"When Sonic Youth first started, there had been such a high bar set for music that achieved something that people hadn't done before, it was difficult to know how to add to that. There was the Velvet Underground, who cast a huge shadow, and then all the no wave bands, and when you're faced with all that coolness, and you feel like you don't belong, how do you make something happen? You have to focus on the thrill of making something that is like nothing that existed before."
"Honestly, I had no intention of doing solo records—I'd been playing in an improv-based project with Bill Nace, Body/Head, but that was all. And it was this producer in LA, Justin Raisen, he kept bugging me to make a solo record. There was no plan; in the end, again, I was like, let's see what happens."
"I consider myself more as a visual artist who writes, rather than a writer. A lot of times I actually don't know what I think about something until I start writing about it. It's the thinking I love."
Sonic Youth's approach to music-making centered on confronting the high artistic standards set by influential predecessors and finding ways to contribute something genuinely new. Rather than having a predetermined master plan, the band focused on the thrill of creating music that had never existed before. This philosophy extended to solo work, which emerged unexpectedly through producer encouragement rather than deliberate career strategy. The artist identifies as a visual artist who writes, finding the thinking and discovery process through writing most rewarding. Creative work across mediums—music, memoir, and film—developed through organic exploration rather than systematic planning, with each project emerging from opportunities and collaborative relationships.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]