Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: No-Wave, Post-Punk, Noise Label: Last Warning Records Tracks: 10 Length: 37 Minutes Style: Mysterious/Dark My Rating: 6/8
Bad Moon Rising was the third album by the band formerly known as Red Milk. It's the last Sonic Youth album that was released before Steve Shelley became the band's drummer, and the last one also before they started to change their sound to a more poppy, melodic style (though from here you can tell they were already heading in that direction). The band was signed to Homestead Records around the time of this album's release, also home of their future friends, Dinosaur Jr... well, I can't think of a whole ton to say about this album right now. It has a pretty cool pumpkin on the cover, I guess... ooh! And it's on fire! Oh boy! Okay, now I'm going to review this album. Here goes, kiddiez!
1. Intro The intro! It's an airy sort of piece... just a peaceful-sounding repetitive guitar melody and little strokes of electric guitar strings in the background swooping around like birdies in the sky. It's not very long.
2. Brave Men Run (In My Family) The song is actually pretty melodic in some parts, but there's a general abrasiveness to it, for sure, especially during one part not long after a minute through. After that, though, the song cools down and after about a minute and a half, the guitar that guides the melody sounds very clean... well, DID. Things are always changing around. Midway through the song, Kim Gordon starts singing. The drums sound really good, here. Some of the guitars sound like windchimes. Others sound like the wind itself.
3. Society is a Hole Begins with repeated loud sounds that sound like a factory or something. Over these effects, the band begins to play the next song. Some layers of the song sound happy (like the bass guitar), but the other guitars are kind of sad-sounding. Almost like a person who's at the bottom trying to get up, with the people in slightly higher positions in society discouraging him from even trying because they know the pain that trying brings. Thurston sings this song. He blames society for making him lie to his friends (who are girls wrapped in boys). He feels that we're living in pieces, when we should be living in peace. Some of the guitars ring like large bells. Some of them ring like small bells. Notice that the sound effects that were playing at the beginning of this song have been playing this whole time! This fades out for a clippet of a very cut-and-spliced version of "Not Right" by the Stooges.
4. I Love Her All the Time SPOOOOKY NOISES. It's like being in a dark, desolate wasteland or a scary forest, with just the wind blowing around and no idea where you are. Very ominous feel to this track, so far. The beat is kind of slow, here. Thurston sings in this song. The second part of the song (about one third through) introduces very aggressive, heavy guitars that swoop into the main continuum, and the song gets slightly faster for a moment. Eventually the drumming goes away, and then it's just guitars and singing. The song ends with a little feedback and the bang fucking around with their instruments. It's the longest song on the album, being over seven minutes long. End of Side 1.
5. Ghost Bitch An ocean of feedback and guitar noise and static. Kim Gordon provides a spoken intro for this song. The drums come in about halfways through the song, and the main part of the song begins. Very intense. The guitar "riff" here is really neat to listen to. Repetitive, but in an effective way. And of course, there's always little things going on in the background. There's a very slow outro. The rhythm guitar buzzes and swarms around like a group of mutant killer mosquitoes.
6. I'm Insane The beat gets a little faster here, and the mosquitoes of track 5 are transformed a graceful wisping sound. The guitar makes the sound of clanging steel. Of course, there's other things going on as well. I'm not sure if I'm hearing a bass guitar or a piano in this song... Thurston sings here. The lyrics here really are insane, but in a good way. Is a dog really a bear? Inside his head, it is.
7. Justice Is Might Crunchy creepy noises and squeaking. You can hear Thurston speaking through a megaphone and stuttering, trying to explain the song (he was probably baked during this part). The guitars begin playing a tune. And now, Thurston sings! JUSTICE IS MIGHT! As sure as Thurston is singing, Justice is might. Then everything gets really fuzzed out around the second half of the song.
8. Death Valley '69 The most "normal" and well-known song on the album. Probably because of the music video, which does feature Lung Leg, who looks very nice in that video. Yes, yes. Anyways, Lydia Lunch from Teenage Jesus & the Jerks does backing vocals in this song. It definitely would make a good theme for a movie or something. The first part of the song is aggressive, adventurous, and to-the-point. The second part is darker, dangerous, and more uncertain. There's an element of fear in that part. Near the end of the second part, there's a gradual build-up which leads to the third part, which pretty much a repeat of the first part of the song. I heard somewhere that this song was based on Charles Manson and the Manson family or something like that. And Kim Gordon's brother was killed by the Manson family. It's very interesting in that perspective. DUUUURGHHH.
Welp, after this album, the band got signed to SST Records (home of Black Flag), and they released their next album, "EVOL", in which they moved away from the no-wave genre and focused more on linear-sounding punk rock. This album's mostly no-wave but it has more melodic moments than the two albums before it do. And, also, they did the first Sonic Youth music video with the release of this album. It's a pretty great video. So, check it out, if you haven't already watched it...
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Brave Men Run (In My Family) 2. Death Valley '69 3. Ghost Bitch
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: No-Wave, Noise Label: Neutral Records Tracks: 9 Length: 35 Minutes (Long) Style:Mysterious My Rating: 6/8
Sonic YOUTH? More like Sonic OLD, now! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HOHOHOHOH OHOHOHOHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH EHEHEU HUHUHUHUHU YEAH. ANYWAYS I AM GOING TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS RIGHT NOW. SONIC YOUTH ARE SO OLD THAT THEY'RE OLDER THAN MY PARENTS. AND THEY'RE PROBABLY OLDER THAN YOU. AND THEY CAN ACTUALLY REMEMBER DINOSAURS. IT IS SAID THAT WHAT MAKES SONIC YOUTH'S MUSIC SO WEIRDLY GREAT IS THE INFLUENCE THAT EARLY DINOSAURS IN THE STONE AGE MUSIC SCENE HAD ON THEIR MUSIC SUCH AS THE STOOGASAURUS, OFTEN LED IN PACKS BY IGGYUANADONS. AND SO IT WAS NEW YOIK IN THE EARLY NINE-TEEN OCHOS when THE NEW YORK NO-WAVE SCENE WAS STILL EXISTENT IN ITZ ORIGINAL FORM WITH OTHER BANDS SUCH AS THE CONTORTIONS AND TEENAGE JESUS & THE FREAKS. SONIK YOOTH KAME A LITTEL LAIT'R THAN VEE OVER 1'S BUTT VAY WARE JUSH ASS IMPORNTANT AS THE OTHER 1'S AND HALPED GENERALLY EXPAND PUNC ROKC.
AFFTER THARE 1ST ALLBUM JUSH KAL'D "SONIK YOOTH", SONIK YOOTH DECIDAD TPO RLS ANTHER REKERD N EET WUZ KALLED "CONFUCIUS IS SEXUAL INTERCOURSE", PROWDLEE DIZ PLAYUING THARE LUV 4 CONFUCIUS DA FAMUS JERMAN FULLOFOSER. NAUW IT'Z TIME TO STUP TLKN LK A FKNG RTRD N RVW TH DMN ALBUM.
1. (She's In a) Bad Mood The guitars sound like ringing bells. The bass is ominous. The lyrics are only "She's in a bad mood/But I won't fall for it/I believe all her lies/But I can't fall for it". The beat is highly varied and interesting. Hell, they get these guitars to sound like pianos in the end. Maybe they are actual pianos. But Sonic Youth was pretty weird back then so they probably just sprinkled some of their magic Sonic dust of Youth on their guitars to give them special Sonic Magic. Thurston sings this one.
2. Protect Me You It's probably like, "Protect Me AND You" or "Protect Me, You!", but they forgot to add in that extra word or punctuation mark or somethin' like that. It's even slower and more depressing than the song before it. Kimmy Gordy sings this song. The lyrics are very depressing as well and seem to be chronicling the struggle of a young girl to survive throughout various stages of her life. Like metamorphosis. Like, the 10-year-old is just a lil' tadpole, and the 18-year-old is a full-blown Frogotron-5000(tm). She asks the "demons that come at night" to protect her.
3. Freezer Burn/I Wanna Be Your Dog Two songs een one! The first one is "Freezer Burn". It's a droning, creepy, ambient piece with creepy, droning, ambient noizes going on around your ears. It eventually goes into the next song, "I Wanna Be Your Dog", which is a cover of the '60s punk-before-punk classic by the Stooges. It is taken from a live recording, so, the quality is a lot less clear than the other songs, but definitely still listenable. Kim sings. A very fun song.
4. Shaking Hell The song is mainly driven by a quirky bassline accompanied by breezy, mystical guitars and a somewhat uptempo beat. Midway through the song, it changes to a slower, clamer piece with Kim Gordon on the vocals, singing about a girl who has lost her virginity and innocence. It ends somewhat abruptly. End of Side 1.
5. Inhuman Begins with clanging, clattering, anarchic noise. Thurston sings this song. Really cool beat, accompanied by pounding, shrieking guitar noizes. The bassline is really cool. My favorite song on the album.
6. The World Looks Red Another one on the album I really like. Throbbing, high-pitched guitar accompanied by swooping, floating-round guitars. The beat is somewhat fast for the album. Thurston sings, and his vocals are great here. The lyrics are pretty trippy and bizarre.
7. Confusion is Next Once again, I love this song. It's a slow, crazed song involving Thurston's thoughts on what humanity must do to become free, involving such beautiful self-instructions such as "take your tounge and stretch it out..." -- Pure genius. Pure genius. SONIC TOOTH!
8. Making the Nature Scene Another one with Kim Gordon singing the lyrics. The lyrics sing about how the city and civilization have forgotten of the past of humanity as a part of nature and encourages humans to "make their own nature scene".
9. Lee is Free This is an instrumental, so there are no lyrics or vocals. Just more sonic droning and clanging. So, to be unpretentious about this, I cannot say that I necessarily enjoy this track that much. It's interesting for a minute or two I guess, though.
SO THAT WUZ CONFICIOUS IZ SEXUAL INTERKKKOURSE. IT WUZ THARE L'ASS'T RELEEESE AWN NEUTRAL REKKKERDZ AND THEN THEY WENT ON OTHA LA'BELZ AFTER THAT SUCH AS HOMESTEAD RECORDS N' THEIR OWN LAYBULL KALLED ECSTATIC PIECE (OR IZ IT CALLED EXTATIK PISS?""). EYE THUNK DIS REKKKERD IZ PRETTY LEGITTY BUTT IT DUSN'T REEECH DA FULL POTENTIAL I THUT THEY REEECHED IN DA LATE '80S N EARLY NUEVEZ . THIIIS ULBUM IZ DARK, MYSTEERIUS AND WEEIRD, BUT IT'Z VERY GOOD N DESCRIBES A DARKER SIDE OF HYOOMUN EGGZISTUNCE THAT SUM PEEPULL HALF TRUBLE PERSONICFYING.
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: No-Wave, Post-Punk Label: Neutral Records Tracks: 5 Length: 24 Minutes (Medium-Length) Style:Mysterious/Depressing My Rating: 6/8
I consider Sonic Youth to be one of the greatest bands of all-time. They started in 1981 as part of the New York No-Wave scene; even older than hardcore, No-Wave is an intentionally abrasive, non-commercially-accessible, pretty much big 'fuck you' to traditional song structure and elements within. And still, Sonic Youth is the most well-known descendant of this movement. This is their first album, so it's far from what you might hear on some of their later albums, but it certainly is interesting to listen to, even if it isn't one of their most accessible works.
1. The Burning Spear The most well-known song from this album. Begins with crashing drums and bizarre guitar noises that sound like the chiming of bells. This seemingly aimless chiming eventually is carried off by a mid-tempo beat which sounds pretty cool. Soon enough, the bass comes in, providing some semblance of a melody to the song. The lyrics suggest a dependence on religion or something like that. Thurston sings this one.
2. I Dreamed I Dream Very cool bassline accompanied by eerie lead-guitar tones. Slow tempo. The vocals are interesting in the fact that Kim and Lee both sing the same lines alongside eachother in this song, but Kim just says the words and Lee softly sings them in the background. Kind of sad-sounding. The lyrics seem to be about the hopeless situation of the working-class youth. My favorite one on here.
3. She Is Not Alone A song led by bongo drums and more weird guitar sounds. The only lyrics are "she is not alone today". End of Side 1.
4. I Don't Want to Push It This one starts with the shredding of two different chords. Sounds like some sort of ice-thing, for some reason. More weird bongo-type beats and a two-note bassline. I think the lyrics are supposed to be about hitting rock-bottom in life or dying in poverty or something like that. Thurston sings this song.
5. The Good And the Bad This one is pretty long (almost eight minutes in length). A mid-tempo bass-driven tune with lots of fleeting swoops of tuneless guitar chords and notes. The drums sort of fade away into softer drumming and the song's tune changes during a lengthy mid-section which slowly builds up into a repeat of the "main" part of the song again. Well, that's the end.
That's "Sonic Youth". They actually re-released this album in 2006 to have 13 tracks instead of just five (most of them are live tracks, but there is also an early studio recording of a song called "Where the Red Fern Grows" from 1981). The band would continue to play this style of noisy No-Wave on their next two albums, "Confusion is Sex" and "Bad Moon Rising", each with a mysterious, but youthful vibe to it. Eventually they would begin to become more of a post-punk/alternative band and experiment with more melodic and traditional songwriting, but they have always still kept the noise/weird approach, making entire mini-albums based on that concept, often collaborating with other musicians for it. "Sonic Youth" is a pretty good album to listen to, but I personally prefer the string of albums after it over this. Still, it's a pretty decent beginning for the band, and I definitely suggest it to any Sonic Youth fan who hasn't heard it yet (or one who has only heard their "hits" that earned them a bit of popularity during the early '90s).
