13 March 2013 (Day 72) – The Calm Before The Maelstorm

With quite a few work commitments today and a restaurant dinner with “M” after work, there wasn’t much opportunity for listening today.  But I’m not complaining; in some respects it was a welcome relief from the joyous noise that will descend around me over the course of the next 48 hours.

Keeping that in mind, I opted for some low key experimental noises starting with the band that’s provided half of my pseudonym;

(195) Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves

This is one of the more intriguing Sonic Youth albums.  It’s got a very loose almost improvised feel that isn’t anywhere near as loud as you think it should.  This doesn’t mean that they shied away from their patented brand of controlled guitar chaos; tracks like Sunday, French Tickler and Karen Koltrane take care of that.  Rather, many tracks provide the impression you’re listening to  Sonic Youth Unplugged, however this approach is wholly integrated into their traditional sound on tracks like Wildflower Soul, Hoarfrost and Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg).

(196) Tortoise – Self Titled

Tortoise is an experimental band from Chicago that specialises in languid instrumentals.  Such an approach was not altogether surprising given they were then without a recognised guitarist.  The line up for this album was essentially 2 bass guitars, drums and other percussion instruments resulting  in a great unreleased tension. The basses frequently throb with menace and you think the band is about to burst out a la Sonic Youth but it never really arrives; you might get a vibraphone explosion, as on the track titled Ry Cooder, but that’s about it.

And that’s how I feel as I’m about to go to sleep, sort of like the pilgrims at St Peter’s in Rome awaiting the election of a new Pope; excited but really wanting tomorrow to come in the expectation of greater things.