Rather Ripped — Sonic Youth
Geffen
2006
Rating:


When Pearl Jam realized popular music no longer had a place for the grunge brand of alternative that dominated the 1990s, Eddie Vedder and Co. transformed into a band aping classic rock structures. The decision gradually stripped Pearl Jam of all its personality, sending the group spiraling into insignificance anyway.

On "Rather Ripped," Sonic Youth attempt a similar feat with far more sterling results. The project toward rock classicism began with 2002's "Murray Street" and fully manifests itself for the first time here. Without sacrificing a shred of its identity, SY has crafted its most conventionally "rock" record, an album full of classically constructed songs that are still unmistakably the work of people who once encouraged hipsters to "Kill Yr Idols." "What a Waste" for instance is as much Cars as The Velvet Underground. Speaking of which, Moore cops a line from "Sunday Morning" for the ghostly "Do You Believe in Rapture?"

Where Da Yoof once tore down walls, here they build Walls of Sound, creating soundscapes with Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's guitars instead of clamoring dins. "Reena" — with its "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out"-like confession of Kim Gordon to husband Moore, "You keep me coming home" — is actually gentle and charming with only moments of hard-charging rock. Single "Incinerate" is the best synthesis of SY's tendencies. The song contains one of Sonic Youth's biggest hooks and the guitars duel and harmonize into a focused jam that burns in its efficiency.

This intensity of concentration makes for a Sonic Youth that's more chiseled as the band that once broke the rock mold rebuilds mold in its own image.

Posted Friday, December 22, 2006

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