Sonic Youth with Tim Barnes

It’s been over five years since Sonic Youth hit fans with an entry in their avant-garde SYR (Sonic Youth Records) series, and this is no let down. Recorded live in April 2003, these three lengthy performances (65 minutes in all!) were played along to films by visionary experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage. The night was a benefit for Brakhage’s mounting medical bills, though he passed away one month before this event took place at Anthology Film Archives in New York, a progressive film museum Brakhage helped found in the late ’60s. Percussionist Tim Barnes was invited to take part in the honours, and his wide pallet of cosmic jazz-like accentuation works well to lighten up the Youth’s expert murk, drones, reverb drops, moans and scrapes, which would undoubtedly yield maximum results if played along with Brakhage’s hand-processed films. But since all we have here are the recordings, it’s not hard to be happy with them. This is prime free-flowing Sonic Youth from their sadly foreclosed Jim O’Rourke era, a prestigious underground event by the underground’s most prestigious band.