Sonic Youth Gossip - Sonic Youth go gold

This is so funny. :)

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Sonic Elders

Sonic Youth go gold.

October 18, 2007

Living legends Sonic Youth recently entered the studio to begin work on a new album: their 50th. That’s right; the “Youth” are going gold (not in record sales, of course) and they invited Black & White to visit them in their Manhattan studio.

I’m given an address in the West Village. I arrive expecting a recording studio and am surprised to instead find Sung Chen’s Best Meat Deals Butcher Shop and Sandwich Counter. Am I lost? A glance through the window reveals I am not. They’re in there. Sonic Youth. Thurston comes to the door and welcomes me in, gesturing to the recording equipment among the Korean import groceries. “You can’t beat these acoustics.” A red-faced Asian man screams, “Who you? Who everybody? Buy or go now! Combination number five good value!” Thurston chuckles, “That’s Sung. A real character.”

Thurston gives me a quick tour of their unorthodox studio: “These are the pre-amps. There’s the mixing board. That’s the quail meat. There’s our drummer. That’s fish paste. I think that’s the owner’s daughter hiding behind the Marshall stack. Always hiding! One time we found her in the refrigerator.”

We sit on crates of canned bug eyes (“Delicious,” says Sung, adding, “Get out!”) to talk about the pressure of adding to the Sonic Youth canon. “Yeah, it’s tough. We can’t just bang out some tuneless noise jam and call it a day. That would be revisiting old territory.” Obviously, Thurston has been hurt by the fan backlash that greeted the band’s last album. Amazon.com is rife with negative reviews. “What the hell?” asks one fan. “It’s just a bunch of whirring blenders and guttural shrieking. Then the drum machine breaks.”

“Yes, I read that,” admits Thurston. “If that wasn’t our worst album, then it’s definitely in the bottom 15. Something about ‘album 49’ doesn’t have the same resonance as ‘first’ or ‘30th.’ There was temptation to phone it in. But we had recorded the last album over the phone. We also talked about just taking album 42 and releasing it under a new title, but that wouldn’t be fair to the nine people who bought it.” Thurston reaches for a bag of shrimp-flavored Doritos. “You buy then leave!” screams Sung.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Kim.” A hand is extended. Sonic Youth’s bassist stands before me. Kim Gordon. I’m honored to be in the presence of a woman who has been present for so many landmarks in the history of music, a woman who can offer an insider’s perspective on grunge (“Nirvana’s first concert destroyed all remaining hearing in my left ear”); art-rock (“It’s funny; when I was a kid, ‘art rock’ meant ‘marble statue’”); Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan (“I screamed like all the other girls, but I was having hot flashes”); Al Jolson’s original vaudeville performances (“I’d never laugh at the colored folk nowadays”); and the pressing of the first 78 RPM record on acetate (“I can barely remember that. I was a teenager”). The woman was born into music. “My mother was an apprentice to a luthier; my father was a drummer in the Confederate Army.” In awe, I extend my hand to shake hers. I grab and hear something snap. “Whoops. That was my pinkie! I should be on Boniva, but none of us have health insurance.”

Thurston and Kim walk me around their workspace. They are long renowned for their experimental recording practices, and the band’s 50th album is no exception. “We’ve set the amps up next to the refrigerators because you can get some really cool feedback,” Kim notes. “Also, the soda’s in there, and I get tired if I have to walk across the store to get one.” Aware of Thurston’s love of lo-fi, I point to a My First Sony cassette player and ask how it will be used in the recording. “Oh, that’s not for the record!” laughs Kim. “That’s for my grandkids.”

“Here, let me play you some of the new stuff we’ve been working on.” Thurston fires up the reel-to-reel. An abrasive squall roars from the speakers. It’s uncompromising, vicious. Classic Sonic Youth. “Hold on, this is just tape of me sending a fax. Let me forward to the next song.” A slightly more abrasive squall roars from the speakers. Kim’s voice pierces it, delivering signature riot grrl lyrics in her spoken word style: “All this noise is tryin’ my patience! /Sittin’ on a couch tryin’ to read The Nation! /Why can’t we all get along? /Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn! /HEY YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!” It’s a powerful song. “That was inspired by some kids on my lawn. I noticed they would always leave whenever I played some of our music, so I wrote a song just for that.” Spoiler alert: The new album is fantastic.

Sonic Youth have been around a long time for an indie rock band. Hell, they’ve been around a long time for a pyramid. Do they ever feel like their relevance is slipping? “Oh, sure,” says Thurston. “We’re almost a nostalgia act for certain people—people who want to remember a special time of their life, like the time before underground music went mainstream, or the time before women could vote.” Nowadays, Thurston focuses much of his efforts on his record label, Ecstatic Peace. “Even if ‘the kids’ today don’t know who I am, I can take pride in the fact that millions of ’em like the acts that I’ve signed or championed—truly fantastic acts like Wolf Eyes, Monotract, Dead Machines, Wooden Wand, Tall Firs, Awesome Color, and Mouthus. The immense popularity of these bands is all I need.” And as for Kim? “Oh, trust me, I know the young people have no idea who I am. I met Lindsay Lohan once—she thought I was Helen Mirren. Can you imagine! Being mistaken for someone you used to babysit?!”

I’m about to take off when Thurston asks if I’d like to hear some stuff live. A private Sonic Youth concert? I try to keep it together and reply that yes, I certainly would. They begin with what is either a new song or wrist warm-up exercises. I stand next to Sung, who turns to me, rolls his eyes, and says, “You have to sit through so much bullshit just to hear ‘Teenage Riot.’” But they get around to it eventually. I ask if they’re going to do “Bull in the Heather” or “Dirty Boots.” Kim says, “No, but here’s something off of Washing Machine.” I take the hint and leave