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We're Not Who You Think We Are

Sonic Youth

Certain Songs #64: Sonic Youth – “Skip Tracer”

January 1, 2015 by Jim Connelly

image

Album: Washing Machine
Year: 1995

HELLO, 2015!

HELLO … 20 …15!!!

That’s what Lee Renaldo shouts at the end of this spoken-word piece with guitars, bass and drums near the end of Sonic Youth’s last universally acclaimed album.  It’s not really about the future, but rather about seeing a band stumble through a live performance. But, to me, that “Hello, 2015” felt like a declaration of purpose.

Here’s what I wrote about it with my very first Pazz & Jop critics poll ballot in 1995:

“Hello 2015!” Lee Ranaldo screams, somewhat optimistically, near the end of this record, just before they launch us on a sparkling sailing voyage towards that very year.

It’s like, for the first time, they’ve really considered their place in our past and, more importantly, in their future. And they like what they see. And if they keep making records this strong and loose, they just might meet themselves on the other side.

In 1995, when Washing Machine came out, 2015 seemed an impossible distance away. Another century, another millennium, another universe. And yet, out of all of the bands active in 1995, I was sure that Sonic Youth was going to be one of the ones still standing here on New Years Day 2015 and shout back “Hello, 1995” as they did an All Tomorrows Parties set of Washing Machine in its entirety.

Meanwhile, 1995 still seems impossibly close, like if I turned around and walked around that corner over there, I’d be able to say hello to it. For much of 1995 I was living in Oakland and Rox was living in Hollywood, and – just like Ranaldo points out earlier in the song – LA was the most confusing place I’d ever been to.

Of course, little did I know 20 years ago that by the time 2015 rolled around, I’d have been living here for over 13 years, with that initial confusion (you drive SOUTH to get to the ocean?) long since dissipated. 

So hello, 2015. Please be better.

“Skip Tracer” performed live in Germany, 1996

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: 2015, New Years Day, Skip Tracer, Sonic Youth, Washing Machine

23 Musical Moments to Die For

October 3, 2008 by Jim Connelly

James Brown, The Godfather of Soul!!You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the third in a series. The first one had 25, the second one has 24, this one has 23.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.

[Read more…] about 23 Musical Moments to Die For

Filed Under: Music, Musical Moments To Die For, That's What I Like Tagged With: Ambulance LTD, Bangles, Boston, Hole, Husker Du, James Brown, Jesus and Mary Chain, Mekons, Sonic Youth, The Church, The Who, White Stripes

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2085: The Rolling Stones – “Some Girls”
  • Certain Songs #2084: The Rolling Stones – “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”
  • Certain Songs #2083: The Rolling Stones – “When The Whip Comes Down”
  • Certain Songs #2082: The Rolling Stones – “Miss You (Special Disco Version)”
  • Certain Songs #2081: The Rolling Stones – “Fool To Cry”

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