#Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star
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Sonic Youth
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
1994 DGC
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Tracks:
01. Winner’s Blues
02. Bull in the Heather
03. Starfield Road
04. Skink
05. Screamming Skull
06. Self-Obsessed and Sexxee
07. Bone
08. Androgynous Mind
09. Quest for the Cup
10. Waist
11. Doctor’s Orders
12. Tokyo Eye
13. In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader
14. Sweet Shine
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Kim Gordon
Thurston Moore
Lee Ranaldo
Steve Shelley
* Long Live Rock Archive
#SonicYouth#Kim Gordon#Thurston Moore#Lee Ranaldo#Steve Shelley#Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star#LP#Alternative#1994
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sono passati 30 anni.
30 anni fa, seduto tra i banchi di scuola, il mio unico pensiero era tornare a casa per poter ascoltare questo capolavoro.
rubato la domenica di Pasqua del 1994 da “Disco Club 64”
un negozio di dischi durato poco, molto poco (probabilmente a causa dei mariuoli come
me).
quel giorno ero con mio zio e mio cugino.
mio zio comprò “the head on the door” dei CURE, mio cugino “Kaos A.D” dei sepultura.
io rubai “experimental jet set , trash and no star” dei Sonic Youth.
sono un peccatore ma il reato direi che è più che prescritto.
#sonic youth#sonic#youth#experimental#jet#set#trash#and#no#star#lee ranaldo#thurston moore#kim gordon#steve shelley#geffen records#lp#30#years#fypツ#fypシ゚viral#fypシ#fypage#fyp#dramavinile#ambient#manyfeetunder#concrete#melancholic#picture#lofi
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i love your name. AND WHATS YOUR FAV SONIC YOUTH ALBUM??
Thankksss! That's probably gonna be "experimental jet set, trash and no star" all of the song on that album was peak asffffffffff,,,,, and what about you? Lmk lmk lmk
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Shawn-Daniel Foreman - Transistor-Jet Strikes Back (1980)
The first thing that came to mind for me when I heard the first track of Shawn-Daniel Foreman’s Transistor-Jet Strikes Back wasn’t Kraftwerk or even Queen, although the influences of both couldn't be more evident. It was the homegrown ethos of Sonic Youth’s similarly titled Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
Shawn-Daniel was, like many of these unknown and almost-forgotten musicians who went the private press route, ahead of his time. His musical talents were nurtured by his pianist mother while he grew up attending Catholic school in Kentucky, but his high school rock band had already broken up at least a decade before he released this remarkable electronic-trance record.
Highlights include the robotic voice work on the third track "Master of the Universe." It makes me smile, just like the album title's obvious reference to The Empire Strikes Back. I'm not sure what led to his untimely death at the age of 38, but I'm grateful that he left behind this gift.
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Sonic Youth - The Beacon Theatre, New York City, December 2, 1994
This is sort of where I come in! Sometime in 1994, I heard "Bull In The Heather" (on MTV? on KROQ?!! I don't remember) and thought, "It's time to get into Sonic Youth." I had heard the name around, but soon my friends and I were devouring everything we could get our hands on. And eventually, the poster you see up there was hanging in my bedroom.
But while 1994 was a big year for 15-year-old me, it was a relatively small year for Sonic Youth (as a band, at least — Kim and Thurston did have a baby that summer). In addition to a smattering of late show appearances, they only played one proper gig, an AIDS benefit in NYC hosted by none other than John Waters.
An interesting gig, in that it's dominated by Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star tunes, many of which were rarely played in later years. And while SY are a little bit ragged after such a long time away from the stage, there's a raw energy and excitement on this audience tape (something that seems to be matched by the very rowdy crowd). "Starfield Road" sounds like it might turn into a trainwreck at any minute, while "Androgynous Mind" appears to go off the rails entirely. I love it. There are some old faves too, including a thoroughly explosive "Candle" and a woozy-as-can-be "PCH."
After some well-deserved time off, Sonic Youth were gearing up for one of their biggest years ... it was almost time to put a quarter in the Washing Machine.
Bandcamp | Merch | Concert Chronology
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Sonic Youth - Bull in the Heather (from Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and
No Star)
KEXP was playing songs from 1994 today as part of their weekly focus
on 50 years of being on the air. I immediately thought of this great Sonic
Youth track (and video with a cameo by Kathleen Hanna). Congrats to
50 years, KEXP!
#sonic youth#bull in the heather#experimental jet set#thurston moore#kim gordon#lee ranaldo#steve shelley#dgc records#nyc#noise rock#indie rock#music
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Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star
L’esperimento musicale che la band newyorkese rilascia nella primavera ’94 prende forma ripartendo dalle origini Lo fi della stessa gioventù sonica, dal desiderio di metter da parte in fretta il disco commercialmente più fortunato, allo stesso tempo meno Sonic Youth del catalogo, Dirty, contrariamente al titolo troppo pulito e conforme al sound del periodo. Il punto d’incontro con il precedente…
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Bull In The Heather
By Sonic Youth
From the album Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star
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From December 18th to December 22nd, 2023
18-12-23
THE ZOMBIES “Odessey And Oracle”; RY COODER “Get Rhythm”; PINK FLOYD “The Division Bell”; TAME IMPALA “The Slow Rush”; GRANT GREEN “Idle Moments”; KATE RUSBY “Awkward Annie”; THE CORAL “The Invisible Invasion”; WORLD PARTY “Egyptology”; LAL WATERSON AND OLIVER KNIGHT “Once In A Blue Moon”; SONNY ROLLINS “A Night At The Village Vanguard”; KRISTEN HERSH “Crooked”; RANCID “Indestructible”; SONIC YOUTH “Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star”; PERREY AND KINGSLEY “The In Sound From Way Out”
19-12-23
MADDY PRIOR & THE CARNIVAL BAND “Carols At Christmas”; GRANT GREEN “Born To Be Blue”; BURNING SPEAR “Garvey's Ghost”; DONNA SUMMER “Bad Girls”; WOODY GUTHRIE “Dust Bowl Ballads”; PINK FLOYD “The Dark Side Of The Moon”; THE STOOGES “Raw Power”; KATE RUSBY “Sweet Bells”; AUTECHRE “Amber”; WEIRD AL YANKOVIC “Weird Al Yankovic In 3-D”
20-12-23
MADDY PRIOR & THE CARNIVAL BAND “Gold Frankincense & Myrrh”; TOM WAITS “Swordfishtrombones”;IKE QUEBEC “Boss Nova Soul Samba”; KATE AND ANNA McGARRIGLE “Heartbeats Accelerating”; KRISTEN HERSH “Sky Motel”; COUNTING CROWS “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”; SPARKS “Introducing Sparks”; BONNIE RAITT “Nick Of Time”; WATERSON: CARTHY “Holy Heathens And The Old Green Man”
21-12-23
BBC RADIO TWO: FOLK ON TWO “Christmas Special, 23-12-1987”; MADDY PRIOR & THE CARNIVAL BAND “Carols And Capers”; MADDY PRIOR & THE CARNIVAL BAND “A Tapestry Of Carols”; WENDY CARLOS “Switched-On Bach”; STEPHANNE GRAPPELLI “Stephanne Grappelli”; DJANGO REINHARDT “Place De Brouckere”; R.E.M. “Collapse Into Now”; AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM “Volume 2: Release”
22-12-23
PHIL SPECTOR & ARTISTS “A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector”; VARIOUS ARTISTS “Saturday Night Fever Original Soundtrack”; INSTITUTO MEXICANO DEL SONICO “Mejico Maxico”; RICHARD THOMPSON “you? me? us?”; WORLD PARTY “Dumbing Up”; LEONARD COHEN “Old Ideas”; MILES KANE “One Man Band”; R.E.M. “Automatic For The People”; NICK LOWE & HIS COWBOY OUTFIT “The Rose Of England”
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Rise Above - Aug. 16, 2023
black flag - rise above, damaged Fugazi - Turnover, live Sonic Youth - Bull In The Heather, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star Hole - Malibu, s/t No Doubt - Don't Speak, Don't Speak KITTEN FOREVER - Bitch Acoustic, RARITIES Star Fucking Hipsters - Two Cups of Tea, Until We're Dead Creep Diets - EYEHATEYOURGUTS, demo Hydromedusa - Caps of Tea, s/t Holy Death - No Flowers, MMXIX Space Bong - Master/Slave, The Death of Utopia _Spectral Voice - Ruined Graves, Necrotic Demos Carcinoid - The Drowning, Metastatic Declination Endless Loss - Cremation Cult, Bloodletting Narcotic Divination Imperior - A Looming Flame, demo Black Jesus - Born in a Tomb, Everything Black Everything Dead FACELESS BURIAL - Speciation, Speciation
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Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
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Sonic Youth Albums Ranked (Part 1)
There are few indie/alternative bands that I’d argue are as challenging and engaging, or as formative as Sonic Youth.
From their early days as a radical no wave project, to their mid-career as a hard-hitting noise rock band, to their later years as a mellow indie band with prickly guitar tones, Sonic Youth has reinvented the concept of both the guitar and rock music in general again and again. They’ve probably made at least fifty or so never-before-heard noises with their instruments. Combining these sounds with lyrics that regularly explore disillusionment, nihilism, social transgression, pop culture, feminism, abstract thought, underground scenes, and outsider art — it’s safe to say that Sonic Youth have always gone against the grain.
The members of Sonic Youth are obviously all musicians, but they have also been iconoclasts, satirists, and poets throughout their careers, creating music that demolishes both the conventions of rock as well as the social pretensions of the conservative American lifestyle.
Each member of the main lineup contributes something fundamental to the band:
-Guitarist/vocalist/de-facto leader Thurston Moore, the no-fucks-given anti-rock star icon and visionary (albeit he’s kind of a smug twerp these days)
-Bassist/guitarist/vocalist Kim Gordon, the reserved but sharp-witted feminist and multi-disciplinary artist
-Guitarist/sometimes vocalist Lee Ranaldo, the revolutionary master of bizarre guitar tunings
-Drummer Steve Shelley, whose soft and shy demeanor masks a deliverer of precise, high-speed rhythmic anarchy
I could go on and gush about this band forever, but I’ve decided to settle for writing a big nerdy list all about how I feel each Sonic Youth album holds up when ranked. With 15 proper records in total, there is a lot to digest. Likewise, I highly encourage you if you haven’t already to go listen to some of these LPs for yourself and formulate your own opinions about one of the most fascinating bands to have ever existed. This list is really just my two cents.
Note: we will be focusing on the 15 full-length studio albums recorded under the name “Sonic Youth”. This list does not include the s/t debut EP, nor does it include the “Whitey Album” or the SYR series since those are best understood as separate side projects. This list is going to be long enough as it is anyway.
15. Rather Ripped (2006)
Main Genres: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
A decent sampling of: Noise Rock
From any other band, this is a perfectly decent album with a few nice, gratifying guitar tones here and there. But as a Sonic Youth album, Rather Ripped sounds like the band is on auto-pilot. This is the band’s only album that to my ears sounds like it could’ve been written by any number of other alternative rock bands at the time. It just lacks a certain essential edge that their music usually has.
It really doesn’t help the case for this record that Thurston Moore began having an affair at this point in the career, and it is disgustingly present in the lyrics in hindsight, with the offensively titled “Sleeping Around” and possibly even “Incinerate” both probably taking inspiration from his dirty little secret.
I usually separate art from the artist to a certain degree, but in this case it really does kill part of the experience, because I can’t help but feel that Thurston is having a stupid little giggle to himself by hiding his affair in plain sight and it’s really just kind of pathetic. Kim Gordon is my favourite member of the band, and to me she’s the epitome of an extremely cool person, which only makes the whole thing worse. Seriously, quit bragging old man.
Speaking of “Incinerate”, I can confidently say that I think this is the band’s most overrated song. Certainly not their worst, but I really can’t fathom how so many people consistently put this up there with “Schizophrenia” or “The Diamond Sea” as one of Sonic Youth’s top five songs when it’s honestly just so...by the numbers.
That being said, Rather Ripped is not ‘bad’ per se, it’s mostly just that it really lacks something the band usually has, which makes the project feel a little soulless. Still, the record has its better moments. “Pink Stream” is rather ethereal sounding, which is pretty rare in the band’s discography given their usual penchant for the bombastic and ear-shattering, or the ominous and unsettling. “Turquoise Boy” is also a nice mellow track that probably could’ve fit in quite well as one of many solid tracks on A Thousand Leaves, albeit most of those tracks would still trounce this one.
Rather Ripped is all-around competent; it’s a pretty consistent listen and a decent enough beginner-level Sonic Youth album in terms of accessibility. But there’s just nothing about this album that really grabs me like literally any of their other LPs. There’s almost none of the band’s personality on this record (save perhaps Thurston’s inflated ego). Perhaps it is best to call it their “least interesting” album instead of their “worst”. Honestly, you could just skip this one and you probably wouldn’t miss much.
6/10
highlights: “Pink Stream”, “Turquoise Boy”
14. The Eternal (2009)
Main Genres: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
A decent sampling of: Noise Rock
The Eternal is the last LP Sonic Youth put out as a band. With context, the record has somewhat of a somber feeling. Even its name ‘The Eternal’ seems to suggest that the band might’ve known that it would be their last record, as if the album could be at least partially a reflection on the band’s legacy that will eventually go on to outlive each member.
The band really does sound a little burnt out at multiple points on this record, particularly in terms of Thurston’s vocals which can be best described as sounding ‘exhausted’. Again, like Rather Ripped, the music is certainly competent and enjoyable, but it’s also noticeably less adventurous than on earlier LPs. The album is also a bit more sluggish than most of the band’s past work, feeling just about as long as Daydream Nation or Washing Machine despite being well over 10 minutes shorter than either of those LPs.
I’ll be perfectly honest: if it weren’t for “Massage The History”, this record probably wouldn’t be all that much better than Rather Ripped. Kim Gordon gets to have the very last words on the record with this grim and cryptic requiem about hers and Thurston’s relationship, indicating that she was at least partially aware at the time that the two of them were growing apart.
This would be the last album Sonic Youth put out before Kim became fully aware of Thurston’s affair with a younger woman, leading to her divorce and the band’s inevitable breakup. The song is honestly kind of painful to listen to for that reason, but it is also tragically and morbidly beautiful. “Massage The History” is chronologically the last track in the entire Sonic Youth discography which stretches across 15 LPs over the course of three decades, and it’s a very worthy swan song for the band, if also a bitter reminder that most things cannot last.
“Malibu Gas Station” is another standout, a nocturnal alternative rock jam that sounds very much like a track from the Sister-Daydream Nation-Goo era, and yet another example of Kim Gordon’s capabilities as a member of the band. Really, Kim basically carries this entire LP on her shoulders in terms of the lyrics and vocals.
Nevertheless, I like this record for what it represents if nothing else, and I would still say that it is a level above Rather Ripped thanks to the album closer, and more on par with the next couple of albums on this list. However, I would never recommend that anyone start their Sonic Youth journey with this LP. You can listen to their discography in just about any order you want to, but I’d highly recommend that you save this one for last. The Eternal is a mostly bittersweet experience that is best appreciated after hearing the rest of the band’s output.
7/10
highlights: “Massage The History”, “Malibu Gas Station”
13. Experimental Jet Set, Trash, And No Star (1994)
Main Genres: Noise Rock, Alternative Rock
A decent sampling of: Experimental Rock, Post-Punk
Experimental Jet Set, Trash, And No Star came right after the modest commercial success of Goo and Dirty, and I think you can hear on this LP that the band is reacting to that success by trying to resharpen some of the edges that were smoothed out by Butch Vig’s production on Dirty. Basically, this sounds rather like Dirty but less put-together, less consistent, and a lot more raw.
I appreciate that they wanted to do their own thing and challenge expectations again, and you can really tell that the band is mostly playing around on this record, but in this case I gotta say that the songwriting seems to suffer a little because of that.
The album starts off promising enough with two major highlights. First, there’s a rare acoustic offering with the lo-fi opener “Winner’s Blues”, the first of many tracks that would appear on later Sonic Youth LPs proving that Thurston’s vocals can actually be quite soothing. Then there’s the winding, topsy-turvy patterns of “Bull In The Heather” where lyrically Kim mocks the infantilization of women in her usual snarky, sing-talking fashion. Later on the record, there’s also “Bone” which has a very sinister, bluesy swagger to it that I really enjoy.
But everything else from here on out is kind of a mixed bag. The main setback really seems to be the track lengths; it’s actually pretty weird for a Sonic Youth album at this point in the band’s career to be full of songs that are mostly only two or three minutes long like they are on Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star. That’s not inherently bad of course, but a lot of these tracks really only sound like ‘parts’ of a Sonic Youth song; some really good ideas, but largely underdeveloped.
Take “Starfield Road” for example, which takes a whole minute to build up this really cool and bizarre turbulent sound storm, and then Thurston starts singing over it for a couple of bars until it all sorta just stops abruptly. This track could work in theory if it was structured differently. “Mildred Pierce” off of Goo does something similar, but with that track there’s pay off at the end with the sudden wicked, destructive breakdown which catches you off guard, but here there’s simply no pay off for the listener.
Combine the lack of complete songwriting with the fact that this is actually one of the longest tracklistings on any Sonic Youth album at 14 tracks, and you get an album that feels like it’s bloated with lots of filler. Mind you, there’s still a lot of great little moments on this LP, but very few of them come together to make great songs. It’s an excellent sampler of just how many different ways Sonic Youth can play with a riff or make weird new static noises, but with regards to songwriting, Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star feels more like a collection of demo tapes than a proper album. Still, there’s some cool energy on this record and I’d say it’s a worthwhile listen for any diehard fan.
7/10
highlights: “Bull In The Heather”, “Bone”, “Winner’s Blues”
12. NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000)
Main Genres: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Art Rock
A decent sampling of: Post-Rock, Art Punk, Beat Poetry, No Wave
This is a good example of why we can’t have nice things. Somewhere between A Thousand Leaves and this record, Sonic Youth had most of their gear stolen by some jackass, which effectively meant pressing a hard reset button on the band’s sound for at least one album.
Likewise, a lot of people say that this is their worst record, and yeah I get why those people feel that way, but I actually like NYC Ghosts & Flowers for the fact that it forced the band to undergo yet another major sonic transformation. It‘s certainly more consistently interesting than Rather Ripped or The Eternal, just a very strange album in general, and for that it gets some extra points. I should also mention that this is the first of a couple of albums where the band collaborated with the acclaimed avant-garde artist Jim O’Rourke.
With lyrics influenced by the legendary mid-20th century ‘beat poetry’ scene born out of the band’s own New York City, this is the most 'abstract' Sonic Youth ever sounded. You can hear hints of the band’s no wave origins on this record, but with all of the crude chaos of those early LPs replaced with cerebral tension.
It’s also more sparse than any of their other studio albums, even more so than the dark and intangible Bad Moon Rising. Unfortunately, in this case that also leads to some tracks like “Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)” feeling somewhat empty, or perhaps sometimes too monotonous or repetitive without enough sonically gratifying moments.
But there are exceptions, and the middle portion of this album is where the new formula mostly thrives. “Small Flowers Crack Concrete” is vivid post-rock art poetry, not unlike a more noisy, sporadic version of some of the songs off of Slint’s beloved post-rock classic Spiderland. “Side2Side” is very aurally pleasing, with plinkety guitar staccatos and Kim’s voice hopping from one ear to the other like some kind of noise rock ASMR.
“StreamXSonik Subway” is a freaky little track that sounds calmly menacing, and I really like the high-pitch computer-y bloops. But then right after that there’s the seven and a half minute title track “NYC Ghosts & Flowers” which could probably give me a headache if I didn’t distract myself with something else while I was listening to it; truly maybe the worst track of the band’s entire discography if I was asked to pick one.
Overall, I’d say that NYC Ghosts & Flowers is a very artistic and fascinating experience in the moment, but I don’t really end up remembering much of it an hour or two after listening to the record. It just doesn’t really stay with me like some of their other records, and I don’t often feel the need to revisit this LP. I think Sonic Youth does the whole ‘sparseness' thing better when they’re aiming to sound vast, haunting, or nihilistic, as opposed to this kind of small, cerebral, sit-down-in-an-empty-room-and-listen experience which I personally find a bit more suited to other bands.
That being said, I applaud them for taking a lot of risks on this one, and I genuinely like NYC Ghosts & Flowers for the moments where it really does seem to be on the cusp of something groundbreaking. It's also a pretty polarizing record for most listeners, so maybe you’ll love it.
7/10
highlights: “Small Flowers Crack Concrete”, “Side2Side“, “StreamXSonik Subway”
#sonic youth#ranked#list#rather ripped#the eternal#experimental jet set trash and no star#nyc ghosts & flowers#album review#music review#indie rock#alternative rock#noise rock#experimental rock#art rock#Kim Gordon#Thurston Moore#Lee Ranaldo#Steve Shelley#jim o'rourke#2000#1994#2006#2009
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Sonic Youth- Bull In The Heather.1994
#sonic youth#thurston moore#kim gordon#Experimental Jet Set Trash and no star#music video#gif#alternative rock#90s#kathleen Hanna#bikini Kill
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Sonic Youth - Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands, June 29, 1993
We're getting deeper and deeper into the 1990s on our #SonicSummer expressway through Sonic Youth's live life. By the time the summer of '93 rolled around, the band appeared to have grown tired (for the moment anyway) of their most recent albums — Goo tunes are absent entirely and Dirty is generally under-represented during this set in Utrecht. Instead, SY take the opportunity to debut a fair amount of their next album, which was well underway — it even had a title at this point, announced by Thurston: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
As is usually the case with in-progress new material for Sonic Youth, the music is more or less firmly in place — the lyrics less so. The verses of Experimental's eventual big single, "Bull In The Heather," are just Kim intoning "Ten, twenty, thirty, forty ..." But that sweet Steve Shelley beat is firmly in place.
Elsewhere, SY dig back into their now quite big back catalog, finding some gems to dust off: "Secret Girl," "Pacific Coast Highway," "Stereo Sanctity" and "Total Trash" among them. I especially love the seething version of "Flower," Kim howling over a furious drone. Like our show from last year, Lee Ranaldo doesn't take any lead vocals here, but he sounds absolutely killer on guitar here, his harsh/beautiful tones leading the way; he's particularly rad on "Starfield Road."
Following this European tour, Sonic Youth would take an extended break from touring, barely playing live at all in 1994 ...
Bandcamp | Merch | Concert Chronology
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