Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
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CD Details
Artist: Sonic YouthEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-06-13
Music Label: Geffen Records
Soundtracks:
- Reena
- Incinerate
- Do You Believe In Rapture?
- Sleepin Around
- What A Waste
- Jams Run Free
- Rats
- Turquoise Boy
- Lights Out
- The Neutral
- Pink Steam
- Or
Music reviews of Rather Ripped
Music Review: Another great album
Rating: 4 Stars
I made the grievous error of excluding Sonic Nurse from my favorite albums of 2004 list, and after revisiting it several times last year, I really started to enjoy its expansiveness, something that Rather Ripped just does not have. That is not a complaint; in fact, it says that Sonic Youth are capable of just about anything from stripped art rock, noise, ambiance, off-key indie jams, to the blues inspired, etc. For a band that has been together for 25 years, they sound remarkably relevant, immersed in politics and culture. It's what their music has always been about. Oh, and it's about rockin' out... or something along those lines.
I doubt many people would consider Sonic Youth to be one of the greatest bands to ever walk the earth, but that's ok. That's just my opinion; in the past 25 years, I haven't known a single band that has spawned such a flourish of amazing musicians than Sonic Youth. If you look at the bands that followed Sonic Youth, you will be pleasantly surprised and open yourself up to a vast library of brilliant music. That is part of the reason why I consider them to be so excellent.
The other part is being prolific, releasing something ever year at least, if not more than that. Last year if you remember, Goo was reissued and SY6 was released.
Ok, onto the album. The album begins right away without taking a moment to gear up on "Reena." Kim's vocals feel so comforting and familiar; her usual off-key raspy voice assures us that Sonic Youth is still Sonic Youth, of course. The following song, "Incinerate" is also very catchy and soft despite its intensity. It's definitely single material.
"Do You Believe In Rapture?" really confused me the first time I heard it. It sounds like something from their mid-90s albums or possibly Sonic Nurse. It's unsettling and unpredictable. I had to listen to it a few times to get comfortable with it. It was certainly a surprise and almost feels like it's filler. I enjoy it, though.
The following three tracks are rockers, explosive yet retrained jams that are surprisingly excellent and catchy. "Jams Run Free" is another Kim track, probably the best of these here with some syllabic, poetic lyrics.
Lee Renaldo's track, "Rats" is interesting and different as usual. I always love his songs yet they are few and far between. He's a bit more melodic than usual, actually singing for quite a bit of the song. My favorite lyrics on the album are contained within the track. "If yr ever feeling lowdown in the fractured sunshine, I'll help you feel the noise." Very cool.
"Turquoise Boy" is soothing yet cautious and mysterious, like "OR." It sounds very familiar, and the bass line hints of "Sugar Kane" from the Dirty album around the three minute mark.
The only thing I can really complain about on the album is "The Neutral." It never expands, decides where its going, and claims its own voice. The chorus feels recycled like a prior song on the album, but the verses are nice.
The last two tracks are brilliant and maybe the best on here. I'm really glad "Pink Steam" is placed at track eleven, because it redeems some of the lesser songs on the second half. It may be one of their best and most accessible lengthy tracks ever... it doesn't fully unfurl until over five minutes. Until that point, it is a roaring instrumental. I've read it as being a violent love song; I agree with that.
It seems the majority of opinion is that "OR" is a poor closer, but I love it. It feels like something from NYC Ghosts&Flowers ("Side2side" maybe) possessing a creepy somberness, yet easing gentleness.
Rather Ripped's tracks do feel cut and shaped differently than you would expect from them, especially "Lights Out." Perhaps that is a reflection on the title.
Lyrics are surprisingly simple most of the album and mostly effective. I have to take issue with "Sleepin Around," because it doesn't really speak. It's a brain dead jam, and a great one, but the lyrics need some work.
I wouldn't say the album is darker than their others; I wouldn't say it's better. It's simply SY stripping their songwriting down and letting melody flow through and dominate each and every track to every corner. If I wasn't aware of the year of its release, I'd put it somewhere between A Thousand Leaves (1997) and Sonic Nurse (2004).
Description of Rather Ripped
UK pressing features two bonus tracks, 'Helen Lundeberg' and 'Eyeliner'. 20th album from the legendary Art Rockers builds on an impressive body of work which picks up where 2004's acclaimed 'Sonic Nurse' left off. Universal. 2006.It's been almost a quarter century since a youthful, avant-garde band with cut-rate guitars and an impetus for experimental noise burst into the New York underground, and it's very possible that as its 21st record to date, Rather Ripped is also Sonic Youth's most accessible. Familiar are Kim Gordon's distinctive oral tonality and the tangled sheen of guitar dissonance that plays out between Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. But a majority of the dozen songs are as pop-smart as they come, including a pair from Gordon: "Reena," which ranks among her finest, and a pensive pair ("Lights Out" and "Turquoise Boy") that have the 50-plus singer's ethereal voice recalling a street-worn Francoise Hardy. Ever the whiz kid, Moore ponders religious hostility in the meditative "Do You Believe in Rapture" and skewers promiscuity on the Lou Reed-ish "Sleepin' Around," while Ranaldo's requisite number "Rats"--all futuristic and feedback-heavy--is among his best compositions. As the record fades out with Moore's near-folk song "Or"--the alternative conjunction linking "ready" and "not"--Sonic Youth is as genial as ever: another phase in a punk rock novel that ostensibly has many chapters to go. --Scott Holter
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