An early review/preview of the eternal
 

Courtesy of Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdail...die-rock-vets/
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Sonic Youth’s “The Eternal”: Most Diverse Record Yet from Indie-Rock Vets

2/18/09, 5:48 pm EST
Sonic Youth’s new album The Eternal isn’t out until June 9th, but Rolling Stone caught the first preview of the indie-rock legends’ sixteenth record, which finds the crew leaving the clasp of major-label-dom for the more comfortable confines of independent label Matador. Recorded last year with producer John Agnello in Hoboken, New Jersey, The Eternal is predictably mindblowing. The 12 tracks touch on all of the styles Sonic Youth have experimented with over the years, from no-wave noise blowouts circa their self-titled debut (”Anti-Orgasm”) to the sharply written power-pop songs of Goo and Dirty (”Sacred Trickster,” “Antenna”) to the mellower, more-ruminative tracks of their underrated gem A Thousand Leaves (the almost-10-minute closer “Massage the History”).
On Sonic Youth’s last record, Rather Ripped, the group pared down to a foursome after guitarist-bassist Jim O’Rourke left. But this time around, they’re back up to a quintet, with Pavement’s Mark Ibold joining in on bass. And for the first time since “Unwind” on 1995’s Washing Machine, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore team up on vocal harmonies, best heard on the tracks “What We Know” and “Leaky Lifeboat.”
Early pick for the album’s best track: “Malibu Gas Station,” a fierce, tightly wound rocker anchored by Steve Shelley’s insanely precise beat and Moore and Ranaldo’s sparking guitar chords. Production notes for the track say that it’s “an ode to the flash moment of the camera as you knowingly step from your SUV sans panties.” (Lindsay Lohan, anyone?) With a subject like that, you know Gordon — a California native — is on lead vocals. And her contribution puts the track over the top when she yelps in her feral-kitten purr lyrics like “I can’t move faster/ My face feels plastered.” You’ll feel the same way when the record hits stores in June

I'd say The Eternal sounds pretty fucking sweet.

se me para!!!!

Well, sounds good... although on the other hand... the reviewer doesn't even seem to know that Kim Gordon isn't singing on Unwind.


Fixed.

Wow, so it's got a little bit of every style? Theres not many SY records you can say that of, you better be right, Rolling Stone.

Good times!

CHRIST. It sounds fucking amazing.

it sounds good, but rolling stone is never right about anything. they should stick back to covering the goo goo dolls circa 1998.

a thousand leaves has a mix of tunes like this one is described here. sounds deeeliciouoso

I can't wait.

I believe it when I hear it.

I've said this before a million times in reference to other records I love: I love a studio record that sounds like a b-sides collection. That is to say, something that flirts with every musical interest of the collective. This sounds great. Of course, we're trusting Rolling Stones' ears. A "no-wave noise blowout" may be something um... different to Rolling Stone mag than it is to followers of the bands' nearly 30 yrs of output.

I dont trust the rolling stone in reviews for a glimpse

I think this is about the limit of all I want to hear about the new record before I hear it myself.

If that article is true, then this album will be amazing!

This album sounds like its gonna be the record that reminds people why sonic youth are so well respected and dare I say it? Their best record of the decade.

We'll see how well it stacks up against Sonic Nurse. We'll see.

I hope that the band is playing the songs to journalists and then sending them home with nothing but the memories and a promo t-shirt, rather than giving them something they can leak.

sounds sick. i love the fact that the album's coming out in the summer. all of their albums post-washing machine sound like summer albums to me

ATL has always been a winter album for me.

I don't really like preview reviews.

This tells me nothing other than some Rolling Stone sap got the job of having to sound positive but not definitive.

I don't know what to make of this review.

NYC too.

take a picture with it.

It read to me like an intern at Rolling Stone was handed a cdr of the new record and clippings of everything else that they had published about the band and told to be consistent to what they previously had said. So since this intern quickly saw that RS has in general praised Sonic Youth at least ever since Daydream Nation and the disc he was listening to seemed to reflect the various styles embodied in those old reviews, almost as if this group was somewhat diverse all along, he opted to positively say that this new record drew on all they had done in the past. Even the obscure low selling album that they gave four stars a few years ago for some reason. He probably even heard that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were influenced by this group, so he better be nice and act like he knew what he was talking about. Good thing the press kit noted that they were all singing together for a change. That'd make him look smart!

Fuck you viewtiful_alan. I want to hear it even more, now...

I don't get why the press try to make a connection between the fact they signed to matador, a label that's been lame for years and markets its bands like many majors, and this supposed renewed 'experimentalisms'.

It's not exactly like they signed to SSR or something.

and with headphones and a hat.

It seems like this new record has some decent hype to it already. I'm really hoping that this is gonna get me back into them. I didn't like Rather Ripped at all and Sonic Nurse was hit and miss. I've got my fingers crossed.

Oh
My
Fucking
Gawd

Doesn´t really feel like a review, but more like "here´s a promo, write something nice"
Still, he thinks ATL is an underrated gem and he did manage to get my hopes for the album even higher.

(sorry for potential crappy english)

geffen was on their ass to make their last two records full of "hits". I think they thought eventually the youth would have a big ass hit single again, like bull in the heather or something.
that may be why RR sounds so clean. it sounds much more sonic live.

strangely, the sort of succeeded with "Superstar" landing on the JUNO sndtrk. Strange that it wasn't as noticed a few years earlier when it was used in the HIGH TENSION trailer.

what album were YOU listening to ?

Is that strange? Juno was a huge hit, viewed by many who never would have heard of SY otherwise. I don't think I've heard of High Tension.

Rule of thumb is to believe the opposite of what Rolling Stone says.


But I'm still hopeful :)

^ Haha, Rolling Stone... but yeah, always stay hopeful. If it's true then the album, hopefully, will be amazing.

Actually, Rolling Stone said that Double Nickels on the Dime, the Replacements' Let It Be, and Zen Arcade were good albums in the '80s. They actually predicted at the end of the '80s that Sonic Youth would be the "band of the '90s" (nobody would have picked Nirvana at that point, so it was a fair guess).

Only problem was, they had higher praise for Bruce Springsteen and U2.

slam

English was excellent ;)

nice words
but I don't want to hear / read anything more good about this album.
fuck. it's 4 months away still..