Reissues
Beginning in 2004, shortly after the release of Sonic Nurse and Corporate Ghost, Sonic Youth began making mp3 'Mix Tapes' available online, featuring tracks from their then-current releases, reissues, obscure out of print singles or compilations, and in the best cases, completely new, unreleased material picked from the depths of their recorded history. — The Destroyed Room isn’t a self-indulgent mess. “Blink” from the Pola X soundtrack is a worthy addition to their canon, while Sonic Nurse outtake “Fire Engine Dream” and the obscure compilation track “Loop Cat” are ambient buzzes that scale the group’s quieter side.
Reviewed by Audra Schroeder, Fri., Dec. 15, 2006
Sonic Youth
The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities (Geffen)
At the mellower end of Sonic Youth's 16-year Geffen era comes one last appetizing pang for destruction. The Destroyed Room, 11 songs hand-picked by the band, is a sonically interesting mess but proof that not everything they record should be released. 'Campfire,' from 2000's At Home With the Groovebox comp, should have been extinguished alongside the sleepy 'Loop Cat.' The rest jives: 'Fire Engine Dream,' an outtake from 2003's Sonic Nurse, is a marathon jam ('Let's see who's here and who's not,' they taunt in the liner notes), clocking in at more than 10 minutes and forcing feedback to ride drummer Steve Shelley's galloping beat. Mostly instrumental, save for two songs Kim Gordon sings ('Razor Blade,' a twangy B-side from 1994, and the ambient 'Blink' from 1999's Pola X soundtrack),
Destroyed