EVOL

Riding home on the train last night, the first post-work commute following the end of Daylight Savings, the evening chilly and dark, "Death to Our Friends" by Sonic Youth appeared on my iPod. It was perfect.

Though EVOL was originally released on SST Records in May of 1986, I didn't purchase the LP until fall of that year. I remember playing it a lot that winter. So I associate the album with a dark, cold (as cold as it gets in the Bay Area) Northern California winter.

Everything about EVOL had an impact on me, from the album cover art -- the picture of Lung Leg on the front crouching on that fucked-up wooden floor; the back shot of the band looking like filthy Hippies -- to the single "Star Power"; but mostly that deep, dark sound. Like stars blinking in a frozen sky as rats skitter on inky black city streets.