An early review/preview of the eternal
 

Courtesy of Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdail...die-rock-vets/
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Sonic Youth’s “The Eternal”: Most Diverse Record Yet from Indie-Rock Vets

2/18/09, 5:48 pm EST
Sonic Youth’s new album The Eternal isn’t out until June 9th, but Rolling Stone caught the first preview of the indie-rock legends’ sixteenth record, which finds the crew leaving the clasp of major-label-dom for the more comfortable confines of independent label Matador. Recorded last year with producer John Agnello in Hoboken, New Jersey, The Eternal is predictably mindblowing. The 12 tracks touch on all of the styles Sonic Youth have experimented with over the years, from no-wave noise blowouts circa their self-titled debut (”Anti-Orgasm”) to the sharply written power-pop songs of Goo and Dirty (”Sacred Trickster,” “Antenna”) to the mellower, more-ruminative tracks of their underrated gem A Thousand Leaves (the almost-10-minute closer “Massage the History”).
On Sonic Youth’s last record, Rather Ripped, the group pared down to a foursome after guitarist-bassist Jim O’Rourke left. But this time around, they’re back up to a quintet, with Pavement’s Mark Ibold joining in on bass. And for the first time since “Unwind” on 1995’s Washing Machine, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore team up on vocal harmonies, best heard on the tracks “What We Know” and “Leaky Lifeboat.”
Early pick for the album’s best track: “Malibu Gas Station,” a fierce, tightly wound rocker anchored by Steve Shelley’s insanely precise beat and Moore and Ranaldo’s sparking guitar chords. Production notes for the track say that it’s “an ode to the flash moment of the camera as you knowingly step from your SUV sans panties.” (Lindsay Lohan, anyone?) With a subject like that, you know Gordon — a California native — is on lead vocals. And her contribution puts the track over the top when she yelps in her feral-kitten purr lyrics like “I can’t move faster/ My face feels plastered.” You’ll feel the same way when the record hits stores in June

I'd say The Eternal sounds pretty fucking sweet.

se me para!!!!

Well, sounds good... although on the other hand... the reviewer doesn't even seem to know that Kim Gordon isn't singing on Unwind.


Fixed.

Wow, so it's got a little bit of every style? Theres not many SY records you can say that of, you better be right, Rolling Stone.

Good times!

CHRIST. It sounds fucking amazing.

it sounds good, but rolling stone is never right about anything. they should stick back to covering the goo goo dolls circa 1998.

a thousand leaves has a mix of tunes like this one is described here. sounds deeeliciouoso

I can't wait.

I believe it when I hear it.

I've said this before a million times in reference to other records I love: I love a studio record that sounds like a b-sides collection. That is to say, something that flirts with every musical interest of the collective. This sounds great. Of course, we're trusting Rolling Stones' ears. A "no-wave noise blowout" may be something um... different to Rolling Stone mag than it is to followers of the bands' nearly 30 yrs of output.

I dont trust the rolling stone in reviews for a glimpse

I think this is about the limit of all I want to hear about the new record before I hear it myself.

If that article is true, then this album will be amazing!

This album sounds like its gonna be the record that reminds people why sonic youth are so well respected and dare I say it? Their best record of the decade.

We'll see how well it stacks up against Sonic Nurse. We'll see.

I hope that the band is playing the songs to journalists and then sending them home with nothing but the memories and a promo t-shirt, rather than giving them something they can leak.

sounds sick. i love the fact that the album's coming out in the summer. all of their albums post-washing machine sound like summer albums to me

ATL has always been a winter album for me.

I don't really like preview reviews.

This tells me nothing other than some Rolling Stone sap got the job of having to sound positive but not definitive.