Stephen Mejias

In this">http://www.newsweek.com/id/201742">this excellent article, Seth Colter Walls discusses Sonic Youth's new album, ponders the band's place in the history of rock music, and challenges the worlds of mainstream art and politics.

The July 2009 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. You should be able to spot it easily. It's all dressed up in orange and blue (like Colorado's favorite football team, the Denver Broncos) in tribute to the cover model, Boulder's incredible 1021 Disc Player.

The July issue of Stereophile (which you should totally get a hold of; steal it, if you have to) includes Robert">http://blog.stereophile.com/musicroom/robertbaird/">Robert Baird's interview with Sonic Youth. Robert visited the band at their studio, Echo Canyon West, in Hoboken, NJ. I wish I could have been there. I would've laid right down on that floor and soaked it all up.

My copy of Sonic Youth's new album, The Eternal, arrived earlier this week. It's hard to imagine a more embraceable package of vinyl. We hit it off immediately. I mean, we really just sort of clicked. It was all very natural, very comfortable. It was, you know, easy.

And then I just sort of couldn't help myself. I mean, maybe you've been in a situation like this, too. I don't know. It was kind of just hanging there, waiting to happen. I know we had only just met&#151I hope you don't think less of me because of this&#151but I really think the time was right.

Afterwards, we spent the most delicious morning together, just holding one another. Everything felt so thick and hot and gorged. We couldn't help but move slowly. Time felt eternal.

At around 1pm on July 10, 1964&#151almost exactly 45 years ago&#151percussionist Sunny Murray, bassist Gary Peacock, and saxophonist Albert Ayler met at the Variety Arts Recording Studio just off of Times Square to record what would become the first jazz release for Benard Stollman's ESP-Disk. The studio was tiny and cramped and its walls were covered with Latin album covers and its doors were open so that the musicians could breathe. Can you imagine how hot it must have been?