Sonic Youth were, I think, one of those bands that I would have liked back in university but was somewhat intimidated by because they were loved by people who were much cooler than me. Isn’t it stupid the things that our brains do?
This album, apparently, is something of a change in direction for them towards a less atonal and cacophonic sound, but for all that it doesn’t lack for harsh experimentalism. In The Kingdom #19, for example, has a bit of a Henry Rollins feel, a spoken word piece where Thurston Moore describes, in gory detail, a car crash over the top of dissonant backing. Secret Girl has Kim Gordon doing something similar over a track that has more than a touch of industrial to it.
Moore and Gordon are the core of the group, taking on a multitude of roles between them – vocals, guitars, keyboards, and in the case of Gordon, bass as well. Lee Ranaldo is also credited with guitars and vocals, with Sam Shelley on drums and “programming”. This is another transitional album in the move back towards real instruments again, but using the opportunities of the dreaded Linn as well, much like Peter Gabriel’s So.
Starpower is a good track to highlight the abilities of Gordon. Velvet Underground may have trod a lot of this ground a long time ago on White Light/White Heat, but Sonic Youth add their own good and dark and gothic slant on things. I'm still not one of the cool kids, but I'm also so far past that I no longer care and can like what I like.
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