If there was a new SY record..
 

...How would you want it to sound?

Don't worry about any real-world complications or any of that shiz. In a perfect world where SY is coming back on top form and they're about to head into the studio..what do you think you'd want them to make?

Personally, I think the time's come to revisit the sonic comedy / pop culture jabs of the past, ala Ciccone Youth and Mariah Carey and The Arthur Doyle Hand Cream. There's something super snide and kool about fusing that style of explosive guitar energy with a very detached and bored look at modern celebrity culture.

No more songs about old punk band frontmen, no more allusions to hippy beat poets, and no more songs about being a transient state of love and/or loss. Throw together wicked new tunings, a shitload of obscure alien-sounding pedals and crazy effects to create fun, lively and most important of all, endlessly blaring noise. :cool:

I think you summed it up quite well in the last part.

Need new sounds.

I want a really experimental record....a la NYC.

I want the force of DDN, the noise of CIS, the fullness of sound of DIRTY, and the complete lack of acoustic crap.

Something that will continue the journey.

I'd like a techno influence, a modern day Ciccone Youth / Masterdik.

LR /TM vocal duos
& SYR era oriented
w/ Kim just on bass

NYC G&F-ish. 50% Lee vocals.

It would sound like they are moving on and their fans follow their advice.

I was listening to music on my cable providers "classic alternative" channel, and it played the usual stuff, the Cure, joy division, etc., and then comes TUNIC (SONG FOR KAREN) and the shit was such a change of pace, so skronk-filled, so noisy, such a bizarre noise break about 3/4 of the way through. It was AWESOME.

There is only one SY

Jeez dude, have a little imagination..? Or did you just want to swoop in and make this grand statement like we didn't already know the band's future is up in the air? Chill out and have fun!

it doesn't matter. If they made a new album I'd be happy with whatever it was.

Oh God no.


Your post was great up until I read this.

ultimately this....

I'd like to see then continue on in the vein of SYR 9, and flesh that sound out.. But I would ultimately like them to write a white album type record that sort of spanned their career, using hardcore and no wave, long moody jams and short nic fits, with the darkness of the '80s trinity, and the slop of the early '90s. Of course, Lee would have a ton of lead time, and I would absolutely love to have a confluence of production influence... From O'Rourke revisited to Steve Albini. Subtle guest spots too. Something for the fuckin' ages.

Alright then, it should sound like Arcade Fire, and I mean it. Even if you hate them, you probably love at least one song so much it makes your teenage heart break. Again, no beef. They've done fine, and they've helped make "rock" and alternative at least a little bit more classy and intelligent than it was.

beefy as fuck and more fucked up tunings please
and the last song on the album to never end
(or appears to never end, like ETYS)

Locked grooves, and concentric grooves (like the 100% single with genetic on the B-side which rules) and colored vinyl, and giveaways tucked inside the vinyl cover, and embossed cover, and glitter, and make it sound like the goddamn walls are caving in please.

metal thrash or smth with off tone screams and shit.




edit: atonal.

the weirdness of WM with the in-yr-face-ness of DDN!

it's time for an acoustic set

come on kris, the body is barely cold and you wanna dump the whole thing into a fucking slurry of musical shit?

fuck acoustic shit. Have we not had thousands of years of that shit? We have only had electric distortion for less than a century. we NEED MORE

Totally agree + I hope they do want they want, not what fans or somebody else want.

Interesting answer actually. I don't share the 'cool' disdain for Arcade Fire that a lot of snoots like to promote online and what have you..I think they're a god damn amazing band that sound totally rich, unique and fulfilling. They're a stadium rock sort of group that isn't corny and can be incredibly intimate as well as heavy. I've seen them twice and they were simply amazing. There's no real equal to them out there right now.

I've heard SY has been an inspiration for the band. Watch the transition they do from Power Out to Rebellion in most of their recent shows..it's totally a SY noisefest for a good 30 secs. And it's great.

there's no equal to Gangam Style either.

:fuckyou:

I've seen Arcade Fire a few times, and I have to agree that there is something urgent and and powerful about them, but I wouldn't go so far as to compare them to SY. Anyway, I don't hate them either. I think their songs lack originality, but somehow manage to be solid and memorable at the same time.

Neon Bible feels a bit like all those other attempts to make Bruce Springsteen relevant to indie fans (not one of my favorite trends), but had its moments.

Why are we talking about Arcade Fire again? Oh yeah, Genteel's ingenious dig... Well, fuck that. I don't fucking care. My vote is still for a Sonic Youth white album. With guest unlisted guest appearances... Maybe from some unsung percussionist, or a female guest vocalist (Not Bjork)

Or maybe that's just not Sonic Youth's style. In which case I'd like to hear them crank out as many lofi jams as possible, over two discs, and spend about 3 hours recording the thing. In a basement. So, basically, I want as many songs as possible, with no real direction or big picture, cranked out quickly with a shitload of extended instrumental jam sessions, breaking the tension of the 2.5 hours of sonic assault. Like some Robert Pollard/Grateful Dead/Minor Threat mix tape.
Songs ranging from :30 to 30:00.
A few standard tuning acoustic tributes a la "personality crisis"
At least one song featuring turntables.
At least one song featuring brass, or strings.
All pumped out on an overload tape deck.
Maybe 60 songs? I don't know.

this. with the experimental sounds of NYCG+F.

but to be honest, i don't think they have anymore ideas.
and they haven't been as vibrant or energetic. obviously due to age

but they should still come up with something weird sounding

If it was 30 minutes of thurston beating off into a mic.....would you buy it?

Unfortunately some here would. He's done crap on par with.

Well... In all honesty, yes. If only for the weirdness of it. Collector's value, you know. But I's rather that not be the last Sonic Youth album.

I would buy it.

I collect all things SY and side-project related.

I definitely would buy new album no matter what kind of stuff it would be. But would I like it, I don't know. Maybe...

I own EJST&NS and I hate it.

I kinda like Arcade Fire and I kinda don't. The music does really have an enthusisim and unabashed youth passion attached to it which is good.

Kids in the future could look to them about how to make an album full of vitality when you are in your early 20s....

However,

I wish they would stop going on about Haiti. I saw them once and their show was full of caveats about Haiti. You don't get any of that at a Sonic show.

I kinda also dislike over-the-top passion play. I understand they exist in a world of performing arts but there is no real-world placement for that passion. What I would really like Win Butler to do is get a shitty job for three months and then return to his rock gig and see how much his passion is received.

And if you are going to live in Canada make sure you spell Neighbourhood correctly.

Less talk about arcade fire and more talk about thurston beatin' off record.

I'd buy it too. Cream colored vinyl....oh man...

LOL

You hate EJST&NS? Really?

I don't really see how one could. Even if you don't really love the style, how can you not appreciate it for its extreme deviation in sound from all the band's other material? As a token weird ass album, at the very least?

I don't know why so many fans dislike it so much. If the songs were by another band, I'd probably like it more than I do now, and I already love the album.

Oddly, the exact opposite would probably be true of some of my more beloved Sonic Youth albums. If any band but SY had even attempted DDN or A Thousand Leaves, It just wouldn't fly. Well... Unwound. They probably could have made a decent go at DDN. Rem maybe for ATL. But EJST&NS is just good fucking noise pop, and I'd love it coming from any band.... Beck, or Blonde Redhead... Maybe Deerhunter. Lou Reed.

What does all this mean? Less than nothing. Barely worth reading, this post. Or writing for that matter. Man, I need to start enjoying life a little more.

I really dig the artwork for EJST&NS. It all makes sense.

Starfield Road is incredible. Top 3 for sure.

while I am in no way waiting for a new SY record (let the baby rot in the dumpster) I would want any possible material to be largely improv-based, or as has been mentioned a massive collage of somewhat perfunctory material; documentation of disparate trends in their music, ie tossed-off pop songs, psychedelic beasts and their signature drone-rock a la SYR7. essentially, I want them to make the Dead C's self-titled record.

so yeah, I just want the 1994-2005 era (in my mind their peak) but pushed further out, more outre whilst using a similar sound palette. .

I really feel like I need to hear Sonic Youth join forces with Portishead in some capacity before I die.