following is the text for the SONIC YOUTH - SILVER SESSION FOR JASON KNUTH CD - this text will be used as a press release as well. The CD catalog # should read SYR 02. Lee has designed the front. It is basically a black stamped text to exist on a silver mylar sleeve. the text can be on the back or as an insert. the text: we didnt really know jason knuth - its possible we had met him, or had been in the same room as him, but we didn’t recall...--- we heard about his passing on the internet - a flurry of grievous and surprised reaction - people were asking us if we were aware of how much he identified and championed our music - as program director for kusf he seemingly used sy as a standard for playlisting - indeed at his memorial his friends played ‘the diamond sea’ in regards to his enthusiasm towards us. he was affectionately referred to as ‘sonic knuth’..here in nyc, so far from the sf community we were touched and more than intrigued. we learned jason was a vibrant, well loved guy on the music scene w/ a completely genuine exuberance towards art & music. his demeanor obviously shrouded a complex inner life which led to suicide. what jasons feelings were towards his own human existence we may never know but we do know he will be entirely missed as a companion - sonic youth wanted to make some gesture towards him as well as focus on sucide prevention. proceeds from this cd will help fund a local sf suicide awareness/prevention concern. - it is being manufactured and distributed by revolver, a company with close and personal associations with jason. a note on the music: silver sessions were taken from an evening when sy had to do vocal overdubs for ‘a thousand leaves’ - the band upstairs was hammering out some funky metal overdrive and we couldn’t "sing" properly (?!) - we decided to fight fire with molten lava and turned every amp we owned on to 10+ and leaned as many guitars and basses we could plug in against them and they roared/HOWLED like airplanes burning over the pacific - we could only enter the playing room with hands pressed hard against our ears and even then it was physically stunning - we ran a sick outmoded beatbox through the p.a. and it blew out horrendous distorted pulsations. of course we recorded the whole thing and a few months later we mixed it down into sections ultra-processing it to a wholly other "piece" - in a way, it’s my favorite record of ours. - I hope jason digs it. ----- keep on keep on keep on ------ thurston, sonic youth nyc 1998.