2005 had Sonic Youth revisiting awesome Japan, touring the boroughs of New York, rollicking at the first Arthurfest in L.A., and releasing the special deluxe edition of GOO. After one final gnarl out in Brazil with Flaming Lips, The Stooges and others Mr. Jim O'Rourke decided to concentrate full-time on his Japanese studies of language and film and SY was subsequently back to it's OG nucleus of Kim-Thurston-Lee-Steve. Songs were written, Jim recommended engineer TJ Doherty and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) recomm   [ read more ]

CD $16.99

Other people also bought:

The Futureheads  News and Tributes, Danielson  Ships, Thom Yorke  The Eraser

Insound Staff Pick - 2008! After a solid twenty-three years of explosive creativity Sonic Youth throws down what may be their heaviest classic since their own genre-breaking "Daydream Nation" in 1988. "Sonic Nurse" is the nineteenth long player by the New York City supernova, together since 1981. Ten songs of American beauty and sonic death with wild and colorful cover art by renowned artist Richard Prince from his notorious Nurse Paintings series. Check out the first track, "Pattern Recognition," an   [ read more ]

CD $14.99

Other people also bought:

PJ Harvey  Uh Huh Her , !!! (Chk Chk Chk)  Louden Up Now , Animal Collective  Sung Tongs

A band-chosen collection of near-hidden Sonic Youth gems. The album brings together tracks from throughout the band's career - focusing on tracks previously available only on vinyl, limited-release compilations, or as b-sides to international singles. Remastered here for the first time, it's a chance for fans to complete their Sonic Youth collection with pristine versions of tracks they'd been going nuts trying to find on their own. They asked for it... and now they're getting it.

CD $13.99

Other people also bought:

Bloc Party  A Weekend in the City , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Architecture in Helsinki | Takka Takka  Fall 2006 Tour EP, Sufjan Stevens  Songs for Christmas

By refining the song-oriented breakthroughs of Sister and developing their fascination with noise and alternate tunings, Sonic Youth created a masterpiece of post-punk art rock with the double-album Daydream Nation. Though the self-conscious sprawl of the album might appear self-indulgent on the surface, Daydream Nation is powered by a sustained vision, one that encapsulates all of the group's quirks and strengths. Alternating between tense, hypnotic instrumental passages and furious noise   [ read more ]

CD $9.45

EVOL was a major leap forward for Sonic Youth, but Sister is a masterpiece, demonstrating the group's rapidly evolving musicality. More than ever before, Sonic Youth's songs sound like actual songs, and their collages of noise, distortion, and alternate tunings are now used to provide texture and depth to the music, which is original, complex, and rewarding. Not only is there the full-throttle roar of "Tuff Gnarl," but there are shimmering layers of ambient harmonics and dissonance that are a   [ read more ]

CD $9.45

Sonic Youth made its first moves toward rock with EVOL, a stunningly fluent mixture of avant-garde instrumentation and subversions of rock & roll. The band benefits greatly from the addition of structure, which gives their aural experiments a firm grounding, but the addition of drummer Steve Shelley is essential to the group's new, dangerous edge. With the added propulsion, the fearless rush of "Expressway to Yr Skull" (a.k.a. "Madonna, Sean and Me") and the near-pop of "Green Light" are undeniably p   [ read more ]

CD $9.99

Other people also bought:

My Bloody Valentine  Isn't Anything, Talking Heads  More Songs About Buildings and Food, Talking Heads  Remain in the Light

Any doubts as to the continuing relevance of Sonic Youth upon their jump to major-label status were quickly laid to rest by Goo, their follow-up to the monumental Daydream Nation. While paling in the shadow of its predecessor, the record is nevertheless a defiant call to arms against mainstream musical values; the Geffen logo adorning the disc is a moot point. Goo is, if anything, a portrait of Sonic Youth at their most self-indulgently noisy and contentious, covering topics ranging fro   [ read more ]

CD $9.99

Other people also bought:

My Bloody Valentine  Isn't Anything, The Olivia Tremor Control  Dusk at Cubist Castle (Reissue), Belle and Sebastian  The Boy With the Arab Strap

Insound Staff Pick - 2008! Hailed by Rolling Stone as one of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time" and honored as one of the first 200 albums chosen by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Recording Registry for their historic, cultural or aesthetic importance, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation will be issued in a two-disc Deluxe Edition with bonus tracks, new liner notes, and unseen band photos on June 12, 2007. Daydream Nation was Sonic Youth's sixth album, their first   [ read more ]

2xCD $28.99

Other people also bought:

The New Pornographers  Challengers [Executive Edition] , The National  Boxer , Queens of the Stone Age  Era Vulgaris

Produced by John Agnello and the band, The Eternal not only marks Sonic Youth's return to the independent label sphere (titles on their own SYR label excepted) after a long association with Geffen, but more importantly, ranks as one of their more inspired efforts in a 28 year career. Recorded through November and December of last year at the band's Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, NJ, The Eternal features many firsts for a Sonic Youth album, including a number of shared vocals be   [ read more ]

CD $13.99

Other people also bought:

Dinosaur Jr.  Farm, Grizzly Bear  Veckatimest, Japandroids  Post-Nothing

SOUND SAVER. The sixth edition of the SYR series is a live recording of the April 12, 2003 benefit concert held at and for The Anthology Film Archives, the international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of avant-garde and independent cinema. In addition to screening films for the public, AFA houses a film museum, research library and art gallery. The event, which raised money for the Archives and celebrated the life and work of avant-garde film maker Stan Brakhage, featured Sonic Youth pro   [ read more ]

CD $8.99

Other people also bought:

Pavement  Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels , Arcade Fire  Neon Bible : Deluxe Edition, The Flaming Lips  Hear It Is

Celebrating the End! SONIC YOUTH collaborating with folks like JIM O'ROURKE, COCO HALLEY GORDON-MOORE (Kim and Thurston's daughter), CHRISTIAN MARCLAY, WHARTON TIERS, playing music composed by JOHN CAGE, YOKO ONO, CORNELIUS CARDEW, STEVE REICH, PAULINE OLIVEROS, etc! Disc A is enhanced with video, too.

2xCD $17.99

Other people also bought:

Le Tigre  Le Tigre, Various Artists  Kindercore Records Christmas Comp, Vol. 2, Rainer Maria  Atlantic

After the regressive, low-key Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, Sonic Youth appeared to be floundering somewhat, but Washing Machine erased any notion that the band had run out of things to say. Easily their most adventurous, challenging, and best record since Daydream Nation, the album finds Sonic Youth returning to the fearless exploration of their SST records, but the group has found a way to work that into tighter song structures. Not only are the songs more immediate than most of   [ read more ]

CD $9.45