[stu666]

http://northernspyrecords.com/music/...aight-through/

Thurston Moore & Loren Connors
The Only Way to Go Is Straight Through

April 20, 2013
Northern Spy Records

Thurston Moore and Loren Connors are relentless guitar gods. As long as their fingers can move, no force on the planet can stop them. On this Record Store Day exclusive release, entitled The Only Way To Go Is Straight Through, Thurston and Loren fearlessly dive into a hot, dark pool and enter a world of surging sound and faint lights. They can’t see each other. They can only hear each others’ searing notes in the heat. But it is enough to take them through.


The material on The Only Way To Go Is Straight Through was compiled from two live recordings. Side A was captured at The Stone in Manhattan, where Moore and Connors performed on July 14, 2012 for the second annual Spy Music Festival (pictured above). The pair met up again on October 17, 2012 to headline Northern Spy’s CMJ showcase at Public Assembly in Brooklyn (pictured below), and that mesmerizing set became Side B of this record.

While this was not the first time that Thurston Moore and Loren Connors have performed together, a vinyl pressing of their improvised collaborations is unprecedented. A mere three thousand copies of this extraordinary LP will be available worldwide ONLY on Record Store Day (April 20, 2013). The music will not be available in any other format, on any other day, so we think it will be well worth braving the insanely long RSD lines to get your hands on a copy.

[guest]

fuck yes! the only problem is the whole RSD thing, I know the day is for a good cause and everything but I fucking hate the whole thing so much. it's just too much of a hassle. plus we never get shit out here in Australia.

[tesla69]

is it just me or doe northern spy sound a little cunty.

[Dr Chocolate]

i hate that after market RSD stuff
also, i haven't seen much else this year that makes me go
I GOT $100. that'd get me 3 albums.
alot of stuff seems like it's way fucking overpriced from the supplier
sure it's limited
but holy fuck!
almost as bad as that x-ray of Gibby Haynes Third Man Records release. cost $32 and already on e-bay for $200
there's no such thing as record collecting anymore
i swear it's along those lines of "who's got the biggest dick" show downs

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Dr Chocolate

i hate that after market RSD stuff
also, i haven't seen much else this year that makes me go
I GOT $100. that'd get me 3 albums.
alot of stuff seems like it's way fucking overpriced from the supplier
sure it's limited
but holy fuck!
almost as bad as that x-ray of Gibby Haynes Third Man Records release. cost $32 and already on e-bay for $200
there's no such thing as record collecting anymore
i swear it's along those lines of "who's got the biggest dick" show downs

I have to totally agree with you on this!

How widely distributed is this Connors/Moore release gonna be I would like to know. I'm willing to bet that the local shops in my area that are participating in RSD will not have this release...

[ilduclo]

I put in for the followers at my local, they're pretty good about getting me stuff even though they are tiny

Thurston Moore and Loren Conners The Only Way to Go is Straight Through 12" (2000 copies)

Bardo Pond Rise Above It All (features covers of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" and Pharoah Sanders "the Creator has a Master Plan") 500 copies

Jandek Jandek vinyl box set LP

Josephine Foster Little Life (1st time on vinyl, originally released as a CD-R in 2001, comes with CD inside) 500 copies

The Atlas Moth Black Trees /Wolvhammer Burn split 7” (500 copies only, colored vinyl)

Whirr Part Time Punks Sessions 500 copies only on "Black on Electric Blue" colored vinyl (originally released digitally to help fix the band's van, features 4 tracks: Blue, Flashback, Junebouvier and Twist)

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention I'm the Slime b/w Montana remastered from original analog source, Montana is a 2013 single edit with an additional 25 seconds of music) on Green Slime colored vinyl (3000 copies)

John Coltrane Newport 61 LP (Previously unreleased July 1st recording at the Newport Music Festival)

[Lazewski]

This makes sense as to why Record Store Day tweeted this earlier..

Blasting Sonic Youth in my headphones makes everything perfect. Can't wait to tell you all about #RSD13 releases on Thursday #TwoMoreDays

[tesla69]

I don't think I've seen one comment on the board about this lp - I guess they were all sold to nonboardies. and ebayers, based on the numbers on sale there. downtown music gallery has some, this is their writeup

THURSTON MOORE & LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS - The Only Way To Go Is Straight Through [RSD 2013 Ltd Ed of 3000] (Northern Spy 036; USA) compiled from two live recordings. Side A was captured at The Stone in Manhattan, where Moore and Connors performed on July 14, 2012 for the second annual Spy Music Festival (pictured above). The pair met up again on October 17, 2012 to headline Northern Spy's CMJ showcase at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, and that mesmerizing set became Side B of this record. "Wow! This duo has only played a few times live, but you wouldn't know it from listening to this LP. Each side of this album contains an entire live set, one from The Stone on July 14, 2012 and one from Public Assembly in Brooklyn, October 17th, 2012. I attended the set at The Stone and remember that it was very hot inside and someone chose to turn off the AC, making matters even worse. Both Thurston and Loren are longtime members - thirty years plus - of the Downtown scene. Thurston is a founding member of Sonic Youth as well as an active improviser wwith worldwide collaborators. Loren Mazzacane Connors is often heard solo, and in duos with his wife Suzanne Langille, Alan Licht, Jim O'Rourke, Haino Keiji and in the Haunted House quartet. Although their styles of playing are quite different, they have landed on strong common ground here. For the set at The Stone, Mr. Connors plays those eerie, bluesy, restrained feedback drenched, ghostlike sounds while Mr. Moore adds his own bent note, floating spirits, sonic specters to the blend. This duo has a dark, hypnotic and hazy sound, evoking the dead spirits found in an actual haunted house. Both guitarists work quite well together, taking their times and adding layers somber feedback and/or tapping out fragile notes on the fretboard. Listening to this set almost a year later, it sounds so much better than I remember since it was hard to concentrate when it is stifling at The Stone. Both sets here are amazing, consistently spirited and focused throughout. It does sound as if Loren Connors and Thurston Moore have been playing together for many years. This album is a limited edition Record Store Day item which will not be released on CD as far as we know. Essential for crazy guitar fans like you and me." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery LP $20

[ilduclo]

I got it but hasn't listened to it yet. being that it's live sets, I wonder if there's any other versions out there? I actually could have bought 3 of them....

[tesla69]

I recorded the whole Public Assambly set, so I know it doesn't fit on one side of an lp...

[stu666]

Originally Posted by tesla69

I don't think I've seen one comment on the board about this lp - I guess they were all sold to nonboardies. and ebayers, based on the numbers on sale there. downtown music gallery has some, this is their writeup

THURSTON MOORE & LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS - The Only Way To Go Is Straight Through [RSD 2013 Ltd Ed of 3000] (Northern Spy 036; USA) compiled from two live recordings. Side A was captured at The Stone in Manhattan, where Moore and Connors performed on July 14, 2012 for the second annual Spy Music Festival (pictured above). The pair met up again on October 17, 2012 to headline Northern Spy's CMJ showcase at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, and that mesmerizing set became Side B of this record. "Wow! This duo has only played a few times live, but you wouldn't know it from listening to this LP. Each side of this album contains an entire live set, one from The Stone on July 14, 2012 and one from Public Assembly in Brooklyn, October 17th, 2012. I attended the set at The Stone and remember that it was very hot inside and someone chose to turn off the AC, making matters even worse. Both Thurston and Loren are longtime members - thirty years plus - of the Downtown scene. Thurston is a founding member of Sonic Youth as well as an active improviser wwith worldwide collaborators. Loren Mazzacane Connors is often heard solo, and in duos with his wife Suzanne Langille, Alan Licht, Jim O'Rourke, Haino Keiji and in the Haunted House quartet. Although their styles of playing are quite different, they have landed on strong common ground here. For the set at The Stone, Mr. Connors plays those eerie, bluesy, restrained feedback drenched, ghostlike sounds while Mr. Moore adds his own bent note, floating spirits, sonic specters to the blend. This duo has a dark, hypnotic and hazy sound, evoking the dead spirits found in an actual haunted house. Both guitarists work quite well together, taking their times and adding layers somber feedback and/or tapping out fragile notes on the fretboard. Listening to this set almost a year later, it sounds so much better than I remember since it was hard to concentrate when it is stifling at The Stone. Both sets here are amazing, consistently spirited and focused throughout. It does sound as if Loren Connors and Thurston Moore have been playing together for many years. This album is a limited edition Record Store Day item which will not be released on CD as far as we know. Essential for crazy guitar fans like you and me." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery LP $20

A nice member of this board got me a copy but I'm still waiting for it to arrive.

[whorefrost]

man. want this. volcanic tongue had copies and for some reason I didn't think it would sell out in a couple of days

[sergisonic]

4 copies were sold in Barcelona. The LP arrived after my visit to the store, damn it!

[adamnspy]

hi, it's adam from the 'cunty' label

I'm trying to line up a studio date for this duo. If it happens, it'll be more widely available. So look out for that...

Volcanic Tongue gave the RSD LP 'tip of the tongue' status.

Stunning hook-up between two of the most iconoclastic string-thinkers of the modern age: The Only Way To Go... bundles two live sets from Venusian blues guitarist Loren Connors and Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore that feel pretty unique in both players catalogues while giving the nod to the scale of their respective breakthroughs. The A side presents a set live at The Stone in NYC on July 14th 2012 while the flip culls a gig from Public Assembly in Brooklyn, NY that took place on October 17th 2012. Connors is on particularly devastating form. At The Stone he plays with a heady F/X-saturated sound that comes across as if each note is being beamed from a wah-wah somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. Thurston sounds great too, drawing on the kind of atmospheric string klang and wammy-bar violence of the live Bad Moon/Evol form, generating huge roaring shadows that Connors vanquishes with some of his most full-on psychedelic six string attacks. The Public Assembly show is even better, with a dark avant classical appeal that touches on the kind of euphoric slow-motion string classicism of the Tokuma-era Fushitsusha recordings with beautiful, low-key single note exchanges giving way to a heady, lurching string assault style that comes over like two Jutok Kaneko’s power-gargling the kind of black psychedelic violence of Endless Ruins. A major modern guitar side and a massive recent highlight from both players. Comes with a download. Very highly recommended!

[hirsute_biped]

Got one on RSD, too busy to crack it open yet...

[hirsute_biped]

Cracked it, no download code in mine (help?!), still no time to spin the disc (havn't been home much lately)

[rappard]

Originally Posted by hirsute_biped

no download code in mine (help?!)

Don't think there is one. How old-fashioned!

[tesla69]

Originally Posted by adamnspy

hi, it's adam from the 'cunty' label . !

I didn't say the label was cunty in fact I think Northern Spy is one of the more interesting labels operating in the country right now...

it was the blurb for the lp that was so smarmy and smug that inspired me to use such a profane word. I've seen the record for sale at a few places but I've just left it there.

I'm very sensitive.

[hipster_bebop_junkie]

I ordered this from Volcanic Tongue before realizing Reckless Records from Chicago still has copies in stock. I ordered the Low & Dirty Three golden reissue of "In The Fishtank" from Reckless, and could have saved a bit of money on shipping had I also included the Thurston & Loren Connors piece of wax in my order from there as well. This link might still be useful for some folks in America looking for a copy, then:
http://www.reckless.com/index.php?ke...ue&srch=Search

[ilduclo]

I listened to it tonite, pretty nice! I liked the 10/17 set better, but they're both pretty good. I did an mp3 as long as I was listening to it.