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::: Humo magazine (Belgium) :::
(translated to the best of my knowledge)
Sonic Youth 'Rather Ripped' (2/5 stars)
Could you please pass on the cape of love? So we can cover 1/3 of Rather Ripped with it, the new Sonic Youth. Lights Out seems like a throwaway from Psychic Hearts, the otherwise nice solo-cd by Thurston Moore; Jams Run Free seems like a weak parody of the old SY-single Bull In The Heather; the superficial odd Or would rather belong on a cd from Sonic Old Bores; and Do You Believe In Rapture is a somewhat easy assault on religiously motivated warfare. (Burning eyes seek Jesus comin' / Jesus comes to pave the way). Erase it with a drenched sponge.
And it all started so beautifully: with a fresh guitarfidlle on which Kim Gordon drapes a nicely sung 'You keep me coming home again'. Reena is a perfect popsong and an equally perfect love statement: despite a heavy fascination for a friend Kim Gordon says (read sings) about always returning back to her Thurston. Immediately we knew why for 25 years it's been a nice home coming to a typical Sonic Youth-sound.
And it's not just the opening song in which she has a good voice. In Turquoise Boy, a song wrenched in psychedelics, she wanders off in the sweet two-sided heart of love. The Neutral is way more down to earth (t's a perfect sin/Close your eyes and loose the rest) and the ritmic beating What a Waste is even straight out horny: What a Waste/You're so chaste/I can't wait/To taste your face.
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