Eternal Rhythm: Sonic Youth's Hold That Tiger

Captured in 1987 but not officially released until years later, Hold That Tiger is Sonic Youth at their most feral. A live recording from Chicago’s Cabaret Metro, it’s a bristling document of a band teetering between underground insurgency and something resembling wider recognition. The sound is raw, serrated—a perfect encapsulation of the group’s no-wave roots clashing with their growing command of melody and structure.

The setlist leans heavily on Sister, an album that had just begun to expand their sound, but here the songs feel even more unhinged. Kim Gordon’s bass is guttural, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars scrape and shudder, and Steve Shelley—still a relatively new recruit at this point—propels it all forward with chaotic precision. Tracks like “Schizophrenia” and “Catholic Block” are somehow even more urgent than their studio counterparts, brimming with wild-eyed intensity.

It’s not just the sound of a band performing; it’s the sound of a band combusting in real time, constantly pushing against its own limits. The lo-fi fidelity only enhances the experience, reinforcing the idea that Sonic Youth thrived in the noise. Hold That Tiger is a snapshot of that moment—when the chaos was still just barely in check, and the possibilities were endless.

Superior Viaduct have reissued the album on black vinyl, and on limited coloured vinyl. Order that here