PM Link? I've been listening to it streaming all day, but have a long drive tomorrow and wouldn't mind putting it on in the car

this place kinda looks like this right now:

(guy in the middle is me listening to Anti orgasm)

I obviously need to let all of this sink in and listen to it a lot more, but my super-quick first impressions:

1. Sacred Trickster- An ok song, awesome opening to the song. Fitting as a quick opener.
2. Anti-Orgasm- This has some awesome fucking noise that we have not heard in quite some time. And have not heard in quite this way. Definitely one of the better tracks, it has a bit of everything. But not a stand-out track... and I mean that in the best possible way, as it implies an air of similar quality throughout the rest of the album.
3. Leaky Lifeboat- Beautiful opening. On the montage preview I was not at all excited for this. And it's awesome. Some amazing guitar sounds. New guitar sounds for them too.
4. Antenna- Sunny opening. Vocals not so hot, for me anyway. The vocals are similar to what they've done post-NYC Ghosts + Flowers. This is the only song that didn't excite me on first listen, and it was by no means bad. For all I know I could end up getting way into it next time around.
5. What We Know- Awesome opening. This album has lots of strong openings. My favorite Lee song in quite some time.
6. Calming the Snake- Fits into the album at this point nicely. I don't think it's lacking in any way.
7. Poison Arrow- Lou Reed-like vocal delivery from Thurston. Apparently lots of you thought this too. Ha ha.
8. Malibu Gas Station- Opening melody reminds me of the snow levels in Donkey Kong Country. Recent 'Daydream Nation' touring definitely influenced this one.
9. Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn- Some 'Nurse' sounds in a little bit of the guitar work, but not much. A good song.
10. No Way- This sounds way better recorded than when it did live almost a year ago whe I first heard it. Some nice rocking in this one. Some of the vocals sound like recent album vocal stylings, but inoffensively so.
11. Walkin Blue- The opening to this gave me a boner. Parts sound reminiscent to past Lee songs? Or am I just remembering the montage? But definitely awesome.
12. Massage the History- Acoustic guitar in Sonic Youth songs is weird to me. Otherwise enjoyable.

In sum:

All of the songs are rocking, but largely in a slightly relaxed way. The rock is there, the noise is there, the melodies are there. And it feels comfortable. Aside from the opening track, the tempo is pretty moderate. Ideas don't overstay their welcome. And I like this. Unlike the last two albums, I don't feel a nostalgia of songs past in the music. This album has its own awesome distinct feel, which 'Nurse' and 'Rather Ripped' were lacking. This 'feel,' which all of my favorite Sonic Youth albums have in spades, will become more clear as more time passes.

As for comparisons to other albums:

A Thousand Leaves- I don't hear it. There are a few meandering melodies, but not nearly as meandering, mellow, or expansive. I wouldn't compare the two at all.

Nurse- Nope. Aside from a couple of riffs here and there, I don't see this as Nurse 2.0 in the slightest. None of that jammy bullshit. Sure, 'Massage the History' is in the same vein as 'I Love You Golden Blue,' but 'I Love You Golden Blue' is nothing like the rest of 'Nurse.' This is completely a distinct album. At best, you can place it in a timeline, but that's it.

Goo- Uh, where? This comparison is confounding to me.

haha! why I can't rep you for the second time this day..?

Glad to hear everyone is liking this. I just can't bring myself to listen to a rip of a web-stream, so I'll wait until the release date.

Haha how cool I want to hear this now

AHAHAHA this made my day

yep!

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anti-orgasm and massage the history are amazing !!!

Sounds about right. Though I'd call the late 90's period something a bit different than "back to form" because Washing Machine and ATL are nothing like their earlier stuff IMO

me likey the vibe in Malibu GS

True, I couldn't think of anything to call it. "Diamond Sea" just throws everything for a loop...

Listening to this right now.. I really like how it does remind me of Rather Ripped, since I'm one of the few who enjoyed that album, but it's also more remniscient of A Thousand Leaves kind of. If not in sound, then in theory: The Eternal seems to combine their prettier and noisier moments, which is why ATL kicks so much ass

I'd put 'NYC Ghosts + Flowers' in the same category as 'Washing Machine' and 'A Thousand Leaves.' 'Murray Street' was the departure and beginning of a new period there. And I wouldn't call that period 'losing the way' as a result. Moreso just... derailed exploration of an idea? In which 'The Eternal' forms the next category, but not as a clean break, but as a bridge.

Eh "What We Know" seems like they're going through the motions more than anything

It pisses me off slightly that it's leaked already, less than one day in; in truth, I bought more for the live LP than to hear it early, but still.

I've only listened to a few tracks. I'm tempted to listen to the whole album, even though I wanted to keep some of it.

i really really DON´T like that record. Coming up with my song by song review. Prepare: It´s done in a really good english! :-)

Pretty good stuff.
Favorites at the time: Anti-Orgasm, Malibu Gas Station, Walkin Blue, Massage The History.

Thunderclap is a LOT better than the preview made it out to sound

You guys are making it sound so good! I gotta wait until June.

Instead Matador would rather you listen to a shitty quality stream and 160kbps mp3 of ST.

Please don´t read this if you haven´t heard the record yet!


1) Sacred trickster – I really like this one. It´s very compact and powerful - but in a clever way. To me it definitely presents an aspect of the band that I haven´t heard before. It´s not like sister, daydream nation, goo, dirty or anything else from “rockier” era.


2) Anti Orgasm - The straight bass drum reminds me a bit of plastic sun from murray street. There´s also a part that sounds like no queen blues from washing machine. To me the first part is a bit boring regular rock. The song is splitted into two main parts (like washing machine from washing machine) and the second part is way better to me. Doesn´t remind of any other SY Song. Maybe It has a bit from of atmosphere on Sonic Nurse.


3) Leaky Lifeboat – Pretty much like a rather ripped song. The structure has some similarities to pink steam. First impression: a bit boring.


4) Antenna- has a real good start. Didn´t like that song when they played it live. But now I like the melodies. Structure still seems some kind of uninspired to me.
“We need to do find a verse and a chorus and then we can lead in a free “jam”. There´s a typical SY Bridge that sounds like they´re ripping of themselves. The last 7 seconds are amazing.


5) What we know - The Opening sequence is really interesting but it leads into some boring rock riffings. There´s some fine noise going on the middle of the song. The main bassline is really boring but when it comes together with the guitar it´s really turns out into something interesting.


6) Calming the snake – And again there´s is a “heard a thousand times before” bassline. The guitar break is just boring and almost every post rock band on this planet is using it. Kim is doing a good “job”. And again there´s a second part in this song – way better than the first one – you could say it´s washing machine like (with a drum fill from pattern recognition) – it´s a typical “Neu!” Part as well.


7) Poison Arrow – Thurston is doing the voices on this track. In my opinion the recording weren´t well done because they sound a bit like they´re glued upon the music. This song is okay… The Chorus is boring as hell again. Bass reminds me of rats from rather ripped.


8) Malibu Gas station – Best song so far. Cool and sweet melodies… Kim is doubling the guitars. Most colourful and varied Song but still not very deep.


9) Thunderclap – Didn´t like it from the montage and I still think that it´s one of the most boring songs I ever heard of SY.


10) No Way – They started the Concert in Düsseldorf with that song. Sounds like a song from the Thurston Moore Solo Record. I like it. Nothing special but also very multifarious. Sounds like the only guitar tuning they´re using on this record is a drop-d. The drumming is excellent. The structure is very classic but it suits the song.


11) walking blue – This is a strange song. The Chorus sounds british to me – The bassline reminds me of blur with there´s no other way. You should check that – it´s funny!


12) massage the history – Massage the history has a beauty atmosphere. But it also reminds me of the Thurston Moore Solo record (is it because of the acoustic guitars)
There´s an interesting cut in the main melody that I still don´t get into. I like that. Kim is singing in the highest pitch I ever noticed. To me there´s no connection to I love you golden blue. There´s a real nice drum fill that they are also using at the end of sympathy for the strawberry. I like it when everything calms down In the middle of the song and gets back to the start. Definitely the most interesting song on the record.


Best Songs: Massage the history, sacred Trickster, No Way, Malibu Gas Station.
But it´s the worst record SY ever made in my opinion and i´m really sorry for that. To be honest it breaks my heart.

Okay done listening to it now. I like it but Rather Ripped is still better. At least Malibu Gas Station and Anti-Orgasm are 5 star songs

^^Fecking nutters

I'm hearing some NYCG+F style in the new record.

Well I'm sorry that it sounds like all they're doing is re-hashing old ideas =o

You're insane :)

Yr Insane

The only song on Rather Ripped that even is at the same level as The Eternal is Jams Run Free.

Rather Ripped was at least something new for the band though. The Eternal sounds like they're just doing the same old thing as before. Why would you want that..?

i´m with you summer.

No way. Sure it's definitely a Sonic Youth album, but by no means is it back to form. There is certainly a new direction being forged. Multiple vocalists per song, treating the simple Thurston rock outs with as much respect as their more cerebral pieces, etc.

It's filled with Sonic Youth-isms, but there are a lot of new motifs and textures to it.

I'd argue it brings more new to Sonic Youth's palette than RR. RR just seems like stripped down SY to me. None of the melodies or chord changes seemed all that fresh, they just seemed to be Sonic Youthish. The Eternal musically has a lot new to offer in that respect.

I finally got to hear the album after reading about it all day. Amazing...MUCH more solid and consistent than RR.

Since when have they not used old ideas?

Thurston's vocals in Antenna are his best in years I think.

woah! I really don't know how to describe my feelings. I just like it!
last two songs are my favorites so far. thousands of listens to come......

the point is not that they´re using old ideas... the point is that I (just me) can´t find a single surpassing good SY song. To write records like Murray Street, Washing machine, Sonic Nurse and NYC Ghosts and Flowers you need time. Even as a highly giftet band like sonic youth. i´m sad to say this but they are touring too much (sad because i´d love to see them live so much more often). i have to admit that i like the last free kitten record more than the eternal.

I've been listening to it for the past 6 hours! My stereo's loud enough it fills the house when I want it to. Listening to Massaging the History while taking a shower kind of turned me on.

impressions from one listen: it's MUCH better than RR, and massage the history is as good as anything they've done in the last 15 years, it's a spine tingler for sure. some songs have some cheesey lyrical & vocal moments (a problem that has plagued all their records in the 00s), but over all a pretty decent LP.

some songs, like sacred trickster, sound as if they were trying to cover themselves, right. and some sound as if they were covering some of those bands combing their hair into their eyes and fixing it with hairspray. but - some have a complete new sound and songwriting stile, like "massage the history", "poison arrow" and "malibu gas station" - i like that. its really ... fresh. you will like it too ... soon.:-)

To all who say it's better than RR, I have to ask, why. What does The Eternal do that is better/different than RR?

Also I'd say Malibu is great just because of that little guitar solo. I was wondering what song that was from in the montage, and when I first heard Malibu I was like this is cool, but when that solo came on and I realized that it was indeed the same song I was pleased. That song seems pretty different and great for Sonic Youth, or maybe it's my Sonic Nurse love showing through.