The beauty of an aural assault

The New York Times has a brief review of a recent gig by my most favorite band, Sonic Youth. Quite rightly, I think, the article points out that the newest addition to the band, Jim O'Rourke has done wonders for the band's sound. When I was younger, the flailing semi-punk energy their early albums had entranced me. Now that I'm older (and deafer), I appreciate the amazing way that they've chilled out a bit, mastered the arcanity of musical theory and can now turn four guitars and a drum into the most sublime wall of harmonic noise.

Well, whatever. They're just a favorite of mine. If you're interested, you can listen to a bunch of their demos and live tracks online at their streaming MP3 site.