Sonic Youth – Washing Machine (2LPs, Universal)

Limited double vinyl LP pressing. Washing Machine is the ninth studio album by the American experimental rock band Sonic Youth, released on September 26, 1995 by DGC Records. It was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and produced by the band and John Siket, who also engineered the band’s previous two albums. The album features more open-ended pieces than it’s predecessors and contains some of the band’s longest songs, including the 20-minute ballad “The Diamond Sea”, which is the lengthiest track to feature on any of Sonic Youth’s studio albums. Washing Machine erased any notion that the band had run out of things to say. Easily their most adventurous, challenging, and best record since Daydream Nation, the album finds Sonic Youth returning to the fearless exploration of their SST records, but the group has found a way to work that into tighter song structures. It’s not a commercial record, nor is it a pop record, but Washing Machine encompasses everything that made Sonic Youth innovators.