Sonic Youth – ‘Rather Ripped’ (Geffen) Released 12/06/06

How the hell do you approach the band that David Toop rightly called “the most influential noise band of all time”? More to the point, how do you approach an album that you feel to be irrelevant and pointless, the sound of a band who have reached maturity with credibility intact and who still show the utmost dedication to new artists and work relentlessly in more avant-garde circles? Everything, in fact, that this reviewer would be slavering over.

Sonic Youth have never ‘sold out’ and despite the length of their career (nearly 25 years) have somehow managed to avoid becoming the alt. U2. They also continue to work feverishly within the New York underground and on their own SYR imprint release sometimes stunningly successful, improvised and experimental fare. But here is the first criticism. ‘Rather Ripped’ (and what the hell is that Noel Coward on drugs title about) is by several thousand miles the least experimental album the group have ever made. This separation of the avant-garde into different projects completely disqualifies all the claims that Sonic Youth have moved on and are bored of doing the same old thing because they are still doing the same old thing, just not under the Youth name.

And of course, what made Sonic Youth exciting was the combination of avant-garde and garage rock - they were clearly the product of New York punk but visionaries both sonically and lyrically. Whilst this may be predictable to say so, 'Daydream Nation' was their shinning masterpiece, a surreal blissed-out version of their beloved New York City. To these ears, they have never even come close to matching those epochal 4 sides. Of course, it is utterly unfair to criticise Sonic Youth for not grappling with new technology like samplers etc (well, hardly new any more I suppose), and of course Jim O Rourke temporarily brought an interesting darkness and twist to their sound and you would hardly criticise the Rolling Stones for not embracing the laptop (and thank fuck for that we all scream).  But, wait a minute. Remember ‘Whitey Album’? Remember those early dub forays on ‘Sonic Youth’? Freshly imprinted due to their recent reissues, the Youth did actually stretch their sound every direction.

So, ‘Rather Ripped’ is luscious in production, soft and smooth, you know the sound anyway but it’s now hyper-streamlined. Opening with a Kim vocal, 'Reena' is ultra-melodic and chrome-plated - brilliant in fact. The problem occurs that, 4 tunes in, it just gets bloody boring. Things are briefly elevated by Lee Ranaldo’s ‘Rats’ and the thought occurs as to why he only writes one tune an album these days. And that’s it. In a recent Wire interview, Thurston Moore stated that they don’t feel that they should progress or move on with every release and that fine. Well, that’s fine, and is of course their prerogative. But with so much exciting other music that embraces the future, is there time to listen to a garage pop album, even if it is by the kings of credibility. Not to these ears.