Album Review

Sonic Youth is one of a handful of alternative bands that just won’t go away. The only other group I can think of off the top of my head who have been slogging it out in a similar fashion, consistently releasing albums every couple of years for such a massive time-span is Sloan. But Sloan got moving in the early 90’s, close to ten years after Sonic Youth had released their first EP in 1982. When you really look at the fact that this band has been chugging along, core members intact, playing to a rather niche “noise rock” fan base for close to thirty years, one can’t help but be amazed.

The two big switches for The Eternal are the addition of Mark Ibold (ex-Pavement) as the band’s full-time bassist, and a big-time label switch, leaving their longtime home on Geffen to once again rejoin the ranks of the indies on Matador. This is the first major Sonic Youth album to be released on an independent label since SST put out Sister in 1986. 1986 was a very long time ago.

So why is the band still going? Because they haven’t lost their spark. Even though they now sport members in their 50’s, they still write songs as creative and fresh as their twenty and thirtysomething disciples. And if they did go away, who could fill the void? Plenty of bands have bitten certain elements of their sound, but this group is still about as original as they come.

So how does the maiden voyage for Sonic Youth on Matador turn out? Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, one could imagine Larry David slapping on a pair of headphones and declaring this slab o’noise rock to be “Pritty, pritty, pritty good.”

For me the definitive Sonic Youth album will always be 1990’s Goo. I know more people cite Daydream Nation as their high-water mark, but the all out rock abandon on Goo combined with some great, concise song structures, and the trademark dousing of noise are pretty much unbeatable in my book. So every time these guys put out an album, I tend to throw it up against Goo to see how it compares.

So The Eternal falls far short of achieving the greatness of Goo (no surprise here) but it’s certainly a very strong late career album, similar to 2006’s Rather Ripped.

My major gripe with these later Sonic Youth albums is probably the fact that they seem less drenched in noise than in the good old days. It’s as if the production is just a bit too thin and clean. Sure, the band still bring it, especially the true dark-horse secret ingredient, maniac drummer Steve Shelley, but everything seems a little safe. Perhaps they’re trying to be more of a traditional rock band. Maybe. I think it’s more likely that they’re just finally mellowing out after years of feedback abuse.

With this one they seem to have loaded the front end with rockers. They fly out of the gates with the Kim Gordon sung “Sacred Trickster,” which is an absolute blast. Classic Sonic Youth all around. This is followed by the sludgy noisefest “Anti-Orgasm,” which is equally loose and fun. But track three, “Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso),” is what really sets the tone for most of the album. It’s a mid-tempo number sang by Thurston Moore, anchored by a bouncy bass-line and some choppy electric guitar parts. The remainder of the album’s songs bounce between the mellow and slightly more rocking. It’s intriguing and it certainly won’t put you to sleep, but there’s nothing that really grabs your attention like “Dirty Boots” or “Teenage Riot.”

One of the songs that snuck up on me is “Thunderclap (For Bobby Pyn),” which has a kind of loose Pavement vibe to it. I guess that’s what happens when you hire Pavement’s bass player to join your band, though. Thurston takes lead vocals, but Kim adds some great “woah-ohhs” that provide the song with it’s greatest hook. It’s the same kind of silly harmonies that Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs would throw on songs back in the day, only now it appears as if the band that Pavement were so influenced by is suddenly stealing tricks from their playbook. I think Sonic Youth have earned the right to borrow ideas though, God knows they have let an entire generation of groups snake theirs.

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