ADVANCE WARNING: Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

The most difficult task of trying to review a Sonic Youth album now is whether to compare their latest album to their immaculate back catalogue, or to analyze it as is - and how relevant the songs are to modern music. Fortunately for Rather Ripped, Sonic Youth's 21st album (but hey, whose counting at this point) is another formidable album from the longtime New York experimental rockers.

The album starts off with the wonderfully poppy 'Reena', which features clean, swirling guitar riffs that float around and intertwine with Gordon's voice as she sings, 'You keep me coming home again'. The song breaks off in the middle from the light guitar work and chugs towards you, with guitar, bass and drums all becoming one for 10 seconds of wearisome fun before breaking back into the song again. This is a familiar trick from the band that continues to perfect their guitar sound and songwriting in this their 25th year together. 'Incinerate' has Thurston Moore take over on vocals with a catchy guitar lick that is so light it seems in hard contrast to the lyrics of the song - Moore sings, 'You flicked a match onto my brain'.

The signature track of the album could very well end up being 'Do You Believe in Rapture', a track so seemingly simplistic it squeezes so much beauty out each note. Moore's voice is somewhat highlighted due to the minimal guitar and slight electric drums behind him, yet when all the instruments come together it produces one of the freshest sounds on the entire album.

Unfortunately, 'Rather Ripped' does drag a bit towards the end, as each song starts to sound alike and run together. While individually each track is strong enough to not be considered filler, I do wonder if some tinkering in the track listing could help this effect. The poorest track on the album is by far 'What a Waste', which poorly connects the first and second half of the album. While not bad musically, Kim Gordon's singing on this particular track is rather awkward, and is featured by a particular cheesy chorus as she groans 'what a waste ... I can't wait, to taste your face'.

One of my favorite moments of the album occurs in the back-to-back tracks of 'Lights Out' and 'The Neutral'. 'Lights Out' features Thurston Moore on the vocals over deep guitar notes, with poignant songwriting and an acutely somber tone. This song is followed by the Kim Gordon sung 'The Neutral', a more upbeat song that where the highlight might actually be Gordon's voice. 'The Neutral' features such good bass playing that I can’t help but wish it was featured more extensively on the record, but after all, this is a guitar driven band, always has been and likely will continue to be.

The band handled the departure of Jim O'Rourke without missing a step. The fact that a band is still making relevant music so long into their musical careers is just another bullet to their list of incredible achievements. This is by no means a groundbreaking record, nor one that will blow anyone away on the first listen. However, this album is a great listen, and one that has some staying power. The most incredible and unfortunate thing for Rather Ripped is that it's a Sonic Youth album, depending on which way we choose to look at it.