Search - Sonic Youth :: Dirty

Genius mixture of Sonic Youth's styles: their White Album

Campbell Roark | from under the floorboards and through the woods.. | 09/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"And EASILY THE BEST ONE FOR INITIATES!!!!



Sonic Youth, along with the Pixies, were one of the formative influences on everyone's faves- wunderkind- Nirvana. They were both touring together around the time this was coming out. Wow. SY even borrowed the producer (a little history: Butch Vig produced most of the sound-sculpted seminally influencial ((like it or not)) albums of the early 90's- he was the co-inventor of the Kevin Shields Sound"- that furious wall of distortion you hear on Nevermind, Siamese Dream, Loveless...) for this classic.



This was their 2nd release for DGC, and boy did they take advantage of that. You can hear the advancement of production values. Now- whether you want to hear sound qulaity on an SY album is totally up for debate. Whether you think that their brand of noise-rock should go for accessibility is also a debatable argument. I stand by this release, all of it a gorgeous, furious, precision-tuned masterpiece. I remember being 13, hearing 100% and thinking- I want an album that sounds like THAT- THE WHOLE THING!!! Lurchingly sanguine and Demented fuzzed out bassline and two gnomic guitars just wailing- keening with scraps of noise, fire, a maelstrom of sonic brutality pouring out of the desperate amps... Wow. That one track (which concerns the death of their friend, Joe Cole (see Hank Rollins book, "Now watch Him Die," his best easily) makes thIs worth picking up.



You may be bewildered by their approach- but what sounds like utter hell is truly a very finely crafted sculpture of sound. One that they are able to reproduce with fairly meticulous and faithful renderings- live. Each song sounds utterly different, conjures a variety of images and scenes for the mind's perusal. No sleeper tracks, save for the cover of 'Nic Fit,' which is les than 2 minutes long anyway...



(I wonder why this magic kinda subsided on subsequent releases like "Washing Machine" and "Jet set, Trash... their more recent releases also seem- not as magical. meybe it was just me- maybe it was the time. Who knows.)



The brooding, sumptuous tempest that is JC- another ineluctable reason to pick this up. You can't hate that song. It is one of the most amazing pieces i have ever heard and totally stands on its own. In it- all the random noise comes together into a whirring buzzsaw of delectable hell while Kim meanders, pensively, a beautiful tale that is completely impressionistic and always makes me feel swamped with loss...



All tracks winners. each and every one. These songs seem like children to me. Never grow up. I put this on and sink back into my headphones and BOOM! It's 1992 again and I'm 13 and pining for my best friend, hating her boyfriend, reading Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy, messing around with a guitar (thought I invented the e minor chord), up late at night writing bad psuedo Bryonic poetry... this Cd brings back to me the SMELL of my old room. How many Cds can do that? Invoke palpably the sense of your past?



Enough. Just get it. It will not disappoint."

New to Sonic Youth? Check out Dirty

Matt Schmoeckel | Duluth, MN United States | 02/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Countless critics site Daydream Nation as Sonic Youth's premier album, but I would choose Dirty. My love for Sonic Youth stems from the layers they add to a simple Rock/Pop song while still making it accessible to the general public, and not the elitest artist or musician. For me, Dirty is that album. It shows you can be different, but still write beautiful music. Take "Sugar Kane" or "Purr". Both tracks contain elements of pop masterpieces, but in the style of Sonic Youth. My favorite track on the album is "Chapel Hill", which is a great example of Sonic Youth in general. It's a well written rock song broken up by a minute and a half of guitar solo in the form of noise and distortion. Also wonderful is "Theresa's Sound-World", a track that opens quietly and builds into an intense wall of distorted guitars.If you don't own a single Sonic Youth album but you're still big into early Alternative artists like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins or the Pixies, pick up Dirty. Or, if you're into Built To Spill, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse... and for some reason don't have this album, you should. Sonic Youth is, no doubt, listed as an influence of all these groups. This is Sonic Youth's best selling album for a reason, and that reason is that it's one of the most appealing album to mainstream rock fans. This album (or Experimental...) is a great starting point for someone who doesn't own a Sonic Youth album."

As brilliant as Daydream Nation, though totally different

alexliamw | Oxford | 09/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dirty and Daydream Nation are the only two Sonic Youth albums I own, but they are both utterly amazing, though for different reasons. In the case of Dirty, its for cooler-than-cool, disaffected post-punk and grunge-pop. More song-based and straight-ahead rock than the somewhat proggy Daydream Nation, its nevertheless tempered with fine bursts of white noise, magical guitar duelling, grinding riffs and propelling, heavy bass.Everyone mentions '100%' and 'Sugar Kane', and both are good, the former a driving, posturing, cool punk number and the latter a radio-friendly, poppy rock song. However this album by no means stops there. Springing to mind is the utterly wonderful 'Theresa's Sound-world' which builds from quiet, reflective melody to a wall of beautiful, heavy, ear-bleeding noise. 'Drunken Butterfly' is propelled by a catchy riff (recently ripped off by Cooper Temple Clause for their single 'Promises Promises') and an earnestly ironic chorus of 'I love you, I love you, I love you, what's your name?'. Their political drive comes to the fore on the slower, but equally menacing 'Youth Against Fascism', which contains sneering vocals, a monster of a bass sound and guitars that sound as if they are being ritualistically tortured rather than played. The album veers from creepy ('Shoot', 'On The Strip') to all-out punk ('Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit' and the cover of 'Nic's Fit'). The more commercial 'Chapel Hill' sits alongside 'Sugar Kane' nicely, but every track on here has a sense of melody. Then there is a bit of lunacism, like the strange and twisted closer 'Creme Brulee'.Every track on this album digs its own musical furrow and the album is all the better for it as despite its length of 15 tracks each one is worthy of high acclaim. Above all, listening to Dirty, you get the sense that they were influencing scores of alternative bands to come: much of the album seems a template for bands like My Vitriol, Cooper Temple Clause and Ikara Colt, 'Youth Against Fascism' seems to have influenced Mclusky and 'Chapel Hill' sounds like it may have wormed its way into the minds of the Manic Street Preachers at times. This is an amazing album, an equal of Daydream Nation, and probably the best starting point for newcomers to this brilliant band."