Recorded at Easley Studios, Memphis, between January and May '95, with slicez workshopped in between demo-jotting, along an early year college tour, away from their NYC habitat,
WASHING MACHINE has been widely considered a transitional record for SY. By criticz and, erm, well rateyourmusic doodz and readingz along my google searchez... Anyway I just heard it for the first time last week and it has quickly become one of my all timer favz, combining the slacker poeticz of the 90z with EVOL-lvl screwin' sound~ ~
In regardz to the record, an exploration of feminist themes and nowave-melodia that reverberates into modern acts.... transitional record, putting
that out there seems to me to be a misreading of what the Geffen contract allowed SY to play with, in how it molded avant garde rock'z sound and the band'z own production ecosphere crater. And while I think that word devalues the sound, its thematic arc and sonic scope, quite literally in SY timespace, what had to have been one big trip, heady, intimate-to-grand-scale trek, it's true.
"Lookin so sweet with all your might"During the end of, letz say, their initial
DGC-Scrappy trilogy, mid 90z angst territory has allowed grunge to flourish, Swans, and Free Kitten's
Nice Ass (Kim'z in there!) open up the year in January. PJ Harvey pulls thru for Alt in February, Radiohead's sophomore effort
whatevzright and NIN goes FURTHER DOWN THE SPIRAL in June, and The Dismemberment Plan
! up emo indie anxiety james foreverafter in October. Blonde Redhead debuts this year with two albums that carry more than one similarity to Daydream-era and current SY. The Billboard Landscape is pocketed with great hip-hop, and GZA will slay us, man. Its a transitional decade, is how I feel. One that pav'd route for glitch to become its post-postindustrial pop mutant, as it exists now.
Coco Hayley Gordon Moore is born in July of '94.
Riding the Diamond Sea of this album our Sonicz will establish SYR, Sonic Youth Recordings, as a safe haven label for free improv and noise association setz, then later continue on to pockmark its catalog well into the 00z.
Following up
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star their best-charting release in the United States (until 2009's The Eternal), drummer Steve Shelley's foray into jazz performance, and his and Thurston Moore's sweet-femme guitar rock
Psychic Hearts we get a record that showcases the group with their heart on their sleevez and head in the cloudz. They go from family snapshots and college fans to stadiums, REM, Lollapalooza, then back to SY specific setz in the fall, onto global territory with Foo Fighters and the Beastie Boys. Deep into '96 they're in on the 6-date tour at the Reading Festival in England, with one final WashingMachine date themselves in Spain. Kim'z on guitar for most of the LP, but the three tracks she serves on bass are standouts. I'm particularly fond of
Panty Lies."It was so great to be out of NY recording somewhere else. Things were relaxed there . We ate a lot of barbeque from Payne's. I can't believe the record ever got recorded. It's one of my favorite's. Coco was about 8 months old. She met her first Elvis impersonator there." - Kim Gordon in a FILTER discography self-commentary
Its two singles,
The Diamond Sea and
Little Trouble Girl (Kim Deal! Memphis' Lorette Velvette and Melissa Dunn), tether two endz, a spectrum of feminist musings.
Though not executed quite as extreme as on the previous 2 albums, Ronaldo Lee and Thurston's guitars are once again isolated to their own speakers -- Lee is in the left, Thurston is in the right. At some point in early '95, Sonic Youth were seriously considering changing their name to "Washing Machine. The image of 2 fans wearing "Washing Machine" shirts on the cover was taken after the April 28th, 1995 show at Amherst College in Amherst, MA. The shirts were signed by opening act Come. There was actually an MTV news bulletin a short while later calling out for the fans to contact the band to grant them permission to use the photograph for the album cover. The R.E.M. tour found Sonic Youth as openers in front of huge, stadium crowds -- but a mere month later they would find themselves headlining before huge, stadium crowds. The tour: Lollapalooza '95.
Four trax of modern fable open our flick -- unspool into the titular jam, a Ginsberg-esque crawl that settles into side3, three Slacker-Lullabies before we're perk'd again on side-4 into a swirl, the noir riffz of Becuz Coda and Skip Tracer giving shapes to cities, The Diamond Sea blanketing our sky and united stags cragz, valleys, coasts and how that extends and it's deeper still, and actually, it's everything we're on (the finale counterpart, the "alternate ending" version of Diamond Sea, sparkling at nearly 26 minutes).
Blood crystallized as sand
And now I hope you'll understand
You reflected into his looking glass soul
Now the mirror is your only friend
Look into his eyes and you will see
That men are not alone on the diamond sea
Sail into the heart of the lonely storm
And tell her that you'll love her eternally
Time takes its crazy toll
Mirror fallin' off the wall
You better look out for the looking glass girl
Cause she's gonna take you for a fall
Look into his eyes and you shall see
Why everything is quiet and nothing's free
I wonder how he's gonna make her smile
When love is running wild on the diamond sea
