Blooze Blurrr
 

Howdy y'all--another random observation/question/theory to kick around before it sinks like all the rest... re: "BLOOZE BLURRR", an unreleased song from possibly the 'Kill Yr Idols' era (whether this means it was in that tuning, I'm not sure). Originally this name was given to the mystery GDD# song that appears on many August '85 shows (including the popular 'Anarchy at St Mary's Place' bootleg), which we now know to be 'Kat N Hat'.

The only time I'd even heard of 'Blooze Blurrr' was when I asked the band a long time ago re: the song that turned out to be 'Kat N Hat', and one of them thought it could be 'Blooze Blurrr'. Later I've confirmed, if I recall, that they do have a recording of the song as well.

Then I read the Forced Exposure '85 interview that the awesome blunderbuss posted here: http://216.70.73.169/gossip/showthread.php?p=798968 where Thurston actually says:

"There's a song we do called 'Blooze Blurrr' that's nine minutes long. We recorded that on a binaural head and submitted it to a NY thing called THE SIN CLUB COMPILATION, which has the False Prophets, Live Skull, and a buncha bands that played the Sin Club. We said 'Here. You can have this.' They listened to it and said, 'What the fuck is this? This isn't Sonic Youth.' We said 'Yeah, it is.' And they wouldn't release it, but the guy who was gonna put out the album died a few weeks ago anyway, so..."

Now, I just downloaded the 12/11/82 show (in mp3) here: http://sonicyouth.utkonos.org/lossy/...82-12-11.mp3f/

The first track was 'Instrumental', which I don't have included in the Concert Chronology set list. I thought it may be a different band, but it's definitely SY, and it's a long instrumental that sounds quite structured to these ears... the unfortunate part is that the end cuts and there's a noticeable gap between that song and 'Inhuman', which my site says is the first song of the show. And you can hear the band tuning and making excuses before they start 'Inhuman', and the audience actually gives them a pretty hard time! But they could've done the instrumental first to warm up, I'd be interested to hear other's opinions if you download the show.

So, my theory... could this instrumental actually be 'Blooze Blurrr'? It certainly fits the timeframe, and from Thurston's description it sounds like it could apply... The only thing I wonder about is the question Thurston is replying to in that article: "Are you doing anymore unoriginals right now?" and Thurston says "...the idea of recording covers's kind of used up. There's a song we do called 'Blooze Blurrr'..." ...so, I can't tell whether he's suggesting 'Blooze Blurrr' is a cover or maybe it's deliberately written as a slow obvious blues dirge or something (hence the label saying it didn't sound like Sonic Youth?).

I don't know, just throwing ideas out there. Mostly I was shocked that this show I'd never heard had a fully formed instrumental song I'd never heard too! So check it out, it's even in mp3 for the non-flac folk...

hey chris...i'm not sure that instrumental is from the 12/11/82 show...i have a non mp3 version of the show that i got many years ago..and the show just starts with inhuman...just throwing that out there...i'm gonna listen to this mp3 and see if i have another copy..or a cassette of the show

i just dig out my tape of the show that i got mid 90's and it just starts with inhuman...they just say "we're sonic youth and this song is called inhuman"
i'm really confused now

Me too, but then again, that's nothing particularly new.

yeah same here...i think i end most posts here with "now i'm really confused"
or something similar........glad i'm not alone....and BTW she is not alone either

haha, interesting. do you think the instrumental on the ftp site sounds like sonic youth? i did notice that the bass overtone at the end of the track (which already follows a cut in the audio, so it may mean nothing) does seem to leak over into the 'inhuman' track, though there's the standard 'mp3 gap' between tracks too...

i love early SY live recordings but it is frustrating how much confusion surrounds some of them, whether it's cuts or mislabeled dates or 'fake shows' compiled from other gigs, stuff like that...

Confusion is next.

yes this has to be them.

yeah cool to hear a new oldie

Bump...for fun. And cuz I'm still curious.

I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy my old threads, especially the ones that I put way too much thought into for little pay-off.

I just recently re-listened to this instrumental, and it's clearly not part of that show, and I'm not actually even sure it's live - it sounds like it may have been taped over some other live thing, and then it cuts out, possibly into the '82 gig.

I'm also not 100% willing to say it's Sonic Youth anymore...it certainly sounds like them, but does it sound like something they would have recorded in the early 80s, or does it sound more like late 80s-early 90s jam w/ Steve (to me it sounds similar to some of the 'Dirty' demo/jams).

The download link still works, I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions.

these have long been my fav threads on here too Chris. :)

same. I haven't listened to that instrumental for a while, so I'll check it out again. That Forced Exposure interview is really great; they also mention Mildred Pierce, don't they?

p.s. reading about this reminded me; I've seen you mention 'White Kross' showing up on a setlist from '84. Do you happen to have a pic of that?

alright, I gave it another good listen. This is a little difficult. On one hand, it has all the classic motifs of sy, but on the other hand that might be an indication of somebody else putting a bit of effort into copping their style.

- to me, the drumming sounds like bob bert; kind of tribal at times, not too pounding but noticeable enough. Around 5:00 the pattern almost sounds like the end of 'Transmission' by Joy Division, although maybe that's just me.
- Thurston's comment in the interview about recording it 'on a binaural head' fits the sound of the recording imo.
- the one thing that throws me off is his comment that 'They listened to it and said, 'What the fuck is this? This isn't Sonic Youth.' It doesn't really sound like anything other than sonic youth.

Overall it sounds 'right' for what 'Blooze Blurrr' is supposed to be. Do you have any more info on where this particular copy of the show came from? Maybe that could shed some light on its origins.

Haven't heard the instrumental track in question-in an airport right now-but Blooze Blurr did exist as it's own song-as w Kat'n'Hat it's an early attempt at vocals on my part, but we never developed it further. The song was fr Kill Yr Idols period-in fact I'm pretty sure we have 4-track recordings of the KYI stuff including BB somewhere in the archive....
Happy Hols everyone!
L

wow. So maybe we'll get a deluxe CIS/KYI someday? :D

Happy holidays, Lee!!!

They do mention "Mildred Pierce" - I wonder exactly when they wrote that (circa first EP, circa Confusion, later?). No hint of it turns up on any gig I've heard from '81-'83, nor Sonic Death (and there are still a few unknown tracks on Sonic Death).

Here's the set list. It's worth noting that no circulating tapes of '84 gigs have Brother James or Kill Yr Idols. The lyrics to White Kross appear to have been written around the same time as the lyrics to Green Light (which first showed up in Satan is Boring), so I'm not sure what this would have been.

As for this thread, I also thought the instrumental recording might have a binaural sound to it, but I wasn't sure if I was just hearing what I want to hear. The funny thing is, it doesn't sound like '83-era SY to me, but later '80s...

I've campaigned long and hard for a Confusion is Sex reissue with this song and anything else from that era that may still be buried. I'd love to have the entire Geneva radio show that's all cut up on side 1 of Sonic Death - imagine a full in-studio radio set from their first European tour!

I almost went on a whole Sonic Death spiel then remembered it had nothing to do with this thread...can you tell I'm working on the website again?

Wow where'd that setlist come from??

It was in that "Sonik Matters, Sonic Collaborations" book that was put together to accompany the exhibit.

this should give you a direct link in case you didn't catch the other one:

http://sonicyouth.utkonos.org/lossy/...strumental.mp3


yes, and it's great. Thanks for that set list. I guess there's no way to pinpoint it beyond 84-85, unless some more tapes show up. I remember I found out a few things to add to the gear section, so I'll have to send you a pm sometime (I've talked to you a bit before about gear; I helped you with the 'Fame' 12 string strat).

Please do, or send an e-mail if that's easier!

That "Fame" thing confused me for ages, thanks again. :)