By Mark Iage
Staff Reviewer
Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation
Blast First/Enigma Records
Since I’d known for several
weeks that the new Replacements
album was due out Jan. 30, I had
been planning to review that al
bum this w eek. But when 1 went in
last week to pick it up, out of
curiosity I also bought a tape of the
latest Sonic Youth album, “Day
dream Nation,” and immediately
popped it into my Walkman, l.'n
lortunately for the Replacements (I
imagine they’ll get over it), it hasn’t
found its way back out, except to
be flipped over and played again.
From the opening seconds of
the first song on the double-length
album. Sonic Youth leaves no
doubt about the nature of the band
t< > listener relationship - they are in
charge. This album captivates im
mediately, sustains it throughout
most of its length, and gets better
with each repeat.
I had heard parts of various pre
vious Sonic Youth records before,
but had never owned one. This is
primarily because the only thing
you can learn about Sonic Youth
by hearing them at a parly or in a
record store is that they make ter
rible background music. If your
attention is divided betw een it and
anything else, their raw, noisy and
discordant music will simply grate
on your nerves.
mil mice ymi mi uuwii anu give
n your full attention, the method
and power of the music becomes
una\ oidable. And throughout their
tareer they have incorporated
more and more hooks and struc
ture into their songs.
I he result is an album like "Day
dream Nation,” which employs
about as wide a range of guitar
sounds, techniques and emotions
as you could hope to find. There
are lots of bands who can make
experimental noise, lots who are
good with power chords, and lots
who can write catchy guitar parts.
Hut there are few who can incorpo
rate it all into one thing without
losing control.
The range of emotions evoked
by the music on “Daydream Na
tion tends toward the dark side It
is usually mean, angry, frightening,
or occasionally sad About the
brightest it ever gets is the wistful
sound of the first song “Teenage
Riot."
I lowcver, unlike so muv h of al
ternative drone music, this is very
active, engaging darkness. Their
music hypnotizes not by simply
repeating a part over and over
again until you fall asleep They
begin something, change it a little
bit, build it up, and then rip it to
shreds And then they do it again.
Just at the parts where things seem
to be calming down a little bit,
they’ll toss oft a barrage of thun
derous power chords, lopped off
with some raw guitar scraping.
The best example ol this is
“Candle,” the cleanest sounding
___Jeff Reiner/ Daily Nebraskan
rds
song on the album. This song’s
hauntingly catchy bridge-verse
chorus structure is interrupted in
the middle by a furious guitar
anxiety attack.
Often, on songs like “Silver
Rocket,” and “Total Trash,” the
main structures will just dissolve
into periods of formless experi
mental noise, from which the main
hook will gradually re-emerge and
lake over, strategically made more
powerful simply by this type of
structuring
They do get a little get carried
away at limes, though ’The end
ings of “The Sprawl,” and ‘“Cross
the Breeze,” lor example, are a
little loo draw n-out and direction
less to hold my attention And
some of the music gets really grat
ing even if you’re paying close
attention, especially ‘Trie’s Trip,”
and “Rain King.” Hut these mo
ments are isolated, and greatly
outnumbered by great ones.
aomc rouin is one 01 me inosi
aptly named bands around. Sonic
is the best word to describe the
forward momentum generated by
the raw fpzz of the rhythm guitars,
and the altitudes and simplicity of
the lyrics are definitely Youth.
The lead vocals, alternated be
tween bassist Kim Gordon and
guitarist Thurston Moore, are
mostly yelling rather than singing,
especially Gordon’s. Hut after years
of doing it, they have become ef
fective with their styles.
The lyrics consist of simple
phrases dealing with boredom,
drugs, frustration, New York City
(Sonic Youth’s hometown) and
stardom, and are aided a great deal
by the power of the music, lor
example, you can only buy into the
somewhat trite candle metaphor in
“Candle” because the music is so
effectively haunting.
It’s been a w hile since I bought
a new album which 1 both liked im
mediately, and kept liking over a
period of repealed listenings. And
while there are a handful of bands
who have managed to survive
through the past few years, and
whose new albums can be enjoyed
as long as they’re not too closely to
their older ones, Sonic Youth is
one underground band which
continues to thrive.
Duk-Choong Kim
Cofounder and past president,
Daewoo Corporation, Korea
“U.S.-East Asian Trade issues from an East
Asian Perspective.’’
Thursday, February 9, 1989, 3:30 p.m.
Centennial Room,
Nebraska Union, 14th and R
1
WARM YOUR HEART “
AT HERM'S
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474-6592 1644 T St.