Fucking The Future

Sonic Youth “Eric’s Trip (Demo Version)” – It’s actually hard to imagine that this acoustic demo of “Eric’s Trip” predates the version that we’ve known for years now. I’d always assumed that the noise came first, and the song came second, but no — it started as a quasi-folk ballad, and the crazed urgency came later on. This take sounds loose and unfinished, but it’s quite appealing, especially if you’re like me and you’ve heard the completed studio version enough times so that you’ve unintentionally memorized every twist and turn of the lyrics. The words are a bit off, but the miniature arrangement and intimate performance underlines the clueless narcissism that defines its narrator. The finished song emphasizes a sense of impending doom or hints at an imminent psychotic break, but this version just seems to drift through its epiphanies in a starry-eyed haze. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Honeymoon Killers “Decollage (Prins Thomas Multitrack Edit)” – I’ve been nervous, I’ve been anxious, I’ve been paranoid, and I’ve been listening to this on repeat, which is extremely counter-intuitive because it just exacerbates those feelings. Then again, it’s so stylized and slick that it somehow twists the dread into a strange sort of comfort. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)