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2006-06-27 - 11:19 a.m.

Nice Long Winters song...


I haven't bothered listening closely to a Sonic Youth album in years, so I decided to check in with their new one to see if I could continue to bravely uphold decades of irritation.

Sonic Youth leave me cold because they grate against everything I value in music: they are essentially a jam band w/o the Birkenstocks, their lyrics are awful, and their vocals are affectless and lazy. Oh, and they violate my strict "no married people in bands together" rule.

(I like the guitar sound sometimes).

After hearing Rather Ripped, I'm still no convert, but this is the most engaging SY I've heard in a long while. As always, the guitars are the most compelling part of the sound, draped loosely over skeletal ideas for songs that occasionally yield hooks.

"The Neutral" is my favorite song so far, tuneful and majestic, and Kim's voice stays within spitting distance of a key.

This album is the musical equivalent of the cat that dog-people like cuz he acts like a dog. It's a Sonic Youth album that song-lovers can enjoy cuz it acts like a collection of songs.


This record label was founded on some interesting principles.

thoughts? (15 comments so far)

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