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Sonic Youth | Murray Street

On their 16th album, the NYC band make some important noise.
CD, Geffen/Universal

Tekst: Wilko van Iperen

Publicatiedatum: 05 juli 2002

Sonic Youth release their 16th album. The avantgarde guitar band always were on the frontline of rock. While they used to thrash their repetitive guitar compositions - on which the influence of a pioneer such as Steve Reich can be heard - with screwdrivers, the last decade or so they produced more and more "normal" art rock. While Daydream Nation was the highlight of the first period, Goo was the highlight of the latter period. With their last outing, NYC Ghosts & Flowers, the group returned to the experimental compositions. The pulse on that ode to the beat poets lay lower than on previous records. It had a darker feel.

Murray Street is Sonic Youth's new album, which is again inspired by New York. It's not as dark as you might expect after all that happened last year. The first part of the record can even be said to be quite light. Songs such as Empty Page are even easily digestible. But it still is Sonic Youth, so be sure to expect different guitar layers, melodic whispering, and screaming guitars layered upon angular hooks. What great structures!

The excellent three-minute Karen by Lee Ranaldo ends in a deep sea of noise. If Sonic Youth were a new band under contract with Geffen, then the CEO probably would've said: "Those ten minutes of feedback at the end of the fourth song... that's nice, really cool... but that'll have to go." Sonic Youth are this big or at least are recognized for being important in music that they can put ten minutes of melodic feedback onto a record released by a large record company without any problem. And this is completely right. This band are that important. They see music as an art form, not just entertainment. They're reshaping music and have been provocative for about two decades! These ten minutes of noise may be just noise, but ten minutes of noise on a major label mark the importance of the New Yorkers. And, although the feedback is at the end of Karen, it is really the opening statement of the fifth song, Radical Adults: "From dust to dust / They create r'n'r," Thurston Moore sings. It's true.

Those who are pushing the limits are all not twenty-something anymore: Sonic Youth for one, but also Primal Scream, from whom we can expect a new album this summer. These are the bands still creating something special, taking it as far as they can go. This part of the album is more like the early Sonic Youth. The second part of the record, introduced by the ten-minute noise, is more experimental, with its wide structures, many different layers of guitars, and thought-out compositions. This matters. Sonic Youth at their best. Radical Adults indeed.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/sonic-youth/murray-street/1674/
Meer Sonic Youth op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/sonic-youth