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Sister

Sonic Youth

1987

Buy At Rough Trade
Sister
Album Summary

Sister is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in June 1987 by SST Records. The album furthered the band's move away from the no wave genre towards more traditional song structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach. Like Sonic Youth's previous records, Sister was not successful at the time of its release. In the years following, however, it received much critical praise, with several publications naming it as one of the best albums of the 1980s.

Wikipedia

Rating

3.02

Votes

11935

Genres

  • Rock
  • Indie

Reviews

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Jan 20 2021
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1

This is a strange collection of dissonant sounds, strange chords, screams, and stress. Every time i think i may appreciate a song it devolves into some incomprehensible chaos. Hard to tell if this is some sort of genius or crazy people that recently got instruments. I'm glad i made the journey, but i don't ever plan to go back.

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Aug 26 2022
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5

46 days in and I’m beginning to think the 1001 Album Generator is tracking my internet history. Less than 12 hours before this album was “randomly generated” for me, I was watching a 1996 Sonic Youth live performance from Germany on YouTube. This suggests two grim possibilities: Either the developers of this website have entered into a nefarious pact with Google and are tracking my browsing history (god help them if they are) and then recommending albums… OR …I am becoming one with the Generator; its decisions influencing my choices and my choices influencing its decisions: a bio-mechanical cerebral cortex, decaying in a feedback loop. If Sonic Youth are, in fact, a conduit for The Singularity, would anyone be surprised? Their guitar squall and reckless abandon would make a fitting soundtrack to the technological apocalypse. Rating: SEVEN! out of 5

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May 18 2021
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5

I’m sure the abrasiveness and noise will turn off more than a few listeners, but embracing those is part of the point. They were smart to ease listeners in with the melancholy pop of “Schizophrenia,” while the rest of the songs veer into noisy hardcore pretty quickly. I hate using words like “evocative” but that’s exact what’s happening here, it’s hard to listen to the air-raid siren guitars, doom-y basslines, and intricate punk drumming without picturing a dark, sinister mid-80s Americana, like the Children of the Corn grew up and hid in the city, playing nihilistic noise because it’s all the know. Like a lot of the records of this era I wish the production could be beefed up but apparently the master tapes were destroyed. Just adding to the foreboding mystique at this point I guess.

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Jan 23 2021
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5

Why the fuck haven't I been listening to Sonic Youth

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Apr 12 2021
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5

I had heard of Sonic Youth in the 90's, but remained unfamiliar with their work. I just listened to this whole album and even though it's more "thrashy" than my usual listening tastes, I so love it. Innovative, original, and they show some real advanced musicianship. I read up on them, and Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore's focus on alternate tunings, many they pioneered, really draws me in. Such an artistic approach to their craft, and so much expression in their music.

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Apr 19 2021
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2

Nothing offensive but a bit droning and one note. I'm sure they have hits, just not on this album.

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Jun 09 2021
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5

I don't know what's going on- we got Sonic Youth earlier this list, and I really didn't connect or enjoy the album at all, but this one sounds amazing to me? What the fuck am I doing with this list? I'm going to have to go revisit it... Discordant, noisy artsy punk. Fun shit.

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Jun 16 2021
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2

A few decent songs regularly broken up with pointless, atonal noise. It might be "art" but it's not art, if you know what I'm saying.

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May 06 2021
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5

The sound of Sonic Youth really coalesced on 1987’s Sister, the band’s first real masterpiece. SY had been experimenting with modified guitars on blunt and jagged songs for a handful of years, creating an interesting and groundbreaking sound, but inconsistent albums and EPs. Beginning with EVOL, in 1986, their songcraft became more consistent, and they perfected it on Sister on tracks like “Schizophrenia” and “Stereo Sanctity.” One of this album’s highlights, though, is a cover: a faithful executed take on San Francisco punk band Crime’s fairly obscure “Hotwire My Heart,” with its tight rhythmic core and daggers of lead guitar slashing through the distortion. The gentle, dissonance of “Kotton Krown” nods to the epic scope we’d hear the following year on the band’s second masterpiece, the double album Daydream Nation.

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Sep 29 2021
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5

5.0 - Yes, finally! Here's a Sonic Youth album that lives up to their hype! This truly feels like a milestone record that lays the foundation for so much of the music I enjoyed in my teenage years. They've balanced grungy experimentation with structured rock songwriting beautifully.

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Oct 22 2021
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4

Listen: Aside from a pretty decent cover of a Karen Carpenter song, Sonic Youth was a huge blind spot for me until this "project". I basically knew them as a band Kurt Cobain and Jason Bateman's character from "Juno" liked. I'm only two albums in so far, but it's safe to say I'm completely all in on Sonic Youth now. This is the album where they nudge right up to that finish line that indicates the sound they'd perfect and inspire future and wannabe musicians for years to come. That special sound is an album away. But this still comes dangerously close. It's like licking your finger and then holding it up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. Gordon and Moore were headed in the right direction here. This is the foretaste of the feast to come.

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Feb 17 2022
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5

First time listening to this album, absolutely love it, the guitars sound so good throughout, maybe not as good as Daydream Nation but this is still a masterpiece. One of those albums I just had to replay after the first listen, and makes this project worthwhile finding these gems.

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Jan 26 2021
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2

Started strong and declined rather quickly.

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Oct 28 2021
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1

Ah yes, more "sustain guitar depressed teenager music". Still not my case ^^

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Feb 19 2021
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5

Album that got me into Sonic Youth

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Mar 03 2021
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5

Absolute classic! One of my all time faves of sonic youth and beyond.

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Feb 27 2022
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5

Hot damn I need to have more Sonic Youth in my life. This was a great listen

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Feb 27 2022
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5

Pretty brilliant. Deserves much more listening.

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Feb 27 2022
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5

I was surprised how "modern" this one sounded, probably an indication of what a big influence the band is on a lot of more recent alternative rock.

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Mar 10 2022
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5

Might be the album that I have listened to the most times ever. This dry drum sound in the first song.. instantly recognizable. I suppose it is Day Dream Nation for most people, but Sister is my number 1 Sonic Youth above Day Dream Nation, Evol, Dirty and Goo.

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May 05 2022
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5

i love this album. have never been able to decide if i like this or daydream nation better. they're both excellent.

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Aug 15 2022
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5

Brilliant, uncompromising, making music exactly how they want to, Sonic Youth consistently innovate and fascinate. The dissonance is part of the journey.

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Oct 20 2022
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5

I had a phase in college for where I listened to this band pretty extensively. I still do but not nearly as often. Anyway, I always really liked this album, particularly the first 2 tracks. I still think this is pretty great. I like a couple of their albums more and this is probably more of a 4 for me, but its getting a five. Try and stop me!

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Oct 28 2022
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5

"I went away to see an old friend of mine His sister came over, she was out of her mind..." "Schizophrenia", the track that opens this album, is the birth of Sonic Youth as a legendary, iconic New York act. Everything that happened before during the band's early "no wave" trajectory converges to that melancholic guitar riff supported by Steve Shelley's bouncy toms, along with Thurston Moore's dreamy voice humming that David Lynch-like yarn over them. And everything that occured after that minute or so, for the band themselves, but also for the indie scene at large--years and even decades into the future--is a consequence of that incredible introduction where the band merged its abrasive, dissonant, unapologetically arty vocabulary with the most blatantly poppish instincts out there. From that moment I heard that introduction then dissolve into a maelstrom of intense, gripping sounds, I knew I would love this band forever. They were pointing the way into the future, to the nineties and beyond. Sadly, not a lot of folks realized this in 1987. I wish I had been there to tell everyone to *listen*, to *really*, *really* listen. They would have dismissed me as a deluded fan, I imagine. How wrong they would have been. You just need to *properly* hear the first minutes of that album to know. *Sister* is filled to the brim with transcendent moments like that, from the sheer aggression of "Catholic Block" to the oneiric, foggy atmosphere of "Kotton Krown", from the jangling, twisted guitar lines of "Tuff Gnarl" to the relentless, obsessive compulsive pulse of "Pacific Coast Highway". Moore hums, croons or shrieks. Gordon singspeaks and snarls as if she was sneering at death itself. Ranaldo utters apocalyptic preaches to an invisible congregration, *us*. Guitars wail, wince, drill and tinkle. The lyrics immerse you into a Philip K. Dick's alternate universe where industries of the heart and factories of the flesh mingle as if they were driven by the same mechanical pistons. Teenage lust, romantic impulses and cerebral digressions conflate. The air itself is buzzing with electricity around the schizoid characters populating those songs. Even silence, or what's left of it, seems to buzz. *Daydream Nation*, the album that followed *Sister*, is said to be Sonic Youth's magnum opus, thanks to some of its iconic cuts, its length, and its topical ambition--not to mention its overall sound, one more streamlined than in here (read: "more flat"). But make no mistake, *Sister* is iconic in its own right, and it is as much a masterpiece as *Daydream Nation* is, maybe even more so. A lot of Sonic Youth fans know this already. And they can't keep this a secret. I certainly can't. Now go on, call me a deluded fan. I'll only reply with one word. *Listen*. Number of albums left to review: 755 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 123 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 59 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 64

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Jan 23 2023
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5

i always knew that sonic youth was highly influential but i never really dived into their music until now; and this definitely surpassed my expectations. this album sounds forward-thinking even though it released over 30 years ago. this album feels like someone went to the future, listened to all of the bands inspired by sonic youth, and then came back and made this; you know that a band is unique when they sound like they're inspired by themselves.

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Jan 26 2023
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5

Noise is great, noise is brilliant

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Mar 10 2023
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5

I did not get turned onto Sonic Youth until their later efforts, and honestly have not listened to this album much. But it's all here - the amazing guitar work, the odd song structures, the dissonant noises, the way it all somehow still holds together. Apparently it was a concept album based around Philip K. Dick's life? Seriously, can you get any cooler than that? I've now listened to it three times through and as is often the case with their albums, it sounds more melodic and less random with each new listen. Definitely one of my favorite bands of all time. Although this isn't my favorite album of theirs, it still deserves a 5/5.

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Mar 12 2023
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5

1. Schizophrenia: starting of strong with a mellow yet very captivating track. 8.5/10. 2. Catholic Block: huge riffs and very nice vocals. This one grows during the track. 8/10. 3. Beauty Lies in the Eye: love this talkative way of portraying songs, great instrumental support. 8.5/10 4. Stereo Sancity: this one feels a bit too repetitive. Instrumentally really nice. 7/10 5. Pipeline/Killtime: pretty nice track, feels a bit like track 4 in a way. 7.5/10 6. Tuff Gnarl: noisy track which was cool to listen to. 7/10 7. Pacific Coast Highway: reminds me of julie, banger. 8.5/10 8. Hot Wire My Heart: pretty good. 7/10 9. Cotton Crown: nice riff, good layering with bass, solid track all round. 8/10. 10. White Cross: crazy sound, great riff. 7.5/10 11. Master-Dik: decent track not my fav. 6.5/10

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Mar 22 2023
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5

Sonic Youth is one of those "do you like it?" "of course I do" bands, but little do you really know! What a mistake! This album is magnificent, good music from the beginning to the end.

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Apr 05 2023
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5

This is one of my favorite albums. It's very noisy, but the noise is catchy. Favorite song: Catholic Block.

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Jul 04 2023
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5

1. Jedan od meni najboljih bendova na svijetu 2. Jedan od najboljih njihovih albuma ikad, a ima ih pregršt 3. Jednostavno, masterpiece - nije čista petica, ali pošto svakakvim dajem šakom i kapom bolje rejtinge nego što trebaju dobit, hej.

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Aug 01 2024
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5

Their genius is on full display here. As always, I'm drawn like a moth to the powerful voice of Kim and the insane tapestry of beautiful uncompromising sound. The guitar on PCH is tops. This is completely authentic to me. Mad respect.

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Sep 18 2024
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5

“What an album” was my involuntary remark when this appeared on my screen. This confused me when I first heard it, as I’d heard mostly live recordings of Sonic Youth, which I loved for their first race car-jet engine squeals and whooshes; this is slower, weirder, less direct, now all reasons why this is one of my favourites. “Daydream Nation” is probably an inch higher in my affections, but I could make an argument that this has a better set of songs. For anyone wanting to hear the jet plane, fast rock band versions of these songs, there’s a live recording called “Hold that Tiger” from this time, a set in Chicago introduced by you-know-who, and it’s an absolute blast, a band at their peak”. Available on Bandcamp, I see.

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Aug 18 2021
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4

Dirty, gritty, raucous soundscape. Standout Tracks: Schizophrenia, (I Got a) Catholic Block, Pipeline / Kill Time, Pacific Coast Highway, Kotton Krown, Master-Dik

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Jan 01 2022
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4

I'm endlessly fascinated with the way Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo use guitars to such varied effects. Their noisy experimentations are a testament to the possibilities of sound. This music clangs and chimes, it screeches and grinds. It’s trippy and whirling, occasionally pretty, and often pointedly noisy. The contrast between Kim Gordon’s insouciant vocal and Moore’s more atonal style add interesting contrast and depth to the songs. The pacing of some of these songs is brutal, with credit due to some hard driving drums by Steve Shelley. There's an urgency that can feel oppressive as it pulls/drags you along, the only relief coming from strategically placed moments of quiet. If you don't dig noise, this will be a hard listen. If you enjoy it, this is glorious. Fave Songs: Schizophrenia, Pacific Coast Highway, Beauty Lies in the Eye, White Cross, Cotton Crown, Pipeline/Kill Time

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Jan 07 2022
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4

Really great album. 2nd best Sonic Youth album. Schizophrenia is among their best. 8-9/10

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Jul 17 2023
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4

Another album by Sonic Youth, another big surprise - how good is this band, man? And more importantly, how come I have never listened to any of their songs? I'm absolutely baffled. But there is something weird about it - since listening to their other album, "Daydream Nation", even though I really liked it, not even once I revisited it. I have a feeling its going to be the same story with "Sister". Both albums are really great, but ultimately I think it might be too far down the line for me to properly enjoy it. I'll give it 4 stars, but just to balance it out with previous album, so that both of them are 4,5 stars.

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Sep 18 2024
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4

Such a great sounding record. Suffers a bit in comparison with its successor in hindsight, but that's really a sign of how good at songwriting they got so quickly. "Kotton Krown" (weirdly spelled using 'C's on my mp3 version, probably an iTunes mishap long ago) in particular is great. And, of course, "Gene Simmons is an ugly motherfucker"

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Jul 25 2024
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3

I adore parts of sonic youth. Then it suddenly just gets a bit too noisy and kind of irritating! 3.2

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Jul 26 2024
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3

This Sonic Youth album sounds like a Sonic Youth album.

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Aug 01 2024
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3

I liked it better on the second listen. It’s a good album, but I think I get lost a little bit during the more experimental passages. This feels like a transition album, but it’s closer to E.V.O.L. than Daydream Nation.

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Jul 07 2024
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2

Lots of ear rape, as well as it’s just not good

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May 12 2021
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1

Bloody awful. Guitars and singing out of tune, kind of drones on.

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Apr 05 2023
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1

THIS MAY NOT BE FOR YOU IF YOU HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TALK TO YOU OR TEXT YOU LIKE THIS. I lovE METal and haRD ROck and juST abOUT any genre I CAN THInk of. That's because there's a patterned rise and fall and unexpected PUNCHES that are simply ear candy. I think this is supposed to be punk or some hybrid of punk. I can't tell because I like a lot of punk music, and this wasn't grabbing me. At least not in a positive way. This is the first 1-star I've given because I don't like it when people pour acid and lemon juice in my ear. No, that has never really happened to me. Well, until today. And I think it scorched a piece of my brain. Ouch!

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May 17 2024
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1

I swear that there is a big joke that I’ve been left out on. A joke where everybody pretends that Sonic Youth are a good band just to confuse me. I’ve definitely said this before, but they’re so highly regarded and I still can’t wrap my head around why. This album was a boring blend of noise that brought me little joy. Each to their own, but this isn’t one I’d want.

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Apr 28 2021
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5

Actually listened to cee lo green from history --- very good Also recently tried reverend and the makers which is ideal upbeat music

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Feb 23 2022
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5

awesome album, 10/10 I think I liked it more than Bad Moon Rising, but I don’t know about Evol overall Sonic Youth has an amazing discography but it’s definitely not for everyone

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Jun 12 2022
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5

4.5/5. Sister was very good. Kinda feels like their most definitive moment before Daydream

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Sep 05 2022
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5

This album is a less noisy and more accessible than Sonic Youth’s prior work and less accessible than Daydream Nation, which would be released the next year. This album is simmering post-punk that is experimental and only slightly polished. In this case, it’s a good thing and shows just how precocious Sonic Youth were when playing and arranging sound.

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Feb 15 2023
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5

Meni je ovo možda najdraži sonic youth

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Mar 24 2023
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5

not one of my regular sonic youth album choices but being made to listen to it today might have pushed it in to the regular go to category.

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Apr 19 2023
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5

Kept wanting to listen again. At the least, 5 stars for making me pickup a guitar again and giving me ~ideas~.

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Sep 15 2023
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5

Not my personal preference but well executed. Seems to straddle the border of punk and alternative rock. The guitar tone was rough but in a very good way. Would do a 3.5 if possible.

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Sep 28 2023
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5

Finally, I get my first Sonic Youth album on this list! My first exposure to Sonic Youth was through Daydream Nation. I had heard about the 1001 albums list, and saw that Sonic Youth was had several albums on the list, so I bought Daydream Nation and gave it a go. I grew up listening to a lot of popular music from the eighties, so my brain had been hardwired for over twenty years to think of synth pop, arena rock, and hair metal as the defining sounds of the eighties. When I listened to Daydream Nation, it completely blew my mind and shattered my assertions about music in the eighties. I had absolutely no idea that people were making music like this back then. This was my first time listening to Sister, and it gave me the same feelings that I had when I first listened to Daydream Nation. I loved the dissonant guitars, the rapid-fire drumming, and Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's unique vocals. Sonic Youth created a sound that was distinctly their own, and this album cemented their presence as a shifting force in rock music. I loved that the album starts off with the more melodic "Schizophrenia," before descending into the controlled chaos that became synonymous with Sonic Youth's own brand of post-punk sounds. This was a fantastic listen from start to finish. Bring on more Sonic Youth albums!

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Oct 20 2023
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5

Harmonica is everything. I like this album overall. It really is kind of an evolved version of the Mudhoney in Superfuzz, however still the same in all the ways I care about. Vocals, garage punk, and production that shows all this off. Good album. I wanted to listen to it again the second it was over. 4

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Oct 20 2023
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5

Found a new regular album! This app/website is exactly what I was looking for! Introduced me to new favorites. 5/5!

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Nov 15 2023
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5

I actually really liked this. Good punk, but with more range than I expected

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Dec 08 2023
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5

It never lets go off you it grinds you to fine fucking powder earphones headphones in head... SOUNDS.... Its caresses the soul too.. great album..

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Dec 13 2023
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5

Discordant and tense, these songs whip things up into a frenzy that either all comes crashing down or breaks like a wave into a (relatively) serene plateau. They have some of the best guitar in post punk, detuned drones, dense textures, airless distorted riffs that resolves into roomy crystalline chords, shoegaze use of effects combined with a faster punk energy - there's some really pretty melodic playing buried under the layers of dissolution. Individual songs don't really stand out to me because the songs all have a couple of pretty different parts that are hooked together by tension/release moments or bridging riffs and there are lots of parts that happen just once rather than verse/chorsus structures: it's rare to return to a familiar place. But the album as a whole is very cohesive sonically and stylistically. One exception is Hot Wire My Heart which is like an oldies rock-n-roll song processed through the SY sound and comes out sounding like a classic punk. Overall though instead of songs there are individual parts that stand out - the amazing slow building part on Pacific Coast, the jangly introductory part of Tuff Gnarl, the break in Pipeline where it opens up and dissolves, lots more - but this feels like an album meant to be swallowed whole.

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Jan 05 2024
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5

I got Evol earlier and didn’t like it. I’ve since listened to all their 80s stuff up to Goo after becoming obsessed with Daydream Nation. I still only like Evol in terms of seeing the bands progression from pure no wave into what they become on Daydream Nation. Sister is still such a great album even though not quite up to the heights of Daydream Nation. It’s amazing the steps they took from Bad Moon Rising to Evol and from Evol to Sister. Rating: 4.5

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Jan 22 2024
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5

I was surprised by how much I liked this. This feels like a really important bridge between 20th century rock and modern day alternative.

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Jan 22 2024
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5

Good album. Interesting to hear all the elements people have copied over the years of this noise rock. I enjoyed it

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Mar 04 2024
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5

Nearing the peak of the atonal squonk powers. Love it.

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Mar 10 2024
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5

Such a cool project compared to so much of the fluffy pop and R&B on the scene at its time. Simultaneously brusque and thoughtful, grim and serene. The band manages to produce busy soundscapes which are complimentary, still appealing to the ear, yet the anger behind so many of the tracks is still evident. An awesome listen, and a clear inspiration to many alternative & post punk acts after.

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Mar 18 2024
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5

schizophrenia catholic block tuff gnarl pacific coast highway hot wire my heart white cross

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Apr 02 2024
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5

My favourite SY album. Not as ambitious as its famous followup, Daydream Nation, but just as strong musically speaking. Schizophrenia has to be one of their best songs.

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Apr 08 2024
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5

Controlled chaos 1. "I went away to see an old friend of mine his sister came over she was out of her mind she said jesus had a twin who knew nothing about sin" 2. I GOT A CATHOLIC BLOCK DO YOU LIKE TO FUCK?? 3.this song makes me so anxious. Absloutly amazing. 6. This one is about sex. Or being horny , idk. I just love how unsexy it is. Like.. i cant describe it. It's so unsexy it's sexy??? Idk. Good stuff anyway 9. This song is about love between gordon (singer) , moore (singer) and heroin (the drug). I think it's pretty good 11. One two, one two, one two titty !! I know every nook and cranny of new yourk city!!

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May 10 2024
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5

Another great record by Sonic Youth. This is almost as good as Daydream Nation. And that is really something, since Daydream Nation is one of the best records ever produced!

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May 17 2024
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5

On first Impression I'm thinking this was a step back from EVOL, but after a few listens it eventually snuck in like being lured into a strange and horrific film or book. I really enjoy the playful deconstruction of glam rock and new wave, which lacks a mocking tone. Rather, it's an adventurous exploration looking back to 'Bad Moon Rising', and forward thinking in the more accessible. I'm still very impressed this is coming out of the 80's, and I do wonder what Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley thought about 'Master-Dik'. Here is another album I want to hang out in for a little while.

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May 22 2024
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5

A other amazing album. In context there wer enot many bands with this sound at the time and simply really cool and well produced. An underrated band that still needs to be more recognized. Not one single bad song in this album

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May 24 2024
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5

Vet album, begrijp nu waarom dit zo invloedrijk is. Hoop lawaai, sterk toegepast, gecombineerd met mooie momenten.

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Jun 13 2024
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5

IMO, its their best. A properly edited album and as close to a rock album as they get

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Jun 19 2024
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5

Sister is delicious raw creativity packed in an album. It's not the easiest entryway to the bands' back catalog, but both EVOL and Sister show Sonic Youth at their best.

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Jul 02 2024
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5

For me , this is the SY album that best hits that sweet spot between off-kilter dissonance, punk rock energy and killer rock anthems. The combinations of the guitars here is magical, and that 'dropdown' bit in Pacific Coast has to be among my top 3 all-time guitar parts in any song ever. It's so beautiful it almost makes me cry. The last time I saw them live was on this tour, and they - for me - were never the same again after this album.

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Jul 04 2024
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5

Talvez um dos últimos grandes álbuns com um som puxado ao punk da era Reagan, Sister, 4º álbum do Sonic Youth, que surgiu naquela primorosa cena do No Wave novaiorquino na década de 80, já mostrava uma tendência de mudança no som que iria culminar no Magnum Opus deles, vindo a definir o indie rock para sempre, de 1 ano depois, o Daydream Nation. Com isso, nessa mistura entre os sons mais brutais e dissonantes possíveis e estruturas mais clássicas do rock cantadas com melancolia típicas do pós-punk, tem-se um álbum delicioso de ouvir e que, tirando o cover de Hot Wire My Heart, que é bem fraquinho, um projeto em que todas as músicas são, ao mesmo tempo, íntimas e cheias de energia, seja descontruindo baladas como no dueto de Cottom Cottom, criando letras baseadas na ficção científica de Phillip K. Dick ou, óbvio, com música incisivas e ensurdecedora como a maravilhosa Stereo Sanctity, minha favorita.

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Jul 11 2024
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5

On the negative side, the lyrics are usually dumb, and listening to a thousand bands try to do segments of this but not get there cheapens the experience a bit. Sonic Youth doesn't sound that great in the moments where they try to a more conventional punk thing. On the positive side, lyrics don't matter and it's obvious why a thousand bands would try to steal this sound because it rules. On this one they never stick to the worse segments long enough to ruin a song. There's a ton of satisfying dynamic shifts, in mostly short songs. It's like looking at the list of experiences you want in a pop/rock song & then trying to assemble the thing out of entirely different stuff. Love it. music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)

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Aug 05 2024
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5

another favorite from my teenage years first record i bought on vinyl got it at poo-bah’s in pasadena in 1991!!!

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Aug 07 2024
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5

I’m never beating the weird girl allegations, am I?

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Sep 04 2024
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5

As a Sonic Youth, I somehow never got around to listening to 'Sister'. I always knew of it but had dismissed their pre-Daydream Nation material as them still finding their sound. Having finally dived it, it feels crazy to me that I've been sleeping on 'Sister' for so long. This is a fantastic album and very worthy of their name. It's up there with Daydream Nation, which I'll still give a slight edge to. The song structures are poppy enough to balance out the noise rock sound to keep it just abrasive enough to keep listening. The nice thing about these kinds of discoveries that hide in plain light, is that I now have these amazing new songs to listen to, despite being released almost 4 decades ago. I will definitely be returning to this one.

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Sep 17 2024
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5

This is my fourth Sonic Youth album from the project, and the earliest so far - only "EVOL" to go. I dunno whether this is actually better / more graspable than their other albums or whether I've just grown to appreciate their schtick more, but this really hits the spot. Definitely need to spend some time with their whole discography! Fave tracks - "(I Got A) Catholic Block" is stompin, "Pacific Coast Highway" is cinematic, and "White Cross" slaps...

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Sep 22 2024
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5

Sonic Youth are easily in my top ~5 artists of all time, their discography is untouchable. So of course i'm going to give a 5 to one of their best albums. Doesn't hit the heights of a Daydream Nation, Goo, or Murray St for me, but I could have it on repeat all day and never get tired. My preferred Sonic Youth is definitely post-Sister though when they started to build out longer songs and get into those extended noise sections. The energy in this one makes up for the lack of those though, they are just ripping through these songs.

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Oct 02 2020
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4

Very exceptional stuff from the Youth, a precursor of monumental things to come. Favorites include Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Tuff Gnarl and Pacific Coast Highway.

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Jan 23 2021
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4

Have listen to a few of his song, always a good time.

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Jan 18 2021
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4

I can see how a lot of the bands I enjoy are influenced by this. I feel like the strokes especially use a lot of the same fuzzy guitar

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Apr 01 2021
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4

No había escuchado un disco completo de SY y la verdad que agradable sorpresa, estaban muy metidos en el noise que ya no es taaan sucio y supongo que a lo largo de los años lo fueron limpiando aun mas. Ahora entiendo por que fueron influencia para muchas bandas y géneros, estaban bien loquitos

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Feb 05 2021
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4

Pretty cool, very cryptic sounding, super cohesive so no songs really stood out. Overall enjoyable listen

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