Sonic Youth
Murray Street
Geffen Records
DGC 069493319-2
http://www.sonicyouth.com/main/
So when I saw Sonic Youth play the Silver Lake Street Fair a few weeks ago I must admit I was impressed. I had never seen them perform as a group before (I've caught Mosquito, Free Kitten and such but never S.Y.) and got caught up in hearing old faves mixed with new material I'd obviously missed out on. So I went out and bought their newest release, Murray Street. Well I can't say Murray Street is worth buying if you are a Sonic Youth fan from the days of yorn, but if you want a nice pop record with a haunting mix of guitars and percussion then go out and grab it. I personally am a fan of Evol, Sister, Daydream Nation, and even their violently mainstream sounding album Goo. However, the real problem is not the glossy sound the perpetuates Murray Street (the true death knell for Sonic Youth I think, is that they learned how to tune their guitars), or the overuse of Thurston Moore on vocals (I used to have a crush on Kim Gordon, so naturally I prefer her husky, bedroom voice to his twiddly, school-boy whine). No, the problem with the group's newest product is that it lacks the creative vision that propelled Sonic Youth to the current stature that they now hold. The album is a bland, second-rate casting of all of the triumphs that preceded it. It is pleasurable enough to listen to, but won't hold your attention the way the howling chaos of Confusion Is Sex, nor does is it the collection of juicy high school angst numbers of Goo. Gone is the Poetry of Evol, and also the schizophrenic guitar-rants of Sister. Even the nihilistic drone of Daydream Nation is lost in the over wash of dubbing and overdubbing, to the point where one wonders after the third track: "Why bother?".
That said, Murray Street is a new direction for a band who has a long history
of exploring uncharted waters in their musical development, let's just hope
it's not their final destination.
-John Southern