Instead Matador would rather you listen to a shitty quality stream and 160kbps mp3 of ST.

Please don´t read this if you haven´t heard the record yet!


1) Sacred trickster – I really like this one. It´s very compact and powerful - but in a clever way. To me it definitely presents an aspect of the band that I haven´t heard before. It´s not like sister, daydream nation, goo, dirty or anything else from “rockier” era.


2) Anti Orgasm - The straight bass drum reminds me a bit of plastic sun from murray street. There´s also a part that sounds like no queen blues from washing machine. To me the first part is a bit boring regular rock. The song is splitted into two main parts (like washing machine from washing machine) and the second part is way better to me. Doesn´t remind of any other SY Song. Maybe It has a bit from of atmosphere on Sonic Nurse.


3) Leaky Lifeboat – Pretty much like a rather ripped song. The structure has some similarities to pink steam. First impression: a bit boring.


4) Antenna- has a real good start. Didn´t like that song when they played it live. But now I like the melodies. Structure still seems some kind of uninspired to me.
“We need to do find a verse and a chorus and then we can lead in a free “jam”. There´s a typical SY Bridge that sounds like they´re ripping of themselves. The last 7 seconds are amazing.


5) What we know - The Opening sequence is really interesting but it leads into some boring rock riffings. There´s some fine noise going on the middle of the song. The main bassline is really boring but when it comes together with the guitar it´s really turns out into something interesting.


6) Calming the snake – And again there´s is a “heard a thousand times before” bassline. The guitar break is just boring and almost every post rock band on this planet is using it. Kim is doing a good “job”. And again there´s a second part in this song – way better than the first one – you could say it´s washing machine like (with a drum fill from pattern recognition) – it´s a typical “Neu!” Part as well.


7) Poison Arrow – Thurston is doing the voices on this track. In my opinion the recording weren´t well done because they sound a bit like they´re glued upon the music. This song is okay… The Chorus is boring as hell again. Bass reminds me of rats from rather ripped.


8) Malibu Gas station – Best song so far. Cool and sweet melodies… Kim is doubling the guitars. Most colourful and varied Song but still not very deep.


9) Thunderclap – Didn´t like it from the montage and I still think that it´s one of the most boring songs I ever heard of SY.


10) No Way – They started the Concert in Düsseldorf with that song. Sounds like a song from the Thurston Moore Solo Record. I like it. Nothing special but also very multifarious. Sounds like the only guitar tuning they´re using on this record is a drop-d. The drumming is excellent. The structure is very classic but it suits the song.


11) walking blue – This is a strange song. The Chorus sounds british to me – The bassline reminds me of blur with there´s no other way. You should check that – it´s funny!


12) massage the history – Massage the history has a beauty atmosphere. But it also reminds me of the Thurston Moore Solo record (is it because of the acoustic guitars)
There´s an interesting cut in the main melody that I still don´t get into. I like that. Kim is singing in the highest pitch I ever noticed. To me there´s no connection to I love you golden blue. There´s a real nice drum fill that they are also using at the end of sympathy for the strawberry. I like it when everything calms down In the middle of the song and gets back to the start. Definitely the most interesting song on the record.


Best Songs: Massage the history, sacred Trickster, No Way, Malibu Gas Station.
But it´s the worst record SY ever made in my opinion and i´m really sorry for that. To be honest it breaks my heart.

Okay done listening to it now. I like it but Rather Ripped is still better. At least Malibu Gas Station and Anti-Orgasm are 5 star songs

^^Fecking nutters

I'm hearing some NYCG+F style in the new record.

Well I'm sorry that it sounds like all they're doing is re-hashing old ideas =o

You're insane :)

Yr Insane

The only song on Rather Ripped that even is at the same level as The Eternal is Jams Run Free.

Rather Ripped was at least something new for the band though. The Eternal sounds like they're just doing the same old thing as before. Why would you want that..?

i´m with you summer.

No way. Sure it's definitely a Sonic Youth album, but by no means is it back to form. There is certainly a new direction being forged. Multiple vocalists per song, treating the simple Thurston rock outs with as much respect as their more cerebral pieces, etc.

It's filled with Sonic Youth-isms, but there are a lot of new motifs and textures to it.

I'd argue it brings more new to Sonic Youth's palette than RR. RR just seems like stripped down SY to me. None of the melodies or chord changes seemed all that fresh, they just seemed to be Sonic Youthish. The Eternal musically has a lot new to offer in that respect.

I finally got to hear the album after reading about it all day. Amazing...MUCH more solid and consistent than RR.

Since when have they not used old ideas?

Thurston's vocals in Antenna are his best in years I think.

woah! I really don't know how to describe my feelings. I just like it!
last two songs are my favorites so far. thousands of listens to come......

the point is not that they´re using old ideas... the point is that I (just me) can´t find a single surpassing good SY song. To write records like Murray Street, Washing machine, Sonic Nurse and NYC Ghosts and Flowers you need time. Even as a highly giftet band like sonic youth. i´m sad to say this but they are touring too much (sad because i´d love to see them live so much more often). i have to admit that i like the last free kitten record more than the eternal.

I've been listening to it for the past 6 hours! My stereo's loud enough it fills the house when I want it to. Listening to Massaging the History while taking a shower kind of turned me on.

impressions from one listen: it's MUCH better than RR, and massage the history is as good as anything they've done in the last 15 years, it's a spine tingler for sure. some songs have some cheesey lyrical & vocal moments (a problem that has plagued all their records in the 00s), but over all a pretty decent LP.

some songs, like sacred trickster, sound as if they were trying to cover themselves, right. and some sound as if they were covering some of those bands combing their hair into their eyes and fixing it with hairspray. but - some have a complete new sound and songwriting stile, like "massage the history", "poison arrow" and "malibu gas station" - i like that. its really ... fresh. you will like it too ... soon.:-)

To all who say it's better than RR, I have to ask, why. What does The Eternal do that is better/different than RR?

Also I'd say Malibu is great just because of that little guitar solo. I was wondering what song that was from in the montage, and when I first heard Malibu I was like this is cool, but when that solo came on and I realized that it was indeed the same song I was pleased. That song seems pretty different and great for Sonic Youth, or maybe it's my Sonic Nurse love showing through.