J’Accuse Ted Hughes SYR 7

The seventh in the series of Sonic Youth's SYR documents unearths even more fruit from the fields of Sonic improvisational/compositional love. On the heels of a lengthy investigation into their relationship to 20th Century classical music, the band took advantage of their millennial crossroads in 2000 via the adventurous, then-newfound All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK, on invitation from Mogwai. Besides it being historical as their last show as a foursome until 2006, it stands as a wholly unique set that not only delved into instrumental previews of the forthcoming NYC Ghosts And Flowers, but also featured an opening 20 minute group interpretation of a solo composition Thurston had performed at NYC's late/beloved venue The Cooler.With Thurston and Lee both sporting electric 12-strings, and Kim on her Eterna, the piece was set-listed as "New Drone", and took a right turn from the initial instrumental plan with Kim's added intonings that reflected on Sylvia Plath's relationship to her husband, hence retitled "J'Accuse Ted Hughes". It's a sublimely spaced out bit of one-chord introspection, though perhaps not what the festival punters were looking for at that moment. Certainly not the irked Melody Maker scribe who headlined his review "Goodbye 20th Century/Goodbye Talent", a screencap of which appears on the sleeve of this 2008 release. Sparks infamously declared "Talent Is An Asset", and one of SY's great ones was to give their deep listener faction something new and unheard to chew on. Initially live streamed in not-so-great quality, the SYR 7 mix ably accents the thunderous, phased crescendos that ebb and flow here.The flip of this release brings Jim O'Rourke into the fold with a piece for a never-completed collaboration with French clothing designer Agnes B. Recorded in 2003 in SY's home turf of Echo Canyon in downtown Manhattan, this 18 minute piece plumbs even deeper drone recesses and colorful dins. O'Rourke in the ranks led to a number of years that wed Sonic Youth's penchant for denser, long-form interaction with the songcraft style they perfected; this soundtrack piece in particular is a glimpse into the shared language as a quintet getting its foothold.Brian Turner - April 2025