Sonic Youth: Dirty

Album: Dirty
Artist: Sonic Youth
Year: 1992

Is this another experimental band? Oops. Well... Sonic Youth is amazing. So they will be on here again in the future I think.

1. 100%

Maybe this is cheating, but this is one of my favorite songs of all time. I love the guitar, the opening, and the lyrics are great. "Can you forgive the boy who / shot you in the head / should you get a gun / go and get revenge / 100% of my love / up to you true star." Its always been my secret opinion that this song should have been in Kill Bill.

2. Swimsuit Issue

This song has less of a pop element than the previous one. This one is HARD. It is relentless and Kim Gordon's smoldering vocals lead us into pandemonium. The guitars are loud and the drums are fast. This is a song you might listen to if you were robbing a bank. Around 2 minutes there's a sexy interlude, Gordon is just saying things and in the back the guitar is pulsing. I always thought that Sonic Youth was one of the sexiest bands ever. And they did it without trying... take that Justin Timberlake... who shares my initials. Fun fact.

3. Theresa's Sound World

This song has the sound of a more recent Sonic Youth song... like from Sonic Nurse or something. Thurston Moore's vocals are so distinct and distant. I can never get the sound of his voice out of my head. The song builds up into heavy guitar slamming which quiets down again into the verse. A great track, not to be looked over.

4. Drunken Butterfly

This song starts out with a wall of noise coming at you quickly. Aggressive guitar and vocals dominate this track, and it does not disappoint. There is a quieter part with both ethereal and guttural guitar sounds in the background, which transforms into a grungy guitar shuffle. This is probably the best love song since Counting Crow's Anna Begins. Which came out after this song so really that's not chronological.

5. Shoot

This song is like being in a desert. You can just see the band playing their instruments in the gathering dust. Wind strewn organic matter float around and stuff. You get the idea. I really like this song, it has a passive aggressive feel, it makes you want to put on sunglasses. I don't know if you can understand any of what I'm saying or how it relates to the song, but this is a very good track. Don't miss it.

6. Wish Fulfillment

This song is a little easier to listen to than some other Sonic Youth tracks. Its interesting. I don't have a whole lot more to say about it...

7. Sugar Kane

This song is pretty cool, the opening sounds totally unlike a Sonic Youth song, and then there is this... almost CCR like guitar thing... then it breaks into a usual Sonic Youth type riff. I'd say this is a standout track for sure... Thurston Moore sounds really good on this one.

8. Orange Rolls, Angels Spit

Don't turn up your noise-cancelling headphones up to loud for this one. It'll tear your ear out. This is something I've come to expect from Sonic Youth. This is something that if my father heard, he would turn to me and say: This is music? And I'd say... yes dad... I think so. This song is not the most punky song on the album, but it is quite punky, and it definitely has its moments.

9. Youth Against Fascism

This is another one of my favorite Sonic Youth songs. Sonic Youth definitely has a sound... but within that sound there is a lot of diversity. I think that's why Sonic Youth is so good. This is definitely one of their standout tracks though.

10. Nic Fit

This is a punk song. There's no two ways about it. Its punk with a Sonic Youth edge. It is only one minute long but it is raucous.

11. On the Strip

Kim Gordon shines here. This song sounds like it needs to be played underground, with lots of slime and black lights and etc. With sunglasses. The lyrics are pretty cryptic and almost creepy. The chorus is my favorite part, the vocals and guitar mesh really well... some really cool stuff. Not much else to say.

12. Chapel Hill

Major arpeggios begin this song, with minimal fuzz. Some pretty guitar hooks kick in and then Thurston Moore's vocals arrive. "back in the days when the battle raged / and we thought it was nothing." I like the chorus in this song as well. There is also a really cool guitar solo / interlude thing... heaving walls of distortion above the drums. If you listen to this song, make sure you make it to this shit, its rad.

13. JC

Jesus Christ? There's a nice bass hop here, slightly hidden in the fuzz. When the drums come in you know you're in for something... and there's Kim Gordon on cue... riding the waves of noise like a mermaid. A No-Wave Mermaid.

14. Purr

This song is wild... the guitar riff is awesome. Right off the bat you know this is going to be a standout, just like 100%. "I learned it all from you girl / i got it all from you." Just listen to this... hearing me talk about it won't do you any good. Hear it. I'm going to pick this for my representative track... even though its not my favorite... its like my second favorite... or third. But anyway yeah.

15. Creme Brulee

Here are those aliens again... only this time they are stoned! Imagine the hatch opens and just a cloud of smoke pours out. That would be pretty wild. This song sounds like it was recorded in teletubby land. Its got this lazy guitar dissonant groove, and Kim Gordon's half-sung half-spoken vocals. Not that being in teletubby land is an awful thing, its just that all the dimensions are confused... and nothing really seems real. A good closing to an excellent record. Its funny because almost no one I know personally likes this band... does that make me crazy?

Closing Remarks:

A great record from one of my favorite artists... Sonic Youth. We'll see more of them for sure... even if I have to tackle one of those SYR abominations. This record also has one of my favorite album covers of all time. Is that weird?

Can: Ege Bamyasi

Album: Ege Bamyasi
Artist: Can
Year: 1972

I don't know honestly. Halloween was last night, I saw Eve 6 a day or two ago and that was pretty cool. I was a lumberjack for halloween. Pretty awesome... here's some Can.

1. Pinch

This song has an undeniable groove. The vocals are aloof, sometimes shouted but always mumbled sounds that are impossible to understand. I love the guitar, its understated, the drums have the biggest presence in the song but everything is perfectly balanced for this feeling, this steel-and-bones feeling. Its a pretty long track at nine minutes thirty-one seconds, but that's okay. This is a great opening track, and a good introduction into this band in general.

2. Sing Swan Song

This opens with the sound of water in motion. Don't listen to this if you really have to pee. This song has more of a melody than the first, once the instruments finally arrive. It has some really cool guitar stuff in here... this is definitely a standout track, a must listen. This is my representing track I think.

3. One More Night

This song has a laid back feel even though the drums seem urgent / anxious. Definitely some more neat guitar stuff in this song, some very awesome sounds. That's why I like this band, you're never really sure exactly what you're going to hear, the album is cohesive, but its interesting and engaging.

4. Vitamin C

Love this song's groove, I really like the bassline. The melody is really unusual, I think, it sounds very out-of-place but it is still sounds awesome. There's some good shouting too... "Hey you!" If people played Can at parties (they don't) I would dance myself silly. This is definitely a standout track, listen to this one for sure.

5. Soup

The longest song on the record at ten minutes and thirty-three seconds. I'm expecting it to be a voyage. It has a slow start, but it really picks up around a minute thirty. I cannot describe this music for the life of me, but I am really enjoying it. Its like an ocean of cold colors, chaotic and swirling. The bass swells and guitar breaks over heaving sand. There are possibly aliens surfing here, skeletal and amorphous fish. Electric discharges dot the horizon, trying to break free of this weird miasma. Then at around five minutes forty, something truly terrifying begins happening. All these cold colors are washed in red... like magma consuming everything. If you thought music couldn't frighten you and make you paranoid you thought wrong. I keep thinking that there are ghosts in here. At around eight minutes thirty you will hear a language that was never intended for human ears. I'm not kidding. If i saw this live i think i would shit my pants (in a good way)

6. I'm So Green

This song is a breath of fresh air from the last. Like eating crisp green beans. (maybe i'm just hung up on green beans from the album's cover) Anyway, we're back into the groove of previous songs. I really like the guitar in this song as well... I guess in general on the record. It has a sound that is unusual... this was in the 70's and I still haven't heard a whole lot of stuff that sounds much like this.

7. Spoon

This is a great song, a good closing to a truly amazing album. Some really neat songs in here... I guess this is the song that earned Can the most commercial success because its my understanding that it was the theme in a German TV show called "The Knife." I've never seen that show, but I kind of wish that this song was the theme to "CSI," or, "House."

Closing Remarks:

Can is a German Experimental Rock band. I guess I have a penchant for the experimental. Anyway... I don't think they ever really had very big commercial success, but I think that have a pretty big cult following, kind of like a Pavement or a King Crimson. I think they are the main source of influence for a lot more recent experimental bands.