A thousand leaves

 Twenty years ago today (May 12 1998) Sonic Youth released their 10th studio album, A Thousand Leaves. This record has a special place in my heart and collection* because, while I had been getting into Sonic Youth a few  years already when this came out, this was the first Sonic Youth album that I experienced as a new release, as opposed to the back-catalog of their music I was trying to catch up on, usually by scrounging through the 'USED CDS' section of the local music store**. 
 
Instead, I remember picking up this one new and sealed at Wal-Mart, either the day or the weekend after it came out.  I didn't find it to be quite as accessible and aggressive as my other favorites at the time, Dirty and Goo, but it definitely resonated with me, and the way those >9 minute track times just slid by like they were nothing made me appreciate the feeling of getting lost in a great album.  And 20 years later, A Thousand Leaves is still having that effect on me. 
​<3cg

(*I still have the cd because I pretty much still have every cd I ever bought or stole)
(**shout out and RIP to Backstage Music in Peachtree City GA.)