Search - Sonic Youth :: Confusion Is Sex

A brave and abrasive beginning

Chet Fakir | DC | 11/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Confusion Is Sex is Sonic Youths first full length album and its' most self-conscious attempt at creating an avant garde musical aesthetic or art. Song form is deconstructed if not entirely eshewed for abrasive, oftimes atonal experiments in harmonics and texture. Nobody was playing music like this at the time with the possible exception of new music composers Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham. But both Chatham and Branca were much more formal in their approach to harmonic rock oriented experimentation and less chaotic or improvisational. Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's tenure with Glenn Branca's rock and roll harmonic symphony outfit (or whatever you want to call it) shows in the odd tunings and willingness to explore noise for its own sake found throughout Confusion Is Sex. By comparison and temperament/intent, Branca is an academic, while Sonic Youth are the punk rock barbarians at the gate of new music. The Youth took what they would from more "serious" composers and brought those lessons into a tribal, raw, rock, and ironically self-conscious context. The lyrics are often chanted rather than sung, the drums pound and the guitars screech, moan and float with the excitement and energy of punk rock, punk rock with a brain and an overarching delight in sound behind the seeming chaos. There's an immediacy and charming rawness to the overall sound of Confusion is Sex due to the sometimes awful recording quality, high fidelity this isn't. This is art dammit not pop fluff designed for mass commercial appeal.



The bonus EP "Kill Yr. Idols" included in this set is no less experimental in texture, yet is perhaps a bit more song oriented and conventional in its overall structure, well some of it is. Overall it sounds a bit more like the Sonic Youth we came to know on Bad Moon or EVOL. It's also recorded better. This first album/EP package is not for the casual listener: its challenging, abrasive, poorly recorded, but has a kind of ugly beauty about it. Confusion is Sex is one of the most experimental and least accesible albums of Sonic Youth's career, and I find it very rewarding for it reminds me of the amazing possibilities inherent in music and the joy that comes from pushing the limits of art."

Alternately Sonic Youth's Best and Worst Album

Jonathon | Seattle, WA | 04/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you've never heard early Sonic Youth before (or other early-80s no wave acts), this cd is going to take a long time to grow on you. To the uninitiated listener, Confusion is Sex sounds like a dense nightmare constructed by people who can neither sing nor properly play their instruments. About two decades later, Sonic Youth have becomes one of the most critically-acclaimed rock bands of our time. They've honed the swirling mess of clangs and feedback that we hear on these early recordings into a number of successful guitar symphonies.



As good as recent efforts like Murray Street and Sonic Nurse are, however, I will always have a soft spot for the early albums (the self-titled EP, Confusion is Sex (plus Kill yr. idols), and to a lesser extent, Bad Moon Rising). Somehow, four "kids" (all in their mid-20s at this point, I believe) didn't need to know how to play their instruments. There is something utterly natural about these dozen-or-so songs... as if they represent the swirling chaos in the minds of musicians everywhere. Despite the tuneless shouting, the untuned guitars, the absence of professionalism (see: the brutally lo-fi version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog"), this album isn't as inaccessible as you might think. Somehow, the songs just move. I've always thought the addition of drummer Steve Shelley seriously crippled the band-- he brought in an Apollonian strictness that has focused (but at the same time, narrowed) the band's wild creativity. Believe it or not, you can actually DANCE to a few of the songs here (the same is the case for the nearly-forgotten (but brilliant) debut EP).



I could, at this point, go through a track-by-track analysis of the album, telling you what to listen for. But I really want to leave that pleasure of discovery for you. Essentially, if you really love Sonic Youth, you will eventually find this album. And if there is a dark, chaotic section of your brain that has been begging for something different-- this album will eventually find you. You've been warned."

Very Cool

Mono-Grind | Here | 03/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who is into Sonic Youth should pick this up. I've been a fan for about a year and a half, but have quickly picked up alot of their albums. This is just so awesome. The epitome of Noise rock, in my opinion. It is very different, but i think true fans of Sonic Youth who haven't heard this yet will appreciate it. Songs like "(She's in a) Bad Mood", "Protect Me You", "Inhuman", "The World Looks Red", "Brother James", "Early American" and "Shaking Hell (Live)" are enough to buy this album. Every song is a trip..This is amazing for being made in the early 80's..



If you like Experimental music, and if you're a fan of other Sonic Youth albums..you should already have this in your collection. Absolutely amazing. 5/5. Can't wait for their new album later this year.."