Rocktrospectiva: The Stylish Magnificent "Rather Ripped" Turns 20

Released on 13 June 2006, "Rather Ripped" was the 14th., studio album by US rock band Sonic Youth,  it was the band's first album since 1998's A Thousand Leaves to feature their classic quartet formation, following the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke, who had joined as a fifth member in 1999. Unlike its immediate predecessors, the album was produced by John Agnello and recorded at Sear Sound in New York City, the same studio where the band's 1994 album, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, was recorded. It also completed Sonic Youth's contract with Geffen, which released the band's previous eight records.

The record was considered to be one of Sonic Youth's most accessible albums, featuring an abundance of concise songs dealing with melancholic topics such as adultery, sexual frustration, and infidelity. Upon its release, the album peaked at number 71 on the US Billboard 200 and number 64 on the UK Albums Chart. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its simpler, cleaner melodies and the vocal delivery of singer and bassist Kim Gordon. Its only single, "Incinerate", was released in 2006, alongside an accompanying music video directed by French director and writer Claire Denis.

The follow-up to Sonic Youth's 2004 album Sonic Nurse and the band's first record after the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke, who joined the group as a fifth member in 1999. According to guitarist Lee Ranaldo, O'Rourke left the band to pursue film work and other recording projects. His departure affected the sound of Rather Ripped, with singer and guitarist Thurston Moore stating that the new record "is just a far more straight up rock and roll album", in contrast to the "darker, twisted, complex quality" of O'Rourke's contributions. Partially inspired by the streamlined approach taken by Blondie for their 1978 commercial breakthrough Parallel Lines, Moore decided to write simpler songs "for everybody to plug into immediately." While he conceded Parallel Lines features some "super good" songs, he was disappointed with the album's poppier style and Mike Chapman's production when it was released. Nevertheless, he recognized that Parallel Lines became Blondie's breakthrough with the general public, and aimed to make Rather Ripped into Sonic Youth's version of Parallel Lines. The album's working titles were "Sonic Life" and "Do You Believe in Rapture?". The name "Rather Ripped" came from a Berkeley, California record store that later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Unlike its immediate predecessors, which were recorded at the band's own Echo Canyon studio in Lower Manhattan, Rather Ripped was recorded at Sear Sound in New York City from December 2005 to January 2006, where their 1994 album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star was also recorded. The album was quickly produced and much of the material was not reworked due to the band's limited time in the studio. During the recording sessions, Moore's gear included two Fender Jazzmasters and a Fender Princeton. Ranaldo, on the other hand, played a Gibson Les Paul guitar for half of the album and used his Fender Telecaster Deluxe, a "Jazzmaster copy" made by Saul Koll, and a modified Fender Jazzmaster with humbuckers for the remaining tracks, mainly through a modified Fender Super Reverb. 

Generally considered one of the band's most accessible albums, featuring an abundance of concise and catchy melodies. Moore described it as "a super song record" that contains "rockers and ballads". In addition, seven of the album's 12 tracks have a duration of less than four minutes, a feature that is uncommon in previous Sonic Youth releases. The album generally favors guitar textures over feedback or noise, which typically characterized the band's earlier works. 

Lyrically, Rather Ripped dealed with melancholic topics about adultery, sexual frustration and infidelity. In the opening track, "Reena", whose working title was "Stonesy", singer and bassist Kim Gordon is involved in a secondary relationship with a woman. Lead single "Incinerate" is built on a conventional love-as-fire metaphor, while "What a Waste" attributes sexual lust. "Pink Steam", which is the longest track of the album, features a lengthy instrumental part that was described as "gorgeously windswept and violently romantic". Its title was taken from a book by San Francisco author Dodie Bellamy. The song "Do You Believe in Rapture?" is a political reflection on Christians in the office, while "Rats", which is the only song on the album written by Ranaldo, was described as a "fulfilling ghost-narrative". The album ends with the semi-acoustic ballad "Or", which starts with strip-club imagery and ends with Moore recounting various interview-like questions such as "What comes first? The music or the words?"

Rather Ripped received widespread acclaim from critics praising that the band managed to condense all their expansive musical style into tighter songs "without sacrificing the mercurial structures, subversive lyrical bent and reverence for noise that identify Sonic Youth as Sonic Youth, the album was a graceful and elegant way to end Sonic Youth's unique relationship with Geffen, others felt that the band reinvented themselves with poppier songs, calling Rather Ripped "an extraordinary state of affairs in Sonic Youth's 25th year". 

 

Rather Ripped Track List:  

 

1. Reena 

2. Incinerate

3. Do You Believe In Rapture?

4. Sleepin Around

5. What A Waste

6. Jams Run Free

7. Rats

8. Turquoise Boy

9. Lights Out

10. The Neutral

11. Pink Steam

12. Or 

Rocktrospectiva: The Indie Classic "EVOL" Turns 40

Released on May 1986 "EVOL" was the 3rd., studio álbum by the US alternative rock band Sonic Youth, the album was Sonic Youth’s first album on SST Records, and also their first to feature drummer Steve Shelley, who would remain a member of the band until their dissolution in 2011. The album spawned the single "Starpower."

By this point, the band had developed a cult following in the underground US music scene, but their style had begun to evolve from their earliest recordings. In retrospective reviews, critics cite EVOL as marking Sonic Youth’s transition from their no wave roots toward a more pop-influenced sensibility, with Shelley's drumming style a key aspect of this change.

Sonic Youth was coming off of a string of underground hits, becoming a popular underground live act as well as earning critical acclaim. In June 1985, during the Bad Moon Rising tour, Bert left the band and was replaced by Shelley. The new lineup quickly began working on new material for their third album.

The band signed to SST as, by 1986, label founder Greg Ginn was anxious for the label to move away from its American hardcore roots. Sonic Youth took a break from the tour and finished the writing for EVOL. In March 1986, the band recorded the album at BC Studio with Martin Bisi. EVOL was the second time that the band had worked with New York singer and performance artist Lydia Lunch. Lunch had shared vocals on Bad Moon Rising's "Death Valley '69", and on this record, she co-wrote the song "Marilyn Moore".

Mike Watt played bass guitar on the tracks "In the Kingdom #19" and the band's cover of "Bubblegum". The band encouraged him to play on the former track shortly after Watt's Minutemen bandmate D. Boon died in a car crash. Watt had entered a severe depression following Boon's death and was considering leaving music; he credited the time he spent with the members of Sonic Youth during the recording of EVOL as a major factor in his decision to resume his music career. Watt's next band, Firehose, would support Sonic Youth on their Flaming Telepaths tour.  

During this time, the band began the Ciccone Youth side project, which featured all members of Sonic Youth and Watt. They released a single consisting of three tracks: "Into the Groove(y)" (a cover of Madonna's "Into the Groove") and the short "Tuff Titty Rap" on the A-side (both performed by the Sonic Youth members), and "Burnin' Up" (performed by Watt and Ginn) on the B-side. The project later resulted in 1988's The Whitey Album.

On the vinyl version of the album, the time length for "Expressway to Yr. Skull" was indicated by the infinity symbol (∞); the final moment of the song featured a locked groove. The CD and cassette versions added a cover of Kim Fowley's "Bubblegum" as a bonus track. According to Watt, he and Shelley played the basic rhythm track over Fowley's recording, which was afterwards removed when the other members added their parts.

The album cover features a picture of model/actress Lung Leg in a still taken from the Richard Kern film Submit to Me. Leg had previously appeared in the "Death Valley '69" music video (directed by Kern and Judith Barry). The back cover shows a black-and-white picture of the band in a heart-shaped frame. The album's 10 songs are listed in a different order than the actual track listing. The members' names are listed on the back cover as well, although no instruments are assigned for them. It reads "guitars, vocals, drums", with "bass" hidden beneath the photograph of the band. 

The insert features the lyrics to the songs and the A-side depicts Thurston Moore, with eyes drawn on his hands, holding them up to his face. This photograph was later used for the cover of the "Starpower" single. To the left of this photograph is a panel from the Marvel comic book The New Mutants (found on the second page of issue #14, published April 1984). The other side contains pictures from horror films Friday the 13th Part 2 and Children of the Corn, with a still photo from the 1962 film House of Women featuring Constance Ford and Barbara Nichols. This image is only featured on the initial SST vinyl pressing and vinyl reissues after 2010, and was blacked out for all other releases.

The album has been well received by critics called it a remarkably strong effort, and sets the stage for crystallizing ideas that would soon result in what many considered the band's finest work." Like most Sonic Youth albums, EVOL is packed with so many ideas, so much rigor and obsession, it is too absurd to begin to wonder what they would have done in our current era of endless information. EVOL was described as a noise rock album and a "art punk masterwork" and it was considered as the true departure point of Sonic Youth's musical evolution – in measured increments, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo began to bring form to the formless, tune to the tuneless, and with the help of Steve Shelley's drums, they imposed melody and composition on their trademark dissonance.

 

EVOL Track List: 

 

1. Tom Violence

2. Shadow Of A Doubt

3. Starpower

4. In The Kingdom # 19

5. Green Light

6. Death To Our Friends

7. Secret Girl

8. Marilyn Moore

9. Expressway To Yr. Skull

Rocktrospectiva: The Challenging And Audacious "Washing Machine" Turns 30

Released on 26 September 1995 "Washing Machine" was the ninth studio album by the US experimental/indie rock band Sonic Youth. It was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and produced by the band and John Siket, who also engineered the band's previous two albums. The album features more open-ended pieces than its predecessors and contains some of the band's longest songs, including the 20-minute ballad "The Diamond Sea", which is the lengthiest track to feature on any of Sonic Youth's studio albums.The album spawned two singles "The Diamond Sea" & "Little Trouble Girl". 

Washing Machine reached No. 58 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 39 on the UK Albums Chart. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the band for exploring new challenges as well as the guitar playing of band members Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. 

The album was the follow-up to Sonic Youth's 1994 DGC album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. After Experimental Jet Set, the band decided to take a hiatus from performing live and concentrated on numerous side projects. Moore and Gordon also had their first child, Coco. According to Moore, their daughter had provided a different perspective for the band: "I'm more focused and level-headed. There's a sublime awareness factor of your spiritual place in the world. I feel more at ease with myself ... Babies are little Buddhas. They're completely great".

Washing Machine was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, where some indie rock bands like Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Grifters had previously recorded albums. Moore remarked that the atmosphere in Memphis helped them disconnect from the people who were constantly following the band. He also felt that Washing Machine was conceived and recorded like some of the band's first albums, stating that it "hearkens back to records like Sister where we'd write a bunch of songs, go into the studio for a month, put them down, then go on the road and play them for a year. By the end of the year they'd mutate into something much more excited". Gordon credited Memphis for its relaxed atmosphere and cited the album as one of her favorites.

The song "The Diamond Sea" was notable for its 19:35 duration. Moore explained the length of some of the album's songs: "We all have different aesthetics as to how songs should work. I generally push for a lot of abandon while some people in the group are more interested in truncating things. If I was the leader as much as people say I am, every song would be 20 minutes long". The unlisted ninth track, officially called "Becuz Coda", was originally part of the song "Becuz", but the record label felt they needed to cut the seven-and-a-half-minute track to make the album's opening more accessible. 

About the lyrics and unlike Experimental Jet Set, which was described as difficult and claustrophobic, Washing Machine is considerably more open-ended and contains some of the band's longest songs, except of course the final track, "The Diamond Sea", which was the lengthiest track on any Sonic Youth album. The song was edited down to 5:15 for release as a single, which included an alternate 25-minute version as an additional track. Washing Machine was the band's first album on which Gordon almost exclusively played guitar instead of bass, resulting in a three-guitar and drums lineup. Mostly of the songs were unfolded over even-tempered rhythms and guitars that linger rather than attack. A splatter of distortion may enter, but the effect is mostly languid and wonderfully hypnotic".  

Although Gordon's lyrics on Experimental Jet Set addressed gender roles and stereotypes, her contributions to Washing Machine were considered more feminine and girl-oriented. Tom Moon of Rolling Stone noted: "The title track is an odd, earnest love song; "Panty Lies" was a playground taunt blown to absurd extremes; and "Little Trouble Girl", was a dramatic, earnest coming-of-age story" and features vocals by Gordon and Kim Deal (of Pixies and the Breeders) along with other musicians. Gordon felt that Deal had an ideal voice for the melodic part and explained that the song was about "wanting to be seen for who you really are, being able to express those parts of yourself that aren't 'good girl' but that are just as real and true". Lee Ranaldo contributed two songs, "Saucer-Like" and "Skip Tracer". The latter was co-written with his wife Leah Singer, inspired by a performance that the couple attended of riot grrrl duo Mecca Normal. The song also alludes to the band's special relationship with a major label.  

The track "Junkie's Promise", sung by Moore, was described as a "heroin vignette", although it was originally interpreted as a tribute to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Moore explained that the song is only about the emotional relationship between friends, with one of them being a drug addict. According to him, "Any individual involved with drug addiction will lie to his friends for the self-serving need. It's the cruelest truth of the situation. Kurt may fit this profile and he was surely in my mind as I wrote but the song is not a specific dedication to him". The songs "Becuz" and "No Queen Blues" were built upon numb grooves with slivers of melody, power, and gorgeously crafted noise. "The Diamond Sea" was described as a "Neil Young-esque ballad billowing into an epic noise excursion". According to Pitchfork, the song was described it as the most Sonic Youth song you can imagine. 

The album cover consisted of a cropped Polaroid photograph of two unidentified fans taken at a Sonic Youth show in Amherst, Massachusetts, in April 1995, during a short tour undertaken while the album was still in production. The fans are depicted wearing T-shirts that were sold as merchandise during that tour; early in 1995, the band considered changing their name to Washing Machine. Visible on the shirt on the left are signatures by Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw of the tour's opening band Come. The photo was taken by Gordon, who believed it could be used as the album cover. The band liked the shot, but the record label did not want to use it without permission from the fans. Because the band did not have any way to contact them, their faces had to be cropped out.

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, depicting the album as the band's most adventurous, challenging and best record since Daydream Nation ... Not only are the songs more immediate than most of the material on their earlier records, the sound here is warm and open, making Washing Machine their most mature and welcoming record to date, practically Washing Machine encompassed everything that made Sonic Youth innovators, and shows that they can continue to grow, finding new paths inside their signature sound back then.

 

Washing Machine Track List: 

 

1. Becuz

2. Junki'es Promise

3. Saucer-Like

4. Washing Machine

5. Unwind

6. Little Trouble Girl

7. No Queen Blues

8. Panty Lies

9. Becuz Coda (untitled on the packaging)

10. Skip Tracer 

11. The Diamond Sea

Rocktrospectiva: The Trangressive "Pump Up The Volume (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Turns 35

Released on 14 August 1990, "Pump Up the Volume (Music From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)"  was the soundtrack to Allan Moyle's 1990 drama film Pump Up the Volume. The album peaked at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 chart. 

"Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked-up?” following that premise said by Hard Harry and still relevant 35 years later, the film told the story of Mark Hunter (the cool as fuck Christian Slater), a depressed high schooler in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, who hacks his shortwave radio and launches a pirate radio station. Under the moniker Happy Harry Hard-On, Mark slowly earns a cult following amongst his fellow screwed up students, doling out bullshit-free advice, dropping graffiti-worthy catch phrases (“So be it,” “Talk hard”) and challenging his school’s questionable expulsions of at-risk students.

It was a macabre idea for a teen movie, but even Moyle's suicidal DJ had his roots in actual 1960s history. Growing up in small-town Quebec, Moyle had a high-school classmate who had an amateur printing press in his basement. The classmate would write fiery screeds and then distribute them via anonymous pamphlets all over the school. Some of them were deeply felt musings on life, while others boldly criticized the principal and the school itself. Moyle admired this student from afar, and regarded him as someone unusually sophisticated for his age and his environment.

Going back with soundtrack, Moyle, who adored underground music, would have to make concessions, like naming the film Pump Up The Volume after a mainstream late-’80s dance hit by M|A|R|R|S. Still, much of Pump Up The Volume revolves around Harry and his unconventional musical tastes. In the same way that Moyle’s defiance towards homophobia had been shaped by working on Times Square, he also brought the underground instincts that had been showcased on that film's soundtrack to Pump Up The Volume. Featuring Sonic Youth, Concrete Blonde, Soundgarden, and the Pixies, Pump Up The Volume’s soundtrack would end up introducing its teenage audience to bands they’d never heard of—a year prior to the alternative explosion that Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991) would ignite. 

"You have to remember where music was at the time," recalled Dave Grohl at SXSW in 2013, listing Billboard’s Top 10 artists of 1990 when Nirvana was in the midst of signing with a major label (Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, En Vogue, Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Bell Biv DeVoe, Sinéad O’Connor, Roxette, and Wilson Phillips). “How Kurt could even think we’d make a ripple in this ridiculous mainstream world of polished pop music was beyond me.” 

Pump Up The Volume absolutely paved the way. "It felt like something was happening," observes Samantha Mathis, who was 19 when she portrayed Mark's poetry-writing love interest Nora in the film. "We were moving away from that synthesized sort of sound and moving into something edgier, and we had the dissonance of being around the ‘greed is good’ era of filmmaking and finance in the world. There was anger, and I thought Allan really tapped into that with this movie."

Moyle understood that there was no way Hard Harry could deliver blistering screeds on how his Boomer parents—and the school faculty—had sold out '60s ideals while blasting Phil Collins. The soundtrack and film itself borrows from the '60s—Leonard Cohen, the MC5, Sly Stone, and Mark’s obsession with Lenny Bruce's How to Talk Dirty and Influence People—but it doesn't idolize the era. Instead, it filters those influences through a late '80s/early ’90s haze of cultural exhaustion, skepticism, and Reagan/Bush fatigue. The soundtrack's juxtaposition of counterculture relics with then-rising bands like Soundgarden and Sonic Youth forecasts the coming explosion of '90s alternative, but the vibe is still characteristically Neighties—in-between, defiant, in honest search of definition and meaning.

At the same time, the film captured our awkward, stubborn '80s-ness—the part everyone wants to forget still existed in 1990. "It felt like the eighties might live forever when the Berlin Wall fell in November of '89, but that was actually the onset of the euthanasia (though it took another two years for the patient to die)," writes Chuck Klosterman in The Nineties.

Pump Up The Volume's soundtrack kicks off with Concrete Blonde's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows," Johnette Napolitano singing in a sultry, whiskey-soaked tone. Cohen's original version of "Everybody Knows" became the semi-official theme of Hard Harry's show after Moyle had fallen in love with the brooding song, which his then-wife had worked on as a sound engineer. 

But not everyone was a fan. The head of New Line, Bob Shaye, thought Cohen's version was too down head to be the opening song of the movie. He said, God that's dreary! Moyle recalls. So the studio had Concrete Blonde, a band with indie cred, do a cover. The Cohen song, however, was still used throughout the film, no doubt due to Cohen's '60s roots and its anti-establishment message.

The album then takes a romantic, melancholy turn with Ivan Neville's soulful "Why Can't I Fall In Love." After all, it's Mark’s relationship with Nora. Liquid Jesus performs a very '80s-sounding version of the 1969 Sly Stone song "Stand!," which calls for standing up for one’s principles and community.

Next up comes "Wave of Mutilation (U.K. Surf)," which would introduce many listeners to the Pixies for the first time, prior to Kurt Cobain's naming them as a major Nirvana influence. Moyle liked the song because it references a Charles Manson lyric, "Cease to Exist," which was released by the Beach Boys as "Learn Not To Love," about the tensions Manson witnessed between the Wilson brothers (Manson, oddly, struck up a friendship with Dennis in 1968). Peter Murphy's "I've Got A Secret Miniature Camera" contributes a lo-fi '80s vibe to the soundtrack, while a version of "Kick Out The Jams" by Bad Brains with Henry Rollins adds a snarling, '80s-steeped take on the late-'60s proto-punk classic.

Next one's "Above The Law's "Freedom of Speech" offers a welcome hip-hop addition—a genre that was about to explode alongside grunge. And speaking of grunge, Soundgarden's trippy, psychedelic "Heretic" draws parallels between Hard Harry's plight and another bygone era. "Titanium Exposé" by Sonic Youth was inspired by the ban's bohemian beginnings in early-'80s New York, when Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were falling in love. "I wanted to write a straight-ahead urban love song, and when I say urban I mean I always love ideas about two people living within their means," Moore said.

The Canadian band Cowboy Junkies presents "Me And The Devil Blues" which was a remake of a song by Robert Johnson, who the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes as "the first-ever rock star." The album ends with the rare "Tale O' The Twister" by Chagall Guevara, the first verse describing the type of Manic Panic alterna-chick you’d see at Lollapalooza: "She was a cool blue redhead / She was a virgin vixen / She had the eyes of Lassie / She had the lips of Nixon."

In the final scene of Pump Up The Volume, as Hard Harry is being pushed into a squad car, he raises his fist and encourages his listeners to “steal the air.” We then hear a gathering of multiple voices, all with their own pirate stations. “You know how it ends with these voices announcing themselves?” Moyle said. “That is so internet! Blogs and podcasts! That scene still gives me the shivers because it’s such a powerful idea that kids in their rooms all over America can be expressed. And then wow, it happened!”

Pump Up The Volume went on to earn a modest $11.5 million in the U.S. and earn critical acclaim, not to mention help Christian Slater capitalize on his bad-assery in Heathers and become the hottest young actor in the universe. But perhaps more than anything, the film's soundtrack introduced unsuspecting viewers like myself to a whole group of artists that were on the verge of bringing alternative music to the masses. On the album were Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Pixies, and three fantastic covers: Concrete Blonde covering Leonard Cohen, Cowboy Junkies doing Robert Johnson, and Bad Brains with Henry Rollins offering a disorderly take on the MC's "Kick Out The Jams." A number of songs prominently featured in the film did not appear on the officially released soundtrack, including the original version of "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, which appeared on his 1988 album, I'm Your Man. Although Cohen's version serves as the theme song for Mark's (Christian Slater) pirate radio program during most of the film, he opens his final broadcast with the Concrete Blonde cover that appears on the soundtrack. Another Cohen song appears briefly when Mark is talking about Malcom's suicide on the air. The song is "If It Be Your Will" from Cohen's 1984 release Various Positions. Also present in the film but absent from the soundtrack are "Hello, Dad, I'm in Jail" by Was (Not Was) from their 1988 album What Up, Dog?, "Fast Lane" by Urban Dance Squad from their 1990 album Mental Floss for the Globe, "Weinerschnitzel" by The Descendents from their 1981 EP Fat, "Love Comes in Spurts" by Richard Hell and the Voidoids from their 1977 album Blank Generation, and "Talk Hard" by Stan Ridgway. "Girls L.G.B.N.A.F." by Ice-T is played on a boombox outside of the school by some boys.

Not as prominently featured is a legendary early track by the Beastie Boys entitled "The Scenario". Although the song appears only briefly in Pump Up the Volume, it is notable because it never appeared in any official release, however is available on hard to find bootleg recordings. The song was cut from the Beastie's Def Jam album Licensed to Ill after being deemed too explicit. Christian Slater's character explains this when he introduces it on the air saying, "Now here's a song from my close personal buddies, the Beastie Boys...a song that was so controversial they couldn't put it on their first album. "The Scenario," which to date has never received a commercial release.n the last few years, Pump Up The Volume has received its share of retrospective love, not only in how unappreciated it was at the time of its 1990 release, but also how the film was also far ahead of its time, predating blogs and podcasts as a way of teens dealing with social anxieties.

 

Pump Up The Volume (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Track List: 

 

1. Concrete Blonde "Everybody Knows". 

2. Ivan Neville "Why Can't I Fall In Love"

3. Liquid Jesus "Stand!"

4. Pixies "Wave Of Mutilation (U.K. Surf)"

5. Peter Murphy "I've Got A Miniature Secret Camera"

6. Bad Brains & Henry Rollins "Kick Out The Jams"

7. Above The Law "Freedom Of Speech"

8. Soundgarden "Heretic"

9. Sonic Youth "Titanium Exposé"

10. Cowboy Junkies "Me And The Devil Blues"

11. Chagall Guevara "Tale O' The Twister

Rocktrospectiva: The Indie Masterpiece "Goo" Turns 35

Released on 26 June 1990 "Goo" was the sixth full-length studio album by US alternative rock band Sonic Youth. For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous album Daydream Nation (1988) with songwriting that was more topical than past works. Coming off the success of Daydream Nation, Nick Sansano returned to engineer Goo, but veteran producer Ron Saint Germain was chosen by Sonic Youth to finish mixing the album following Sansano's dismissal. The album spawned three singles "Kool Thing", "Disappearer", & "Dirty Boots".

Goo was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 96 on the US Billboard 200, their highest chart position to date. Although it lacked significant radio airplay, its lead single "Kool Thing", a collaborative effort with Public Enemy's Chuck D, reached number seven on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Since then, Goo has been viewed as one of alternative rock's most important albums, and is considered musically and artistically significant. 

In 1989, nearly a year after the release of the band's breakthrough album Daydream Nation, Sonic Youth announced that it had signed a recording contract with Geffen Records, the group's first major label deal. Sonic Youth decided to sever relations with its former label, Enigma Records, as a result of the band's displeasure with Enigma's indecisive marketing and distribution of Daydream Nation, as well as "Teen Age Riot"—‌the album's accompanying single.

Another factor that contributed to the group's departure from the label was Enigma's handling of The Whitey Album, an experimental album of sound manipulation and hip-hop influences released under the name Ciccone Youth. Not only did Enigma reject the band's proposal to simultaneously release the album with Daydream Nation, the label's publicity branch also attempted to withdraw its cover art—an enlarged photo of Madonna's face—even though Madonna reportedly gave Sonic Youth her permission to use it.

By mid-1989, Sonic Youth's relationship with its British and American label head Paul Smith, who the band's legal counsel, Richard Grebal, termed "a trusted advisor but never a manager", was growing increasingly strained. Tensions between Smith and the group had begun in 1986 when Smith arranged the release of live recordings by the band on the album Walls Have Ears without their input. Mindful about their work and image, Sonic Youth was irritated by the decision. The situation was compounded further when Smith took a bold negotiating stance with major record labels during the Daydream Nation tour and took long intervals to communicate information to the band. His stance, which had the potential to scare away record executives, represented the final straw for the band. On June 2, 1989, Sonic Youth went to Smith's apartment, ostensibly to discuss another music video for Daydream Nation, to announce an end to their partnership.

Having entertained offers from A&M Records, Atlantic Records, and Mute Records, Sonic Youth signed a five-album deal worth $300,000 with a clause which secured the band's complete control of its creative output. The group, however, was somewhat dissatisfied that the album would not be released by Geffen but rather a new and unestablished subsidiary label, DGC Records.

The original working title for the album was Blowjob?, mostly to test the humor of their new label, but ultimately the band was convinced to drop the name in favor of Goo, a title inspired by one of the album's tracks, "My Friend Goo". Because the results of these sessions were later heavily bootlegged, Moore officially released them on the album Goo Demos in 1991.

At engineer Nick Sansano's recommendation, with a sizable budget finally at their disposal, Sonic Youth booked themselves into Sorcerer Sound in early 1990. Sansano knew well from his work on Daydream Nation that the band, particularly Ranaldo, enjoyed overdubbing sound and guitar effects.  At Sorcerer Sound, the studio was equipped with two 24-track consoles, allowing the group as many instrumentals as they desired. Sonic Youth used the studio time to experiment with abstract techniques such as hanging microphones from the Sorcerer Sound's catwalk and isolating Shelley in a drum booth. Early on, however, the band was bogged down by issues: "It took us forever to get final takes", said Ranaldo, "Something would inevitably go wrong for somebody and we'd have to start again. I remember getting fairly frustrated with it".

After the basic tracks were completed, Sonic Youth moved to Greene St. Recording, Sansano's home base, to finalize the songs and begin the process of mixing Goo. Additional layers of guitar lines were included; vocals were manipulated with different distortion devices, particularly on "Mary-Christ". Sansano, however, was unsure of the album's direction: Each member of Sonic Youth brought their philosophy to arranging the music that conflicted with the label owner's expectations for a radio-friendly album.

While recording Goo, Moore played the Nirvana album Bleach for Masterdisk audio engineer Howie Weinberg saying that he would be very happy if the record sounded like Bleach. Weinberg was surprised by the request to emulate a recording as primitive as Bleach (which was recorded on a $600 budget). Moore has said that he "really loved that record", describing it as "primal" and the songwriting as "completely melodious" but also "punk".

Goo expanded upon the alt-rock stylings of Daydream Nation with far more deliberate pop culture references. Another development within the band at the time was Gordon's importance as both a lead vocalist and songwriter. Gordon contributed two songs, "Tunic (Song for Karen)" and "Kool Thing", that challenged the expectations of a woman's role in American society. "Tunic (Song for Karen)", an exploration into self-esteem and body image, traces Karen Carpenter's struggle with anorexia nervosa to her mother's comment that she appeared overweight onstage, and the music industry's rejection of her proposed 1980 solo album. 

A second Gordon composition, "Kool Thing", was inspired by her 1989 interview with LL Cool J. Although Gordon was a long-time fan of the hip hop artist and credited his album Radio with drawing her to rap, LL Cool J's inattention to punk music and misogynistic viewpoints towards women disenchanted Gordon. Gordon's tongue-in-cheek response to the meeting, "Kool Thing", poked fun at her own left-wing political beliefs as well as her fascination with the Black Panther Party. Although LL Cool J himself is not mentioned in the song, his works "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "Going Back to Cali" and Walking with a Panther were referenced. Chuck D of Public Enemy, who was at Greene Street to record Fear of a Black Planet, contributed to the call-and-response middle section.

The production's musique concrète-influenced approach reflected Sonic Youth's inclination to record sound collages that feature varying rhythms and overdubbing. "Mildred Pierce" and "Scooter + Jinx" were worked out from methods that involved the band members reconfiguring and recontextualizing different types of sound in the studio. Deriving from the eight-minute demo "Blowjob", the angst-driven "Mildred Pierce" was inspired by the 1945 noir film of the same name. Alec Foerge observed the song as "the band's reaction against what had become a frustratingly overwrought process", featuring nothing more than a three-chord vamp and Moore repeatedly shouting "Mildred Pierce"; still, as Foerge described, it is an example of Sonic Youth's progression from the primitive nature of Confusion Is Sex and Kill Yr Idols.

Goo was released by DGC Records on June 26, 1990. The album's front cover design was created by Raymond Pettibon, who was responsible for early covers for Black Flag. Instead of his original Joan Crawford sketch, Sonic Youth chose another Pettibon design: an illustration of two sunglasses-wearing British mods, based on a photograph of Maureen Hindley and David Smith, two witnesses in the Moors murders trial.

The controversy surrounding the album's content and the exposure from the single "Kool Thing" helped Goo exceed the expectations of the group's label. By December 1990, Goo had sold over 200,000 copies and ultimately peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard 200—the band's highest charting album to date.Although it was difficult for Geffen to transition Sonic Youth over to pop radio, "Kool Thing" made it onto Buzz Bin's regular rotation schedule, and became their most popular song on alternative radio, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. The album contributed to alternative music's commercial breakthrough at the beginning of the 1990s, despite its limited radio airplay.

Goo received rave reviews from contemporary critics, viewed the record as Sonic Youth's most accessible work to date, the peak of noise music and found the band's distorted guitars, danceable rhythms and catchy choruses fit for radio airplay and was and is still a defiant alternative record. The legacy of this record was to be crucial piece of the puzzle to understand how and why other alternative artists like Nirvana were able to bring the underground to the mainstream and challenge the dominant music industry hegemony".

 

Goo Track List: 

 

1. Dirty Boots

2. Tunic (Song For Karen)

3. Mary-Christ

4. Kool Thing

5. Mote

6. My Friend Goo

7. Disappearer

8. Mildred Pierce

9. Cinderella's Big Score

10. Scooter + Jinx

11. Titanium Exposé

Rocktrospectiva: The Dark "Bad Moon Rising" Turns 40

Released on 29 March 1985 "Bad Moon Rising" was the second studio album by US rock band Sonic Youth. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, including references to obsession, insanity, Charles Manson, heavy metal, Satanism, and early European settlers' encounters with Native Americans. The album spawned four singles "Death Valley '69", "Flower"/"Halloween", "Flower"/"Satan Is Boring" & "Halloween II".

It was the band's first album to combine experimental material with transitional pieces and segues. The  single "Death Valley '69", which did not chart in either the US or UK the track was re-recorded for the album and released again as a single in June 1985. The album was named after the 1969 song "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The New York press largely ignored Sonic Youth as well as the noise rock scene in the city, until after a disastrous London debut in October 1983 that actually received rave reviews in British papers. When they returned to New York, the queue at CBGB for the band's concerts went around the block. By mid-1984, Sonic Youth were playing almost weekly in the city, but its members started to realize that there was little future in their musical approach; Moore later said, "it was getting to the point of overkill". They retreated to the rehearsal room, retuned their guitars and changed their equipment so that they were unable to play their old songs, and began writing new material.

After a period of intense songwriting, the band entered producer Martin Bisi's BC Studio – implicitly, "Before Christ Studio", which is how the band credited it on the album – in Brooklyn, New York in September 1984. Bisi had recorded early rappers and local avant-garde musicians such as John Zorn, Elliott Sharp and Bill Laswell.

Bad Moon Rising's style has been described as noise rock, no wave and experimental rock. The album begins with "Intro", a short instrumental featuring several guitars, described by Michael Azerrad as "a melancholic, meowing slide line playing off a delicate stack of crystalline arpeggios." "Intro" segues into the next song, "Brave Men Run (In My Family)". The song begins with a single riff repeating for a minute. The riff fades into the album's third song, "Society Is a Hole", "a one-chord hymn to big-city anomie". Sonic Youth's use of transitional pieces in the album was inspired by their live shows, which featured either Moore or Ranaldo tuning guitars for up to five minutes while the other played slow transitory guitar riffs or prerecorded sound collages.

"I Love Her All the Time" features extensive prepared guitar by Ranaldo and the use of one chord, with a noise section in the middle; like many of the album's songs, it focuses on texture and rhythm rather than melody. The second side of Bad Moon Rising, which comprises the experimental "Ghost Bitch" (which features Ranaldo on acoustic guitar and references Native Americans' first encounter with European settlers), "I'm Insane" and "Justice is Might", expands on the soundscape concept; the songs feature repeating guitar riffs that segue from one song to the next, while Moore and Gordon mumble cryptic lyrics.

"Death Valley '69", the album's closer, was the result of a collaboration between Moore and New York singer and poet Lydia Lunch. 

Critics noted the album's dark nature, writing was quite unlike any other in the colorful Sonic Youth canon, Bad Moon Rising captures the New York band in 1985 during its most morose phase, one that is quite forbidding yet fascinating all the same.

 

Bad Moon Rising Track List:  

 

1. Intro

2. Brave Men Run (In My Family)

3. Society Is A Hole

4. I Love Her All The Time

5. Ghost Bitch

6. I'm Insane

7. Justice Is Might

8. Death Valley '69 

9. Satan Is Boring

10. Flower

11. Halloween

12. Echo Canyon

Rocktrospectiva: "The Eternal" The Definitive And Final Studio Album By Sonic Youth Turns 15

Released on June 9, 2009, "The Eternal" was the fifteenth and final studio album by the American alternative rock band, Sonic Youth, released under "Matador" label, it was their first and only recording on that label and the first studio album in three years, turning this record into the band's longest delay between their studio albums. 

 

The album was the band's highest-charting of their career peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard 200, surpassing the achivement with "Experimental Jet Set Trash And No Star", the album spawned two singles "Sacred Trickster" & "Antenna". 

The band decided to record the album and to include Pavement's bassist, Mark Ibold, after Kim Gordon suggested recuriting him for live shows, this effect was intense because the songs the band recorded were taken different insights, which seems to be a different musical project each day and each week with certain dynamic aspect that unmatched with the style and sound the band were doing through all the years, practically, the inspiration had a certain "Daydream Nation" air, something the band forgot long time ago, but it's evident that is there.

The recording process involved rehearsing the songs during the week in Moore's and Gordon's basement house and the recording over the weekend, Steve Shelley recalled, it was like having a different project every week and sometimes it felt like we're doing a single every weekend, but in the end, this make the recording of this album something very enjoyable. The material had begun writting before the changing of record labels, there were certain pop rock styles, a linked between this record and "Dirty" in terms of dynamic, so the band definitely wanted to make something different than before seeking inspiration in their earlier recordings that used to had an intense energy the band forgotten long time ago.

The singles proved the band seemed to sound and look younger than before, without losing the magic and creativity noisy touch despite starting within a new record label, this aided the record to peak at No. 18 on Billboard 200, the critics were favorable especially with Kim Gordon, demostrated the artist continued to rise as a singer and composer, performing so well in the record, also the addition of Ibold in the studio was praised by critics, creating a sort of sense of ageless music, weird and full of chaos and clarity, a more conventionally rock-oriented record than any other in Sonic Youth's career, the album was accessible, listenable and consistent even for Sonic Youth album standards.

Unfortunately when the band finally found their mojo, the split came in with the band members starting parallel projects on their own, even Lee Ranaldo delivered a record, but nothing like to see and hear the band recording and playing together again.

The Eternal Track List:

1. Sacred Trickster

2. Anti-Orgasm

3. Leaky Lifeboar (For Gregory Corso)

3. Antenna

5. What We Know

6. Calming The Snake

7. Poison Arrow

8. Malibu Gas Station

9. Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn

10. No Way

11. Walkin Blue

12. Massage The History

Rocktrospectiva: El Personal Y Ruidoso "Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star" Cumple 30 Años

 

Lanzado el 10 de Mayo de 1994, "Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star" fue el 8avo., álbum de estudio de los héroes de la experimentación y el bendito ruido, Sonic Youth, bajo la producción de Butch Vig y  usando el mismo estudio en donde grabaron "Sister", pero a diferencia del anterior disco, este fue mucho más relajado y quieto con una temática más política y personal de parte de la banda, del disco se lanzó un solo single "Bull In The Heather".

 

La movida les salio muy bien, ya que el disco llegó al No. 34 de la Billboard mientras que en el Reino Unido fue No. 10, y fue hasta el 2009, el disco más alto en alcanzar los charts de la banda, del disco se desplegó el single "Bull In The Heather" como única referencia del mismo, logrando tener buena rotación en la MTV con un video que personificaba Kathleen Hanna de Bikini Hill, el disco tuvo también una favorable crítica alabando el hecho que la banda podía crear ruido y melodía al mismo tiempo.

Si bien "Dirty" uno de sus discos más reconocidos gozó de buena fama cuando fue lanzado en el momento en que Nirvana dominaba la escena, este apenas alcanzó el No. 83 en el Billboard aunque en el Reino Unido fueron No. 6., el reto era crear ahora algo diferente, por lo que Moore comentó que la banda se alejó de salir de gira con bandas con sonido similar, en vez de eso apareció en escena con Royal Trux, Pavement y Sebadoh, lo cual inspiró un sonido mucho más quieto y melódico, llevaron a un viejo conocido como Butch Vig para la producción, quién entendió lo que la banda quería, una aproximación tipo lo-fi al sonido del disco, grabando y escribiendo de la forma más simple y básica, tan así fue el asunto que incluso grabaron sobre el master de "Sister" para ahorrar costos.

Tal y como explicábamos arriba, el sonido aquí es más blando y relajado que su predecesor, describiéndolo Kim Gordon como art-core, aunque hay cierta nostalgia del sonido de la banda en sus días con SST Records, por ejemplo "Screaming Skull" es prueba fehaciente de eso, por ahí también deambula cierta influencia de Hüsker Dü y The Lemonheads, y la cual surge de una conversación entre Moore y Dave Markey director de cine sobre un local SST, con "Bull In The Heather" esta habla sobre usar la pasividad como una forma de rebelión, de igual manera "Androgynous Mind" habla sobre los roles tradicionales, "Self-Obsessed and Sexxee" hace un guiño al riot grrrl, y que tenía que ver con la obsesión de estar atraído por algún personaje de alto perfil en el rock alternativo, con "Quest For The Cup" es sobre una persona que desea más de lo que tiene, "Winner's Blues" alude a la presión de la fama y se refiere a este tema como una triste canción de cuna y la cual fue una toma que quedó fuera para un disco de rarezas de la DGC pero al final se incluyó aquí, junto a "Compilation Blues". Como dato curioso al respecto, este fue el primer disco de Sonic Youth que incluyó un track oculto en el lanzamiento en CD, un minuto después del track final, aparece el tema "Sweet Shine", y luego un bonus track lleno de ruido, además que fue el primer disco desde su debut en 1982 que incluyó los rostros de la banda en la portada como si fuera una pieza de arte.

El disco fue promovido con el lanzamiento de "Bull In The Heather" que llegó al No. 13 del Modern Rock Tracks de la Billboard, mientras que en el Reino Unido fue No. 24., se quiso lanzar "Self-Obsessed and Sexxee" como siguiente single pero al final fue cancelada la intención y en vez de eso, se lanzó como Promo CD para los fans a través de la publicación "Sonic Death". La banda no salio de gira debido al avanzado estado del embarazo de Gordon por lo que se quedaron en casa.

El disco tuvo sus detractores y sus defensores, para muchos fue difícil de apreciar el estilo anti-comercial del disco, aunque para otros fue más ambicioso y loco que "Dirty", de igual manera se hizo el comentario que la banda seguía atrapada haciendo lo mismo, hay reconocer que el disco hacía sonar a la banda más segura y quieta a la vez, con ambición y rareza, mucho más que la placa anterior, aunque en expensas de eso, la banda había perdido su integridad, igual era como una bocanada de aire fresco mezclando el ruido y la melodía al mismo tiempo.

Experimental Jet Set Trash And No Star Track List:

1. Winner's Blues

2. Bull In The Heather

3. Starfield Road

4. Skink

5. Screaming Skull

6. Self-Obsessed and Sexxee

7. Bone

8. Androgynous Mind

9. Quest For The Cup

10. Waist

11. Doctor's Orders

12. Tokyo Eye

13. In The Mind Of The Bourgeois Reader

14. Sweet Shine

Rocktrospectiva: El Legendario E Influyente "Daydream Nation" Cumple 35 años

 

Lanzado el 18 de Octubre de 1998 "Daydream Nation" fue el 5to., álbum de estudio de la icónica banda Estadounidense Sonic Youth, grabado entre Julio y Agosto de 1988, y lanzado bajo el sello Enigma como un álbum doble, del disco se lanzaron cuatro singles ""Silver Rocket", "Teen Age Riot", "Candle" y "Providence", un disco le generó una gran reputación a la banda, aclamados por la crítica ayudando a que la banda por fin lograra un contrato con un sello mayor, y con el tiempo, se convertiría en uno de los mejores discos de todos los tiempos, y un punto de partida para la banda influyendo fuertemente en la música alternativa y por tal motivo fue escogido para ser preservado en la National Recording Registry en el 2005. 

 

Todos unos conocidos en el underground Neoyorquino, había sufrido una serie de experimentaciones pasando por sonidos minimalistas y hasta hardcore, logrando llamar la atención con "Evol" y "Sister" entonces se encaminaron a lo que sería esta obra cumbre y que los volvería una banda mítica y recordada por su peculiar sonido tan influyente en la cultura alternativa, hasta el proceso de composición cambio y ahora tomaron su tiempo para el proceso de las letras y ensayos, a veces muy largos, muchos aplaudieron las largas sesiones de improvisación y por eso es que el disco se expandió a un álbum doble. 

 

Otra cosa curiosa que ayudo fue el productor, la banda escogio al ingeniero de estudio Nick Sansano pero el era un productor de artistas de hip hop y poco sabía sobre Sonic Youth excepto por su sonido agresivo, entonces Sansano les muestra su trabajo con ciertos grupos de hip hop y ese sonido le termina agradando a la banda, y así comenzaría a gestarse este icónico disco. 

 

El sonido del álbum es tan peculiar, considerado por unos como avant rock, alternative rock, indie rock, art punk y post punk, notable también por su peculiar manera de afinar las guitarras y las estructuras de las canciones, y esto sin duda seria muy influyente en el sonido alternativo que se estaba por venir, sobre las letras, estas hablaban sobre problemas y situaciones molestas sobre la industria de la música y de la epidemia del crack de finales de los 80s.

 

Un disco surrealista y rabioso, comenzaba con la memorable y pendenciera "Teen Age Riot", y concluía formidablemente con "Trilogy" que eran tres mas de ruidosa y fascinante belleza (The Wonder/Hyperstation/Eliminator Jr.) que estaban inspirados el primero de un crimen de ficción del escritor James Ellroy mientras que la última era un honor a Dinosaur Jr., y el tema de Z Top "Eliminator", en el medio hay otros geniales temas como las hard rock "Silver Rocket" y "Candle" dotadas de un poderoso sonido para pasar otras igual de intensas como "The Sprawl" inspirada sobre los trabajos de ciencia ficción de Williams Gibson, "Providence" dotada de un solo de piano hecho por Moore el cual grabo usando un walkman, en la grabación se se escucho el sonido de Peavey sobre calentado, mensajes de teléfono de Mike Watt llamando a Moore desde un teléfono monedero en Providence, Rhode Island, "Eric's Trip" era otro genial tema en donde hacen homenaje al monologo intenso dado por Eric Emerson gracias al viaje que estaba teniendo con LSD en el film de Warhol "Chelsea Girls", y finalmente "Total Trash" igual de genial y estridente.

 

Con "Cross The Breeze" aparece Gordon interpretando uno de sus temas más intensos y desafiantes, "Hey Joni" era un tributo del tema "Hey Joe" y a la cantante Canadiense Joni Mitchell, además de las rarezas "Rain King" que era un homenaje a Pere Ubu y "Kissability", y así lanzarían lo que sería su último trabajo independiente y que llevo a un nuevo nivel a la banda gracias al trabajo de Nick Sansano para emerger con un nuevo sonido que alcanzaría su zenith a inicios de los 90s.

 

El disco fue lanzado en CD, cassette y doble vinilo, no entro a los charts Estadounidense pero si lo hizo en el Reino Unido llegando al No. 99, hicieron tres videos para los singles "Teen Age Riot", "Providence" y "Candle", siendo el primer single, el único que llegaría al recién creado Modern Rock Tracks del Billboard, esto basto para que el disco fuera alabado por la crítica, en especial por la novedosa técnica usada y por la gran paleta de sonidos y harmonias que le dieron forma a su sonido volviéndolo influyente, un disco dotado de un ruido divino, siendo uno de los más radicales y políticos del año al frado de ser considerado como una obra maestra del post punk art rock.

 

Daydream Nation Track List: 

 

1. Teen Age Riot

2. Silver Rocket

3. The Sprawl

4. Cross The Breeze

5. Eric's Trip

6. Total Trash

7. Hey Joni

8. Providence

9. Candle

10. Rain King

11. Kissability

12. Trilogy (The Wonder/Hyperstation/Eliminator Jr.)

Rocktrospectiva: El Aclamado "A Thousand Leaves" Cumple 25 Años

Lanzado el 12 de Mayo de 1998 "A Thousand Leaves" fue el 10mo., álbum de estudio de la banda Sonic Youth, fue el primero grabado totalmente grabado en su estudio localizado en el bajo Manhattan llamado "Echo Canyon" en Murray Street, el cual fue construido con el dinero que ganaron durante el Festival de Lollapalooza en 1995, además de ser el disco que más se tardaron en grabar con una brecha de tres años entre este y el último de ese entonces que fue "Washing Machine" y todo por que la banda quería finalmente tomarse un descanso después de años de grabar y salir de gira, del disco se lanzó el single "Sunday" cuyo video fue dirigido por Harmony Korine y tenía como actor en el mismo al actor Macaulay Culkin famoso por interpretar a Kevin en "Mi Pobre Angelito".

La tendencia era diferente, ya que ahora la banda tenía todo el tiempo del mundo porque tenían su propio estudio de grabación, así que las improvisaciones y tracks más extensos fluyeron de lo lindo, entre ellos tres extendidos tracks que fueron "Anagrama", "Slaapkamers met slagroom" e "Invito Al cielo" que fueron grabados simultáneamente en el disco, marcando la reflexión de lo que la banda era en aquel entonces, no querían hacer nada conciso, sino que solamente sentir lo que tocaban y por eso emergieron una serie de tracks tan dispares, como "Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)" de 11 minutos y que iba a incluirse en un EP de la banda como instrumental pero que al final se incluyo aquí con vocales, que para la ocasión contaron con la producción de Wharton Tiers.

El álbum para nada era algo normal sino que tenía cierta peculiaridades como menos feedback en las guitarras e improvisaciones, inspirándose un poco en Walt Whitman "Leaves Of Grass" para el título ya que así como a él le gustaba improvisar con las palabras, y por ende, a la banda le gustaba cambiar e improvisar con los sonidos y las notas, además que el hecho que la banda envejecía, todo se volvía más en directo con temas sobre la vida, los niños, lo cual quedaba de manifiesto en "Snare, Girl", otros temas que tenían que ver con los roles y estereotipos como "Female Mechanic Now On Duty", que era cantada por Kim Gordon, "The Ineffable Me" donde Gordon expresaba su opinión a las limitaciones como mujer, "Karen Koltrane" cantada por Ranaldo y que era una oda a un viejo amor en sus días de universitario, "Hoarfrost" inspirada en un día en que Ranaldo y su esposa salieron a caminar por nieve en una visita a los padres de su esposa en Winnipeg, Manitoba en Canadá, y el track más accesible "Sunday" que fue lanzado como single y en cuyo video aparecía Macaulay Culkin bajo la dirección de Harmony Korine, mostrando en donde aparecía el actor y luego entre tomas con Moore y Ranaldo tocando la guitarra. 

Dicha placa tuvo una buena crítica en donde se les reconocía el hecho de ser más desafiante y experimentales en su sonido, además que se admiraba el hecho de que las guitarras fueran más pasivas con giros impredecibles haciendo que los tracks sonarán más cautivantes, destacando entonces el sonido como una entrega mucho más madura y positiva, a pesar que hubieron unos leves desaciertos en cuanto a las interpretaciones de Gordon y otros tracks demasiados largos e innecesarios, el disco fue considerado uno de los mejores de ese 1998 y de la década en revistas especializadas notando que era el producto de lo que la banda había dado a conocer diez años antes con el icónico "Daydream Nation".

 

A Thousand Leaves Track List

 

1. Contre Le Sexisme

2. Sunday

3. Female Mechanic Now On Duty

4. Wildflower Soul

5. Hoarfrost

6. French Tickler

7. Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)

8. Karen Koltrane

9. The Ineffable Me

10. Snare, Girl

11. Heather Angel

Rocktrospectiva: El Crudo Y Vibrante "Dirty" Cumple 30 Años

 

Lanzado el 21 de Julio de 1992, "Dirty" séptimo álbum de estudio de la banda Estadounidense Sonic Youth y su segundo disco doble, fue su disco más grunge en su carrera, de hecho su sonido estaba totalmente inspirado en el movimiento que aquel entonces gozaba de alta popularidad en el mundo, aunque los miembros de la banda lo llamen avant-rock, aunque el hecho de inspirarse en el grunge no es por ser oportunistas sino recordemos que ellos ayudaron a crear o darle cara al género cuando por sugerencia de ellos, Geffen Records se fijó en Nirvana. 

 

El disco sigue sonando fuerte, vibrante, estridente con elegancia y encanto único por su aguda visión del mundo de ese entonces y suena tan fresco como hace 30 años, además que fue producido por la mente maestra de "Nevermind", el gran "Butch Vig", quien fue determinante en esta ruidosa pero increíble colección de tracks que ofrecían una gran variedad de sonidos que iban del hardcore, punk y experimentación más su sonido más crudo y típico llegando a crear un disco irrepetible y original en todo sentido de la palabra, pese a que su catalogo ofrece gratos y gigantescos discos. 

 

Se nota la buena química y vibra de la banda con Ranaldo y Moore entregándonos crudos y fantástico paisajes sonoros, destacando la cruda y conmovedora "100%", pasando por la agresiva "Youth Against Fascism", sin dejar por detrás a la fuerte voz y el bajo de Gordon, le da su toque femenino al disco y se pone en evidencia en temas como "Swinsuit Issue", el toque dulce pero crudo de "Crème Brûlée", "Sugar Kane" inspirada en Marilyn Monroe, y "Drunken Butterfly",  todo esto por supuesto que arropado por la impresionante bateria de Steve Shelley quien encaja a la perfección en todo los temas y así entregarnos un disco con sentido y forma. 

El disco fue alabado por la crítica, llamándolo lo más fino que la banda de noise rock haya hecho, volviéndolo su entrega más inolvidable en aquel entonces, y es que el disco obedecía a la actualidad de aquel tiempo mezclando las vivencias personales con lo que sucedía alrededor aprovechando la furia, fuerza y rebeldía del sonido que en aquel entonces marcaba la tendencia, pero pese a todas esas buenas referencias, los cuatro singles no llegaron a romperla en los charts como su sello lo esperaba, y el disco apenas llegó al No. 83 del Billboard 200, pero su impacto en la cultura musical ha sido único y sigue reverberando 30 años después.

Dirty Track List:

1. 100%

2. Swinsuit Issue

3. Theresa's Sound World

4. Drunken Butterfly

5. Shoot

6. Wish Fulfillment

7. Sugar Kane

8. Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit

9. Youth Against Fascism 

10. Nic Fit

11. On The Strip

12. Chapel Hill

13. JC

14. Purr

15. Crème Brûlée