[Moshe]

Lets post them in one thread:

http://www.musicomh.com/albums5/sonic-youth-2_0606.htm

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (Geffen) UK release date: 5 June 2006

 

 

 

For 25 years Sonic Youth have been ably treading the line between pop and experimentalism and just occasionally they manage to achieve something that changes the face of music as we know it. 1988 saw the release of their landmark album Daydream Nation, and it has attained such a legendary and revered status that it seems Sonic Youth may never scale such groundbreaking heights again. It's not that they've been struggling to create great music for the last 18 years though. From their major label debut Goo to the bewildering experimentalism of Goodbye Twentieth Century, Sonic Youth have always produced some challenging and exciting music. It's just that many of their recent albums have been patchy, with only occasional glimmers of genius.
Rather Ripped sees the band heading into far more commercial territory than usual. If Murray Street took on the prog rock of the '70s, then this is SY pillaging the '60s for the greatest pop sound and making it their own. It reeks of sunshine and festivals, it's a sprightly breeze of a record.
Opener Reena sees Kim Gordon singing, rather than the bellowing of lines that we've come to expect from her over the years. It's like listening to Nico on a bright Sunday morning.
Gordon's voice is not the only step away from dissonance in evidence here. Jams Run Free features arpeggiated guitar lines that weave in and out of each other, ringing like wind chimes caught by a freak gust of wind on a baking hot day. There's not a hint of crashing waves of a guitar tsunami on the horizon at all.
Turqoise Boy is beautifully understated, with a husky vocal from Gordon and delicate guitars from Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo that eventually work themselves into some wonderfully hectic noise midway through the track. There are also guitar solos that actually sound like guitar solos: as in the rock band, widdly widdly twin guitar break kind of solos. Not the kind of thing you'd usually find on a SY record. There's even something approaching sincere lyricism in the godly Do You Believe in Rapture? - Thurston Moore seems to be constantly on the brink of an epiphany throughout the track.
This is not to say that the usual elements aren't present of course. There are walls of discordant guitars, there's the familiar rumble of Steve Shelley's drums driving the chaos to its logical conclusion, it's all here. It's just that on Rather Ripped, these elements are way back in the mix, they are used sparingly to add tone to the songs. If Daydream Nation was a record that focused the attention on guitar experimentalism, then Rather Ripped is SY's homage to the pop song. It's the best thing they've done in some time.
- Sam Shepherd

[Moshe]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/cd-review...359646581.html

When the mood takes them, Sonic Youth can make complex, challenging art-rock albums drawing on their avant-garde roots.
They can also make the kind of art-pop album - tunes alongside hints of dissonance; hooks sitting with low-level throbbing; emotions paired with a cool distancing - that only Wilco can consistently pull off. This is one of those Sonic Youth albums, possibly their most accessible album since Goo and Dirty, more than a decade ago.
There is little cluttering the delivery of songs such as Do You Believe in Rapture?, where even though some ragged feedback can be heard in the background, Thurston Moore's voice is front and centre and almost soothing. And What a Waste has Kim Gordon nonchalantly riding a guitar riff that would not be out of place on a (part prog, part psychedelic) Blue Oyster Cult album in the early '70s.
It may be art but it's also a straightforward album: smart, but easy to enjoy.

[Moshe]

Thanks to Bobbyjames23

http://www.comfortcomes.com/?page=reviews&id=1003

The long awaited new album from the masters of underground rock is here. Everything you might expect from Sonic Youth is here. Complex twisting riffs, the classic guitar strum, artistic and at times confusing lyrics shared by Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. However, those expecting a radical musical movement out of this album will be disappointed. Those expecting some classic Sonic Youth jams will not be.

The best track on the album from an musical standpoint is "Pink Steam," which is pure instrumentals for 5 out of the 6 total minutes. It is full of the skilled guitar playing Sonic Youth is known for, along with the half laid back feel of the rhythm section. The solos are excellent, adding a touch of distortion there and a touch of fuzz here, showing obvious maturity and musical skill, and creating a pure instrumental gem. Leave this one on repeat.

The entire album has a laid back feel, making it almost dull. "Jams Run Free" is slow moving, uneasy, and laced with Gordon’s stretched voice. "Lights Out" is the same way: slow moving and eerie. Finally there’s "Rats" which is again quieter, but has hints of The Doors, both in the vocals and instrumentals. Odd to hear from Sonic Youth, but odd is what Sonic Youth is about isn’t it?

Don’t come to "Rather Ripped" looking for a roller coaster ride of underground bliss, but late at night when the lights get turned low and you’re recovering from a long day, pop this in. The slow moving songs have a beauty to them, the lyrics are an enigma to unravel, and an ear can easily find a guitar note there, or a vocal croon here that sends shivers down the spine. A slow burner from Sonic Youth, but one that burns well.

[Moshe]

Thanks to badgercorn

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/s...788049,00.html


Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped

 

(Geffen)

Dave Simpson
Friday June 2, 2006
The Guardian


Pop careers used to be such brief, sudden-impact affairs. The Doors came and went within five years; even the Beatles packed it all in inside eight. The Sex Pistols, bless 'em, said all they needed to with one album. These days, though, nobody ever stops. Thus, New York's favourite avant-punk noiseniks find themselves pondering a longevity they couldn't have imagined when they began experimenting with electric drills and weird tunings in 1981. Back then they can't have considered the fact that choosing a moniker aligning themselves with youth culture would one day be used by rock critics to attack them for having the temerity to grow old. Except that they haven't, spiritually. Rather Ripped (to the gills, presumably) has the lightness of touch and adventure you'd normally get from a band on their debut, not veteran explorers making their 21st album.

Having pioneered avant-grunge and subterranean punk-garde, Rather Ripped sees Sonic Youth reinventing themselves again. This is as close to a pop album as they've recorded. Discernible influences are not so much the usual Glenn Branca or the darker Velvet Underground but the Ronettes and the Crystals. Well, possibly. Kim Gordon's shared vocals have certainly never sounded sweeter; songs rattle along on a succession of killer bubblegum riffs from Thurston Moore, who sounds thrilled to discover a new dimension to his playing.Switching from producer Jim O'Rourke to self-production (alongside John Agnello) has given things an urgent, spontaneous feel. The band sound riotously playful. Turquoise Boy dabbles in psychedelia. The sublime Incinerate even cheekily mimicks Roxy Music's famous "kerr-angg" intro from Pyjamarama before blasting into sugar-bomb pop. And yet, beneath the froth, the old nihilism still lurks. The songs tell tales of madness, infidelity, homicidal urges and the rest: regular terrain for the Youth, but not within such pop confections. Rather Ripped may not have the cultural impact of 1989's Daydream Nation, but it contains some of the best music of their career. An extraordinary state of affairs in Sonic Youth's 25th year.

[Moshe]

Thanks to Sir Paul Skinback obe
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/m...icle623334.ece

Note the Andy Gill is not the same one who plays in Gang of Four!


Album: Sonic Youth

 

Rather Ripped, GEFFEN

By Andy Gill

Published: 02 June 2006



Back to a quartet again with the departure of the sonic auxiliary Jim O'Rourke, Sonic Youth turn in one of their tighter, more focused sets with Rather Ripped, an album named after a celebrated underground comic book. It opens at the catchier end of the SY aesthetic with "Reena", which could almost be a straight-up pop song were it not for the typically oblique changes that lend a peppery edge to its hummability. Indeed, so typical have their once-perverse melodic twists become that it's now possible to predict the course of tracks such as "Jams Run Free" and "Sleepin' Around", the way their serpentine tunes habitually take the odd route through flats and sharps, favouring the bitter over the sweet. As "What a Waste" suggests, with its echoes of "Hong Kong Garden", it's a trope traceable to the early Banshees, here elected to a compositional principle. When it works, the effect is bracing, as in the blend of plaintive vocal, guitar harmonics and churning noise that makes up "Do You Believe In Rapture?", or the astringent combination of arpeggios and smouldering lead guitar in "Turquoise Boy"; but elsewhere, "Pink Steam" is a chugger, and "Incinerate" follows a drier, more methodical course.
DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Reena', 'Do You Believe in Rapture?', 'Turquoise Boy'

Back to a quartet again with the departure of the sonic auxiliary Jim O'Rourke, Sonic Youth turn in one of their tighter, more focused sets with Rather Ripped, an album named after a celebrated underground comic book. It opens at the catchier end of the SY aesthetic with "Reena", which could almost be a straight-up pop song were it not for the typically oblique changes that lend a peppery edge to its hummability. Indeed, so typical have their once-perverse melodic twists become that it's now possible to predict the course of tracks such as "Jams Run Free" and "Sleepin' Around", the way their serpentine tunes habitually take the odd route through flats and sharps, favouring the bitter over the sweet. As "What a Waste" suggests, with its echoes of "Hong Kong Garden", it's a trope traceable to the early Banshees, here elected to a compositional principle. When it works, the effect is bracing, as in the blend of plaintive vocal, guitar harmonics and churning noise that makes up "Do You Believe In Rapture?", or the astringent combination of arpeggios and smouldering lead guitar in "Turquoise Boy"; but elsewhere, "Pink Steam" is a chugger, and "Incinerate" follows a drier, more methodical course.

[Moshe]

Thanks to sonik life

Phil Mongredien, Q Magazine 3/5 Stars

Art-rock veterans make most listenable album in years.

After losing their way in the late '90s, Sonic Youth have got a second wind. Rather Ripped follows on from 2004's impressive Sonic Nurse and is their most mature album to date, with songs taking centre stage and guitar squall used more selectively. Opener Reena bounces along happily, while the six-minute Turquoise Boy features some pretty and restrained guitar noodling. Best of all is The Neutral, Kim Gordon leading them in a summery pop direction. Only the dreary Do You Believe In Rapture? falls flat.

[Moshe]

Thanks to GeneticKiss

From Guitar World magazine, August 2006:

"Some 25 years since their chaotic debut, Sonic Youth continue to find new ways to make unconventional tunings, dissonant musicianship and jarring arrangements irresistible. Rather Ripped, the group's 16th full studio album, combines the icy dreamscapes and haunting exorcisms of 1988's Daydream Nation with the more accessible song structures of 1990's Goo. Whether relying on clean, chiming chords and single plucked notes ("Incinerate"), eerie natural harmonics ("Do You Believe In Rapture?") or rock-out riffs and weird distorted licks ("What A Waste"), Sonic Youth demostrate rock's endless possibilities.

-Jon Wiederhorn"

Let the "Oh Yeah? When Was The Last Time They Were In The Magazine?"'s, "Posers! Everyone's Pretending To Be Indie These Days!"'s, and the "So Why Don't They Feature Bands That Actually Sound Like Them?"'s begin.

[Moshe]

Thanks to amh

http://www.kevchino.com/index.aspx?review=939

Read
Full
Screen10OUT OF 10Diehard old school Sonic Youth fans are most likely taking a look at the cover art for Sonic Youth’s new album and peeing themselves with excitement. It hearkens back to the glory days of the band’s status as the rulers of the New York City no-wave scene. It’s a classic NYC punk rock logo: the band’s name emblazoned on a red backdrop in army lettering through an oozing blob of black paint. It looks punk rock as hell. Any person who misses the noise experiments of Bad Moon Rising and EVOL are probably thinking that Sonic Youth are making a triumphant return to their roots; dropping an all-out noise assault on the
sensitive indie types and neo-hippies that were into the clean, lazy summer jams of Murray Street and Sonic Nurse. Well, to those people, turn away and lock yourself in with your old SST LP’s because this is a much, much different band.

Rather Ripped is by far the most user-friendly, concise, polished effort that Sonic Youth have released up to this point, a further extension on the warm embrace of Sonic Nurse. However, that album had its fair share of challenges, what with most of the songs averaging a length of about seven minutes. The longest song on Rather Ripped is seven minutes, and most of the songs don’t pass the four minute mark. What used to take Sonic Youth five-to-ten minutes to do now takes them three, and notably absent from this album is the band’s inclination towards musical exploration. What was and, really, still is, the band’s trademarks are valleys and peaks, tension and release, and quiet-and-loud dynamics; and that usually took SY a long time to do in one song. But the trick of Rather Ripped is that the band has learned how to condense those experiments into four minute indie rock songs.

But enough about the change; the real question is, how are the songs? Well, this band has delivered another batch of excellent tracks, as evidenced by the 1-2-3 KO of the opening trilogy. “Reena” is a bouncy, poppy Kim Gordon number and it works to surprisingly good effect. There is a “noise” breakdown in the middle, but those quotation marks are meant to be much larger. It’s extremely brief, and not nearly as loud, atonal or abrasive as previous noise bridges on other SY tracks. “Incinerate” may be the most “rock” track here, but it’s nothing like older work by the band. And yet, these are really great songs, not just endless jams but real, tight numbers rather then compositions.

Some fans may be a little put off by Sonic Youth’s evolution from experimental no-wavers to indie rock tunesmiths, but it really doesn’t matter because the product speaks for itself. Rather Ripped is SY’s Terror Twilight, a somewhat conventional record for an otherwise experimental band as they approach the afterglow the next step of their storied career.

[Moshe]

Thanks to atari 2600
from ew:

Sonic Youth
Rather Ripped
Once again a quartet after the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke, the long-running avant-rock band release their 20th album. It's a softer, more introverted take on the classic SY sound than their last few outings, scaling back the noise and amping up the tunes.
6/13

[Moshe]

http://www.timeout.com/london/music/...er_ripped.html

4/6 stars


The latest from NYC’s seminal art punks (now minus Jim O’Rourke) represents their classic sound circa ‘Daydream Nation’ and, landing so soon after The Futureheads’ new LP (to name just one example), serves as a potent reminder of how hugely influential they are still. Wide open tunings, white noise and distinctive, thrumming harmonics have sustained them for 25 years and this sweetly rapturous and grittily groovy treat is triumphant affirmation that age cannot wither the Yoof.
Sharon O’Connell, Tue May 30

[Moshe]

http://www.markprindle.com/sonicya.htm#rather

8/10

Thee Temple Ov Psonick Youth is back with what I personally consider to be their finest bag of melodies since Washink Machine. Sure, they never change their sound, and certainly haven't done so here. But the appeal of these later Sonic Youth records that they keep releasing every few months is that, although they almost never deviate from the clean guitar tones they picked up a decade ago, and although you'll hear plenty of chord changes that you could've sworn you heard on Daydream Nation and every record since, the band is still capable of coming up with absolutely gorgeous music when it puts its mind to it. And this time, it's paid off in spades (black people)! If you've read this entire shitty page, you know what a Complain Wart I can be about this band, yet I wouldn't hesitate to sign a sealed court document accusing me of absolutely LOVING 7 of these 12 songs. They're uptempo, catchy, warm, memorable and audioically interesting. Let me explain in a bit more detail, in a new paragraph to be named later.

First of all, the songs are shorter and more succinct than they've been in ages, with a full seven of the tracks ending before the 4-minute mark. Secondly, nearly every song is uptempo. Thirdly, Kim's singing is not only tuneful but often downright beautiful, probably her finest work in the band's history (aside from those fatally missed high notes in "Jams Run Free"). Fourthly, in addition to a downright catchy collection of chord changes and arpeggios spread thoughout the disc, the band has crafted a number of fascinating new sounds for you, including ringing 'harmonics chords' in "Do You Believe In Rapture?," gorgeous Unrest-esque bass/guitar/guitar interplay in "Jams Run Free," hilariously sick funk bass and amp noise in "Rats," an unexpectedly low bottom note in "Lights Out," Minus The Bear-style intertwining guitar arpeggios in "The Neutral," and thick bassy heartbeat percussion thumping in "Or." So appreciate that. Most old people who pretend to be young (Neil Young, Angus Young, Henny Youngman) are either uninterested in or incapable of actual sound experimentabilism once they reach a certain age. But not old Sonic Young! You can count on me!
Sure, a few of the riffs are dangerously SY-by-retread ("Incinerate" in particular has hardly any reason to exist), but most are not. Buy it! Seriously! Buy it for the energetic tempos, hooky melodies and lovely, creative instrumental interplay ideas. And just try to ignore the fact that Thurston Moore, who sings 6 of the songs, is incapable of writing a vocal melody.
Isn't this neat? I seriously didn't think I'd ever be excited by a Sonic Youth album again! It's almost enough to make me go back and listen to the last few again to see if I'd like them more now. I probably won't do that, but what a thought, huh?
In closing, here's a joke, to start the review off with a bang:
What do you get when you cross Thurston Moore with a baboon's ass?
A baboon that farts the exact same notes it's playing on the guitar!
Oh! Also, Jim O'Rourke's not in the band anymore, so don't be all listening for his crazy noises.
Same for Jim Sclavunos, unfortunately. He will be missed.
If you listen real close though, you can hear Bob Bert and Ernie Kovacs guest s
Wait a second! Did you see that? I just said "Bert and Ernie"! Ha ha! I didn't even mean to do that! That's great! Ha ha!
You know what song is really great? Eddie Floyd's "Big Bird." It starts with this awesome g
HAY! Did you see that? I TOTALLY wrote "Big Bird" without even meaning to! What's crazy going on here? Maybe I've been snorting too much snuff, Leupa Gus!
Yes, Leupa Gus is a good friend of mine I like to do a shout-out to every once in a WAIT A SECOND! DID YOU SEE THAT???? I TOTALLY JUST URINATED OUT OF MY BELLY BUTTON!!!

[Moshe]

http://feministing.com/archives/005130.html

Feministing Hearts Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth
Rather Ripped
Geffen Records (2006)
Indie rock legends Sonic Youth burst out of the summer music pack with their latest album, Rather Ripped, to be released June 13 on Geffen Records. Though predictably unpredictable in terms of musical experimentation, the group delivers its characteristic guitar renderings and thoughtful lyricism, appealing to devoted fans and new initiates alike.
The former five-piece has been trimmed to four, as producer and multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke left the band to pursue his film studies. Over the final days of 2005 and into early this year, the band recorded and mixed twelve new songs, each with a touch of sonic splendor and liberation that SY is known for.
Rather Ripped begins with driving tracks “Reena” and “Incinerate” and quickly transitions to curious and midbeat “Do You Believe in Rapture?” The trademark guitar sound is present on “Sleeping Around” and “Turquoise Boy.” Quirky, art-punk verse is found throughout. On “Rats,” a song that speaks of closeness and separation with lyrics such as “You could be my open road/You could be the reason why/You could ease my heavy load/But I’m gonna freeze you out.”
For those familiar with Sonic Youth, the new album doesn’t map much new territory, but for newbies, the only thing you can expect about the noise rock troubadours is their inventiveness. The band’s appearance on the season finale of Gilmore Girls further confirms the group’s status in the mainstream. In sleepy album closer “Or,” co-vocalist Thurston Moore asks, “What comes first, the music or the words?” Thankfully for us, both aspects are present, strong and carry through to the end.

[Moshe]

http://buluthim.blogspot.com/2006/05...d-2006_29.html

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (2006)


Rating:9.0
Modern Music Album Review:

 

After sonic nurse it's a great feeling to see that they are going on with their music.

Opening song Reena which contains high and low guitar melodies.Kim gordon's vocal is bringin more impression to this song.At the half of the song,guitars are starting to fly and they're flying with you and suddenly it's turning same ordinary melody.

Incinerate is first single and it has a calm melody,great but really it isn't best song from this album.You are slowing with Do You Believe In Rapture.This song is containing more experimental tunes.Sleepin Around is starting with restless and noisy guitar and really it has a wanderful opening.

After three Thurston Moore vocal,Kim gordon's singing What A Waste.It's a more regular melody,there's not any marked guitar melodies.In song Jams Run Free while Kim is singing normally and singing like a boring song,suddenly is changing and You're seeing a sound choke with a great noise theme.This is what we expecting from Sonic Youth,you think that you're listening an ordinary song,but it isn't an ordinary song.Music is changing suddenly and you're hooking up.

This album is really cramfull.You can see on Rats Thursten Moore's best vocal permormance on this album.On this song,melody suddenly changing to a brilliant and hot light.This changing is a guaranty which makes you falling love with this album.

Pink Steam is an indie song with no vocal and also we can say it's only instrumantel(but you'll see it's not) song ,airy,attractive.But Thursten Moore entering with his voice near end of the song and i suprised when first listen this song.There isn't a order melody on this song.all the time it's changing and i wanna say it's the best song on this album.Rather Ripped shows us music is still not dead and still there are good musicians.

bulut 1:23 AM

[Moshe]

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....203187,00.html

Sonic Youth’s back catalogue is one of the most impressive and daunting in American art- rock. Some serious avant- garde records in the late 1990s scared their more timid fans. But recently there have been a number of rather unexpectedly accessible albums.

Rather Ripped may well be the most straightforward yet, with 12 driving and melodic New York rock songs that sometimes recall Television. The Youth’s trademark clang and squall is deployed with elegant discretion, so that the outstanding Pink Steam works as a mature précis of their old pyrotechnics. If you’ve always wanted to investigate this thrilling band, Rather Ripped might finally be a safe place to begin the adventure.
JOHN MULVEY

[comeandsmashme]

You can see on Rats Thursten Moore's best vocal permormance on this album

Possibly because it's actually a Lee song! (and sadly the only one here at that)

On my third listen now, perfect hot summer's day listening I feel. Not giving it a mark out of 10 for at least another week though...

[silverfreepress (sdasher)]

Christgau, impressed.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/06...,73468,22.html



Rock & Roll &
Rather Exhilarating
The best band in the universe do their Brecht thing with hooks
by Robert Christgau
June 6th, 2006 3:58 PM






Three members of Sonic Youth pose with the American Idol winner
photo: Amanda DeCadenet
Forget "edge," or whatever the edgy are calling it these days. I wish we could forget their non-youth in the bargain, but that wheeze will remain with us—they create from what they know. So let me put it this way: Sonic Youth are the best band in the universe, and if you can't get behind that, that's your problem. They haven't made a bad album since Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, and Lee Ranaldo found perfect drummer Steve Shelley in 1985, and (forget Radiohead, forget Wilco) have released more good ones in the past decade than anyone in rock except—this is funny—Neil Young. That definitely includes the brand-new Rather Ripped, a light-seeming, unprecedentedly hooky thing that could prove one of their best. Ignore it to your spiritual detriment.
Sonic Nurse, the band's last record, and last of three with avant-young fifth member Jim O'Rourke, was noticeably direct and tuneful—but not, as it turned out, concise (eight of 10 tracks over five minutes), nor as bracingly aggressive as Goo or Dirty or Daydream Nation. Excellent, but hedged. On Ripped, seven of 12 tracks clock in under four minutes, and three more under five. But the radical departure is the new album's appearance of simplicity, especially regarding what means most with these guys: guitar sound.

Most SY guitars are thick, dirty, doubled, the better to amplify and complicate the weird scales that underlie music you can get lost in and quite often hum. On Rather Ripped, however, guitars are cleanly articulated, given over to tunelets and quasi-arpeggios that cycle through the songs like the good little hooks they are, so much so that when Moore and Ranaldo clash and rumble old-style—two minutes into "Sleepin' Around," on the Ranaldo horror movie "Rats," or the Gordon reverie "Turquoise Boy"—the effect is a reassuring return to normalcy. In other words, the Brechtian distance their dissonances stopped guaranteeing long ago is provided instead by super-catchy mock-pop devices—which eventually, sly devils, prove stranger harmonically than first impressions suggest. The singing, while not even mock pop—by normal standards of vocal intonation and soulful drama, this may be the least gifted great band ever—nudges their recitative tendencies toward a sweet, breathy, sincere counterpart of the guitars. Simple word choices and frequent repetitions make lyrics whose meaning never comes clear seem just out of reach.

All of which I find pretty exhilarating. Of course, you may not. When Murray Street came out in 2002, non-old Amy Phillips notoriously asserted in this very newspaper that since Sonic Youth hadn't made a good album since (1995's) Washing Machine, they should break up already. Who's to say her opinion isn't worth as much as mine? Me? Well, yeah. One concept the non-old have trouble getting their minds around is the difference between taste and judgment. It's fine not to like almost anything, except maybe Al Green. That's taste, yours to do with as you please, critical deployment included. By comparison, judgment requires serious psychological calisthenics. But the fact that objectivity only comes naturally in math doesn't mean it can't be approximated in art.

One technique, which I've just illustrated, is to replace response reports ("boring" and all its self-involved pals, like my "exhilarating" or Phillips's less blatant "dull") with stimulus reports. Here's another instance: Boring or not, 1998's A Thousand Leaves unquestionably marked a turn toward the quietude, ruminative structures, and general fuzz level always implicit in their unresolved tunings and Deadhead-manquéjams—tendencies tersely deployed on 1994's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star and fulsomely indulged on Washing Machine's sandbagging 20-minute "The Diamond Sea." On Leaves, melodies were softer, lyrics kinder, instrumentals more atmospheric, and 2000's

NYC Ghosts & Flowers ran away with the freer tendencies of that approach. But ever since then, starting withMurray Street and working through Sonic Nurse and now Rather Ripped, Sonic Youth have reinvested in songform. It's so much more reliable than a 401(k).

Another objectivity aid is consensus, as indicated by record guides, online compendia, and of course critics polls. These establish that Murray Street is well liked, A Thousand Leaves and Sonic Nurse only a little less so. The dud by acclamation (perhaps even the "bad album" whose existence I deny) is NYC Ghosts, which Phillips acknowledges as the true inspiration for her kill-yr-idols hissy fit. Granted an excuse to replay every Sonic Youth album I own, I've found these judgments justifiable. Murray's song-soundscape fusion, which at the time I didn't quite get, sounded strong, while NYC Ghosts, whose meanderings had captivated me in their ambiently environmental way, never fully reconnected. Leaves, long my eccentric fave, proved marginally less entrancing as it sopped up its 74 minutes under lyric-parsing scrutiny. I'm disappointed in myself—I take pride in knowing when I've reconciled taste and judgment, and don't often get records wrong. But I still think the consensus is too extreme—and probably, given the way these things go, reactive, pumping Murray Street to make up for dismissing NYC Ghosts.

Thurston Moore claims Rather Ripped "isn't particularly different from any previous Sonic Youth releases," but that's just his fealty to his band's tunings talking—to a sonic signature that, having pretty much launched an alt-rock generation, is now counted boring by many non-old. Fact is, every Sonic Youth album varies within the broad boundaries of their guitaristic practices. In that capacious context, A Thousand Leaves did mark a turning point, which reflects not just the deterioration that afflicts human bodies as they turn 40 into 50, but also, if you'll pardon some biography, Kim and Thurston's absorption of the parenthood they undertook in 1994: the extra pressure, the lost time, the future that subsumes your own, the messy roommate you love to pieces. Concomitantly, the words of that album, insofar as they make sense, evoke a maturing marriage in a lyrical phase, with Kim's "Female Mechanic Now on Duty" adding essential sex appeal. On Ripped, which shares its name with a legendary Berkeley record store, a similar union may be rather riven, or may not. The non-old clearly aren't obliged to care about these things. But critics of any age ought to recognize that they're there.

Sonic Youth have certainly written lyrics that stick—for my taste, most often about music ("Dirty Boots," "New Hampshire") or politics ("Kool Thing," "Youth Against Fascism"). But where their opposite numbers Yo La Tengo put Ira and Georgia's love life on the public record, Sonic Youth don't seem to sing about Kim and Thurston. It's that Brechtian distance thing again, magnified by vocal deficiencies they play as strengths. Does Kim have a girlfriend on the side? Is her "What a waste/You're so chaste" directed at "Turquoise Boy"? How about Thurston's "Sleepin' Around"? In the end, I don't much care. What matters to me is how these unresolved intimations are allayed and disarmed by the uncharacteristic lightness of music that nevertheless gets strange when you listen hard.

Edges dull; the shock of the new gets old. But great bands keep creating from what they know, and figuring it out as they do. Try to see 'em at CB's Tuesday. They'll come up with something you don't expect, guaranteed.


Sonic Youth play CBGB with Tall Firs Tuesday, June 13. Sold-out as hell.

[Moshe]

http://www.kingblind.com/

Sonic Youth:: Rather Ripped (Album Review)

 

You keep me coming home again" sings Kim Gordon four seconds into the
new Sonic Youth album, Rather Ripped. And like every other Sonic Youth
adventure before, it does feel like home. You know it's Sonic Youth,
it sounds like Sonic Youth, but this time it's a different Sonic
Youth. A little older, a little wiser. I'm just gonna blurt this out,
this is the record Television should have made after "Marquee Moon."
That's a bold statement huh?

Well, let me back myself into a corner here....and get ready to
attack!

The guitar playing of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo is genius.
Bringing to mind the guitar antics of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.
They never play the same thing. Choosing to texture the guitars
perfectly to create a dreamy atmosphere. One plays the rythm, while
the other plays the leads and fills. Kim Gordon is not Fred Smith,
although she does provide a steady bass and her singing has gotten
much better. In fact, she sings a good share of the songs on this
record, which I really like. she's grown in to her voice as she's
become older, reminds me of Nico, only better. Steve Shelley provides
the muscular backbeat the same way Billy Ficca did. So see, that's not
really that far removed from the truth. And besides, who really liked
"Adventure" anyways? With that behind us, let's talk shop...

Now here's where I share the secret with you. This is a rock and roll
record. This isn't Sonic Youth thumbing their noses at traditional
rock and roll conventions. This isn't the youthful exubarance of past.
Gone is utility player Jim O'Rourke. I told you, this is a grown up
Sonic Youth. It doesn't make the record bad though. In fact, this is
my favorite new Sonic Youth record since "Dirty. "Rather Ripped shows me a band that has been able to change, grow, and reinvent itself throughout a 25 year history. A collection of individuals with a common bond of making music, functioning as a whole, creating soundscapes for the future. Not too long ago, Daydream Nation was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of
Congress. Now What? Huh? See, the future!!!

From time to time, the old Sonic Youth shines through, especially on songs
like "Pink Steam" and "Jams Run Free."Don't let that fool you, there is no future without a past. Overall, his is an excellent record. All of the songs are great. "Rather Ripped" has moved on to my best of the year radar and made me a believer that Sonic Youth is still important today as they ever were.
(Review by:: Casey Schroeder)

[silverfreepress (sdasher)]

http://www.thespacelab.tv/spaceLAB/2...SonicYouth.htm

Space Ghost reviews Rather Ripped! .....from outter space.!!!!!!

[Moshe]

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/re...-utility-right

AFTER several years with producer-guitarist Jim O'Rourke as a fifth member, Sonic Youth has scaled back to its original lean four-piece — fittingly, as this is the band at its most intimate. The SY love album? Well, yes, starting off with Kim Gordon breathily cooing, "You keep me coming home again," in the opening song, "Reena," perhaps the bubbliest (and non-ironically so) pop song of the band's 25-year career as an alternative pace setter.

Of course, this is love and pop through SY's revealing lens. The former is anything but straightforward, with Gordon and fellow singers-writers Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo exploring various, often contradictory, constituents and corollaries — security, dependence, lust, affection, friendship, obsession, infidelity, paranoia. There's even faith in "Do You Believe in Rapture?" where the end times may or may not be a metaphor for earthly love.

And there are still plenty of the band's familiar musical leaps into the void with free-floating instrumental diversions and digressions. But most striking is the abundance of catchy melodies, smartly and effectively handled — not by the limited (if expressive) singers, but by the guitars, with many songs marked by simple yet hummable leads. It almost makes you wonder what would have happened if Television and Peter Frampton had worked together. That's a compliment.

By the final song, "Or," a somber sketch of a fan or friend, the band seems drained and exhilarated. Sounds like love.

Steve Hochman

[Moshe]

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home...youthx05x06x06

Rather Ripped
Album Review
For a band to be able to get to the point in their career where they release their 21st album, whilst similarly being able to defy what is expected of them and once again show a new side to their character, is a feat of true genius.

Sonic Youth, the pioneers and influencers of so much of the left-field guitar music that we know and love return on this album that is instantly accessible, unlike perhaps some of their earlier works.

This is perhaps as close to a feel-good pop record as they will ever get, but by god it’s close! This is quirky bubblegum stuff, but done the Sonic Youth way with a sense of real honesty, and dare it be said, enjoyment. The vocals still have that unmistakeable tonal quality, and the dissonant edges still lurk in the background, but this is a real landmark release for the now not-so-youthful crew. Delightful.

Richard Edge