Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post

Moshe · 05.15.2006, 10:40 AM

http://pitchforkmedia.com/interviews...ens_sufjan-06/

Pitchfork: Do you remember the bands and venues you saw at that time?
Sufjan: I went to the Metro a lot. I can't remember the theater, but I saw Sonic Youth in this big theater with the Ex. That was incredible. I have to write an essay about it.
Pitchfork: Who are you writing it for?
Sufjan: It's for a book of essays this guy is putting together, about different shows people have gone to that changed their lives.
Pitchfork: It sounds like the Ex were really formative for you. Were you listening to more folk stuff before you were exposed to them?
Sufjan: Yeah, I was listening to a lot of songwriting early on. I grew up on popular radio-- there wasn't a lot of diversity. And then in college somebody loaned me Sonic Youth's Sister, and that's when I started listening to rock and roll. I was going to this show to see Sonic Youth, but the Ex were opening and they blew me away. I wasn't really interested in Sonic Youth after that. I remember it being really dirty and energetic, and so unassuming. There was nothing going on, there was no pretension about it. It was all about instinct. You could tell they were untrained musicians.
They started this band in the late 1970s during the punk movement, and they were a serious anarchist band that was basically playing for squatter's rights. They were very unskilled, but over the years they developed a unique sound, unlike any punk music at the time. The rhythms were very interesting. The drummer, she's just incredible, and they would incorporate Hungarian folk music and scenes like that in their work. It was a hybrid of all these styles and traditions. It was really dirty, but it was also very musical and political and angry, but it had softness to it because the drummer was this very sweet and thin woman who basically kept the band together and was in charge.
Pitchfork: You said earlier you're a technical listener. Was that the first time you empathized with the instinct instead of the playing?
Sufjan: I think I was just in awe of the guitar sounds, and how they played together.
Pitchfork: Can you tell us anymore about this book? Who's in it, when it's coming out? Sufjan: I don't know...I missed my deadline, so I'm a little embarrassed about it.

05.15.2006, 10:40 AM	#1
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,862	http://pitchforkmedia.com/interviews...ens_sufjan-06/ Pitchfork: Do you remember the bands and venues you saw at that time? Sufjan: I went to the Metro a lot. I can't remember the theater, but I saw Sonic Youth in this big theater with the Ex. That was incredible. I have to write an essay about it. Pitchfork: Who are you writing it for? Sufjan: It's for a book of essays this guy is putting together, about different shows people have gone to that changed their lives. Pitchfork: It sounds like the Ex were really formative for you. Were you listening to more folk stuff before you were exposed to them? Sufjan: Yeah, I was listening to a lot of songwriting early on. I grew up on popular radio-- there wasn't a lot of diversity. And then in college somebody loaned me Sonic Youth's Sister, and that's when I started listening to rock and roll. I was going to this show to see Sonic Youth, but the Ex were opening and they blew me away. I wasn't really interested in Sonic Youth after that. I remember it being really dirty and energetic, and so unassuming. There was nothing going on, there was no pretension about it. It was all about instinct. You could tell they were untrained musicians. They started this band in the late 1970s during the punk movement, and they were a serious anarchist band that was basically playing for squatter's rights. They were very unskilled, but over the years they developed a unique sound, unlike any punk music at the time. The rhythms were very interesting. The drummer, she's just incredible, and they would incorporate Hungarian folk music and scenes like that in their work. It was a hybrid of all these styles and traditions. It was really dirty, but it was also very musical and political and angry, but it had softness to it because the drummer was this very sweet and thin woman who basically kept the band together and was in charge. Pitchfork: You said earlier you're a technical listener. Was that the first time you empathized with the instinct instead of the playing? Sufjan: I think I was just in awe of the guitar sounds, and how they played together. Pitchfork: Can you tell us anymore about this book? Who's in it, when it's coming out? Sufjan: I don't know...I missed my deadline, so I'm a little embarrassed about it.
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