Washing Machine

by

Sonic Youth

Edit

Having bought several Sonic Youth (based on constant advice to get into their stuff) at the same time, I was blown away at just how good and amazing their materail is, as well as different each time around. While WM may not be the most innovative or lyrically powerful as other SY albums, it sets a mood which seems to give a modern touch to 60s suburbia or something, with a good mixture of the beautiful and the deranged...it's almost like it's through the eyes of a lost teenager running through a neighborhood at night, half hopped on LCD.

The most transcendant tracks are "Unwind" (very emotional even naysay blissful poetry about kites caught in the stars becoming morning), "Little Trouble Girl" (60s soul inspired flow through the eyes of a coming-of-age girl, features great back vocals from Breeders frontwoman Kim Deal and a few others), "Skip Tracer" (definitely owes some inspiration to Jack Kerouac's On The Road, Renaldo poetry at its finest), "Saucer-Like"(easy going tune about extraterrestrials flying through the cities in "a wonderful vision"), and ofcourse the brilliamt 20 minute epic "The Diamond Sea", pshychadelic lyrics and music that is the transcender of all transcenders. The rest are just as awesome, the title track has Kim Gordon talking about taking her baby down the pop machine and "spinning round like a washing machine, never saw the devil look so **** clean", it also has spacy freak-out guitars (but since that seems to be an SY trademark, I won't even mention it anymore). "Panty Lies" is an intense tale of alienation which resembles unusually that old Jetsons pop song in chorus, "No Queen Blues" and "Becuz" are just plain rocking, and "Junkie's Promise" will send a chill of truth down any (...) addict's spine without being too judgemental. There's also the unnamed track 9 which is filler but it's nice to get something a little softer after such good rock. Washing Machine is a lost classic which every fan should have, a suburbian adventure I must say.

I own this CD. And I enjoy aspects of it. Some of it, I may not like the SOUND, but I appreciate the band and what they have contributed to indie rock/experimental music/art rock.

I only gave this one 3 stars because 1)I only like half the songs so I wouldn't give it 5 based on my own tastes, and, 2)it's hard to rate experiemtnal/art rock like Sonic Youth. So I'll take a stand back from my own likings to rate this just as it is.

There are some high points to this. Like others have said, The Diamond Sea is a really cool piece, and the way in morphs and changes is just gorgeous. Very cool.

I think a lot of people are quick to dismiss bands like Sonic Youth as "garbage" without realizing there's a difference between not liking the sound of a band and APPRECIATING what they've contributed. Sonic Youth isn't for everyone, but they deserve some praise for the way they strip down music and experiment with different sounds and ideas. Cool stuff, overall.