Pitchfork

Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 01:28:13 -0400
From: William McPenny [wmcpenn@cia.gov]
Rank: Director of Communist Celebrity Activity
Organization: Central Intelligence Agency
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (Win95; I)
To: Roger Schaumberg, Director of Division 03, CIA [rog@cia.gov]
Subject: our favorite little insubordinate pinko; update

Rog--

Our boys in DC taped a phone call from Pitchfork's Brent DiCrescenzo [subject file NN74b1231] to a James Mac in the DC area. We didn't get much about the plan for the pinko bastard's rebellion or about other possible pinkos. They mostly talked about music. But we think that's all some secret pinko code. Perhaps "Sonic Youth" refers to some underground movement. Our boys in the DEA are trying to figure out who this "Huck Finn" fellow is, and whether the commies are trying to smuggle drugs. Read it over and tell me what you think. Should we whack this James character? He sounds red to me. How about a burger and brew after work? Give Betty a squeezey.

-Bill

>>CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
>PHONE SURVEILLANCE DIVISION SUBJECT NN74b1231
>Monday, June 1st, 1998
>2341hrs-2359hrs EST xxx98xi0aa45be442

JM: I think I'm going to trade in my Sonic Youth CDs.

BD: Why?

JM: I just don't listen to them that much anymore.

BD: Hmph.

JM: I'll probably keep Dirty and Daydream Nation.

BD: Hm.

JM: Their albums are good, and you can respect them, but they're just not that fun to listen to.

BD: Yeah.

JM: Like the last one, Washing Machine. It had some really good moments, but was just kind of boring. Their albums are always so inconsistent.

BD: Agreed.

JM: ...And Kim Gordon's voice gets to me.

BD: Definitely.

JM: I really like when Thurston Moore sings and that other guy too. Lee...

BD: Ranaldo.

JM: But Kim Gordon's voice is just like annoying. Like they'll be playing this really pretty part and she'll just grunt and scream over it. She worked better when they were noisier.

BD: Yeah.

JM: Have you heard the new one yet? Did Pitchfork send it to you?

BD: Yeah. And I love the artwork. It represents the feel of the album quite faithfully. The artwork is all pink-hued. Very mellow, washed-out pink. The CD is pink. The artwork has a warm, calm, fuzzy, pinkish feel. And I think that fits the music. A Thousand Leaves is the prettiest Sonic Youth record yet. From the first single, "Sunday," you can tell that Sonic Youth don't just want to scrub drumsticks against guitar strings anymore. Most of the guitar playing revolves around intricate picking. Subtle textures that tickle and dance like a pixie...

JM: Please...

BD: ...Can I finish? Like pixies. Not like The Pixies, but like pixies. Fairies. Most of the songs are aromatherapy, relaxing and vaporous. But they don't smell. When I listen to it, I keep picturing myself lying in a field of tall grass during a New Hampshire summer, eating hypnotic mushrooms, staring at the sun. And I've never been to New Hampshire. The album's centerpiece, the epic "Hits of Sunshine," drifts on underwater guitars and novocaine rhythms. If Huck Finn was an LSD distributor on the Mississippi, circa 1968, this is the song he'd listen to as he dangled his naked feet in the water, sitting on the edge of his raft that he constructed from VW Bus tires. The album is filled with these gliding moments. Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo pick apart the melodies like two dogs with a turkey carcass, extruding variations, playing off each other, jamming, improvising. The songs with Kim Gordon on vocals still tend to grate, as they typically reserve her for the riot songs and avant-noisescapes. I think you'd like this record, Jim. You like stuff like Gastr del Sol and Tortoise, and this seems more in tune with that experimental post-rock stuff. The only downside is that, again, the record just has an overall laid-back 'jam' feel. You get the idea that by this point Sonic Youth can just walk in their studio and crank this stuff out in an afternoon. That's where the resulting inconsistency comes from. The band is too content to merely experiment and jam. Granted, they still manage to ring some new sounds out of a guitar, after you thought you'd heard it all.

JM: Hmm. I do like the pink artwork.