http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainm...28994-sun.html
SONIC YOUTH
Rather Ripped
3 out of 5
Ripped? How about lean, pared-down, tight and compact.
Perennial New York art rockers Sonic Youth are all of these things on their latest studio album Rather Ripped.
And it's not only a result of the band once-more appearing in its familiar quartet form, having lost the added guitar services of brief member Jim O'Rourke.
It's because there's little extraneous musical meat or fatty feedback on most of the disc's 12 compositions.
For the most part, Sonic Youth go the direct route, crafting precision songs that actually closely resemble songs - in the SY way.
Of course, that should be good news or bad news depending on what you've come to expect and demand from the band over its 25-year career - whether you consider yourself a citizen of the Daydream Nation or more a Goo afficionado.
Taken in the former context, there's very little here to satisfy, besides the bit of noisy nastiness provided by "Rats," when they finally, briefly let loose on "Sleepin' Around" and the entirety of the epic beauty "Pink Steam."
And even taken in the latter context, the songs on Rather Ripped are also nowhere near as appealing, with only a handful - Kim Gordon-sung opener "Reena," and her later, lovely dreamer "Turquoise Boy" - really leaving much of a lasting impression.
Maybe a slimmed down Sonic Youth is a good thing, but there are very few muscles flexed here to benefit anyone.