Comprised of Sonic Youth’s first studio album and an EP initially released only in Germany, this compilation highlights the volatility and ingenuity of a band that was swiftly staking out their own terrain. Indeed, here’s where they zero in on so many trademark traits and tactics, whether it’s the detuned guitars in “(She’s in a) Bad Mood” or the pulverising maelstrom of noise in “Kill Yr. Idols”. Full of discordant rumblings, “Early American” also points toward later ventures into avant-garde music and psychedelia’s furthest fringes.