C/D: Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

Also, I've always loved the amazing "meta" uber-reflexive cover featuring pimply Lollapalooza teens wearing SY "washing machine" t-shirts.

Where is the love for the title track on Washing Machine? "Honey, here's a quarter. Go put it in the washing machine."
And then I looked up at her...I looked up...

i love love love that album unreservedly... washing machine is great though, especially the longer tracks, and the guitars on 'unwind'

I've always liked that the shirts were autographed by Thalia and Chris from Come.

I like the album enough, but don't include me as a "Diamond Sea" fan. I saw them perform it live at Lollapalooza that year, and was blown away by it, but the recorded version just did not get a decent transition from noise to Thurston's vocal return at all. And the vocal melody is "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys, which is a much better song.

fuckin classic.

saucer like is almost perfect one of my favorite lee tracks (which i tend to favor in general)

I'll stand up for EJTSN, but not this am....maybe i'll try and write up an essay while im an invalid next week.

It's so crazy.

Yup, a double vinyl record. I don't know if it was ever actually released on vinyl in the US, though, as I bought my copy in the fall of '95, and it was on Geffen/BMG UK.

YES. Except I'd say it ascends, not descends; whatever; anyway "gorgeous" is right.

has a great shangri-la's like track w/kelly deal from the breeders.

It's Kim Deal on "Little Trouble Girl," not Kelley; important to note as it constitutes yet more evidence for Kim D's rulingness.

Alfred, which do you prefer, Washing Machine or Experimental Jet Set?

In fact, by the time I was driving into New York City to see that girl who had been writing me the letters, it was "Diamond Sea" that was on my tape deck that night as I came around that curve on the NJ Turnpike and saw the Manhattan skyline for the first time.

*sputters*

Either way, Washing Machine is the last Sonic Youth record that I really listened to over and over, unlike the albums that came after which I have given only a few listens then put on the shelf.

I still have never picked up the last one.

Hear, hear!

And I have to jump in on the EJSTANS argument: my favorite SY album, and one of my favorite albums, period. I don't know if that says anything about its objective quality, but I know that I love it.

And I know that you are WRONG if you do not also love it. WRONG.

no idea what you're talking about
http://photos-b.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xpf1/10388051_737073713020801_451066444_n.jpg
[across the street from the venue last night]

Did anyone go to this last night?
http://www.strandbooks.com/event/raymond-pettibon-kim-gordon

If I saw Thurston with an iPuff my enthusiasm for SY would wane a little I must admit.

yes but it's called THE VILLAGE GREEN SOCIETY, that's gotta count for something

all the different varieties.
but yeah those ipuff things seem to be popular. kids these days, back in my day etc.

http://instagram.com/p/pr32o_uT9L/

I think, having been a band for over 10 years at that point, the direction they went in with Washing Machine and then 1000 Leaves was pretty much the only one they could have gone. Release endless versions of Dirty by the mid late 90s? Go back to the Evol/Sister sound?. They had done that.

funny that people consider Washing Machine as the point where they turned into noodly free-jammers. For me WM is a transition point between these two phases. There are still quite a few Alterna Nation relics on it (eg. Little Trouble Girl, No Queen Blues, even Pantie Lies)

Yeah No Queen Blues and Pantie Lies sound like they belong on EJSTANS

Hello 2015!

crazy

this record is so skinny

really a whole gnarly ball of psychopathology and primitive interpersonal relationship dynamics tho huh, when was coco born

While some of the earlier albums maybe seem a little less consistently-great to me than they once did, my feelings about Washing Machine basically haven't changed since I first heard it: it's got, like, no spark, man. It's okay but it sounds like a contractual obligation, 'Compilation Blues' fleshed out to album length. Probably my least favorite SY album, truth be told.

I remember seeing them in a club soon after this record came out; getting crushed against the front of the stage at a random/unexpected moment; and saying afterward to a friend -- "Did a memo go out saying all the kids are supposed to go nuts when they play, like, 'Skip Tracer'?"

Not the best Sonic Youth album, but my favorite

definitely one of my favourites, for the title track and diamond sea alone

I saw Sonic Youth four times, three times were fairly average but the show in support of this LP was absolutely fantastic. Opened with Teenage Riot and closed with long version of The Diamond Sea.

Yeah No Queen Blues and Pantie Lies sound like they belong on EJSTANS

― Immediate Follower (NA)

take these out and this is a perfect record imo.

I loved Washing Machine when it came out and I love it now, and that's probably down to being 18 and seeing the band play almost the whole album lives around that time. But yeah, it retrospect, it could've lost maybe 2-3 songs and been even better. (Short version: NA OTM)

My favorite too, though I have listened to it pretty sparingly in recent years compared to, say, Goo or even Experimental Jet Set, for the spry SY. Washing Machine has such a lovely dankness, though (...maybe not quite in the sense people meant "dank" at the time, thinking back to college).

I suspect there's a different track order that would make this album hold together better, but I haven't bothered to try.

How can you dislike an album that has Little Trouble Girl and Diamond Sea on it ???

tbh I played it this morning and my 4yo stuck her fingers in her ears, shouted "I hate this music!" and demanded I put t Madness on

Saw them live the first time on this tour and Diamond Sea split my skull open and upgraded my hardware

FTR, I don't dislike the album. I just find it...boring? rote? compared to most of the rest of their discography. NYC Ghosts is the only other one I can think of that I'm nearly as 'meh' about.

One thing I will say for this album is it has a great cover.

I feel like the Washing Machine/A Thousand Leaves/SYR1-2 era might be my favorite Sonic Youth

I think it was after A Thousand Leaves that their gear was stolen which forced them to do a kind of reset, and they managed to make a really great album a couple of years later (Murray Street) but I wonder where they would have gone after A Thousand Leaves if they kept going on that same path.

Prob the SY album I got the most into. A bit uneven, yes (Panty Lines, Little Trouble Girl are to be skipped) but as a transition album it hits a nice equilibrium between the tautness of their previous stuff and the psych indulgences of the latter releases. The solos on the title track in particular are so warm and fuzzy.

Gear theft was after NYC Ghosts, wasn’t it? Or was that the first with the new stuff?

Little Trouble Girl are to be skipped

you're a monster

this is probably, on balance, my fave SY album

Gear theft was after NYC Ghosts, wasn’t it? Or was that the first with the new stuff?

I kinda feel Sonic Nurse is the album they would have done after 1000 Leaves (ie more beautiful noodling) had they not be forced to readjust at that time

Murray Street is the one!

had this convo w/ a friend the other day. much prefer their direct songs and (relative) consonance over their skew-whiff, aimless, atonal meandering. sister takes the cake for me as far as most consistent LP.

me too

Also, I've always loved the amazing "meta" uber-reflexive cover featuring pimply Lollapalooza teens wearing SY "washing machine" t-shirts.

― Jacobo Rock (jacobo rock), Tuesday, December 6, 2005 10:56 PM (thirteen years ago)

RIP

Daniel J. Barrett, 38, died Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at home. He was born in Springfield on November 19, 1980. Dan loved and enjoyed being with his family. Dan had a deep and profound love for his only child, Ashley, he passed on his love of reading to her. Through the years they shared some special times together. He was a loving and caring son to his mother and had a dedicated bond with his brother, Timothy. He loved to cook and was employed at numerous restaurants around Western Massachusetts. Dan moved to the Boston area where he continued his passion for cooking as a chef as well as teaching under privileged youth. Dan's last employment was as an instructor at a Christian School in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts. Dan also enjoyed reading, playing video games, and telling jokes. Dan loved making other people laugh including impromptu stand up at local clubs. Dan had a great love of writing, he was a prolific and talented writer who received awards for some of his short stories. He loved to play music, especially guitar and bass, he even performed in several local bands. Dan’s personal claim to fame was being featured on Sonic Youth’s album cover Washing Machine. He was an avid sports fan and especially liked the Patriots and Red Sox. He leaves a daughter Ashley Geary of Little Elm, TX, his mother Kim (Leary) Vuelta of Westfield, His brother Timothy Barrett and spouse Janea Barrett of Westfield, his sister Christine (Barrett) Bieda and spouse Nathan Bieda of Chicopee, stepfather Mike Vuelta of Westfield, step brothers Jason Vuelta and companion Samantha Dick of West Southbrook, MA, Corey Vuelta and spouse Natasha Vuelta of Phoenix, AZ, Matt Barth and spouse Laura Barth of Holland, MA, maternal grandmother Joyce(Renaud) Leary of Westfield and his girlfriend Sarah Parker of West Roxbury, MA. Dan was predeceased by his father David Barret and his grandparents James and Eleanor (Sheehan) Barrett and Thomas Joseph Leary. Dan also leaves behind a large family including aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends in both Western Massachusetts and Boston. The funeral will be held on Wednesday, April 24th at 7 pm from the Firtion-Adams Funeral Service, 76 Broad Street, Westfield, MA. Burial will be private. Calling hours will be held at the funeral home on Wednesday from 4-7 pm before the service. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to a memorial fund for Dan’s daughter Ashely Geary. Donations may be mailed to 1109 Lake Hollow Drive, Little Elm, TX 75068. Firtionadams.com

Published in The Republican on Apr. 23, 2019

Bummer

25 years old. I'll be working but:https://www.brooklynvegan.com/sonic-youth-celebrating-washing-machines-25th-anniversary-w-90s-show-stream-more/

I first saw them on this tour and had a Kiss The Stone bootleg of that German show for years. It is fantastic - Washing Machine and Diamond Sea are astonishing live.

HELLO 2015!!!!!!

that song is so great

the band he talks about is Mecca Normal

I wish they they had included more ‘Skip Tracer’-type stuff on their 90s-and beyond material

I think that it would have opened up that era of the band in terms of bringing back many of those who stopped paying attention after Goo (to me, there’s a direct lineage from a lot of the stuff on Bad Moon Rising and ‘In The Kingdom #19’ to ‘Skip Tracer’)

What do you mean by "'Skip Tracer'-type stuff"? There are still a number of tracks with spoken word over dissonant guitars on those albums, I think?

but not Lee's, I don't think

Title track of "NYC Ghosts and Flowers" is probably the closest.

There is, but I don’t think a lot of that stuff is as interesting in terms of integrating the talking with a pop-rock structure. Skip Tracer is SY doing something interesting within that 3-4 minute side of the band, whereas a lot of the things they were doing at that point were more a case of “somewhat conventional rock-pop with noise bit in middle”, or “relatively ambient track with spoken word interlude”

I think a lot of those Geffen albums are really good but I don’t think the marriage of those elements above were that common; if they were, it was more incidental, or a part of something much longer (ie not in a 4 min tune)

Ah, yeah, I see what you mean.