Uncanny

GLOBE AND MAIL "It bugs me to no end. I'm tired of feeling like I need to put extra energy into making statements outside of my songs. But it remains startling, deflating, and somewhat funny that people can ignore so much of what I've said and am saying."

"It actually drives me crazy when people refer to these songs as, like, 'suites,' or use any words suggesting a cobbled-together, modular narrative; because they're completely bound together, in my mind, and they tell the story I wanted to tell very deliberately."

"You'll notice there are many, specifically 'contained,' tamed, exploited versions of nature in this record. There are a lot of invocations of harvest, fecundity, rot, livestock, domestication, flooding, property lines, etc. And the other nature represented in these songs is a gaping, cosmic one; not close, not familiar, not harmless, not knowable. . . . I didn't want to tell a story explicitly; I wanted to tell the shadow-version of it."

"I think it was important to do these songs this way, but I think writing longish songs indefinitely could create a bit of laziness. In this case, it was necessary; I don't know if it will be necessary for me again."

HUNTER::GATHERING BLOG

THE ROCK RADIO "I mean I think Al... From what I understand, is in a certain interesting place now, because he is kind of the one guy who's able to talk to both sides now. Both Mike and Brian. And maybe he and Brian are closer now than they've been, but y'know, it hasn't always been pretty."

POPMATTERS

YAHOO NEWS "[A] 95-minute set...saw the New York postpunk faves focused squarely on the present. The band played all but one of the dozen songs on its three-month-old album Rather Ripped (Geffen). And while those who only came to hear nuggets from Sonic Youth's 25-year career might have been mildly miffed, anyone who actually listened to the new material had to admit one thing: It's good."

SAMURAI FROG BLOG

HOUSTON CHORNICLE

BOSTON GLOBE

http://www.therockradio.com/2006/09/brian-wilson-credits-beatles.html

Brian Wilson compatriot Van Dyke Parks makes a substantial contribution to Joanna Newsom's deliriously good album Ys. The album is produced by Newsom with VDP, orchestral arrangements are by VDP, the orchestra is conducted by VDP and, finally, VDP plays accordion on the album. Also of note is the fact that Steve Albini recorded Newsom's harp and vocals and Jim O'Rourke mixed the album.

I just received a promo of Ys in the mail today (the album doesn't come out until November, on the DRAG CITY label) and I'm listening to it for the first time as I write this post. While it's far from rock, the album definitley "rocks." You can rest assured that I will be posting more about this one as I let the music really soak into my brain.

GOODBOYS NATION, DEREK JOHNSON, SEVEN DEADLY ARTS, ROCKOLLECTIONS

SAMURAIFROG

OUT IN CHICAGO