Pitchfork: Sonic Youth Multimedia Extravaganza

Sonic Youth Multimedia Extravaganza
Stream: "Kim's Chords", "Queen Anne Chair"; Video: "Do You Believe in Rapture", "Reena", "Jams Run Free"

As if we needed more evidence that Sonic Youth's forthcoming compilation The Destroyed Room: B-sides and Rarities, due out December 12, just might be a tossed-off effort to fulfill their contract with Geffen, here come two limp instrumentals that make up one-sixth of the record.

"Kim's Chords", a Japanese bonus track from 2004's Sonic Nurse, creeps on a rhythm reminiscent of NYC Ghosts & Flowers' "Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)", guitars pinging off each other like hailstones before meandering off into some gauzy passages. "Queen Anne Chair" (streamable on the band's MySpace page--yes, even Sonic Youth has a MySpace page now; apocalypse soon!) is a previously unreleased track from the 2001 "Noho Furniture Sessions". It builds on Television-like interweaving guitars to a sorta Krautrock climax, then back down.

And yes, those descriptions make both tracks sound much more exciting than they actually are.

Sonic Youth also recently posted on their website a bunch of new videos from their most recent album, Rather Ripped. We already told you about the disaster that is "Incinerate", so no need to rehash that here. But "Incinerate" director Claire Denis (also the woman behind such films as Trouble Every Day and Nénette et Boni) also offers several takes on the Rather Ripped track "Jams Run Free". The first cuts between a cat walking on a roof and Kim Gordon vamping it up in a blue dress. The three alternate versions feature footage of, respectively: birds on a rooftop, blurry lights, and greenish/brownish water.

None of them are worth watching.

Slightly more worthwhile are Braden King's videos for the Ripped tunes "Do You Believe in Rapture?" and "Reena", both shot at a Sonic Youth gig at CBGB before it shut its doors last month. The "Rapture" clip could serve as an elegy for the club, with slow-motion footage of the band rocking out interwoven with shots of audience members' faces gazing upwards in, well, rapture. "Reena" is a more straightforward performance video, Kim Gordon getting down in a tight black and white striped dress, bouncing around alluringly.

Sonic Youth are headed to England and Europe next month, stopping first at the Thurston Moore-curated All Tomorrow's Parties' Nightmare Before Christmas. Drummer Steve Shelley's side project, Two Dollar Guitar, is also on tour now.

Sonic Youth dates:

12-08 Somerset, England - ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas
12-09 Somerset, England - ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas
12-10 Somerset, England - ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas
12-11 Brussels, Belgium - Les Halles
12-12 Brussels, Belgium - Les Halles *
12-13 Paris, France - Zenith #
12-15 The Hague, The Netherlands - Paard Van Troje
12-16 Berlin, Germany - Fritz Club $

* with Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty/C. Spencer Yeh Trio
# with Dinosaur Jr.
$ with J Mascis

Two Dollar Guitar dates:

11-20 Portland, ME - Space Gallery *
11-25 Pescara, Italy - Wake Up! *
11-26 Lecce, Italy - Istanbul Café *
11-27 Naples, Italy - Rising South *
11-28 Faenza, Italy - Clandestino *
11-29 Turin, Italy - Skylab *
11-30 Giussago, Italy - Ortosonico *
12-01 Verona, Italy - Lucignolo *
12-02 Genoa, Italy - Milk Club *
12-04 Catania, Italy - TBA
12-14 Paris, France - Point Ephemere *+

* with Chris Brokaw
^ with Richard Buckner
% with Micah P. Hinson
$ with Thurston Moore, J Mascis, Dredd Foole
+ with Lee Ranaldo, Awesome Color