LP, Reissue, 180g
Geffen Records (2016) EU
Following an unprecedented run of influential albums like Daydream Nation (1988), Goo (1990) and Dirty (1992) which marked Sonic Youth's ascent to becoming America's pre-eminent alternative band, the group issued Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star in 1994, an uncompromising record impacted as much by touring with acts like Royal Trux, Sebadoh and Pavement as contemporaries like Nirvana and Mudhoney had swayed the sound of its predecessors.
Produced by Butch Vig yet as stripped down as ever, Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star saw the band simultaneously evolving and yearning for their pre-grunge art band days and less expectations, still just as interested in making remarkable underground sounds as songs with commercial appeal. Thurston Moore explained its synthesis, "The idea this time was to cut as much of it live as we could, and not labor over polishing and overdubbing in the usual big-rock manner, and that's basically what went down."