[Moshe]

http://blograge.wordpress.com/2007/0...s-some-melody/


Thurston Moore delivers some melody! Wednesday August 15th 2007, 5:55 pm
Filed under: Pop Hit, New Release, Music
Granted I am 30 something mofo, I dig some new sounds. But it’s fact that when
true artists age (gracefully), their songs get better. More life experience to tap into, and
less fear to run from. Alas, comes a new record from Sonic Youth’s finest’
Thurston Moore. Dig the melodies. It’s low-fi Ga Ga Ga…back to the old school
with strings to boot. Check it at: Ecstatic Peace
Prediction: Top 5 CMJ, Appearance on Letterman, Indie-retail heaven, Blog City and lots of movie sync biz., 9.0 from the Pitchforks, and the rest of the moonies will get in line just like on 7th street and avenue C, or keep walkin’ if the shop says so. Europe too, and you got a break for the office next year @ EP HQ. Records like these make working nice.

Dude is no-wave-underground legend. Get busy Thurston! Thank you for the nice tunes.

 

[Moshe]

I received a nice surprise today in my mailbox. Someone nice has sent me a promo copy of the album. The package came from London with no sender address on it so I thought it is from someone who read this thread. Thank you whoever you are. You made my summer.
Now I'm going to sink into it. Let you know what I think later.

[sonicl]

You've listened to it now, I assume... What are your thoughts?

[Moshe]

from the first 2 listens I think I can quantify my review.
it is:
10 times better than sonic nurse
20 times better than psychic hearts
1000 time better then rather ripped

I absolutely love it. Must be the best release from sonic youth or any of its members since Murray St. There is something very honest and true coming from Thurston this time

[SynthethicalY]

It is a rather amazing album. I won't say much of it since many have not heard it yet. Also I have not heard it muc, since I want to wait for its release.

[Moshe]

http://www.wonkavisionmagazine.com/reviews/?p=419

Thurston – “Trees Outside the Academy”

Published August 6th, 2007 in T.

 

Thurston is Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, back with his first solo since ’95’s “Psychic Hearts.” For 20-odd plus years, Sonic Youth’s members haven’t stopped playing music, and they haven’t gone away. Now, Moore is back again, coming up with new songs and new sounds, doing what all hope to do well – age gracefully.
On the surface, “Trees Outside the Academy” unwinds itself first as a folk-type ballad album, and then shines in its full glory as a slightly psychedelic noise record that keeps returning to its harmonious folk base and rhythm. The progression at first is surprising, until track one, “Frozen Gtr” is repeated, and the soft whine noise is found to have been present all along. The “noise” and instrumental aspect doesn’t fully begin until “American Coffin,” though, when it transitions from a harsh grind (is that the razor my barber uses?) into a heavy distortion relenting into a hollow piano. Moore reinserts the rhythm however, with “Off Work,” which isn’t as jarring, but maintains a steady rhythm with light percussion and the omnipresent violin as provided by Samara Lubelski. But the song changes completely with the reemergence of the hollow ringing razor that ushers the song into a more meditative track. Noise wave artist Leslie Keffer contributes to this track (I think–), but sometimes it’s hard to know where her influence begins and stops.
This album isn’t all experimentation – most tracks concentrate on Moore’s humbling voice and lyrical approach. Moore is proficient enough never to mix himself with any of the typical singer/songwriter high expression or quiet rage. His voice isn’t angry or profound, just exacting and honest. To say that Moore has a varied, but distinctive, guitar style is an understatement. The most intricate composition is “The Shape is in a Trance,” which breaks into Moore’s more trademark electronic distortion. “Silver/Blue” and “Fri/End” have the slight touch of Sonic Youth’s distinctive sound. Moore’s quality continues and plenty of “yr” and “yeh” abound. [By: Josh Spilker]
Rating: 5/5
Release Date: September 18, 2007

[Moshe]

http://popdrivel.blogspot.com/2007/0...ned-chaos.html

Thurston Moore - Contained Chaos

 

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Maybe it's because he's an icon of avant garde noise rock, the first artist that made me connect emotionally with the scrape and howl of noise. Or maybe it's because there really is something there in the music, beneath the surface, subtly placed, like a poet manipulating the reader with accent, line, and rhyme. Whatever it is, Thurston Moore's songs always carry a certain gravity for me, even when they're relatively spare, light, accented with strings, and not quite so experimental. Take Never Light (mp3), which is a tamed and beautiful acoustic song. At the two minute mark, there's a break consisting of violin with acoustic guitar strings struck firmly, which resolves at 2:17. As a SY fan, you can't help but imagine that section as a distorted guitar scream. That's part of the joy of his new solo album, Trees Outside the Academy.http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=t...1&a=B000UZ4FMY It's a gorgeous listen, steady and assured. You relax to it, but still, there's a part of you that braces for the chaos you know Thurston can unleash at any moment.

[Jef Mertens]

That cover simply does not work at all!!!
bummer---

They should keep the graphic one

[_slavo_]

I just listened to the snippets of the songs on ecstatic web and I can only say two words to them.

OH GOD.

(rushing the online order form right now)

[Inhuman]

What you're about to hear is me dropping a nickel on the table
THERE

[Moshe]

TOTA is being reviewed in the September issue of The Wire. Can anybody post that review?
I wonder If Thurston was interviewed for the next issue while his visit to Scotland.

 

Where is Thurston? Rubbing the store while the staff is taking pictures or having an interview with The Wire?

[jico.]

 

i thought this was the cover.

[Inhuman]

Originally Posted by Moshe

from the first 2 listens I think I can quantify my review.
it is:
10 times better than sonic nurse
20 times better than psychic hearts
1000 time better then rather ripped

I absolutely love it. Must be the best release from sonic youth or any of its members since Murray St. There is something very honest and true coming from Thurston this time

agreed!

[greenlight]

Originally Posted by Moshe

I received a nice surprise today in my mailbox. Someone nice has sent me a promo copy if the album. The package came from London with no sender address on it so I thought it is from someone who read this thread. Thank you whoever you are. You made my summer.
Now I'm going to sink into it. Let you know what I think later.

this is great.

[sonicl]

Originally Posted by Moshe

TOTA is being reviewed in the September issue of The Wire. Can anybody post that review?

 

[Moshe]

thanks sonicl.

[Moshe]

So which way does the new Thurston record go? Down the shonkily-paved path of his most recent recorded output – the free noise fun house of the likes of Original Silence and Dream Aktion Unit – or in the more conventionally-floored direction of the last Sonic Youth album, Rather Ripped, and of his other solo album from over a decade ago, Psychic Hearts. Skronk scavengers may choose to avert their eyes now- it’s kinda the latter. But, hang on, come back - even if I too was perhaps secretly (well, I didn’t tell my mum) hoping for some solo guitar expedition, I’ve been enjoying Trees Outside The Academy massively.

 

 

The root cause of this spurt of enthusiasm is the cross-pollination of some addictively sweet melodies with the unexpected and quite delicious violin parts of Samaru Lubelski (MV/EE). The opening slew of tracks – “Frozen Gtr” (thumbs to p20 of the SY style guide; “yr gtr, never your guitar”, check) and “The Shape Is In A Trance” may be two of the finest straight-up pop songs Thurston has written, and following these with a duet with the honeyed vocals of Christina Carter is chasing down dessert with dessert wine. An interruption to this mood (“Wonderful Witches”, with Gown and John Moloney) irritates with its petulant juvenility, but I’m won back over with the delicate and dreamy “Never Day”, and the building SYisms of the instrumental title track, which features the the even more instantly recognisable by sound than by sight J Mascis – which is saying something - cutting in with some coruscating gtr.
The album closes with Thurston demonstrating his long-standing fascination with the possibilities of recorded sound…actually it does no such thing, it finishes with a 30 year old recording of him dicking about of with scissors and disinfectant. It does however throw into sharp relief the fact that he has just made his maturest-sounding record. It may also be one of his very best.
Track samples are from the Ecstatic Peace site, which also bandies about a release date of September 18th.

http://mapsadaisical.wordpress.com/2...cstatic-peace/

[Moshe]

http://www.themodernmusic.com/2007/0...e-academy.html

Wow! Listen up Sonic Youth and Thurston Moore fans, i'm loving Trees Outside The Academy,
his first solo album since 1995 in September. Get ready for amazing guitar and violin combinations. In addition, Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped mixer John Agnello came aboard for the 12-track affair, which also features collaborations with Mascis and Charalambides' Christina Carter, who duets with Moore on "Honest James." Andrew Macgregor and noise rocker Leslie Keffer also perform on Trees Outside the Academy. This is mostly an acoustic and lyrically driven work, you'll hear nice guitar solos and instrumental noisy music from time to time, but it really is a distinctive record. I love luxury music.

[Moshe]

http://sirtheory.wordpress.com/2007/...e-the-academy/

Thurston Moore has been in the business a long time. He is best known for being the innovative guitarist behind Sonic Youth. However, he also does his own solo albums from time to time. Well “from time to time” might be a bit deceiving. He has a whole slew of solo albums, but most of them are experimental noise (or, depending on your perspective, boring noise) projects and not actual verse-and-chorus songs. In fact, prior to Trees Outside The Academy, Thurston Moore had only one vocal solo album, the singularly amazing Psychic Hearts. Of course, his best known material is with Sonic Youth and, really, even if that was all we got we’d be pretty happy. But these Moore solo discs are icing on the cake.
Those who are familiar with Sonic Youth and who have heard Psychic Hearts will probably find themselves blinking when they listen to Trees Outside The Academy. Psychic Hearts wasn’t really a big departure from Sonic Youth. It has many songs that would be on an equal level as the top quarter of Sonic Youth songs. Yet along comes Trees Outside The Academy and does the most variant thing I’ve heard from Thurston.
The general tone of the album isn’t too far from Murray Street: laid back songs complimented by Thurston’s lazy drawl. What really separates the album from anything previously heard from Thurston is how it is all acoustic. It is amazing how it is both intimately familiar yet so alien at the same time. The other big difference is the liberal use of a string orchestra to give rich texture to the songs. They add an unexpected slickness to the album.
At a few points there are deliciously non-Kim Gordon female back-up vocals which make the album sound like a less simplified The Evens. (The Evens are the acoustic side project of that dude from Fugazi.) Kim Gordon is generally pretty awesome in the context of Sonic Youth, however, it is great to hear Thurston sing with just a really good female singer. Every time I hear it it is refreshing.
It all works fairly well and I would enjoy hearing more acoustic stuff from Thurston. However, the total lack of the trademark buzzing of his electric guitar prowess makes the album feel somewhat empty. It would have come across a lot better if there were specific points in some of the songs where he worked some of his crazy electric riffs into a bridge. What he does here is good and works, but it feels incomplete. (To be fair, there are electric guitars here and there, but they lack any real edge. They’re just there.)
In the end the album, incomplete though it may feel, is a very noteworthy album in the Thurston Moore/Sonic Youth catalog. It is the first album from Thrston to dabble so completely in acoustics and it has to be viewed as a success. It will not end up being as compelling of a listen as much of his electric work, however. But it should please fans as it goes it a new direction.

[Moshe]

http://www.adequacy.net/review.php?reviewID=8083

For all of Sonic Youth’s acclaimed and misunderstood experimentation, it’s rare - especially on the band’s regular studio albums - to find the foursome stretching themselves instrumentally beyond an amplified guitars/bass/drums configuration. Even with the temporary input of the ambidextrous Jim O’Rourke, Thurston Moore and co. barely gave themselves over to less electrically-powered impulses or unconventional rock apparatus, leaving many tempting possibilities on the shelf. Perhaps the most accessible and alluring option that the quartet has only vaguely taken-up – fleetingly on the lesser-known likes of “Winner’s Blues”, “Razor Blade” and the rare BBC Radio session rendering of “Purr” – is the electro-acoustic route. And on 2006’s Rather Ripped, Sonic Youth seemed as loyally welded to default construction settings as ever, leaving the likelihood of any true reinvention hanging in the air. Until now that is, as Moore unveils his first song-based solo LP since 1995’s fuzz-rocking Psychic Hearts, which could, were it not for the technicality that Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo aren’t on board, be the closest that we’ll ever get to ‘Sonic Youth Unplugged’.


Built predominantly around his own insistent acoustic guitar-playing, melodic bass lines and laidback tones, Samara Lubelski’s versatile violin and drums from Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, Trees Outside The Academy may still be far from being a strictly organic or non-rock affair (especially with guest guitar-mangling here and there from Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis and Sunburned Hand of The Man’s John Moloney) but it is a firm step diagonally for Moore’s slowly-maturing muse.

The opening triumvirate of tracks is worth the admission price alone. Underpinned with a sinewy blues motif and a pretty harmonised-chorus, “Frozen Gtr” could be a more muscular Iron & Wine. The graceful violin and hard-strummed guitar shades of “The Shape Is In A Trance” glide along like less a discordant John Cale-era Velvet Underground or maybe even a more fluid Tindersticks. The gorgeous “Honest James” - with Charalambides’ Christina Carter on balmy backing vocals – is the loveliest thing Moore has even let become a borderline ballad, in a Neil Young/On The Beach vein that is. The fact that Moore successfully sustains his new approaches (for most) of Trees Outside The Academy makes for a solidly engaging and enjoyable album.

Other key highlights include the euphoric folk-rock flow of “Fri/End” (which recalls Yo La Tengo’s cherishable acoustic reading of “Cherry Chapstick”), the eerie piano instrumental “American Coffin” and the radiant almost-baroque shimmering of “Never Day”. Diehards worried that Moore has ‘gone soft’ will be strongly reassured by the presence of the Goo-meets-Dirty scuzz of “Wonderful Witches” and the thunderous string-bending excesses of the title-track. This still being a side-project of sorts however, does predictably (and ponderously) permit access to a few in-jokes and pointless interludes; hence the silly self-descriptive 30 or so second squall of “Free Noise Among Friends” and a slice of vintage spoken-word oddness from a (literally) juvenile Moore, in the shape of the closing “Thurston@13”.

Whilst Trees Outside The Academy isn’t quite as breathtaking as it could/should be, especially given the niggling-feeling that Moore didn’t give the album 100% of his attention, even when he had a fresher formula at his disposal, it does contain some consistently strong material that complements as well as outshines his best latter-day Sonic Youth wares. Now, if only Moore can introduce some of these new recipes to his ‘day-job’ colleagues, then when the time comes to cut the next piece of the Sonic Youth cake, we could have ‘old-dog-can-be-taught-new-tricks’ renaissance to feast upon.