Sister

Great

Very good!

We're finally here! Standouts Catholic Block Stereo Sanctity Pipeline/Kill Tuff Gnarl ⭐ Pacific Coast Highway Cotton Crown Master-Dik This is the album that usually gets credited with the first album to achieve the sound I adore. You know how cool live music sounds in a small venue? Yeh let's do that on a studio album! This album has it all, crunchy guitars, noisy guitars, guitars grinding against your ears, fuzzy guitars, feedback... Fun fact they couldn't get this album published because of the album cover for ages. Some noise highlights: Pipeline/Kill Time is a starts of simply but leads into this chaotic orchestra of guitar noises with a simple melody in the background to grab onto and guide you through. Incredible mixing so that melody is always there for you. Tuff Gnarl has this one riff playing throughout it and then they start building up the noise and let the original riff free at the climax which explodes the section into perfection. Master-Dik is a feedback ridden song which is the perfect way to end the album. The constant layered guitars in the back is a forest of sound to lose yourself in. Incredible album easy 5 Unfortunately the later sonic youth albums are less harsh but at least they have the same vibe and goal.

Jesus fuck, how many Sonic Youth albums will I get? 5/5

Before I start talking about Sister we need to get a few things out of the way. Kim Gordon is a fucking national treasure she is an artist who makes music! Two fuck Thurston Moore for what he did to Kim Gordon, he is still a great artist and musician as well but Kim Gordon is the national treasure not Thurston Moore. Ok, let's get into it shall we. Wait, before we do I should also say that Lee Ranaldo is an amazing guitar player. I don't think that Sonic Youth would sound like they sound if it was not for him, and Steve Shelley does a fantastic job on drums as well. Sister is right at that cross over period from when Sonic Youth was turning from art/noise artists into indie/noise/art rock. For those that think this is a hard listen to go get "Confusion is Sex" or "Death Valley 69". Anyway, My favorite song on this album is Stereo Sanctity but there really is not a bad track on here. And I know that I'm being biased with my love for this band by giving them a 5 star review on *EVERY* album but Sonic Youth is just that good.

Solid album. No bites taken of the commercial apple on this album. The guitar is outta sight. I'm not sure why this band wasn't bigger.

I knew some Sonic Youth albums before, but actually never listened through this one. If you take your time and pay close attention you will discover one of the greatest alternative-/underground-rock-albums of the 1980s…at least in my modest opinion. Especially love the opener and the duet singing between the somehow average college boy Thurston Moore and femme fatale Kim Gordon (who sometimes reminds me of Nico…without the German accent of course). Great album!

Oh fu€k yeaaaaah

It's like 1001 Albums is here for me this week and gifted me another fantastic SY album to listen to. If you were travel back to 1992 and push eject on the cassette player in my car, you'd probably have around a 35% chance of ejecting this album. This (and Daydream Nation) occupied a lot of my attention at the time. What I like about this album, in addition to the usual level of noise and chaos, is how much SY was fucking around with sampling, scratching, and even some level of rapping. It feels like a very, very late 1980s, New York City album. Master-Dik epitomizes this and, as far as I know, is also essentially the bridge song between SY and some of the band's efforts on Ciccone Youth with Mike Watt. But, you've also got J. Mascis in there fucking around on his guitar, and a whole lot of KISS references. Other standouts for me are Hot Wire My Heart. I think it hearkens back to Bad Moon Rising, with chugging guitars around 3:20 and Kim's fairly creepy lyrics. Stereo Sanctity is a ripper, too. I like Steve Shelley's drumming in the first part of the song and whatever the riff Thurston plays between his short verses has been stuck in my head for like 30 years. But, there's not a bad song on here in my estimation and, as a certified SY stan, I'm obligated by the terms of my contract to give this a 5.

Sometimes I wonder why this project picks some albums by artists I like - Hearts & Bones by Paul Simon, I’m looking at you! Not in this case, though. We’ve gotten two SY albums in a week and they are my two favorite SY albums. Schizophrenia is probably my favorite song of theirs since I think trying to capture mental illness in pop music and largely succeeding is a real achievement. The story is terrifying. Going to a friend’s house and his sister is dealing with something so scary, and her brother is dismissive. It’s incredibly real. Then at the 1:45 mark the music becomes exhilarating and haunting. Kim Gordon is perfect here. Tuff Gnarl, Stereo Sanctity, Catholic Block are all great. I like finishing with a sense of humor and looseness too and really like Master-Dik.

This was great. I heard so many of my favourite bands in this album. Strange how I can go my whole life not knowing about something I would enjoy this much.

A great album. Superb textured guitars. This is the album where the band added focus to the noise. The moment they became important.

One of the many essential Sonic Youth albums! I’m sure I’ve written all my praises in previous SY reviews, so I’ll spare us all this time.

First time listening to this album and it's genuinely fantastic. Arty noise pop, what's not to love?

Feels like Sonic Youth were already in the nineties in 1987. This is one of their top ones for me. Particularly like "Pacific Coast Highway."

Dude, this album is pretty dope for being older. PCH is pretty awesome! I've loved every song so far. They're so different than anything else that was out during this time. Definitely paved the road for grunge in the 90s. It's been a while since I had a 5 star album but this is one of them. I remember when I first discovered this type of guitar sound man it was magical.

Man. How did I miss this album? I listened to Goo a ton when I was a kid and I loved loved loved it. But never got this record and I regret it. It is REALLY good. Going to add it into regular rotation.

responsible for 50% of the music I love (also fuckin rocks)

That was ridiculous noise in the right places. I loved it.

A top 5 SY release for me. Not my favorite but very nearly so.

When you have one of greatest songs (in general not just for Sonic Youth) as your opener it sadly hampers the rest of the album. But still very good!

I personally think this is one of the defining albums that helped merge noise rock with the emerging alternative and indie rock scene of the late 80s and early 90s, and paving the way for bands like Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, and Pavement. This also feels like one of Sonic Youth’s key bridge albums, sitting between their NYC no wave and noise rock roots and the more grunge leaning alternative sound they’d explore later in their career.

I like Sonic Youth but admit that this album hasn't gotten the spins it deserves from me. I really loved it this time around, maybe I was just in the perfect headspace for it or something. It's going to get a lot more listens from me.

Great album!

Le mete mucho sustain a la guitarra y luego juegan con capas de ruido. Me da vibes de música que escucharía un adolescente deprimido. No es mi estilo pero ha estado bien.

Day532 - the longer i listened the more i liked it. this is the second sonic youth album and i kind of get the hype now

I love albums that clearly influenced other albums I love

Super atmospheric and has a brooding energy. Abrasive at times but I just keep coming back for more. Now I need to hear more by them

Threatening, full of energy, tuneful.

Jättebra!

Really good album, I’m surprised I never heard much more of their stuff before. It’s got me interested in looking more into Sonic Youth, I’ll give it a five out of five.

Mother of Indie PoP-Rock.

## In-Depth Review of *Sister* by Sonic Youth Sonic Youth’s 1987 album *Sister* stands as a pivotal moment in the band’s evolution and in the broader landscape of alternative rock. Often described as a transitional work between their abrasive no wave roots and the more expansive, melodic territory of *Daydream Nation*, *Sister* fuses experimental guitar textures, cryptic lyricism, and a raw, unvarnished production style. This review examines the album’s lyrics, music, production, themes, and influence, and concludes with a balanced assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. --- ## **Lyrics** *Sister*’s lyrics are enigmatic, poetic, and frequently allusive, drawing from literature, personal experience, and cultural observation. The album opens with “Schizophrenia,” a song inspired by Philip K. Dick’s life and writings, specifically referencing his twin sister who died in infancy. The lyrics are sparse but evocative, painting a portrait of mental instability and familial bonds: > “She said Jesus had a twin who knew nothing about sin / She was laughing like crazy at the trouble I’m in”[2][3]. Throughout the album, the lyrics oscillate between surreal imagery and direct, sometimes confrontational statements. For instance, “(I Got A) Catholic Block” references religious repression and personal liberation: > “You got to earn yr freedom / Get it on my own / I just live 4ever / There just is no end”[2]. “Tuff Gnarl” is a stream-of-consciousness barrage, mixing sexual innuendo, urban decay, and existential angst: > “He’s running on a tuff gnarl in his head / he’s got a fatal erection home in bed / he’s really smart and he’s really fast / he’s got a hard tit killer f*ck in his past”[2]. Kim Gordon’s contributions, particularly on tracks like “Schizophrenia” and “Pipeline/Kill Time,” add a haunting, detached quality that heightens the sense of alienation and introspection. The lyrics rarely offer resolution, instead embracing ambiguity and open-endedness, reflecting the album’s overall mood of restless searching[5]. --- ## **Music** Musically, *Sister* is a masterclass in tension and release, blending dissonant guitar interplay with bursts of melody and driving rhythms. The band’s use of alternate tunings, pioneered by Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, is central to the album’s sound. The guitars often seem to battle each other, weaving between shimmering arpeggios and abrasive noise[1][6]. - “Schizophrenia” starts with a gentle, almost hypnotic riff before building into a maelstrom of feedback and distortion, mirroring the lyrical descent into madness[1][6]. - “(I Got A) Catholic Block” features one of the band’s catchiest riffs, its sneering melody underpinned by propulsive drumming and a sense of barely contained chaos[6]. - “Tuff Gnarl” and “White Cross” are frenetic, with jagged rhythms and aggressive playing that showcase the band’s punk influences. - “Pipeline/Kill Time” and “Pacific Coast Highway” slow the pace, introducing atmospheric textures and a sense of foreboding. Steve Shelley’s drumming anchors the chaos, providing both drive and subtlety, while Kim Gordon’s bass work is understated but essential, locking in with Shelley to create a solid foundation for the guitar experimentation[1][6]. The arrangements are concise compared to the sprawling jams of later albums, giving *Sister* a focused, urgent energy[4]. --- ## **Production** The production on *Sister* is raw and unpolished, capturing the band’s live energy and experimental edge. Recorded at Sear Sound in New York with engineer Walter Sear, the album eschews studio gloss in favor of immediacy and authenticity. The guitars are often drenched in feedback and reverb, but the mix allows each instrument to breathe, avoiding the murkiness that sometimes plagued earlier Sonic Youth records[6]. This approach gives the album a sense of intimacy and volatility, as if the listener is in the room with the band. The production highlights the interplay between melody and noise, with moments of clarity emerging from the sonic fog. While some critics have noted that the production lacks the polish of later works, many fans and reviewers see this as a strength, lending the album a sense of urgency and danger[6]. --- ## **Themes** *Sister* is thematically dense, exploring ideas of duality, mental illness, alienation, and the search for meaning in a fractured world. The influence of Philip K. Dick is particularly strong, with references to his novels *Radio Free Albemuth* and *VALIS* appearing in both lyrics and song titles[3]. The concept of the “sister” recurs throughout, symbolizing both loss and connection, sanity and madness. The album’s mood is often bleak, but not without moments of dark humor and irony. The band’s fascination with American culture, religion, and the underground is evident, as is their willingness to confront uncomfortable topics head-on. The sequencing of the album mirrors the emotional swings of depression and mania, moving from manic bursts of energy to introspective lulls[5]. *Sister* does not offer easy answers or resolutions. Instead, it invites the listener to inhabit its world of uncertainty and contradiction, finding solace in shared confusion and ecstatic release[5]. --- ## **Influence** *Sister* is widely regarded as a landmark in alternative rock, bridging the gap between the abrasive experimentation of Sonic Youth’s early work and the more accessible sound of their later albums. It paved the way for *Daydream Nation* and influenced a generation of indie and alternative bands. - The album’s use of alternate tunings and unconventional song structures inspired countless guitarists, from My Bloody Valentine to Nirvana. - Its raw production and willingness to embrace noise and dissonance helped define the sound of late-80s and early-90s indie rock. - Thematically, *Sister*’s exploration of mental illness, identity, and alienation resonated with listeners and set a template for the introspective, confessional songwriting that would become prevalent in alternative music[3][5]. While *Daydream Nation* is often cited as Sonic Youth’s masterpiece, many critics and fans argue that *Sister* is the band’s most cohesive and emotionally powerful album, its conciseness and focus making it more accessible without sacrificing the band’s avant-garde edge[4][5]. --- ## **Pros and Cons** | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | Innovative guitar work and use of alternate tunings create a unique sonic landscape[1][6] | Raw production may alienate listeners accustomed to cleaner, more polished sound[6] | | Lyrics are poetic, enigmatic, and thematically rich, rewarding close listening[2][3] | Some tracks may feel underdeveloped or abrupt, lacking traditional song structure[4] | | Emotional intensity and authenticity; the album feels immediate and vital[1][5] | The lack of resolution or catharsis in the lyrics and music can be unsettling[5] | | Seamless blend of melody and noise, balancing experimentation with accessibility[6] | The abstract nature of the lyrics and themes may be off-putting to some listeners[2][5] | | Influential in shaping the sound of alternative and indie rock in the late 80s and beyond[3][5] | Some filler tracks (“White Cross,” “Master-Dik”) are divisive among fans and critics[4] | --- ## **Conclusion** *Sister* remains a high-water mark in Sonic Youth’s discography and a cornerstone of alternative rock. Its blend of experimental guitar work, cryptic lyricism, and raw production captures the band at a moment of transition and creative peak. The album’s themes of duality, alienation, and existential searching are as resonant today as they were in 1987, and its influence can be heard in the work of countless artists who followed. While the album’s abrasive sound and abstract lyrics may not appeal to everyone, its emotional honesty and innovative spirit make it an essential listen for anyone interested in the evolution of modern rock music. *Sister* is not just a document of its time, but a timeless exploration of the human condition, rendered in feedback, poetry, and noise.

These early-mid period Sonic Youth records are classics in the guitar-noise art-rock milieu. Their previous albums EVOL is my personal favourite (stacked with remarkable noise pop like Tom Violence, Star Power, Madonna, Sean and Me) but many fans prefer Sister, which is tougher and noisier than EVOL. Highly recommended.

Of course!

Cool

vier bis fünf

really enjoyed that, thank you

I liked this a lot, probably better than Goo

They got the right energy

Sonic Youth have one of the more consistantly great discographies in all of music, and this album no exception. Other bands would have this as their magnum opus but it was just another album for Sonic Youth as they would release more and more total bangers that Sister gets a bit forgotten in my mind. Excellent guitar work and I love the busy drum fills

While not quite as earth shattering as mind shattering as Sonic Youth, Sister's awesome sounds continues to show the melting blending almost liquid distortion that makes the electric guitar a unique blanket of sound. Beautiful at times, and always nice.

Sandwiched as it is between two other great Sonic Youth albums I forget how good this is, how clearly it captures what a phenomenal band they were, quadruple threat.

Probably not my favorite Sonic Youth album, but still great. Innovative, original, interesting, and always super cool. 4.5 rounded up

5/5. Everyone talks about Daydream Nation but this one rides that balance of punk and noise pop perfectly. Each song stands out as unique and the guitar work is excellent, chaotic but stable. The noise sections are well done and normally, it would turn me away but they find that correct sound. It does get more distorted and feedback heavy as the album goes on, so it creates a theme of slowly falling into madness. It is supposedly a concept album about Philip K. Dick, the science fiction author, and how he was not well after his sister's death at birth. Hard to garner that through what I heard but hey, it does feel weird enough to be there. This is finally a post punk album I can get behind. Best Song: (I Got A) Catholic Block, Schizophrenia, Kotton Krown

Not only was this great, but all the songs Apple Music suggested after in the infinite playlist were great because of this. I know I’m a slight outlier, but I love Sonic Youth, and I really enjoy this album.

And this is the second Sonic Youth record I ever listened to, and it’s good. I should listen to it more. I don’t know what exactly it is that Sonic Youth loses on the records after this one, but I haven’t really been hooked by Goo or Daydream Nation. I don’t know, I just find this era of Sonic Youth really inspiring. Just like on EVOL, they have this way of throwing in these very melancholic, plaintive passages right alongside stuff that is gross and hateful. With both this record and EVOL, they have this clear influence from Stooges and Velvet Underground, but they take it in a very different direction. It’s like 1970s arena hard rock just didn’t happen and suddenly it’s 1987. Anyhow, I’m glad I got two Sonic Youth records back-to-back because I just got a guitar with a stable, useful vibrato system for the first time ever and this has given me some ideas on how to use it.

"Sister" is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. A good description of their music is continuing their move away, as in their previous album "EVOL," from the no wave movement towards alternative rock song structures, maintaining an experimental approach. It is a loose concept album inspired in part by the life of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick; the album was named after Dick's faternal twin sister who died at birth. The album was not a commercial success but did receive critical acclaim with some critics naming it one of the best albums of the 80's. "Schizophrenia" opens with a tom-tom drum beat and a melodic and somewhat melancholic guitar. Layered guitars and the bass come in. Thurston Moore on vocals. A piercing guitar break and Kim Gordon takes over on vocals. A song inspired by Philip K. Dick and his sister and Kim Gordon's brother who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. An achingly beautiful song. The band gets their fast-slow-fast dynamic going on "(I Got A) Catholic Block." Moore expressing his catholic guilt. The band fades the song out with distorted guitar and bass and an acoustic guitar. Another great song is "Pacific Coast Higway." Kim Gordon on lead vocals with an eerie and haunting delivery as she takes the place of a serial killer driving up Pacific Coast Highway looking for the next victim. A slow starting song which builds. Inspired, if it can be called that, by Ted Bundy. This is a haunting, almost dreamy, album. The band really establishes their hallmark sound with guitar distortion, drving drums, piercing guitars and layered melodic guitar keys. They use their chaotic, distorted guitar outro fades quite a bit. It would be hard for me to rank the Sonic Youth albums but this one would be near the top.

This album rips. It straddles that line perfectly between the no wave and experimental that Sonic Youth was transitioning out of into the alternative more recognizable song structure. I love the mx on this album so much, it just grinds.

I was in the mood for Sonic Youth. Great record.

5 Stars even though I didn't care for it. It's a well made album, and had I heard it when it first came out, I would have loved it. It's just not my style now.

I'm a big fan of noise and dissonance, and in this album the noiseless is kind of understated, it draws you in. I liked it.

Mais uma oportunidade para relembrar e aprender que é completamente certeiro escutar Sonic Youth

This is a great album. Starting with EVOL, Sonic Youth started with a solid, digestible queue of albums - not that the ones before were bad, but were hard to appreciate. Sister is a master piece

Lucas u might be onto something these guys r kinda good

Album slaps, a lot of energy and a bit chaotic, not necessarily angry but very expressive. Great for journaling and art when you are not gloomy but feeling … a lot

Kinda thought this would be a 4 going in, I remembered it being good but maybe not their best. That's still probably true, but at the same time I think this was so freaking ahead of it's time and I absolutely adored most of the songs after the long break since I last listened to this. Sonic Youth are just too damn good. 4.5 rounded up

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.

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...

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.

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

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

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. (⌐■_■)

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.

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.

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.

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

Sister is my favorite Sonic Youth album. The detuned and distorted guitar sounds are there, but also fantastic rock songs (Schizophrenia, (I Got A) Catholic Block). Daydream Nation is also a banger, but is missing the urgence of this one.

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

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

Great album!

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.

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!

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!!

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.

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

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.

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

A masterpiece!

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

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

Sick album

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

Friggin awesome

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.

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..

A sonic masterpiece. 5 stars.

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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.

Gud

Meni je ovo možda najdraži sonic youth

Love it.

cool

I enjoyed the shit outta this.

One of the two best SY albums. Superb

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.

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

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

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

Troisième album proposé après 'Daydream Nation' et 'Goo' que j'avais beaucoup apprécié (notés tous deux 4/5 pour leur originalité et capacité à surprendre). Originalité toujours présente dans ce nouvel album ! Il contient peu de morceaux plus longs et plus développés que j'avais particulièrement appréciés dans les 2 albums déjà écoutés, mais tout le reste y est déjà (dissonance, structure inattendue et non standard, morceaux plus rugueux ...), il va lui aussi rejoindre ma collection. =>4/5

I think this is my quickest turnaround for one artist, I had EVOL like 4 days ago. Honestly, listening to them in quick succession like this was kind of an interesting exercise, especially because they were released subsequently. I loved EVOL, it got a 5, pretty cleanly (although I don't particularly like my review of it). Sister comes in the middle of a run of Sonic Youth albums where the band was evolving particularly fast, and is a sort of unique piece. A little history may help in explaining where the sound of this lies. Sonic Youth started soundly as a No-Wave band (and became one of approximately two No-Wave bands to really survive past the incredibly short lived scene, the other being SWANS). No-Wave was a reaction to New Wave, and is basically a completely deconstructed form of punk (which is, on some level, already a deconstructed form of rock, keep this in mind), with emphasis on grinding sounds, intentionally obnoxious writing, and an almost outsider-y performance philosophy (even though these bands were all *very* much part of a certain artistic "In Crowd"). I would describe Sonic Youth's music through Bad Moon Rising pretty cleanly as No-Wave. EVOL was a big step, and ended up as No-Wave-ish, but with some (admittedly abstract) pop sensibilities. Basically, it created a really particular sour, eerie, even dangerous atmosphere through this sound. But on Sister, the No-Wave "sound" is more or less abandoned (although some of it's philosophies remain), and the sound of Sister is as though Sonic Youth have started at their No-Wave sound, and tried to un-deconstruct it back into punk. And to go further, Daydream Nation actually feels to me like they go a step further and kind of un-deconstruct Sister's version of punk all the way back into rock. This puts Sister and Daydream Nation into a really unique position, where they have a lot that's recognizable as "punk" or "rock", but at the same time, they are also like 3 or 4 degrees of separation away from the genres as we usually see them. And the result is what I'd imagine it would be like hearing music from another dimension. To bring this back to Sister; it's an incredibly unique expression of punk, but I honestly prefer the (somewhat) similar EVOL. At this point Sonic Youth have pretty soundly lost their particular flavor of spookiness that appeared on the earlier records (though Pacific Coast Highway comes pretty damn close), but they are also rocking a little harder and, at the end of the day, have more mature, complete songs here that work both individually and as a record. I will admit that the earlier albums are great *albums*, but they don't always work as "collections of songs, if that makes sense. This can kind of do both, and a consequence of this is that I have some more individual songs that I consider favorites, like Stereo Sanctity, Pacific Coast Highway, Cotton Crown, White Cross, and the admittedly strange Master-Dik. But that atmosphere on EVOL really was something, and since these *are* fairly similar albums, I kind of feel the loss. Although, I will definitely agree that Sister is one of the band's better albums, and that it's pretty awesome.

Enjoyable. I’ve never listened to this album before

It was alright, reminded me of my beloved nu-metall

Why are there no Sonic Youth cover bands? Because anyone who would be in a Sonic Youth cover band would be making their own music. What Sonic Youth detractors often miss is that amidst the noise, there is a keen ear for melody and sounds that simply blend well together.

have listened to it previously, so im going to rate this based on my opinion about the whole band

Another great Sonic Youth album. I think the second half is a little weaker which holds this back from being on the level of Goo or Daydream Nation for me. The different vocals all fit the vibes they are creating and the guitar tones are great as ever. Favorites were Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Pipeline/Kill Time, and Pacific Coast Highway.

Fantastic album that still holds up.

oh ...hello ......

A great new rock band that I'm glad to have been introduced to.

It really is quite good. There are parts where classic "punk" Sonic Youth comes out to play and there are parts where they are being progressive and forward. This is kind of where they started to move toward a sound that would certainly influence the next wave of bands, many from just up north in Seattle... There is no doubt about the influence Sonic Youth had on Grunge... and this record is more or less right where it started.

another sonic youth album after a wee bit. their fourth release is more experimental than their last album. it's said to be something more akin to a concept album but that definition is quite loose... there's influence and aesthetics at play but it's not like this album is based around a core concept or idea. sonic youth is generally pretty good from what i've been listening to throughout my album journey, especially if you're into that grungy punky sound. i'm going to say that this album is probably one of their best. compared to their other earlier stuff, this album is very solidified. there's good and firm structure even with the echoey foggy level of rock. it's beautifully gauzy. i'd blast this sort of thing if i was in the shower and if i overdosed on the doobies i normally take every day.

mood

Great alt rock

Excellent record. Didn't know this at all and only vaguely aware of later Sonic Youth music. Will listen again and I am now looking forward to hearing more from them.

Joyous, cranky alternative rock. I listened at night (as ever) and melted into it. Particular highlight was the guitar work at the end of Catholic Block.

Aggressive nihilistic noise rock

Sonic Youth continue their noisy excursions, discordant dual guitar attack, with a real emphasis on timbre than a proper melodic chord progression. They don’t really tone that down much here, but they also show they can write a song or two too! Ranges from pounding punkiness to way out in the aether, but it’s all cool.

85

A bunch of unfuckwthable true geniuses, but I didn't know this album when it came out so it simply inferior to Daydream Nation, Goo, and Dirty for objectively verifiable nostalgia reasons.

Первый полностью послушанный мною альбом sonic youth. Я думала у них все хуже, а оказалось нормально и прикольно. Жили бы они в Британии….. Цены бы им не было.

Не самый любимый их альбом, но все еще база

Хорошечно

I know I do like Sonic Youth, but this time their music did not land for me and it felt just alright instead of great; I think it was me and my very peculiar mood yesterday, so I think I'll still give them four stars instead of three and relisten to Sister again later. I think it was me, I hope it was just me!

Great noise rock.

What is people's obsession with putting naked babies on album covers like be for real

Coming off the back of EVOL, Sonic Youth decided to do something revolutionary - actually write some songs rather than just collections of noise. The results are a bit mixed, as you might expect. Schizophrenia is beautiful opener to this album, which nicely mixes noise with melody, which is a theme that continues on. Things do get a bit weirder through the middle of the record, but you can see where the Youth are heading - towards a great 3 album run of Daydream Nation, Goo and Dirty which propelled them into the 90s. A great reminder of what these guys were doing when the pop charts were full of hair metal.

Schizophrenia was an interesting first track! I loved the first half, and then the instrumental portion that was the second half came in and made the track even better. I like this group as they have such a distinct sound for each different outing. Catholic block had an almost modern indie-rock feel to it even though it was released in ‘87. Beauty lies in your eyes has such a nice name. Stereo Sanctity was another great sounding track. I liked the different sound of Pipeline/killtime. I actually really liked the spoken word elements. I liked how Tuff Gnarl was a nice slower track, then followed by Pacific Coast Highway which, while not faster, had a more intense sound to it. Hot Wire my Heart was so much fun! I didn’t love cotton crown, it was too repetitive for me. While more upbeat, I had similar feelings about Master-dik. It was a slightly disappointing end to what was a pretty good album. 3.5/5 ⭐️ 126/1089

7/10

That was quite nice. Nothing too much but good. 4/5

Oh yes! Yes! Yes. When I was 16 my 4 years younger brother gave me a bootlegged cassette of goo. I just couldn’t get into it. He told me I therefore would never be punk rock or cool. I was bitter about sonic youth ever after. But now, years later I love them. Very very much. I do view them like late period jazz. Not to be “just thrown on” and really best listened to alone on headphones. But thank you god for music that is not immediately accessible. Boolean rating: yes! Very glad to hear many times before I die.

Solid lofi music

Only the second Sonic Youth album I've heard, yet not quite at the level of their iconic Daydream Nation. This album is definitely on the more unconventional side, with some normal moments like Hot Wire My Heart, being a cover of a 70s punk rock song by the band Crime. Sonic Yoith filled up the noisy gap in the 80s Post-Punk scene while other artists like Joy Division on the Gothic Rock side and Talking Heads delving more into New Wave. While the other bands definitely have much clearer melodies, Sonic Youth do know how to create melodies on this album, it's just hard to find at some points due to being drowned out in the rest of the noise. Their sound is mainly based on the uniqueness of their guitar tones, which I don't really have the qualifications to speak on. The rest of the instrumentation is also very unconvential, especially with the drumming on the first track, Schizophrenia, featuring mostly the use of toms. The vocals admittedly are not very good but are not really the point of this record and are easy to look past. Rather than having a normal structure (verse, chorus) this album more focuses on the transformation of tracks. My favourite part of this album is definitely the mood, which I find to be oddly nostalgic at times and definitely sort of depressing. It's overall an extremely consistent listen and the only song I would leave off of this would be Beauty Lies in the Eye which seems more like an interlude than anything. My favourite song here would be Catholic Block.

A clear progression from Evol. Gone are most of the avant-garde tendencies, and the noise is more prominent as building tension and dynamics. It’s varied, at the end they go straight from garage rock in «Hot Wire…» to Velvet Underground worshipping in Cotton Crown. Sampling one of the best Kiss songs, Strutter, in «Master-Dik» is just genius.

I've been meaning to listen to Sonic Youth some more. I really liked this one.

Schizophrenia 4 (I Got A) Catholic Block 3.8 Beauty Lies in the Eye 3.4 Stereo Sanctity 3.7 Pipeline/Kill Time 3.7 Tuff Gnarl 3.3 Pacific Coast Highway 3.8 Hot Wire My Heart 3.5 Kotton Krown 3.5 White Kross 3.2 Score: 3.59

Superior to EVOL, more focused than Daydream Nation, but less accomplished than Goo

Left a really positive first impression. The noise and punk elements created a dark intensity that I’ll be excited to return to. 1 listen Favorite Track: Schizophrenia

I really liked this one. I have been meaning to listen to more Sonic Youth, I'm glad I did. This was close to a 5 for me.

Yet another solid entry in Sonic Youths catelog. Scuzzy with some great guitar hooks. Schizophrenia is a stellar opener but I really enjoyed the direction that Pacific Coast Highway goes as it slows midway thru into a druggy haze. I really like what Sonic Youth does and they do what they do well on Sister and therefore I enjoyed this. 4 stars

My second Sonic Youth album so far and they’re becoming a bit of a welcome treat. I can’t yet pin down what it is I like, but there’s a thrilling energy and imagination to their music that resonates with me. Favourite track: Pacific Coast Highway

Loud, clangy, but that appears to be what I like as of late.

I still maintain to this day that Sonic Youth was the loudest show that I have ever been too. My ears rang for 2 or 3 days after this show. Noise rock at its finest. This feels like so much music that came later, its kind of in the source code of all contemporary indie music. The shoegaze / noisey / fuzzy impressionistic style of this record is fantastic. Its not an easy listen, but its also not a hard listen. Maybe my ears are just adjusted. I enjoyed this!

having this album after some cuban jazz/mambo was like walking into a much darker room and having to wait a few seconds for your eyes to adjust. but once they do, there's a lot going on here. i enjoyed this album a lot more than i thought i would. cool proto-grunge sound, good samples, and each track had more going on it than it seemed at first blush. nothing mind-blowing or revolutionary but pretty good for this list. favorites: schizophrenia, i got a catholic block, beauty lies in the eye, stereo sanctity, master-dik

This is my group's last Sonic Youth album, and it sure is more of that sound they have. Solid 4 Stars.

Liked more than Dreamland Nation.

Thrilling fuzz-rocker rambling in a mad haze, consistent Sonic Youth album with a healthy amount of ferocious enjoyment

This album sits in a unique place in the 80s when punk rock has been obscured by new emerging hair bands and alternative rock. The band really does an impressive job of threading the needle, because though it comes out in 87, it shares none of the negative production value of most big rock bands. At the same time it doesn't retreat to the anarchy of punk. I don't know much about Sonic Youth, but this album is a breath of fresh air from where most of the 80s turned.

so awesome

very scuzzy and off kilter. need to relisten paying more more close attention i think.

Sonic Youth! This is why I'm doing this challenge. Sonic Youth is one of those bands that I've known about for years, but literally no one I've ever met has been a fan. So it seemed like music I'd get around to eventually, and I never did. Until now! I was leary of this, because I know they're considered very avant-garde and noisy and dissonant. But I was pleasantly surprised by the first track - yes, it's noisy and dissonant, but it's incredibly musical. And I think that holds for the rest of the songs on Sister as well. They can be tough to listen to - but they have their own beauty that I find compelling. I liked this a LOT more than I thought I would. FOUR STARS

Really liked this. Great sound, good tracks.

dang this sounded like something good incredible

Really good album. I liked this a lot. Worthy addition to this list for sure.

Incredible vibe on the opener. Guitars are crazy good. What a song. Second one goes very hard as well. 3 is mysterious and dark. 4 5 6 take you to a beautiful and loud journey. 7 starts loud and later transforms into something else. The journey of this tracks is amazing. The guitar work is very original. 8 is a lighter moment on the project, and not my favorite. Love the vocals on 9. A great track overall. White cross is the closing track. It has great energy and vibe. This is how you make noise. Lush, interesting, dynamic. It's loud ,it should be. That's the point. It's a well deserved 4

Love Sonic Youth but there are some better albums of theirs out there.

Grungey af so it’s right up my street, but the end of the album dragged a LOT.

I love dissonance

every track has a moment that i can just disappear into. this was never my favorite SY album but it is part of a dazzling run of albums (much of which it looks like we'll be able to visit). where they just are always inches away from disappearing into something amazing, like the end of "Catholic Block" (a song that somehow I previously dismissed but on this listen very much stood out). I still think it's not in my upper echelon of rock albums like the best of Sonic Youth, but my oh my is this such an experience.

Музыка Sonic Youth требует некоторого переключения и адаптации.

Strong four I like these guys

Surprisingly good

Mächtige Band. Einflussreich auf so viele Bands, die ich mag. Tolles Album.

Personal enjoyment: 4/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5

Scruffy and urgent

love it honestly giving alt band from the 80s

Super moody, still experimental. It doesn’t quite have the “wow” of side A from EVOL or Goo, but hey, more prime Sonic Youth is something I will never complain about.

Schizophrenia builds and builds, never quite reaching catharsis. Everything is muted somehow, rounded off corners. The musings of an emotionally unavailable person. I love the tremolo picked riffs though, it's very post-rock. If that existed in 1987. Catholic Block is a bit more punk, a bit noisier, mixed with acoustic guitar. Lovely outro. Speak-singing on Beauty Lies in the Eye, but I don't mind, it just adds another layer of ambience to the waves of sound. The music almost sounds like Agalloch. There's enough melody to balance the weirder stuff that comes - sometimes in the same track - Tuff Gnarly is poppy before a dissonant breakdown totally transforms the song. Hot Wire My Heart is basically a glam rocker with a filter of grime and noise applied to it. Cotton Crown returns to the mid paced, heavy melodic stuff. This is all a bit epic, but exhausting. I do like it a lot.

Deciding what score to give to this album was challenging. For the past 6 days, I've being listening to it, even hearing it several times per day, in order to develop a proper opinion. The only reason I gave it so many tries is because Sonic Youth albums can be very challenging, so I needed the time to slowly digest it. Also, if it wasn't because I love "EVOL" and "Daydream Nation", I probably would have given up the first day and rate it 2 or 3 stars. "Sister" was released between the two already mentioned albums. It shows a clearly progression towards a more cohesive and accessible sound with a lo-fi production while keeping a lot of the noise and chaos of the previous album, even though it is not as bold or punishing. And landing in the middle is what really made it difficult for me, since it doesn't reach the incredibly high points of "Daydream Nation" and it is not as macabre and daunting as "EVOL". The album starts with "Schizophrenia", a very powerful song which is very reminiscent of "Teen Age Riot" with the very powerful guitar riffs. Instead of sounding bright and cheerful, they have a little touch of sentimentalism and melancholia to it. It also features a very post-rockish build-up in the second half which is very beautiful. Next is "Catholic Block", which changes the album tone to a more energetic side and features some incredibly noisy and catchy guitar works. Then, "Beauty Lies in the Eye" slows things down again, bringing a quite relaxing and calm with a very meditative vocals and guitars with a lot of detail in the background. "Stereo Sanctity" follows up and returns the energy of the second song and turns it up. The main riff sounds to me like it was extracted from a surf rock track, but with a more gloomy sound. I also loved the slow down to the second half and the very sinister sound of if that keeps building back up. Afterwards, there is "Pipeline / Kill Time", a more serious song which has an incredible and melodic guitar in the second verse that I absolutely loved. Then it gets super dense and slow in the latter half. Up next is "Tuff Gnarl", sounding quite uplifting with some of the most catchy vocal melodies and great sounding guitar lines that slowly descends to a very chaotic ending. "Pacific Coast Highway" has a nice industrial touch with the impending sounds in the background and Kim Gordon sounding very menacing. There is a very calm section in the middle, but in the end, the song comes back to the starting motives. Then comes "Hot Wire My Heart", which is very unique. It doesn't have any super noisy section like all the other songs, and it could be qualified as their more standard track if it wasn't for the super dissonant guitars and forced voice. It might feel a bit like an outlier, but it is very fun with the most anthemic chorus of the whole project. Coming up is "Cotton Crown", which might sound very slow and relaxing at the start, but does feature some very noisy and dissonant guitars that begin to make a build up once the second half starts. Finally, the album ends with "White Cross", one of the most frenetic pieces of the album with some of the fastest drums and guitars. Actually, there is one more song, "Master-Dik", that is included as bonus track. It has a lot of attitude and very sticking sampling which makes it fun to listen to. So there it is, the whole album described. It was difficult to get to this point, but I'm glad I dedicated enough time for it to grow on me and appreciate all the interesting things it does.

I really enjoyed the instrumentation on this. The guitar textures were brilliant and kept going to places I didn't necessarily expect. But it was let down by the overall songs. Nothing really captured. I wasn't left with any of them in my head, they just came and went, meaning even the cool guitar parts can't easily be separated across the album. There are other sonic youth albums which don't suffer this fate, so that knocks it down a bit. It's either a low 4 or a high 3... I'm still not sure what I'll press, let's find out.

Very good

The dissonance works for me. Most noise rock annoys me, but I can listen to and enjoy Sonic Youth.

Bon album qui réveille

Maybe a 4

Kind of felt this would be another 5 stars, to match EVOL and Daydream Nation. And it's a great album, sonically brilliant, but there's something about it I don't love as much. I think the problem is me, here. 9/10

started so good but fell off

4.1 Finally found one! Just over a decade I got heavily into Daydream Nation, and quickly flicked through their catalogue in search of anything which hit me the same way but never found it. Everything before it seemed too raw, unpolished, everything after too bland, filtered. This might be the fourth (or fifth) appearance of SY on this list which is surprising in itself, and my opinion of non-DN albums hadn't changed until now. This is some good shit. Ignoring the cover (not the first album that seems to include an unnecessary cover that I've lambasted on here), the only weak track imo is the last one. The rest of the album, particularly the first half, is pretty stellar. Different to Daydream Nation, but not necessarily in a bad way. Looking forward to exploring more.

I love Sonic Youth's sound, noisy and dissonant, fairly similar to the Pixies, but theres more space, quieter and less hooks. Very influencial band and album to everything alt-rock and indie.

4/5. Not my personal favorite Sonic Youth album, but still a great burst of noisy rock/punk music. Not too much to say really, this album slaps.

Schizophrenia - 4.5/5 Catholic Block - 5/5 Beauty Lies in the Eye - 3/5 Stereo Sanity - 4/5 Pipeline/Kill Time - 3/5 Tuff Gnarl - 4/5 Pacific Coast Highway - 3/5 Hot Wire My Heart - 3.5/5 Cotton Crown - 4/5 White Cross - 4/5 An interesting blend of punk and post-punk and noise rock that comes together quite nicely. I wouldn't say I was a fan of noisy rock before this, the rawness of the whole thing made me appreciate it a bit more. It does sound a bit compressed at times but otherwise it is quite a fine album. Overall: 4/5 Favorites: Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Tuff Gnarl, Cotton Crown

Art

This band is pretty good

I haven't understood the appeal of Sonic Youth. I've listened to a bunch of their records from different eras, but, to date, they still hadn't clicked for me. Sister might change that. I love the direction SY is taking. They're being influenced by post-punk, their no-wave background, and noise rock, combining these sounds while predating post-hardcore bands like Unwound and Slint by a few years. I also hear the beginnings of slowcore bands like Codiene here. The point being, this is a refreshing and bombastic album that I completely slept on. There's just so much to enjoy here!! What a delightful surprise! Highlights: "Schizophrenia" , "Tuff Gnarl", most of the album, honestly. Lowlights: fucking NONE. this album is gooood.

Unique sound which has to be appreciated.

I like it Clo I like it!! Love all the different styles of guitar they're using, and whatever they're doing always fits with what the song feels like its going for Didn't really like the vocal melodies they tried on Tuff Gnarl and Pacific Coast Highway but the instrumental sections brought me back around on them. Highlights: Schizophrenia Catholic Block Stereo Sanctity Pretty high 4

I’ve listened to Daydream Nation a bunch but never came back to this one. I can see lot of the greatness that would come next but this one is just a tiny bit lesser.

Very nice album. Good rock/punk from the 80s

Me likey.

NOISE

A pivotal album by a great band.

Must be their blueprint for the next 5-6 records lol It’s good.

4.5 So great. If you know evol and bad moon rising you know this is the bridge from there to Daydream Nation.

I was lucky enough to be in college when Nirvana hit the world and the 90s alternative scene erupted. Sonic Youth was an intimidating presence for me - the band that people ahead of the curve already knew and loved. The band whose music played in the record store and you were afraid to ask who it was. It was only Much later that I started to listen to Sonic Youth - benefitting from the access to music provided by streaming services, this was mostly in the form of random songs. This is the first time I’ve listened to them in album format and I wasn’t disappointed. Just enough melodic pop elements to help me feel anchored through the experimental aspects.

This one sounds indie as all get out. Noisy and totally grungified. This band clearly influenced an entire genre of music that was to come. For what it is, this is a 4. I have to be in the mood, but it's good.

A couple good songs, but otherwise forgettable

Four, I think, but just barely.

I was always intrigued by these guys but I never really sat down and listened to an entire album. This album is awesome. I love their whole guitar "wall of sound".

Noisy post-punk. I liked Catholic Block but would like to give this more of a listen and I’m looking forward to going back to it again.

4/5 - Kinda odd having 2 SY albums in the same week, but there's worse problems to have. Love Schizophrenia, Tuff Gnarl, Pipeline/Kill Time, Hot Wire My Heart, Catholic Block. I think I listened to this 4 times yesterday.

This is very good - just like the other Sonic Youth records in the 1001 book

Sonic Youth are legit time travellers, creating one of the definitive grunge album 5 years before everyone else. Anyway, you don't need to tell me to listen to Sonic Youth...

Another classic Sonic Youth album. Their earliest attempt at making accessible music and easily one of their best. This is the first in a run of nearly perfect records for me. 1987 was a really weird year for music. The biggest albums of the year (The Joshua Tree, Appetite For Destruction and Hysteria) were omnipresent meanwhile in Indie Rock the sound that came to define so much of the genre was established by Sister, Dinosaur Jr.’s “You’re Living All Over Me” and R.E.M’s “Document” among others.

Light 4,5

Four Sonic Youth albums in seven months. My Spotify Wrapped is going to love this. Well, it's apparently the last of their albums I'll be listening through this challenge and while I have enjoyed getting to know them, I do think the book editor(s) were pushing their luck here. Five albums spanning seven years is excessive from anyone not named The Beatles, and there's nowhere near enough progression or variety from one album to the next to justify it. Sister is the second (chronologically) of that run, but you can't really tell as it hovers around the same territory as the rest, with noisy, messy, feedback-laden guitars and moments of melodic genius, scattered around its relatively snappy runtime. I found it neater and tidier than Daydream Nation but without quite as many highlights, and definitely better than Goo and E.V.O.L. Sooner or later, I'll start buying some of these when I spot them in the wild but I will admit I'm glad to have completed the SY portion of the challenge. Once again, it's been hard to digest in a short space of time and I'll want to come back to it in due course.

I enjoyed this enough to give it two plays today. I was never really into them in the 80's, a time in my life when perhaps I should have been, but there was a lot going on. Purchase material. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ Missed opportunity ★★★★☆ (7/10)

By the time 𝘚𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 arrived, Sonic Youth had fully found their voice — or rather, their beautiful noise. It’s the perfect bridge between their early no-wave chaos and the structured, art-damaged rock that would define their later years. The guitars sound like they’re pulling gravity in opposite directions, and yet the songs feel strangely tuneful — messy, melodic, and magnetic all at once. Tracks like 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢 and 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 prove that dissonance can be deeply emotional when it’s in the right hands (and the right detuning). I’m probably biased toward Sonic Youth, but 𝘚𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 is exactly why — it’s noisy, fearless, and quietly transcendent.

Schizophrenia is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded in my opinion. Altogether it’s undeniably Sonic Youth. I like their sound. I’d listen to this one any day. Still, I think they have stronger records, so it’s a strong 4 for me

A wild, noise-rock masterpiece.

This was all around a good album. I enjoyed the instrumentation immensely. I didn't enjoy the shout-singing as much. I would listen to this again. This genre is right up my alley. 4 out of 5.

Good album; will listen to again. 3.8/5

4/5

New fav SY.

Sonic Youth, an American rock band active from 1981 to - During their major label career from 1990 to 1999, Sonic Youth released several influential albums, including "Goo" in 1990, which became their best-selling record, and "Dirty" in - Their music incorporated elements of alternative rock, with collaborations and influences noted from figures such as Chuck D and Ian MacKaye. They were key tastemakers in the alternative scene, collaborating with Spike Jonze and contributing to cultural phenomena like the Lollapalooza festival and an episode of "The Simpsons." Artistically, they were known for their innovative use of multiple unconventional guitar tunings, using cheap guitars and various objects to create experimental sounds

It's a pretty fun album. It's noisy and abrasive, but it doesn't really sound as such. It took me a few listens to start enjoying Sonic Youth. This is a perfectly fine album by them, kind of in between the harshness of Evol and the sprawling beauty of Daydream Nation, both of which I prefer. Really influential band and good stuff.

I like sonic youth now Will I listen to again: 80%

Highlight Song/s: Beauty Lies in the Eye, Pipeline/Kill Time My second Sonic Youth album (first is Daydream Nation,) I've listened to songs here and there and I have a couple of favourite songs of theirs but haven't listened to too much of them. First impressions tells me that, there's this cool post-punk undertone to the songs, like the ringing guitars and the rhythm section is something you'd hear from any of the post-punk pioneers. I have been a recent enjoyer of white noise parts in songs and this is literally a gold mine for it. My Bloody Valentine was the band the turned me over to it; and they were heavily inspired by Sonic Youth. MBV's e.p. and first album, You Made Me Realise and Isn't Anything is very adjacent to this album if you turn down the pop-ness halfway I didn't know where to fit this next sentence, so I will just leave it here: Schizophrenia, to my ears has this yearning sort of sound; which I really like.

Better than I expected. I was into the Parquet Courts for a little bit without ever having listened to Sonic Youth, but now I know where they got that sound from.

This was interesting and definitely felt like something that didn't come out in the 80s. Will listen again!

Great early sonic youth

Un album/band que je n’écoute pas assez, mais que je ne regrette jamais d’avoir écouté.

8/10 The first time I stuck this record on, I was drawn to some elements of it, but it kind of washed over me a little without dragging me in. After a couple more runs through, particularly after paying closer attention for a track by track breakdown and then letting it wash over me again, it just kept getting better and better. There’s so much to like about this. It’s brash, it’s noisy, but there are also hooks and melodic elements that just bubble out from the cacophony, or force their way out from the noise. In some ways, one could call it unfocused, but there’s an element of ‘stream of consciousness’ about it. It’s like a Kathe Koja novel in audio form, it’s grimy, punky and not the easiest thing to parse at first glance, but there’s so much life and experience poured into it that it feels like a very specific life, time and place distilled into a grubby piece of art that sometimes borders on horrific. You can definitely hear the influence of this on some of the more punky grunge bans like Mudhoney, L7 and Nirvana, so it’s really interesting to hear the genesis of that sound that would take on its own life only a few years later. The fact that the vocals are sparingly used adds to the sense of disorientation really works, because when they do appear they centre the record again before it spins off into more fire and fury. There are a few lulls here and there, and it’s not exactly the easiest of listening pieces, so it’s not going to get top marks, but it was a fantastic experience nonetheless. Schizophrenia - The way that the bass doesn’t just pick the obvious root notes for the chord choices and the impact that has on the feeling of the progression is really nice. It plays with song structure a little, but doesn’t drift so far as to become disconnected. They’re not afraid to be sparse, but they also never allow the momentum of the track to be lost. There’s a lot to like about this. There’s good grooves, hectic noise and great dynamic changes. Catholic Black - This comes out of the blocks with great pace. There are some solid riffs in here and it becomes pretty frantic in places. Again, they’re not afraid to make things a little experimental and have a drastic tempo change. It’s nice and hooky while still being brash and noisy. Beauty Lies in the Eye - This creates a very thick ambience with Kim Gordon’s voice barely revealing itself through the noise. It threatens to take off, but remains restrained. Stereo Sanctity - This is great. It takes that noise wash from the previous track and injects it with some real energy. The drumming, in particular, is great. It feels like he’s just about clinging on to the tempo, which really adds to the raw, frenetic, almost psychotic feel of the track. There’s more going on within the noise than there might initially appear too, and the slow build from the breakdown is great. Pipeline/Kill Time - More frantic energy and ebb and flow here in the first half. They tread a fine line, throwing memorable little riffs here and there, but never allowing things to take too mach of a focus. Then things drift into an echoing cloud of feedback. There are some great tones that they pull out of the guitars that just taste like anxiety. Tuff Gnarl - This one feels like they’re stretching things a bit far. The more traditional song elements don’t really connect with me and I don’t really gel with Thurston’s vocal delivery. When it drops to the noisy section, it’s a bit uninspiring until it starts speeding up, which is pretty good. But overall, it’s a bit meh. Pacific Coast Highway - There’s a lot of attitude here. I love Kim Gordon’s vocal delivery. Everything is so brash and threatening, and then we drift away to a more stripped back section. Things are almost pretty, but the distorted tones maintain that menacing edge. Hot Wire My Heart - This feels the most like a traditional song on the album. Turns out it’s a cover of a Crime song, which is why! It feels a little bit run of the mill compared to the rest of the album because of that. We still get the noisy cacophony of the Sonic Youth sound, but it loses a bit of the spaced out, avant edge that the album has developed until this point. Cotton Crown - There’s a lot of interesting work being done between the two guitars here and there on this track, with Kim Gordon and Steve Shelley keeping things just about pinned down with their rhythmic and tonal core. And the vocal sections that bookend the sludgy, noisy centre have enough hook to frame it all with something that you can cling on to after the track has ended. White Cross - The drumming here is fantastic. Again, we’re into frenzied fury territory. This is a really fantastic track. So much tempo, rage and some fantastic combinations of rhythm and attention grabbing riffs. Master-Dik - This has some great rhythms, not just from the drums, but some of the bass and guitar that just peek out from the wall of noise. The vocal is more prominent here than on most of the other tracks. It feels like it’s on the edge of collapsing quite a few times and then things just about cling back together again, which creates a really interesting effect. The ending is brilliantly weird.

I liked the first song on this album and the rest of it was good.

Slightly too noisy in parts to be a real winner for me, but the more sonic youth the hear the more I like it

learning to love sonic youth, I think they kick ass but the conversion process is slow

Comes out like a house on fire, even if it, like Daydream Nation, suffers for having its unimpeachable masterpiece as the lead-off song, reaching a height that's impossible to match. Moore's verse in Schizophrenia is imbued with so much sorrow, and then Gordon's part somehow feels even sadder. Proto-shoegaze, but also so far ahead of its time that it would be revolutionary if it came out in 2026. Some scorchers on the balance of the record too — Catholic Block, Stereo Sanctity, White Cross. Some of the sillier stuff detracts, unfortunately, including (bonus track?) Master-Dik. Second-tier SY, still fantastic.

Tons of energy on this tight, packed LP. I love the post-punk brightness, and then songs dissolving to straight-up walls of noise and thrash, with driving drumming throughout. Kim Gordon’s vocals coming in add fantastic contrast to Thurston Moore’s. A very good to great record.

Loud, noisy, and a great indicator of where grunge was headed just a few years before the genre would really take off. You won't find the more well known Sonic Youth songs here, but this album is a good listen for some noisy, messy grunge.

First time I’ve heard this - unsure how/why because it’s right up my street

This album is great(if out shown by their follow up, Daydream Nation). Art Rock Power Noise with just the barest grip of control to keep it from spiraling into madness, just how I like my Sonic Youth.

Post punk, pre-grunge and completely different to just about everything else happening in 1987. In a weird bit of synchronicity, I found out the track Schizophrenia was inspired by Philip K Dick, just after I finished reading The Man in the High Castle yesterday. It’s very fitting - the album manages to be cerebral and sonically challenging - this is definitely one I’ll be returning to.

The album that was Sonic Youth going from "artsy and out there" to "trying to be more polished."

Feels fresh and relevant 40 years later still. Definitely a classic.

I was super into this album sophomore year of college, one of the first I taped during my first show at the college radio station. I remember trying to sell some friends on it back home and realizing I was really parting ways with them. The strummy riffs of “Schizophrenia” and the waterless surf of “Catholic Block” are what comes to me first when I hear the name Sonic Youth, though now I think they have better, more fleshed out material. “Hot Wire My Heart” might be their most fun song.

New York City is a common muse on the 1,001 list; I’ve referenced it in recent reviews of Television and Lou Reed, and I’m sure there will be plenty more examples to come. I’ve always felt the cityscape, with its hard edges, chaos and moods, was a main character in Sonic Youth’s early work from the 1980s. On Sister, the band evokes a Lower Manhattan that is dark, visceral and dangerous — a far cry from what it is today. The music on this release is exciting, thoughtfully paced and adventurous, with all four band members pulling equal weight and proving indispensable. Hints of melody and conventional song structure are starting to creep into the noise workouts, a pattern that would reach fuller blossom in their masterpiece follow-up, Daydream Nation.

Not as good as evol or daydream nation, but better than dirty and goo.

A solid Sonic Youth album. They make pretty solid albums.

as a whole album experience, this has everything I like about this band boiled down into something just really hooky and straightforward in comparison to some of the noisier stuff I'm used to hearing by them.

4.5 good early stuff from sonic teenage riot still better

Pretty good alt rock album

This was a cool album, I'm generally very opposed to the noise rock thing but this one was working for me *most of the time*. There were a couple moments in the second half where I was feeling stressed. A unique album that does it's own thing

4.5

3.5

*Sisters* Listen to it a second time as a whole this time around it actually confirmed what I thought the first four songs I'm really kind of fine with and was looking like I would probably put it in between *Evol* and *Nation* But quite frankly after the 4th song it just seems to run into the kind of noise Rock category that I find kind of interesting but also not anything I would pull out to just enjoy. Overall still a pretty high 3½ which will give it a 4 on the app. 7.8 ★★★½

Cool noise rock album. 4 stars

I liked it a lot more than I expected. They’ve won me over

At first I just had it on as background and I hated it, but I decided to restart and try again when I got to Hot Wire My Heart because I did kind of like it. On the second listen I realized some of these tracks actually fuck severely if you give them a chance and pay attention.

Some really good songs I didn’t know. An obvious Trail of the Dead inspiration

I've been very hit or miss with the Sonic Youth albums on this list. Dirty and Daydream Nation have been standouts, but I was very underwhelmed by Goo. As for Sister, I liked it. I really wanted to love it, but the songs didn't grab me in the same way as Dirty and Daydream. Still, I love almost anything Kim Gordon does, and her songs again were the highlights. "Schizophrenia" and "Pacific Coast Highway" were my favorite tracks, but there wasn't anything on here that I didn't somewhat enjoy. This is closer to a 3.5 for me, but I'm going to round up because giving it a 3 just seems too low.

Classic Sonic Youth.

Better than I expected

I love the sound and variety. First time Sonic Youth have landed with me.

Good overall. Great moments here and there. Although if I’m in the mood for a Sonic Youth album then I’m reaching for Daydream Nation.

I like the Sonic Youth.

This is an intense, weird, angular, discordant record with moments that are all gross and messy and explosive and moments that are crazily lovely. It's dark. Sonic Youth were never on my radar in the 80s, early 90s, and I have always felt like a loser that I don't know their music well, but a year or three back, Goo and Daydream Nation went into my rotation, and now this one will as well.

I have respect for Sonic Youth on paper, but this was more visceral and accessible than I thought it would be. Particularly loved “Cotton Crown” and “Master-Dik.”

Industrial alt rock. Dissonant. Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Pipeline/Kill Time, Tuff Gnarl, Cotton Crown sounds the best to me. Pretty good album, clearly influential to a lot of bands that would come after.

Its all the good noises that scratch some part of my brain.

I realized I haven’t listened to this album nearly as much as I should have. It’s quite different than the previous albums, but really good. This one leans more into that Velvet Underground sound.. which in typical Sonic Youth fashion, they completely tear open and rewire.

Not sure I ever listed to this one and now I’m not sure why. Lots of great tracks and some different sounds from SY.

A lot of Sonic Youth on this list. Like I've said with their other records, much better for me on this listen then when I tried listening to them in the past.

Can’t decide wether to give it 3, 3,5 or 4.

Zuhause, Heidenheim, Deutschland. Gefällt ganz gut.

Noise-rock som har inspireret mange store kunstnerne fra start og slut halfemserne. Det er sgu meget godt NGL, synes det er fedt men det er heller ikke noget man bare sådan lige spiller for folk synes jeg. Det er meget artsy. En del af alternativ rock movement. Det har sådan en speciel lyd til sig som jeg også har hørt i andre albums, men kan ikke sætte ord på præcis hvad. Men det er klart og tydeligt der er nogen som er inspireret af dem på dette album.

much nicer sound than the other sonic youth stuff. decent

Enjoyed it. Will try other Sonic Youth albums.

I might be rounding up a bit here, because while there is some stuff to enjoy here, I think I like the idea of Sonic Youth more than I like a lot of their songs. But, the fact that they were making mid-90s sounding music in the mid-80s is pretty impressive.

Like but unlike the Pixies in that this feels like grunge before grunge. Experimental enough to feel timeless, but still traditional enough in structure and format to feel accessible. Added Schizophrenia and Catholic Block to playlists, laughed at how old school Hot Wire My Heart sounded amidst the more avant garde, angst-y rock, and only occasionally felt like things were too experimental to enjoy.

I have run out of things to say about solid Sonic Youth albums. Sister is good, and makes perfect sense as a successor to EVOL moving towards what was to come on Goo and Dirty.

It’s Sonic Youth so it’ll be noisy. On Sister it seems as if the noise is more controlled though and the melodies gets to take center stage. It’s the perfect lead up to Daydream Nation.

Yup, sounds like 1987 alright

Very modern sound

Never listened to a whole Sonic Youth prior to today, only a song here or there. Yeah they live up to their reputation.

Noisy, raw and somewhat chaotic. I approve

I got this one ages ago when I was doing this solo and didn’t like it at all, it was a 1 star. I actually revisited this a few weeks ago after I gave Daydream Nation 5 stars and it definitely clicked with me second time around. Listening to it today and again I really enjoyed it although not quite as much as Daydream Nation. Top Track - Hot Wire My Heart

Banger.

Sister, along with their previous album EVOL, shows Sonic Youth starting to make actual songs (seriously, if you think this is abrasive and tuneless, check out their early stuff). The first half is great. The second half, not as much. 4.5

there is some beauty in the abrasiveness, even if it does get a bit samey-sounding. i'm kinda just happy this isn't what I think of when I hear "noise rock" (usually something akin to a broken radiator) even if I would rather be listening to the pixies, there's still a lot I can get out of this. favorite song: "pacific coast highway" overall: 7/10?

23/1001. Third album from my shelf, and I think the first band I've sen live (missed Nirvana in LA in 1991 and in Finland a few years later...) For some reason I tend to always pick Goo, Dirty or Daydeam Nation if I want to listen to SY. I don't really know why, this is a solid sonic youth album which sounds like the sonic youth. Perhaps that is also a bit of an issue: no songs really stand out. But still I love the bands sound with alternative tuned guitars screeching out and in the middle of the noise beautiful melodies suddenly pop out. Gotta love them.

Perfect album

Added up to more than a some of it's parts for me. Weird chord structures and out of tune vocals!! No problem!! Different for sure. Wasn't aware of much before Daydream Nation before this. Will be adding to my library

This is as close to perfect noise rock ever got. The best Sonic Youth album.

I love mindless noodling, but I like it a lot more when queens does it. This album was way better than I thought it was going to be when I went into it but I have a treble headache. If I played this 5 times in a row I’m sure I would love it and think it’s genius but on one listen I got a little bored and it did truly hurt my ears. It makes sense that so many bands that I love idolize them though. Schizophrenia might be my favorite but it’s hard to pick out anything else as it all kind of melts together in a sound collage. Cotton Crown was great but again felt like spikes being nailed into my head. I need the scooped highs version of this album. Master dik is vocally weak. I have no idea what to give this album. It’s like a 3.5 on the dot. I’ll go 4 but that feels too high and 3 is too low.

I like how this album blended together the post-punk with the early indie/alternative songwriting structure as they began to open up their appeal as a band to a wider audience. While still loose in construction, this album really begins to show the massive influence the band had on music going into the 90's and early auts

Hearing Sonic Youth as a teenager was such an exciting moment for me as it really opened my ears to what guitar music could achieve. This album still gives that feeling. Really great to revisit this one, there’s just something about that scratchy lo-fi sound I love and will always have time for.

It's always so interesting when a band has The One Before THE One. Everything that works so perfectly on Daydream Nation is falling into place here.

I listened to Sister a few times yesterday. Sonic Youth walks a careful line between chaos and structure, and that tension gives the album its power. The distortion and noise are constant, but they feel deliberate. This isn’t just feedback for its own sake. There’s something thoughtful underneath it. Sister is often seen as the point where Sonic Youth began to shape their sound into something more focused. It bridges their early experimental work with the more refined songwriting they would develop on Daydream Nation. You can feel them pulling things into place without sanding down the edges. “Schizophrenia” is the clear standout. It’s eerie, hypnotic, and somehow both distant and intimate. Other tracks, like “Pacific Coast Highway” and “Tuff Gnarl,” push deeper into disorientation and darkness without losing control. The literary influence of Philip K. Dick adds another layer. The title is a reference to his twin sister, Jane, who died in infancy. Her death haunted him for the rest of his life, and themes of fractured identity, loss, and shifting reality show up throughout his work. While Sister is not a concept album, that mood lingers over everything. I can only take so much noise rock before I need a break, but Sister makes the chaos feel meaningful. It’s an essential piece of the underground-to-mainstream pipeline that shaped alternative music in the late 80s and beyond. Solid 4 out of 5. It earns its place.

Their impact on the postpunk emo era is evident. Bands like mineral, sunny day real estate, etc. reflect this sound.

4/5

1987. Noise Rock. 8/10 Schizophrenia

Maybe their best album or possibly their not quite as bad album?

Still love Sonic Youth. But can never tell if I love them because of the music, or if I love them because, as a music snob, I'm supposed to.

4/5

Enjoying delving into this band I only knew a little about. This is pretty great for 1987, and the opening track is incredible. Current ranking is Daydream Nation > Goo > Sister > Dirty

Sounds like rock revival, except 15 years early! Very fun, very experimental. Not sure if I love the album yet, but it's very much something that should be on this list. For now, a very strong 4 or a weak 5.

80s alternative rock. Punk. Melodic but edgy. Noisy at times.

stooges die spelen nadat een heftig nachtje uit... het rammelt wat, het valt net niet uit elkaar... maar 't is beregoed