SONIC YOUTH: THE ETERNAL
I don’t know how they do it but year in and year out, album after album Sonic Youth manages to always release awesome records. Sure there are those who complain the new stuff isn’t as good as the old but I don’t pay attention to the whining of children. Sonic Youth continues to be one of the most forward thinking pop/noise bands that have ever released an album and their latest offering “The Eternal” is no different.
The Eternal is everything you expect a Sonic Youth record to be but without being predictable or boring. Noise, feedback, odd time signatures but above all they groove. People forget that beneath all the noise Sonic Youth lay down some fierce grooves and with The Eternal they seem to ratchet that idea up. The opening track “Sacred Trickster” lays into such pop-noise pocket that you can actually hear indie bands around the world holding their heads in shame.
From there The Eternal slithers through musical genres from blue to noise punk with an ease only old hats at this could muster. Take the semi-political song “Anti-Orgasm” which intros with a blues sounding riff (filtered through guitarist Thurston Moore’s effects pedals) then morphs into a pounding atonal noise-punk song before bringing in an almost danceable chorus. The best part is that the end of the song is just this beautiful little guitar line that could’ve been a song on it’s own. Personally I when Kim Gordon sings “Anti-orgasm” simply because her voice makes me think of sex and I’ve been crushing on her since the Bad Moon Rising album.
The interesting thing is that this record is very song oriented. Some Sonic Youth albums are more about the entirety of the album or the experimental side of what they do. With The Eternal Sonic Youth prove that they can write great songs without sacrificing their sound. The lumbering “Antennae” has a really sweet sound to it while “Calming The Snake” is a hectic slice of noise and chaos led by Kim Gordon’s haunting vocals.
Sonic Youth is often a band lionized for their experimental nature and sometimes that undermines the fact that they craft really strong songs. Everything isn’t screech, feedback, yell-yell, and feedback with them. The Eternal comes strapped with some killer riffs and sing along choruses. It feels like the Beach Boys if filtered through Throbbing Gristle and then blended with old Rough Trade bands like Gang Of Four and The Raincoats. Sonic Youth can wrangle pop, noise, punk, experimental and blues without losing control and letting it descend into a mess. That’s song writing and their ability with it comes across in spades on The Eternal.
As trends rise and fall and music continues to fall under the black cloud of commerce Sonic Youth remain a beacon for doing what you love and having it pay off. They may never be as famous or instantly wealthy as a lot of bands but Sonic Youth will still be putting out records when these others are sitting around the clinic reminiscing about the good old days. The Eternal isn’t a great pop album or punk album or noise album it’s simply a great album, which is what Sonic Youth have been masters of for nearly thirty years.
For the longest time I have believed that Hip Hop was dead. After an incredible run spanning the years 1987 through 1995 it felt as though the creativity and originality were gone. Not just in the lyrics that essentially repeated the ice-cars-chicks ideal but also the music, which either sampled lazily or was built just to make people boogie. Over the last six or seven years a new era of Hip Hop has started clawing it’s way from the underground to the attention of the world. Part of the fray is LA rapper Diz Gibran and his “Soon You’ll Understand” release.
Soon You’ll Understand is a bizarre record firstly because it’s available for free download and also because it feels more like a mix tape than a straight album. Whatever the politics behind the release this is one of the most interesting Hip Hop albums I’ve heard in a long time. Not just from Diz’s slow mellow delivery but also the music, which is really smart and emotional. Apparently somebody decided it was a good idea to combine sounds and samples instead of just creating a hook and I welcome the change.
Diz starts his album with the breezy Jazz tune “Welcome” that actually sounds like what you’d feel driving in the sunshine with the top down. What I love about the song is that the drums play against the vocals but in a way that makes you smile and say “That was awesome”. From there the album bleeds into “Once Again” a more straight forward Hip Hop song built around this incredible sample of a woman singing and a beat that feels more like percussion than a simple “beat”.
Soon You’ll Understand is the perfect album to turn on if you want a complete ride. There’s not a bad track on the entire album though some shine more than others. The horn line in “Exactly” combines with the bass line in such a way that if you don’t bop to it you must be paralyzed from the neck up. About halfway through the album it shifts from a Jazz feel to an old school soul and funk vibe. The best is that none of it feels forced, it all gels together. The Stax Records sound that peppers the track “The Greatness” gives way to the more bizarre and sparse “Capital D” and the whole time you’re thinking “Of course, makes total sense”.
Diz himself has a really great style of laying down vocals. He has a laid back rhythm but keeps an intensity that allows his words not to get lost in the music. Diz is clearly a wordsmith; a guy who likes to fit his lyrics together not just to rhyme but also to weave a dense tapestry of words. If I had one complaint it would be that sometimes he takes the easy road by slipping into bravado, which is so glaring after hearing the creativity he’s capable of. It’s not a huge issue it’s just something I think he could work on.
My favorite tracks on the album come in the second half starting with “Run Around” which has a bass line so dirty you feel like you need a shower after it. Add that to this seventies guitar riff and Diz’s I’m-so-high-I-can’t-see flow and you get an instant classic. Same for the slow and steady “City Lights” which, with its lonely sounding musical back drop and angry vocal flow, sounds like Taxi Driver as translated through a hip-hop song. Diz paints the picture so well of the dirty city streets you feel like you’re there.
Diz Gibran gives me hope for Hip Hop’s future. Along with his brethren in the underground hip hop movement these are the artists that will reclaim from the boring gangsters the way the Tribe Vibe did twenty years ago. Smart music, a unique flow and solid lyrics make Soon You’ll Understand a real testament to a new talent we should all watch out for.
