Uncut lists ten reasons they love Sonic Youth, complete with pithy commentary from SY themselves. I, myself, am just now getting into this seminal band. I’ve had Daydream Nation for ages but didn’t feel compelled to get any more – until now. I guess you could say that I am starting to “get it”. It started when I happened across a clip of a track from their latest record Sonic Nurse and I was really taken by the intricacy of the music – this wasn’t the discordant squall of noise that I usually imagined when I thought of Sonic Youth. It fascinated me and I wanted to hear more. Mayhap both I and the band have grown to a point where we can communicate? I intend to find out.

I grabbed their effort before last Murray Street yesterday and find it quite engrossing – I think I needed to start listening to something outside my usual musical comfort zone and this is doing the job of expanding my horizons quite nicely, not to mention giving me all sorts of ideas for abusing the snot out of my my new Jazzmaster (not that new, it’s used and I got it a couple months ago). Expect to see more of thier catalog appearing in my recent purchases list over in the sidebar over the next while. I expected this to happen sooner or later – my roomate in first year university was a big fan so I spent eight months staring at a mondo-sized Sonic Youth poster (I tried to find an image of the exact poster, but to no avail). It had to have gotten into my subconscious at some level. Anyway, I’m just glad that most of their back catalog is plentifully available in the used shop and is muy cheap. And their website is nuts (check out their gearology, sheer madness) – though I’d expect nothing less.

The Alameda Times-Star interviews Steve Earle about his pants. And if you look over to my good ol’ blogroll, you’ll see that I’ve added a new blog from the man himself. I have my doubts as to his ability to keep it current, but it’s a nice touch. He mentions that touring to support The Revolution Starts… Now will begin in October but I don’t expect a Toronto date on this leg – he’s concentrating on states where he might be able to persuade the vote, which pretty much excludes foreign countries.

Oh, and another new celebrity blog in the link-list: Strong Sad is rocking his “Litany of Crushed Hopes and Dreams” again.

Tickets for the Wilco show October 9 show at Massey Hall go on sale Wednesday August 25 at 10:05 through Wilcoworld. TEN. OH. FIVE. Do not attempt to buy tickets before then. You will, uh, get a virus that will, uh, turn all your mp3s into Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. Dance remix. You’ve been warned. Actually, I don’t know that they go on sale at 10AM – I am just assuming since that’s when they usually go on sale. Either way, Ticketmaster’s block goes on sale Friday the 27th.

The artwork from Matthew Sweet’s Living Things, out September 7.

Josephy Arthur has been named as support for REM when they swing through Toronto on November 10. That is not the push I needed to decide to attend (all due respect to Mr Arthur).

There was a going-away party for Five Seventeen last night to bid him adieu as he moves to Vancouver at the start of next month to open the west coast branch of the burgeoning Chromewaves empire. It was a good old fashioned house party, though it was a bit of a disappointment as Kid showed up but Play was nowhere to be seen.

np – Sonic Youth / Murray Street

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