Low Culture Podcast: Sonic Youth’s Evol vs Dirty

In this month’s subscriber podcast, John Doran and Luke Turner sit down to jabber about anything from arse-slapping music to politics as they praise two records from one of our favourite groups

The Quietus’ founders Luke Turner and John Doran had planned to have a gladiatorial contest to work out which was the finest Sonic Youth album, either Evol or Dirty. But, when they got down to it, they realised that they just really bloody love Sonic Youth, and that these two albums (from 1986 and 1992 respectively), are high-water marks in an incredible musical legacy that we at tQ hold very dear.

John loves Evol as his “platonic ideal”, the moment that Sonic Youth nailed the sound with which they’d become one of the greats of the US underground, moving on from the nihilism of No Wave to develop their own sound. Luke loves Dirty for the suave deployment of melody, and the band’s excitement (as seen on an incredible David Letterman performance of ‘100%’) that they had a vehicle to punch into the mainstream. Both records, they argue, are influenced by the scenes that surrounded them – from hardcore and punk to grunge – and added sex, sophistication and a romantic sensibility. They also chat about Sonic Youth as evangelists for other bands, from the Butthole Surfers to Nirvana, our favourite live encounters with the band, why music doc 1991 – The Year Punk Broke is an unbearably annoying film (but perhaps deliberately so), the greatness of Kim Gordon, their direct and communitarian politics, how they were psychedelic hippies not punks, and how their final album The Eternal was a wonderful swansong. Oh, and for Luke, the “platonic ideal” of Sonic Youth is when he can slap his arse while listening to them, which both these albums allow you to do in spades.

John and Luke also discuss two current telly adaptations of books, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and The Mirror And The Light, the final, superlative series based on Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell.

Thanks to our producer Alannah Chance for creating order from sound, and to all our subscribers for keeping us going.