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Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth by Nitin Vadukal, Rolling Stone September 1994

This beautifully shot concert from the Washing Machine tour is essential. 

I don't know this from personal experience as my mother is a widow, but when I listen to Thurston Moore sing new love songs it feels like he's my dad and he's talking about how happy he is with his new girlfriend. It is an awkward feeling, and I do feel bad resenting his happiness, but I guess most kids end up choosing a side in a divorce. 

Animal Collective "Today's Supernatural"

It was pretty much inevitable that most people inclined to like Animal Collective would be disappointed by Centipede Hz, and that disappointment is going to color the way the record will be received for a long time, or at least until we have a sense of where the band go with later releases. But here's one way of thinking about it: It's basically the Goo to Merriweather Post Pavilion's Daydream Nation. (Strawberry Jam is a direct analog to Sister, too, but that's another conversation.) People generally have positive associations with Goo thanks to its iconic cover art and because it contains "Kool Thing" and "Mote," but it's definitely one of Sonic Youth's least consistent records, especially in comparison to its predecessor, which is pretty much universally considered to be their breakthrough/masterwork. In their own ways, Centipede Hz and Goo represent each band stepping away from the finesse of their masterpiece and embracing a more bluntly rocking and abrasive sound. The big difference is that for Sonic Youth, Goo was a gesture toward a larger audience - they made the jump to a major label and approached the hard rock sound of the era on their own terms. For Animal Collective, the creative decisions on Centipede Hz are extremely insular. I interviewed the band about the record a couple months ago and I got the impression that they have no desire to push away their fans - they seem to genuinely want to chase their muse wherever it leads them - but regardless, their shift from an ornate sound to a more heavy and simplified approach comes off like a retreat from the larger audience they reached with Merriweather. Centipede Hz s actually more of a Wowee Zowee move - when faced with the option of going for a commercial brass ring, Pavement opted to loosen up and make the most Pavement-y record they could. I hope time ends up being as kind to Centipede Hz as it has been to Wowee Zowee.  It's a good record, and as far as I'm concerned, it's their third best behind the Merriweather/Strawberry axis. It's a better record than Goo, too, for what it's worth. I'm inclined to align with Sonic Youth on a philosophical level here, but a full third of Goo is kinda half-formed and tossed-off.

(See also.)

This month marks the 30th anniversary of Sonic Youth's first EP. (Not pictured, I don't own that one on vinyl!) Few other bands have put out as many great albums for as long as they have. I hope they keep going.