 0 difference if Ibold was involved in the recording/writing process. Multitrack recording allows for 2 people to play 100 instruments if they'd like or 1 person to be an entire band. They could easily write and record multiple bass parts with only 1 bassist(although Thurston OR Lee could be playing bass on any of those tracks). There's no way to tell.

WTF? Kim has arthritis????

my thoughts exactly.

Can you explain this a little more? I've never heard of or seen them using musicians off stage. (I'm assuming that you're talking about Sonic Youth, not REM)

naw, i think the reference was to R.E.M. (who had 2 additional instrumentalists at the time, including scott mccaughey who's now been in the band for 10+ years and of course fronts the ineffable minus 5, w/ peter buck). i don't think a quartet enlisting 2 sidemen for their first major rock tour in 5 years is a huge deal (and they already had one on their previous tour).

of course, after bill left they had to get a replacement drummer, making it 3 'original' R.E.M. + 3 'sidemen' on subsequent tours.

and renderful, i'd stop contributing to this thread. the songs on rather ripped weren't written for 2 basses, and while i understand the point you were trying to make regarding multi-tracking, it's well-known that kim plays all the bass parts except on 'rats', which is thurston.

and yeh, kim's wrist problems are the primary reason for bringing her former free kitten bandmate along for the ride. i think he was a great choice, even if i do find the double-bass attack puzzling (though not 'bad' in any way). will be curious to see how they handle daydream.

Chris, you think that Mark will be "needed" ( as in : necessary to overcome possible kim's problems) on the DDN dates? I don't mind his presence (he's so humble and low-profiled and he looks like he's really enjoying playing on tour with SY), but a 4 piece thing would be definitely "more atmospheric", if you get what I mean. Anyways, they probably already decided to have him on stage on those dates, I suppose. And he agreed, I suppose :) :) .

he was at the milwaukee show last summer. still would have been a great show without him but he definitely didn't worsen the experience.