PRF Monthly Tribute Series 42: Sonic Youth

[hench]

december's tribute challenge comes to us from 154:

sonic youth

all submissions to be uploaded by end of night on monday, january 1st.

we'll use the same bandcamp page as last month:
http://prfmonthlytributeseries.bandcamp.com

PRFTribute // Fever42!

log in and add your recording to the album. super simple.

let's rock, friends!

[hench]

[dead milkmen bitchin' camaro voice]

hey man, did you know sonic youth is really into wrestling? it's true! why, just the other day, thurston put kim in a full nelson...

sonic-youth.jpg (90.08 KiB) Viewed 1185 times

[hench]

calling all working miners, lurking whiners, forking diners...

[hench]

day after xmas - time to return all of the weird clothes you got from your weird uncles and aunt, then knock out a sonic youth tribute!

[cneutron]

Hi everybody, in before the buzzer.
Wasn't one of the songs I was going to do originally but I've got a soft spot for Dirty, even though it's the "sellout rock record" I think there are some great songs on there. And this is one of them.

Sonic Youth was a very influential and important band to me even if I do not listen to them much anymore. This was a blast to do.

I got to do a part with a hammer on the guitar, as well as use my electromagnetic bringer of sonic stormy weather (a weird little hand built reverb tank you can manipulate that I got from Ben Verellen). The battery in the Bit Commander was dead, but I think that's fine... it's plenty noisy without it.

100%

[hench]

voting closed...

listen here: http://bit.ly/2zPSZIO

[wotown]

The ONLY down side to SO MANY contributions is that I never have time to do a write-up on my impressions of each song anymore! (Also the first couple days of the month are my busiest at work)

I was thinking about doing "Kool Thing" slow and stoned (Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate did it this way) but when FM The Finger Genius asked if anyone needed a drummer, I was more than happy to get his tracks played along with the original. I was really sick that week, though, and I don't fully remember recording my parts. I do know I riffed a bunch of tracks on my BariPartsCaster, which I keep tuned to open G. I think I bumped something in Reaper and sped up the recording slightly, or else I accidentally found a whole new register to sing in.

[b1l-paraquat]

I think I bumped something in Reaper and sped up the recording slightly, or else I accidentally found a whole new register to sing in.

I was wondering about that, Wotown.

Regarding Hedgehog Threat: Wanted to do a more faithful rendition, but there wasn't any time to pick up an instrument this month. I put the remodeler on the job to play along to Diamond Sea using an Atari 2600 soundbank, a Sonic the Hedgehog soundbank, and "Only the Lonely" by the Motels. So I mix this rat's nest in the middle of the night, thinking it would serve as an odd bookend, but I come back less than a day later and my track sits at 25 out of 43 !?!?
You folks are full of surprises. Sonic Youth month was a sometimes-odd escapist pleasure to listen to.

My picks for this month:
Eric and Lenore Van Thiel - Mary-Christ
Sister Reel - Screaming Skull
The Glacial She - Little Trouble Girl

Honorable Mentions:
La Fea - Bull In the Heather
le band - unwind
Room 302 - PURR

[the finger genius]

I think I bumped something in Reaper and sped up the recording slightly, or else I accidentally found a whole new register to sing in.

Whoa, I thought I was taking crazy pills. I had actually slowed it down before I recorded the drums, was listening back today and was trying to figure out if it was all a dream.

[hench]

The ONLY down side to SO MANY contributions is that I never have time to do a write-up on my impressions of each song anymore!

exactly - i can go up to about 25 or so, but that's about where i hit my typity-type limit. meant to get a head start this month, but... i didn't.

"providence" was probably the quickest thing i recorded in 2017. didn't fiddle with depth imaging, or eq'ing, or really anything at all. approached it as though i was limited to recording with a walkman. three tracks of guitar - gotta love the egc for resonant knocks and chimes - and one track of piano. did my best to get the first few bars close-ish and improvised the rest. rc-20 for wow and flutter and hiss and warble. 45 minutes or so on xmas day.

situations - unwind
eric and lenore van thiel - mary-christ
le band - unwind

[numberthirty]

OK. I'm going to have to do this in sections.

Swanic Youth/"Theresa's Sound World": Is that acoustic guitar? Really enjoyed the panning/stereo field.

Situations/"Kotton Kristmas Krown": That intro was certainly unexpected. Great version of the tune in question. Those horns at the end!

Mr. Tyzik/"My Friends Are Gooey": I did a little "Side To Side" bebop to this one. Fuzz guitars or synths?

Yonic South/"Whistle Fufillment": So, is this the Hagstrom's maiden voyage. I dug this. The vocal kinda reminded me of Jason Lowenstein(a very good thing).

Situations/"Unwind": It was nice to see this album get some love. Really great acoustic guitar sound. The ending was a great nod to the band's guitar style without being an outright cop.

Situations/"Shadow Of A Doubt": Nice left turn.

Eric And Lenore Van Thiel/"Mary-Christ": Dang. This is a keeper.

Horse Lover/"Fat-Wish Fufillment": Nice recast of the song's opening. That fluttery part at about 1:45 was tight.

Hungry Man/"My Friend Goo": Impressive. Pick slide?

Hench/"Providence": Exceptionally nice choice. This sorta took me back and didn't all at the same time.

[mrcancelled]

oh my god these are all fantastic

[Frank Tuesday]

Mr. Tyzik/"My Friends Are Gooey": I did a little "Side To Side" bebop to this one. Fuzz guitars or synths?

No guitars. The bass track has a little fuzz on it. I've been really pleased with the bass sounds I've been getting lately. Got a new tube DI (Retrospec Juicebox) and am loving it.

I reamped the Rhodes through a Champ 600 for a little OD.

The swell at 0:34 is a synth pad run through a Marshall sim. It starts with a single note, and each measure I add in an addtional note. Root - Octave - P5 - m3 - m7 - P4 - m6 - M2. This is how I got the increasing dissonance as it goes on.

[duskyamp]

Dang, I'm just late all around. I didn't get through listening to all of the submissions until this morning and thought I still had time to vote. Narrowing these down to three is pretty ridiculous--it's like narrowing down my favorite brand of dark chocolate or something. Who cares, it's dark chocolate!

Anyway, as I found the polls closed already, who I would've voted for is:

Swanic Youth -- Theresa's Sound World

One song in and I had already pissed my pants. (Figuratively.) Holy shit!

Situations -- Unwind

So delicate and beautifully dissonant.

The Spoils -- Brother James

I'm a sucker for the big noisy rockers.

As far as my own late submission, I'm really happy with how quickly I managed to crank that out. Only about 5 or 6 hours all in. Didn't bother learning any guitar parts. Tried to get the bass part more or less there and then just played some stuff on top of that. I use a Roland E-kit and Superior Drummer 2.0 for drums. I've had the kit for about a year and before that didn't play drums. This is the first time I haven't gone back and quantized and edited the drum track in midi to make it work. So, my first actual drum performance. I'm still not a very good drummer, but am happy with the progress I've made in about a year.

[wotown]

Whoa, I thought I was taking crazy pills. I had actually slowed it down before I recorded the drums, was listening back today and was trying to figure out if it was all a dream.

Ha! Wait, so your drums were played along with a slowed down guide track?

So THAT'S why I had to re-transcribe everything when I tried to play along with your guide track!

I wonder how close back to the original speed I got it...

[the finger genius]

Yeah, but I used a plug in that's supposed to keep pitch (I think) - who knows. Anyway, nice track