In the real sense, the ‘Youth’ part of SONIC YOUTH’S name would seem redundant as none of the influential NYC quartet will see 29 again, but it matters not, for in the true punk sense of continuing to forge ahead and go wherever the hell you wanna go, Thurston Moore and company continue to re-write the rule book of cool as they embrace middle age.
Amazingly, “Rather Ripped” is their 20th album and their last for Geffen, though I doubt they will have a problem in being snapped up by another clued-in corporation as – by this writer’s reckoning – it’s their third fine rock album (following “Murray Street” and “Sonic Nurse”) since the dawning of the over-rated, underwhelming Millennium and shows they have no sign of slowing down or losing their grip.
Recorded in ‘nucleus formation’ (i.e the hardcore Youth of Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, but no Jim O’Rourke or other outside assistance), “…Ripped” was laid down as 2005 gave way to 2006 at NYC’S Sear Sound with TJ Doherty at the controls. It’s also the first time they’ve recorded since leaving their Murray Street base, though the change of seem appears to have merely fuelled them creatively.
Although the expected curious tunings are present and correct, the majority of the album warmly embraces relatively linear rock’n’roll shape-throwing and once again proves ver Youth were always WITH rock and not against it all along. Kim’s “Reena” opens up and is plangent, no-nonsense and exciting in a “Dirty”/ “Murray Street” kinda way. Kim’s in fine voice, too: breathy, edgy and imploring, and she shows her vocal talents off again on tracks like the urgent “What A Waste” (where Lee’s guitar sounds more like a spaceship taking off than a mere six-string instrument) and the dreamy and otherworldly “Jams Run Free” which is given an especially dangerous edge when Kim purrs “I like the way you move.” Whoo.
The taut economy is maintained elsewhere, not least on the direct and immediate rocker “Incinerate”, Lee’s looming “Rats” and “Sleepin’ Around”, which initially throws a dummy with screes of “Love Is Like Anthrax”-style feedback before re-assembling into a more recognisable Youth-style thrum – well, save for the eerie, stalker-obsessive Thurston vocal. Mind you, he sounds every bit as sullen and broody on the slow, Manhattan noir of “Lights Out” when he lets go of menacing lyrics like “he rolls his eyes at the thought of paradise/ but when he makes that insect sound, it’s time girl for you to leave town.” Chilly and then some, huh?
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Glimpses into SY’S avant-world are kept brief and tantalising. There’s the truly curious closing track “Or”; the dreamy and soporific “Do You Believe In Rapture?” grows on you and jealously hoards a nice, Velvets-y middle section and the otherwise pretty and chiming “Turquoise Boy” is interrupted when the band abseil down one of their trademark cliff faces of feedback. By SY’S often uncompromising standards, though, even this is reined in and relatively approachable, while the album’s other lengthy epic “Pink Steam” is moody and patient and finally hits magnificent guitar payload from Thurston and Lee.
Early copies of the CD feature two additional tunes: the last songs recorded before the band left Murray Street. Of these, the murky militancy of “Helen Lundeburg” is arguably better than the wild and nerve-fraying “Eyeliner”, though stylistically these are rather rough and jar with the more poised and complete sound of the album proper and come on like diverting B-sides at best. Still, they complete the picture and, in effect, help close the chapter on both Murray Street and Geffen.
Of course, where Sonic Youth will go now – in terms of both musical direction and label – is anyone’s guess, but wasn’t that always the case anyway? What we can be certain of, though, is that they will continue to provoke and produce some of the most intelligent music around at any given date. With that in mind, “Rather Ripped” sounds far less like a funeral, but a strangely celebratory signpost to a future that remains unwritten.
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