"What am I going to do next for your ears to taste?" a 13-year-old Thurston Moore asks on Trees Outside the Academy's aptly named hidden track, "Thurston @13," on which Moore demonstrates the sound of rubber bands twanging and Lysol being sprayed in the air. Moore's approach has gotten more sophisticated over the years, but that playful curiosity remains in his music with and without Sonic Youth. Trees Outside the Academy is Moore's second song-based solo album; the first was 1996's Psychic Hearts, which distilled Sonic Youth's atonal pop leanings at the time into spare, sketchy rock that crackled with intensity. Trees feels like an extension -- make that a branch -- of the hypnotic calm Moore and company pursued on Rather Ripped and Sonic Nurse. However, Trees Outside the Academy goes even deeper into that meditative territory, focusing on Moore's acoustic guitar textures and songwriting in a nimble way that underscores that this is his album. Backed by violinist Samara Lubelski and the Youth's Steve Shelley on drums, Moore leads the trio through moody, layered songs like "Frozen Guitar," where Lubelski's strings sound completely organic and intrinsic to the song, even as they spar with and bleed into guest guitarist J Mascis' fiery leads (Trees Outside the Academy was recorded at Mascis' Bisquiteen studio with John Agnello, who also worked on Rather Ripped). Moore's ringing guitar lends itself as well to modern-sounding acoustic music as it does to Sonic Youth's plugged-in experimental rock, and Shelley and Lubelski are just as game; one moment, they sound like they're playing on the back porch of a farmhouse, and the next like they're playing in a downtown gallery. "Honest James" is an underground folk-rock singalong, with jubilant guitars and Charalambides' Christina Carter adding gorgeous backing vocals to Moore's laconic drawl, while "Silver Blue" is sleek, droning acoustic rock. As Trees Outside the Academy unfolds, it gets more eclectic: "Fri/End" has a melody so, well, friendly that you can almost see it wagging its tail, and pits some of Moore's most straightforward lyrics with some of his most playful stream-of-consciousness wordplay. "Wonderful Witches + Language Meanies"' silly, loose-limbed rock wouldn't fit on a Sonic Youth album, but it sounds great here, next to "Off Work"'s skronk and "Never Day"'s blissful pop. Though it's only a 37-second interlude, the title of "Free Noise Among Friends" sums it up best: not only did Moore record Trees Outside the Academy with some of his closest friends, but the album's good-natured sprawl is so appealing that it makes its listeners feel like friends, too.
Easily one of the most influential musical groups of the last two decades is Sonic Youth. Since their first official concert in 1981, they have consitently been pumping out new releases and performing at least semi-regularly. Last year I caught them as they toured for their latest group release, Rather Ripped, and I was blown away by what an enthralling live act they continue to be 25 years l...
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The latest thing that's turned up from Ecstatic Peace is especially good. "Trees Outside The Academy" is a solo album from Thurston Moore himself, in some ways the first since "Psychic Hearts" in '95. Moore, of course, is always working on extra-curricular projects outside the confines of Sonic Youth, so various and often extreme that even groupies like me have trouble keeping up with them."Tre...
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>>There is alawys a reason to be thankful. >I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw the man with no stereo."remember":http://mog.com/Marigold/blog_post/97220#commentsThe family that laughs together... Can survive anything.Be thankful for loved ones.Its a strange mood I'm in today. The feast has been consumed, there are many in the house and most are sleeping. I've been bouncing around read...
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Thurston Moore on a Saturday morning, just what the good doctor ordered.One of Sonic Youth's mainsprings, Moore, along with wife Kim Gordon, and bandmates Lee Renaldo, & (since 1986) Steve Shelley has taken his vision of (anti)rock music to bold heights & blistered noise treks through avante America.On his own he can be more........Melodic? No, thats not it.....his approach is slightly more c...
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With his second solo album, Trees Outside the Academy, due September 18, Thurston Moore is now set to hit the road just short of a week after the album's release with a killer band.Sonic Youth live @ The Roxy LA 1988 © Rodger Bridges.Joining him on the road will be Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, Samara Lubelski (Tower Recordings), Christopher Brokaw (Codeine, Come), and bassist Matt Heyner,..
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This is a great track off Thurston Moore's upcoming solo album, Trees Outside The Academy. Sonic Youth live @ The Roxy LA 1988 © Rodger Bridges.
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Here's another track off Thurston's new album, Trees Outside The Academy. It's been 12 years since Thurston's last solo album; it was worth the wait.
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Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore will release his second solo album, Trees Outside the Academy this September on his label, Ecstatic Peace."I'm always thinking about doing a solo joint," Moore said during an interview with Pitchfork. "I actually sort of did it in the 90s; I did this thing called Psychic Hearts, basically a record based around the real skeletal song structure or idea. "Usually what...
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The latest thing that's turned up from Ecstatic Peace is especially good. "Trees Outside The Academy" is a solo album from Thurston Moore himself, in some ways the first since "Psychic Hearts" in '95. Moore, of course, is always working on extra-curricular projects outside the confines of Sonic Youth, so various and often extreme that even groupies like me have trouble keeping up with them."Tre...
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Summers ending and I'm back on the Mog.Here's track no.7 from 'Trees Outside The Academy' by Thurston Moore.The album was recorded at J.Masics home studio with the Dinosaur contributing with lead guitar on some tracks.Tracklisting:1. Frozen Gtr.2. The Shape Is In A Trance3. Honest James4.Silver > Blue5. Fri / End6. American Coffin7. Wonderful Witches8. Off Work9. Never D...
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Easily one of the most influential musical groups of the last two decades is Sonic Youth. Since their first official concert in 1981, they have consitently been pumping out new releases and performing at least semi-regularly. Last year I caught them as they toured for their latest group release, Rather Ripped, and I was blown away by what an enthralling live act they continue to be 25 years l...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Frozen Gtr |
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| 2 The Shape Is in a Trance |
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| 3 Honest James |
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| 4 Silver>Blue |
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| 5 Fri/End |
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| 6 American Coffin |
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| 7 Wonderful Witches + Language Meanies |
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| 8 Off Work |
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| 9 Never Day |
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| 10 Free Noise Among Friends |
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| 11 Trees Outside the Academy |
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| 12 Thurston @13 |
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 "Trees Outside the Academy")
