This song was the first track on an unmarked mix CD that I found in my cousin’s room. It was totally scratched, but this first song was seamless. The rest of the mix included fragments of Frank Zappa, the B-52′s, and Old School Hip Hop. So I would listen to the song for the longest time, not knowing who the band actually was. It was refreshing to love a song with such anonymity. It’s like reading a poem and not knowing who the poet is, and yet fully understanding it.
Eventually, I found out it was Sonic Youth. I still don’t know much about them, but this song and CD, “Murray Street”, is pretty surprising. The song starts off like a storm, wavering in strength with a couple of huge climaxes and then softening out and flowing beautifully like a stream of consciousness. The guitar pluckings are as light as rain on tin. It’s cool.
mp3: Sonic Youth, “Rain on Tin“
