“The immediate, electrifying appeal, even to the uninitiated, of Sonic Youth’s sound derives from the band’s ability to penetrate and mark out typically prohibitive musical territory that, in turn, serves as a direct and vital analogue to complexes of human emotion rarely, if ever, represented within rock’s sound palette. In my experience, those ‘casual, innocent’ listeners (like me when I got my first Sonic blasting), who supposedly have a tough time with Sonic Youth’s exploratory leanings or their fearlessness in the face of dissonance, have more likely had their faces happily blown clear off of their casual, innocent little heads in a frenzy of near-religious ecstasy when exposed to this music. Sonic Youth records may, in part, articulate certain forms of distress or uneasiness, but those articulations themselves aren’t ‘difficult’ so much as they’re imperative, like fresh, nutrient-rich blood being transported through untapped veins to outlying, poorly supplied aesthetic capillaries.”

- Matthew Stearns, 33 1/3: Daydream Nation (page 19)

Thanks to Quark for this superb Christmas gift. I need to get the other volumes in this series.

5 months ago  /  3 notes