Sonic Youth "Live in Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96" cassette (MGR Records/1997)

I am going to assume that everyone reading this blog listens to Sonic Youth or at least as aware of who they are and that sort of thing so I will refrain from any sort of write up about the band itself. Instead I will direct attention to this actual release itself. I have plenty of Sonic Youth bootlegs in my collection some official and some not, but this is the first one I ever bought. If I recall correctly I ordered along with some Afghan Whigs t-shirt through some mail order in the back of the old CMJ or Magnet. Sonic Youth has always been a band that has been supportive of bootlegs being out there, some have been authorized by the band and others have not. And honestly I have no idea where this one sits with them, it isn't even listed on the bootleg lists on the Sonic Youth website. This cassette came with a photo copied sleeve with no song titles or info inside (in true bootleg fashion) so I took it upon myself to make my own liner notes (see picture below). This bootleg comes from the Washing Machine  era of the band so with the exception of the band opening with "Teenage Riot" and "Sugar Kane" all of the material comes from Washing Machine as well as Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Official or not this is a great sounding, soundboard bootleg. The version of "The Diamond Sea" that closes out that set is just incredible.

Sonic Youth "Live in Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96" track listing
1. Teenage Riot
2. Bull in the Heather
3. Starfield Road
4. Washing Machine
5. Junkie's Promise
6. Saucer Like
7. Becuz
8. Sugar Kane
9. Skip Tracer
10. Skink
11. The Diamond Sea


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Mirror/Dash "Electric Pen/Gum" 7 inch (Ecstatic Peace!/1992)

In the spirit of the new that broke earlier this week that Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore's marriage is coming to an end and that the future of Sonic Youth is up in the air as a result, I thought I'd take this opportunity to upload one of my Sonic Youth related rarities. Sonic Youth has been my favorite band since I was like 14 or 15 and I have seen them live seventeen times, but still the thought of them not being around anymore creating great music is a strange thing to me. I have a bunch of bootlegs, fan club releases, and various side projects which I plan on sharing on this blog as time progresses. This two song 7 inch that I am sharing today is the Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore duo side project Mirror/Dash and this single released on Ecstatic Peace in 1992 is the first that the duo released. The project laid dormant until 2003 when they released the Sweetface/Rom Supply Co. 12 inch. In 2006 the mini album I Can't Be Bought was released and then followed in the next few years by a couple of singles. The music is best described as Sonic Youth (lame I know... but come on now what did you expect??) trying to do Royal Trux. It is really striped down. "Electric Pen" feels a bit more Trux-ish than the b-side "Gum" which is a bit more krautrock-ish but it still has that sparse Royal Trux feel to me.

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