365 – New Music Daily

80’s/90’s rock/punk/pop-punk/noise band Sonic Youth has been a band that I felt like I had heard of but never really checked out. While this release is certainly not mind-blowing to me, it does inspire me to check out more of their shit, especially with this being (I believe?) their sort of more pop-grabby album, much like a soon to be reviewed Led Zeppelin IV (sorry, not my favorite!!!).

Both don’t necessarily stray from the bands respective sonic profiles, however they are certainly much more meant for the mainstream than their previous work – even from barely dabbling in Sonic Youth’s shit, I can grasp that.

This record excels when the instrumentation takes over – such as Mote, Kool Thing, and Titanium Expose – essentially multiple songs in one with the differentiation of the riffs, drums, melodies, etc. It’s much more of a wall of sound experience marked with dissonant riffs and melodic vocals – the vocals will not blow you out of the water here. In fact, sometimes they are quite uninspiring and the lyrics kind of take you out. Believe it or not, the lead kind of reminds me of Black Flag’s lead on some songs (I know, I know) and I like this record. I will be coming back to some other Sonic Youth shit, however the queue has really grown, and is always open to recommendatios!

Favorite songs: Dirty Boots, Mary-Christ, Kool Thing, Mote, Titanium Expose