Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 82 posts

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#31

Post by ideamotor »

ilamont wrote: post #5

I've been listening to Sonic Youth since Evol. Their live sound got better as they aged, which doesn't happen for a lot of bands. This show from Austin City Limits in 2011, months before they broke up, captures it pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O8VLwh1Na0 An underappreciated aspect of Sonic Youth is the drumming of Steve Shelley. He kept many of the discordant songs together and provided a driving beat…

Really good to hear that since I only saw them once and it was near the end, despite driving a car with a sonic youth bumper sticker for fifteen years. Thanks for the link!

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#32

Post by Modified3019 »

jkern wrote: post #21

I enjoy Sonic Youth a fair bit, but in the majority of cases find Thurston Moore completely uncompelling as a singer.

I’m the exact opposite, I find Kim absolutely grating a nerve in almost all the songs where she’s the primary singer. Thurston has a laid back sound that fits many of the tracks really well imo.

That said, I find I tend to either absolutely love or (more likely hate) their stuff in general. Not a big fan of random noise, though I can somewhat appreciate how the experimentation influenced others.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#33

Post by salynchnew »

prpl wrote: post #6
dml2135 wrote: post #2

Huge Sonic Youth fan, albeit a younger one. I caught the tail-end of their career in my HS/college days, c. 2003-2010. I can't think of an equivalent band today that has the kind of stature they had at the time in the indie scene. Part of what I loved so much about them is the number of free shows they put on. I can always pin the year that I saw them in Prospect Park at 2010, because the iPhone 4 had just been relea…

Saw them first in 2004 with my brother. Wolf Eyes opened, my brother ended up leaving because he was sick. It was my first “real” concert. I’d been listening to music heavily by then, we’ll into indie, but being poor and 17/18/19 it was hard to see live music. I’d been to others concerts small and big (Closing Olympic Ceremonies) - but that one cemented my love for live music, and I got really into the local scene af…

> Saw them first in 2004 with my brother. Wolf Eyes opened, my brother ended up leaving because he was sick.

Sounds like hyperacusis to me. /s

In all seriousness, that sounds like an amazing show.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#34

Post by throwaway743 »

nativespecies wrote: post #27
throwaway743 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn we were at the same show dude. That was a great one. Saw them two other times in the northeast a year or so before that one and man they (did :/ ) put on a hell of a show. Random side note, saw Kim Gordon at a book signing in Brooklyn like 10 years ago (iirc post-Sonic Youth), and man she was looking rough unfortunately and was really out of it. Guess the whole situation she and everyone was dealing with took a…

Kim is fine, she is not "rough" by any means. Thriving actually, from my IRL interactions.

Just saying that's the impression that my friend and I had after leaving the book signing 10 or so years ago.

Either way, that's good to hear she's well and thriving.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#37

Post by salynchnew »

throwaway743 wrote: post #25
prpl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saw them first in 2004 with my brother. Wolf Eyes opened, my brother ended up leaving because he was sick. It was my first “real” concert. I’d been listening to music heavily by then, we’ll into indie, but being poor and 17/18/19 it was hard to see live music. I’d been to others concerts small and big (Closing Olympic Ceremonies) - but that one cemented my love for live music, and I got really into the local scene af…

Damn, Wolf Eyes?? That's a name I haven't heard in a minute. Man, miss the days of the sounds of Black Dice, Sightings, Load Records, and the likes

The Load Records/Three One Gee/Troubleman era was incredible.

Blogs and forums were ubiquitous, but the average person's attention had not yet been strip mined by * platform companies. Pitchfork was just getting started, too, and (cruicially) Spotify wasn't even an idea yet, so independent artists could reliably make money the old fashioned way (CD/album sales) but had access to a much larger community of potential listeners.

Everything still had a very decentralized and DIY feel.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#38

Post by microtonal »

art-not wrote: post #9

I've mostly fell out of listening to Sonic Youth, but it was the first band to ever open my eyes to the idea of 'weird' music. I think a lot of who I am today began with that first experience, when I first listened to Evol. While I don't listen to them much anymore, I still put on Washing Machine from time to time. I'd argue that is their best work.

Sonic Youth was a large part of my high school sound track. I had some class mates who were also into indie music, I lent my copy of Washing Machine to one of them, when she returned it to me she looked at me as if I was insane (or at least my taste in music).

Evol/Sister/Daydream Nation were my favorites though.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#39

Post by beepbooptheory »

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #17
dml2135 wrote: post #2

Huge Sonic Youth fan, albeit a younger one. I caught the tail-end of their career in my HS/college days, c. 2003-2010. I can't think of an equivalent band today that has the kind of stature they had at the time in the indie scene. Part of what I loved so much about them is the number of free shows they put on. I can always pin the year that I saw them in Prospect Park at 2010, because the iPhone 4 had just been relea…

If they had huge stature in your scene, it’s funny how different experiences can be. My interest in SY was piqued in 2000 because they had recorded an EP with song titles in Esperanto, something I dabbled in then. In spite of having a large circle of friends interested in indie music, and being active on some music forums, no one listened to SY or was even very aware of them. My conclusion at the time was that their…

They were definitely in the old guard by 2000 or so, just in that they had already had a career and half by then. They toured with Nirvana!

But that doesn't mean their later albums aren't also great and squarely in the canon. Sonic Nurse, in particular, is one of their best imo.

Re: Thurston Moore Revisits His Sonic Youth

#40

Post by bobchadwick »

prpl wrote: post #6
dml2135 wrote: post #2

Huge Sonic Youth fan, albeit a younger one. I caught the tail-end of their career in my HS/college days, c. 2003-2010. I can't think of an equivalent band today that has the kind of stature they had at the time in the indie scene. Part of what I loved so much about them is the number of free shows they put on. I can always pin the year that I saw them in Prospect Park at 2010, because the iPhone 4 had just been relea…

Saw them first in 2004 with my brother. Wolf Eyes opened, my brother ended up leaving because he was sick. It was my first “real” concert. I’d been listening to music heavily by then, we’ll into indie, but being poor and 17/18/19 it was hard to see live music. I’d been to others concerts small and big (Closing Olympic Ceremonies) - but that one cemented my love for live music, and I got really into the local scene af…

The SLC Olympics? I saw Modest Mouse play at what was apparently the Ice Village (had to Google it). If I remember correctly, it was a weird and not great show.
Post reply on HN