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Forever Young: Sonic Youth still sounds fresh
By
John Ciampa/ Staff Writer
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Who would of thought in 1992 that one of the primary influences on the then burgeoning grunge scene would end up outlasting nearly every band associated with that movement?
Yet here we are in 2006 - more than a decade after Kurt Cobain's death, Pearl Jam's fall from the alternative throne and the break-ups of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden - fortunate enough to have a new Sonic Youth recording hitting stores this week.
But as the band's name implies, Sonic Youth has seemingly found its way to the fountain of musical relevance, staying fresh and ahead of the curve at a moment in pop music when programmers are so busy looking for the next big thing it's a wonder most bands make it to a second album.
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"Rather Ripped," the group's 21st album in 25 years (a remarkable feat for a band of Sonic Youth's ilk) finds them scaling back to a four-person lineup, with original members/guitarists Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo, along with drummer Steve Shelley (who joined the band in the late-80s), returning to a more bare-bones structure, while still breaking new musical and lyrical ground.
At times, "Rather Ripped," is Sonic Youth's most conventional record to date, filled with the group's customary, multi-layered guitar sound and fluid rhythms, yet still allows for plenty of new wrinkles in the band's approach.
Sonic Youth draws from two fruitful, yet distinct, sources: there's the band's alternative and art roots sewn in the post-punk atmosphere of New York City when it formed; and then there's its more free-form, compositional side, forged in the mid-90s when the band began touring with the likes of Phish and playing jam-band festivals.
"Rather Ripped," comes across as an interesting compromise between the two.
In "Do You Believe in Rapture?" Moore goads the listener with trance-like vocals sung over a simple, repeated chord structure that recalls the more pastoral recordings of PJ Harvey.
Likewise, Gordon's "Reena" matches the intensity of punk with the kind of wide washes of strings and looping rhythms found on the band's landmark "Daydream Nation," where it broke conventions and stretched what sounded like two-minute punk songs into seven-minute epics.
The overall sound of "Ripped" is decidedly subdued, but there's a welcome edginess to songs such as "Or," "Lights Out" and, especially, "Pink Steam," which begins with an elongated intro that wraps the listener into a world of dreamlike dissonance.
These tracks and others find the band charting new territory even if it's through the slightest of motions; the juxtaposition of lighter sounds and darkened music, or a gentile lyrical passage sung over restless beats.
"Pink Steam" is a fine example, and also serves as a showcase for some of Moore's most personal, touching lyrics to date, dealing with a topic he's managed to stay clear of for most of the last 10 years - his marriage and life as family man
But with lyrics so tender, it's hard not get caught up in the well-crafted maturity of lines like "Don't you know you need no other/I'm the man who loves you mother/Open up your arms to me girl/Let me feel your wild heart beat girl/Surrender pink steam."
It's an emotional nakedness that sounds daring even for a man and a band celebrating a quarter-century of collaborative growth.
John Ciampa can be reached at
jciampa@cnc.com