Imprecise, Hard To Cure

Sonic Youth @ Webster Hall 2/16/07
Candle / Reena / Incinerate / Bull in the Heather / Skip Tracer / Do You Believe In Rapture? / What A Waste / Silver Rocket / Rats / Turquoise Boy / Jams Run Free / Pink Steam / Or // The Neutral / Shaking Hell /// Expressway To Yr Skull

At long last, after twelve years of seeing them play at least once on every tour, I finally got to see Sonic Youth play “Silver Rocket”! This means my list of Sonic Youth oldies that they play live but I have never seen has been reduced to just “Brother James” and “Inhuman.” (It’s sort of amazing how common “Brother James” is — it is played with some regularity on virtually every tour — and yet it remains so elusive!) This is not counting songs that were performed frequently before 1995 – other key songs that I would love to see but have not been performed since before I started seeing them live include “Theresa’s Sound-World,” “Stereo Sanctity,” “Tuff Gnarl,” “Pipeline/Kill Time,” “I Love Her All The Time,” “Dirty Boots,” “Flower,” “Hey Joni,” and “The Sprawl,” but who knows if they will do any of those ever again.

Honestly, I would’ve been happy enough just to see them play “Candle” and “Skip Tracer” again, since they both rank among my top five or six favorites in the Sonic Youth catalog. Really, there isn’t a lot to say about this show aside from remarking on the setlist — like Radiohead, their performances are of a freakishly consistent and high level of quality, and after a certain number of shows, all you can do is offer yet another reverent WOW.

Sonic Youth “The Neutral” – This is how they introduced this song on Friday night:

Thurston: “Hey Kim, why don’t you tell us what this song’s about? You told me once, but I forgot.”

Kim: “It’s about the modern dude.”

One of the most interesting things about Sonic Youth’s lyrics over the past decade is the way that songs about people and their relationships are always strictly observational. They aren’t entirely emotionally detached, but definitely stand at a distance from their subjects, and they never do much to hide that — if anything, the vicarious drama and benign voyeurism becomes the real topic. “The Neutral” is sung to a friend about some mysterious and alluring “modern dude,” but the song isn’t really about him; it’s about the possibility that her friend might end up with him, and how that fills her with excitement, pride, and mild envy. As the song ends, Kim sings “he’s neutral, and he’s weary, and he’s so in love with you,” and it’s the single most heartbreaking line she’s written since she sang “I’m so happy we’re just friends” at the end of “Creme Brulee” on Dirty. It’s not because she’s actually interested in the “modern dude,” but that she’s acknowledging the ways in which she is cut off from these sort of possibilities, for better or worse. She wants the best for her friend, and she’s hopeful that this crush works out, and in some small way she knows it’s because she wants to be in on this magic, even if she’s just on the periphery. (Click here to buy it from AmpCamp.)

A Sunny Day In Glasgow @ The Delancey 2/17/07
Our Change Into Rain Is No Change At All / Lists, Plans / A Mundane Phone Call With Jack Parsons / Ghost in the Graveyard / C’mon / The Best Summer Ever

A Sunny Day In Glasgow “Our Change Into Rain Is No Change At All” – A Sunny Day In Glasgow’s evolution as a live band continues to stray from the muted, ethereal effect of their studio recordings without sacrificing their appeal. If anything, their show at the Delancey foregrounded their most appealing and accessible aspects — the melodies, the guitar textures, and the voices of Lauren and Robin Daniels — and highlighting things that aren’t so strongly emphasized on the album, i.e. the lyrics and the beats. The girls sound like shy apparitions on Scribble Mural Comic Journal, but in person, they are outgoing, flirtatious, and bold. Their drummer is tight and energetic, and was key in translating music designed for headphones into something physical and urgent. “C’mon” was played with a disco beat, “Best Summer Ever” was played like a rock hit, and “Lists, Plans” was sped up considerably, and transformed into an arty funk song not unlike Stereolab’s “Metronomic Underground.” (Click here to buy it from Notenuf.)