The Eternal announced

[Patrick]

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2009/02/12/coming-june-9-sonic-youths-the-eternal/

[tinobeat]

I got a little teaser last weekend about the BEGN material and lemme tell you, I'm gonna BEGN the fuck outta this thing.

very very excited.

[Paul Thek]

I'm really excited about this one. Love the Fahey painting on the cover.

I can't wait for the first mp3 to be posted.

[vesper]

i'm excited for the album! also, i got excited for kim gordon's clothing line, but then followed the link to see that the only thing available is a $415 jacket? eesh.

[Elijah]

I’m pretty sure that jacket was a limited edition thing. The stuff they’re selling at Urban Outfitters is mass produced and priced as such.

[Paul]

June 9 seems SO FAR AWAY.

[earl grey]

yeah, very excited to hear this!

(though the editor in me really wants to erase the hyphen in their name on the cover! but i otherwise really dig it.)

[Salman]

I'm really digging the cover art. Can not wait to hear this album...

[johansen smith]

I like the painting itself (SY tend to find great images for their covers), but the black bars and typeface are making me vom

[Paul Thek]

I like the painting itself (SY tend to find great images for their covers), but the black bars and typeface are making me vom

I have to agree. It would be a great cover if the painting bled (no pun intended) to the edges with no text laid over it. Keep SY's name on the spine or back, or something. Or put a sticker on the shrinkwrap.

Not that Mark Ohe, or however designed this, needs my input or anything...

[tinobeat]

The typeface is actually a really nice one, just the way the whole thing is composed isn't their usual style so I think its throwing people off. Its definitely growing on me. I mean, yeah, they could have just let the painting bleed and not have any words on the cover, but.. eh, then its just that.

This has a kind of older-school feel to it, like the design that goes with old experimental records or the Young God label style (that they seem to have abandoned, sadly). Not sure about that hyphen, but SY have fucked with the writing of their name plenty occasionally so it is what it is.

I like the cover, it matches the visual aesthetic they started going down with The Destroyed Room and I can hang with that. The vinyl version of Rather Ripped is still probably my favorite recent SY cover.

[vesper]

yeah, i was just going to say that i have & love enough young god records (and their covers) that the black bars don't bother me at all. i actually kinda like 'em.

the hyphen is a bit of a double take, but it doesn't bother me in the least. i can see how it would bother a person though.

[johansen smith]

The vinyl version of Rather Ripped is still probably my favorite recent SY cover.
Boy I really didn't like the CD art, what does the LP art look like?

[tinobeat]

Its basically like the CD art, but white instead of red, and no text.

[johansen smith]

I think that's a huge upgrade actually-- ha, I guess the font was my big problem with the last one too!

I guess my problem is that I want all their covers to be as beautiful as Sonic Nurse

[tinobeat]

I think that's a huge upgrade actually-- ha, I guess the font was my big problem with the last one too!

I guess my problem is that I want all their covers to be as beautiful as Sonic Nurse

I totally agree. The distressed stencil kind of crowded the whole thing and when that splatter/pattern gesture in the middle was able to breathe on white without letters and at LP-cover size, it transformed the whole thing.

Our tastes certainly diverge, though, because I think Sonic Nurse has a pretty boring/ugly cover. Not horrible or anything, just not very inspiring in any way. EVOL, Sister, Washing Machine and Goo have my favorite covers.

[vesper]

i'm a little surprised to see washing machine in that list, since it isn't particularly stylized or, well, anything like the others you cite...

[johansen smith]

Do you remember the fake "leaked" cover for Rather Ripped? I liked it so much better than any official version. I can't find it on Google Image Search though-- it was like a cut-out of a hand holding a compact, it kind of looked Bob Pollard-ish?

[Paul]

Yeah, Washing Machine = zzzzzzzz.

But I'm down with EVOL, Sister and Goo. I really like Confusion is Sex too.

[Paul]

Do you remember the fake "leaked" cover for Rather Ripped? I liked it so much better than any official version. I can't find it on Google Image Search though-- it was like a cut-out of a hand holding a compact, it kind of looked Bob Pollard-ish?
Oh, I'd forgotten about that. I wish I'd saved it!

[vesper]

haha, i don't really dislike the cover of washing machine, i'm just confused given the others that tinobeat listed.

[earl grey]

i had no idea there were two versions of the 'rather ripped' art. we CD buyers totally lost out.

no mention of daydream nation? perhaps overpraised, but still a classic cover IMO. that, goo, and sonic nurse are probably my favorites. i quite like the covers of the first few EPs in the SYR series too.

[tinobeat]

I love it for different reasons than I love the others. The others have a great sense of style and sass that fits them so well, and totally differently, Washing Machine has this weird concept executed so simply and elegantly, and the photo works on a lot of different interesting levels.

Its one of my favorite album covers.

[earl grey]

here's that 'rather ripped' artwork, which i also really liked. i wonder who designed it.

edit: fwiw, i am not in the habit of saving fake advance artwork, i just found it surprisingly easily.

[Paul]

here's that 'rather ripped' artwork, Hmm, now that I see it again, the kerning inconsistencies are driving me nuts.

[tinobeat]

well, each word is kerned consistently, so I feel like having the band name and the album title spaced differently from each other is a pretty sound (and common) design choice, not really an "inconsistency", yanno?

I'm glad that didn't end up being the real cover. The compact is framed so it looks like a toilet, and if yr gonna go toilet, go all the way like Royal Trux did with "Sweet Sixteen".

[earl grey]

yeah that was always my hang-up about it too. but i love that image...

[vesper]

haha, i LIKED that it looked like a toilet at first glance.

thanks for introducing me to the word 'kerning,' y'all!

[Paul]

well, each word is kerned consistently Kerning doesn't apply vertically as well? (I don't know...I just make stuff look pretty, but don't know how or why)

The spacing differences aren't that big a deal, though I don't like them either. I just really hate the jaggedness of the text being visibly unlevel.

[Patrick]

Kerning doesn't apply vertically as well?

Leading maybe?

[tinobeat]

yes, leading is the vertical spacing of lines of text (from the amount of lead placed between lines of text in letterpress plates). The image earl grey posted is a little small for me to see jaggedness, it seems fine from this distance, but yeah, subtle unevenness that looks halfhearted and lazy would annoy me as well.

[Elijah]

.........

[Fiona]

Got my BEGN code today - very excited about this. Great to have BEGN a little closer to home this time around too.

You might check the montage stream, though - it sounds badly distorted (I don't think it's my machine).

[Patrick]

Fiona - the stream sounds fine to me and Adam Farrell?

best
Patrick

[Fiona]

Just checked again, and the montage still sounds distorted, at least when I listen to it. Must just be me.

[Patrick]

Anyone else experiencing this problem?

[Fiona]

The reaction from punters here to the whole package has been really positive, lots of cooing over the vinyl packaging, between the artwork, the construction and even the fact there's a plastic cover. Very well priced for what it is, too.
Also the cd is going for buttons - it's about as low as release week pricing gets in Ireland and the UK. No excuse for folk not to buy it.

All this make me more depressed that I'm still hanging on for my copy and will be for weeks, I'm guessing :(

[Silence Kid]

Wow I've been away for a while and I log in to find Sonic Youth are now on Matador... Amazing! Saw them play some new stuff on Jools Holland recently in the UK. Looking forward to purchasing the album. Looks like a great package!