Thursday Jun 01, 2006</B>
Arts and Entertainment
New Sonic Youth album too toned down for some By Patrick Dolan
Staff Writer
Sonic Youth is back in action yet again with one of its most toned-down albums to date.
Gone is the moody, effervescent feel that soothed via "Sonic Nurse," and the onslaught of dissonant guitars that helped define a generation of drug-addled hipsters in the '80s is a thing of the past. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the band still can't make semi-interesting music.
Songwriting duties are divvyed up in the same similar fashion fans have come to love. Guitarist and singer Thurston Moore takes the cake with a handful of upbeat singsong tracks,
and bassist/singer Kim Deal comes out swinging with her usual flamboyant bombast.
"Rats," Lee Ronaldo's contribution to the album, is another shining epic, but is overshadowed by catchier songs found elsewhere on the album.
The trick to liking Sonic Youth is to just lose oneself and not care about what's playing, no matter how absurd it may sound. But this delivery of songs seems to overreach and in a way negates the band's original mantra: to defeat the oversimplified melody machine and give a swift kick in the arse.
In essence, that's what the title of the album suggests. "Rather Ripped" probably stands for a drunken or disheveled state of mind, and the loud, droning guitars found on "Turquoise Boy" definitely point to an unnerving sense of liberation.
But is it always OK to play loud and not care about the consequences?
While the streaming flutter of notes on "Incinerate" and "Reena" have an indelible charm and might be enough for some diehard fans, many of the songs fall short and seem to lack that tumult of inspiration that once drove the band to soaring heights.
Here's a tip: Skip the first half of the album. What's found on the second half is much more redeeming and consistently fun.
patrick.dolan@mail.wvu.edu
he thinks Kim Deal is in Sonic Youth
everybody point and laugh!
we should all send him angry emails disputing his untrue facts.