There was a time when I, like many neophyte indie rock kids, was a die-hard, up-to-the-minute, "I *HEART* KIM", Sonic Youth fan. I was in the newsgroups, I was scouring the web for fan pages, yadda cetera. Somewhere along the line, however, I lost touch with the band. Maybe it's because my own sonic palette had expanded (thanks in large part to the band's own name dropping of bands they like and toured with), or maybe I wasn't maturing at the same pace as they were. (And that's not a dig at the band's age.) For whatever reason, my zeal for the band waned until they were just another band in my collection. (Though, they are still one of the few must see bands for me these days.) NYC Ghosts & Flowers didn't help matters much, as the band for the first time (IMO, anyway) came off as self-consciously avant-garde. It's not like I didn't like the album, but I have to say, it doesn't make it into the CD player much.

Then tonight, I decided to pop in Daydream Nation. And while listening to it, I moseyed over to the band's website to read the latest on the band. In the news section was a download of the first track off of their upcoming album (entitled Murray Street) called "The Empty Page." Curious, I downloaded the track, wondering if this would be a deeper foray into the avant-garde, especially since Jim O'Rourke had become a full-time member. To my surprise, the track was one of the most straightforward of their career. It was mid-tempo, with minimum noise, and Thurston doing more singing than sing-speaking. The song even had a kind of classic rock ending. (Don't ask me what that means; I can't really explain it myself.) It reminded me of Pavement's "Major Leagues," though it sounded nothing like it: it was the sound of a band just sitting back and playing it straight (as straight as an avant-garde leaning band can play it). I don't know if the rest of the album sounds like this--I have a feeling it probably won't, at least not overall, as the opening track felt like it was about to launch the entire album into a completely different orbit.

This isn't really an endorsement of the song on my part; all in all, it wasn't anything exciting. And I'm not bemoaning the fact that this isn't "Teenage Riot" or "Schizophrenia." I think of all the fans in the world, Sonic Youth fans may be the most willing to embrace a band's new direction. I'm just saying that the song doesn't have the visceral impact that so many of their classic album openers have. But there's something about the song that now has me anticipating listening to the tracks that follow it. Weird, eh?

(WORST...ENDING...EVER.)