Reviews (page 4 of 7)
Wow some stuff I really loved and some stuff I really hated. Spoke to my punk rooted tastes but then throws some weird in that made me want to turn it off.
Still not my favorite Sonic Youth album, but outside of a discography runthrough this rocks. SK should cover Catholic Block.
started off really strong, then got weird
Cacophonic more than sonic… but interesting! Made me feel like I was listening to a live band in a garage. Loved the church bells at the end.
I liked this because it’s in a lane I tend to enjoy, but not enough to push it past a 3 for me. I can hear where a lot of Boston DIY bands get their inspiration
Listening session: february 5th, while commuting to internship Listened to before: no Thoughts: I can imagine listening to this when you’re an angsty and wannabe edgy teen in the 80s and 90s Favourite track: White Cross & Stereo Sanctity
Hm. Maybe I’m just not a fan of noise rock. Was just a very messy record that sometimes engaged me and did something interesting, and other times left me scratching my head. Some decent tracks to walk away from this from, however.
Al grupo de Thurston Moore hay que tenerle ganas, y normalmente no es de lis que tienes ganas de escuchar una vez finalizado. No porque sea una mala experiencia, sino porque la experimentación a veces puede indigestar. Y te tiene que gustar o, al menos, tienes que apreciar el noise pop. “Schizophrenia” debe ser lo más comercial del disco, y se agradece, lo malo es que encabeza el álbum, no es el respiro que se merece a la mitad. Se queda en álbum interesante, pero no de culto.
This album has a vibe that would definitely resonate with me at a different age. I was going to give it a 4, but the last song was irritating, bumping it down to a 3.
Album 1039 of 1089 Sister - Sonic Youth (1987) Rating : 2.5 / 5 This was a fair album for me. It held my attention well enough while it was on, and I can appreciate what they were doing, but it never quite crossed into territory that made me want to circle back and revisit it later. There’s a solid atmosphere throughout, and the band’s identity is clear - noisy, angular, and intentionally rough around the edges. That said, nothing here really jumped out and demanded my focus. It’s one of those albums that works fine in the moment, especially if you’re already inclined toward their sound, but it didn’t leave much of a lasting impression for me once it ended. I enjoyed the listen, just not enough to elevate it beyond “that was decent.” A respectable entry from a band that clearly helped shape a lot of what came after them, even if this particular album lands more in the middle of the road for my tastes.
I’m hyped for the noise and distortion at the start, but then I’ve lost the plot in the middle of this album. Master-Dik saves it, this song is great, ballsy, strutting, cool.
It’s a fun album even if it’s not cool to say it’s fun.
its fine
Non male alla fine
I don't know how Sonic Youth got 5 albums on this list, and I can't say I am a fan of their noise rock sound after listening to those 5 albums. I truly do not like noise rock: I didn't before, and I don't now. But when you move past the noise rock, Sonic Youth has an early alternative, post-punk sound in their Sister album. Some of the album is bland with little direction, but some of it is catchy and engaging. Kim Gordon's vocals are superior, as mentioned in my previous reviews, and their lyrics are once again strong. I wish there wasn't so much noise rock.
A nice one from Sonic Youth.
Not bad, actually. But the noise gets old after a while. I've had two of their albums and kind of liked them, but it's starting to get old. And five albums on this list are way too much. I get that they're Important, but so many other classics are missing...
2.5 3
I would have loved this in high school
7/10 Like with the previous Sonic Youth album an overall enjoyable experience but the songs dont really stand out Highlights: Schizophrenia Stereo Sanctity Cotton Crown
Meh
Good.
In one ear and out the other.
put a bunch of notes down for this while listening but i lost it. I thought it was cool - one of the interesting things ive found since starting this project - hearing definitive inspiration for modern musicians that I have on heavy rotation. tracks like catholic block gave off bloc party, beaty lies in the eye gave me rolling blackouts coastal fever, and i got plenty of the vaccines in there throughout the album. obviously a super influential band and album. Despite this, I enjoyed it, but not heaps. 6.7/10
I dig this but it still leans a bit too heavy on noise making over music making for my taste.
I used to listen to Sonic Youth quite a bit. But I forgot about them. After a long time, I listened to one of their albums again. It was okay, but I wasn't thrilled by it. 3/5
Really liked the opener - Schizophrenia - but it tails off from there and lost me along the way. I'm trying to work whilst listening and its not going that well - which is probably colouring my view.
The insanely overrepresented Sonic Youth back for the final time. The Sonics always fill me with some trepidation, perhaps a tad of ennui, but they've also invariably win me round to a large extent - even if I've found all their efforts middling. The exception, and the one I understand being on this list was 'Daydream Nation'. "I wonder how this will fare", I thought to myself. I am now able to reveal my findings. I thought this was similar to previous albums we've heard, except 'Daydream Nation'. Where it falls down is the likes of 'Beauty Lies in the Eye', which is more teenage whimpering from Kim Gordon; there's little here we haven't heard several times before. I don't dislike it, but nor does it excite. The album is certainly a progression, however minor, from the washed out 'EVOL', and a clear stepping-stone to the ambient excellence of 'Daydream Nation'. Why we have to follow this unremarkable journey step by step remains a mystery.
Solid Album. Sonic Youth never really grabbed me. They're not bad and on paper they're a band I'd be all in on. Just something about them never clicked for me. Still, solid music, love the noisy quality and I'm not mad about it.
Love Bonnie Raitt. I kinda prefer older Bonnie, but this will do.
Sonic Youth never really hit the right notes for me. I appreciate the rhythmic patterns and the guitar work here, but it's not high on my list. If I saw them live while they were together and were younger, I'd likely feel more.
Too many screeching guitars but still good.
riffs in this one are amazing. also o think it’s really chill music very good chill music
Might be the first Sonic Youth album I enjoy. An eclectic blend of raw energy and jangly guitar. So the question is, is this their most accessible album, or have my tastes changed?
Wow a Sonic Youth album that sounds like the other Sonic Youth album. I do like their sound, but nothing was a standout to me
The words that immediately spring to mind are skronky and clangy. Which might not be actual words but describe this very accurately. It’s what actual psychedelia sounds like slightly confused and distressed as opposed to songs about magic ocelots
Sonic Youth rocks. In other news, water is wet. Favorite track: Stereo Sanctity
Too cool for school
I should like Sonic Youth - I like punk, I like rock, I like lo-fi stuff … but they just don’t click. It’s ok, but it’s not very interesting.
I so want to love Sonic Youth. Somehow I just can’t.
Respect their creativity, but it looks likes there's not too much things for me personally. The whole album is 3, Kotton Krown is 5, average still remains 3, unfortunately.
It’s ok. A little too raw and grungy for my tastes though.
I expected nebulous feedback and noise. There was some of that but also it rocks pretty good.
3.5. I've listened to this one a couple of times, and I like it, but something just isn't clicking to make me want to round up instead of down. Who knows, maybe that will change.
I enjoyed it!!
I'm pretty shoegazed out. What sets these guys apart from others in their genre? It just drones on and on.
Meh
I think I liked it
I was bathed sonically but I don’t know if I ever fully connected. 3/5
Very punk rock, melodic and fast
Are Sonic Youth a lot more tuneful than I've been led to believe or has getting the Einstürzende Neubauten album raised the bar for what I consider to be 'just noise'?
There were Highs and Lows. The Highs were pretty high and Lows were sorta low (definitely could be worse). I guess overall this was pretty good. :D 3.5/5
Best Sonic Youth album I've had yet. It was pretty good. I like the heavy. No song was what I'd consider a banger though, nothing to sing along to.
it was pretty fine, i think the last track was my favorite
I don't have anything to say that I didn't have to say about the last SY album. I still feel like there's something I'm not getting about them.
I thought this was extremely forward thinking for 1987. It sounds like it could have come out in the mid 1990s and been right at home with the swellings of that alt rock movement. But I don’t think it’s super duper omg amazing. Solid listen, 3/5.
I’ll need to cycle back and listen to this one again; my wife decided the best time to talk to me was as this album started up. So, I didn’t hear either one of them very well. But, from what I was able to gather, this record is pretty typical Sonic Youth: glimpses of brilliance that get a little watered down by what seems like intentional weirdness. They kind of remind me of David Lynch. He’s great, but he kind of needs a co-producer to rein his weirdness in or else his work becomes an incoherent mess. I like Sonic Youth pretty good so far as I can tell, but they would probably benefit from someone corralling and focusing their creative energies. 3.8/5
I like Sonic Youth, but never really got into this one. There are some good songs on the first half (especially Schizophrenia), but I find it dips a bit in the second half though. Appreciate it for what it is however, very experimental and obviously influential on grunge.
It sure was fine.
I liked this album well enough. Nice late 80s/early90s indie vibe. I don't think it really blew my mind at all but I'd probably listen to it again. Nothing else to say about it, really. Some good things about it and some bad things about it but nothing really stands out either way. Squarely in the middle of the decent album column. 3.25/5
Not bad, but didn't really capture me
Middle of the road for me
In my youth, I played a lot of "Sonic", as well as ate frequently at Sonic, but I never listened to Sonic Youth. I apparently didn't miss out on much; just mid-tier Alternative Rock. Favorite Track: "Beauty Lies In The Eye".
Yet another Sonic Youth album, and a pre-Daydream Nation one at that. I'm not big on this era of the band. This album, beign the final one of the era, sounds relatively close to the records I actually like by them. Key tracks: Schizophrenia
This album is not that bad, but sometimes it becomes a chaos of different sounds that feel a bit bland. I liked some songs, not much, but a bit. But others were very insipid for my like. So, I don't think it's bad, but it has some aspects that haven't convinced me much.
Vibes were good, lyrics were better, but overall I wasn't crazy about it. Maybe it needs another listen in the future.
Where's the noise?
Sister is my first full-length album listen for Sonic Youth. The discordant nature doesn’t really appeal to me, so the album didn’t do much for me, but I found it decent and didn’t dislike it. The muffled vocals were a bit frustrating at first, but either they got better or I just got used to them. I liked tracks 3 and 8, which I added to my playlist. I’d have to say I enjoyed the drums the most, probably because I’m partial to rhythm. I appreciated Kim Gordon’s vocals out of the three singers. I’m glad I listened to this album as I’ve always been curious about the band, but never got around to checking them out.
I *really* wish that I enjoyed some artists and bands in this collection more than I do; it would certainly make it easier to feel excited when we get the third/fourth/fifth/etc. album by someone like Sonic Youth. But at least this is number three of five for me, and it's not super long or anything, although also not all that appreciatively different from the later "Goo" or "Daydream Nation" albums. I'd say the highlights were the discordant noise of "Catholic block", the almost song-like "Stereo sanctity", and the almost mainstream-esque (and Kiss-dissing) bonus track "Master-Dik". (I'd hoped their cover of Crime's "Hot wire my heart" (which I'd never heard before) would be more Sonic-Youthized than it turned out to be.) I really like the idea that this is a concept album centering on the life and writings of Philip K. Dick, even down to the title, referencing Dick's fraternal twin that died shortly after birth and apparently haunted him the rest of his life (and is the (heavily adapted) subject of the opening track "Schizophrenia"?). But I only know this from the Wikipedia entry, because I can rarely make out *any* of their lyrics, and I'm not sure I would have caught the subtle references in some of the song titles.
Listened to this for another list and was underwhelmed. On relisten, I am whelmed. It's decent. 3/5
This deserves a second listen. One thing that does annoy me is that the music is often louder than the vocals, which is not ideal when you have sensory processing issues.
Not my favourite, sounded a lot like some of my old band practice sessions
Nice, not as catchy as I thought it would be, but not bad
Better than I remember but still some meh on it.
World’s okayest Sonic Youth album.
Generally a fan of the band. This isn't their strongest work, but it's solid.
Like Tom Waits, I've gotten 3 of their albums, all fine but relatively indistinguishable in the scheme of things. This one has less kim singing, a mark against it.
Was better than the previous sonic youth album. I really liked the guitar work, but apart from that it was still only mid
Fine.
Quite like some Sonic Youth without being very familiar with their pre Daydream Nation output. I had only heard Schizophrenia before and enjoyed that my enthusiasm for the record waned as it went on and I was really annoyed by Thurston's voice by the rather silly final track. Overall it's good but hovering between a 3-4 for this one.
Easy to listen to, for whatever reason Sonic Youth has never really done it for me
I can essentially re-run my review from EVOL, although I enjoyed this marginally more. Sonic Youth are starting to learn to write songs, rather than just making a helluva noise. Now, don't get me wrong; I enjoy a helluva noise as much as the next man, possibly more. But, seriously, how many Sonic Youth albums do you need? There are five (five!) on this list, and I would argue that they don't really hit their straps until Daydream Nation.
Start off good and then I didn’t like a lot of the ending
At first I wasn’t liking this one, but I realized that this is a moody album and that’s what they’re going for. In that regard, they nailed it, but still not something I’d be looking for.
Not that bad, but not really interesting either.
I did not enjoy this as much as Dirty, most likely because it's Sonic Youth and it takes a while to absorb them into your system. One thing remains true. I am not as cool as they are. I never was and I never will be. I am OK with this, and I am OK that to me, this rests comfortably at a 3.
Really dig the guitars in this album, but it does devolve a bit too far at times for my taste. Overall solid and I hadn’t spent too much time with this album relative to their other work. Still not a huge fan of Kim Gordon singing. Fave tracks: “Schizophrenia”, “catholic block”, “Kotton Krown”.
I've still yet to really click with Sonic Youth... not a bad listen but I'll have to return to it
Sometimes you get that feeling with this list: you listen to an album you're just not in the mood for. I had the same experience with this album. I have to work too hard to appreciate it.
I liked this overall and found it interesting, but it kinda just became noise after a certain point. Like the last SY album I got on here, it somehow wasn't very engaging to me as a listener even though I thought it was decent. Overall: 2.9/5
Okay but a bit rowdy for me
I like the big time Sonic Youth albums, but this is just kinda there. Doesn't need to be on this list. 6/10
Thought this albums was pretty good, and kind of in-between EVOL and Daydream Nation in terms of my enjoyment. There's some stuff I really like here, like 'Schizophrenia", "Tuff Gnarl", and "Catholic Block". The songs where Gordon and Ranaldo take vocals are a bit less successful for me. Still pretty good overall. 3.5 stars.
Noise, garage und alternative. Bisschen eery und passend zum Herbstwetter, im Sommer würde ich es weniger fühlen. Kein Lied das besonders herausgestochen ist, aber ist ein Vibe.
my kid loved schizophrenic
Slightly better than the last Sonic Youth album I rated but still nothing special. Last time I wrote that it might have had more impact if there were fewer tracks. And it did! 3
My second Sonic Youth of the wee and I do like it but I would find it hard to categorise as great.
Kinda cool
jobbat vártam.
Sign of the times. Straight up first bit of punk rock in the early 80s. Trail blazers.
"Sister" by Sonic Youth is a pretty impressive record considering the time it was released. For a 1987 record, there's quite a bit of sound here that feels a good decade ahead of its time, especially as it relates to the record's more experimental sounds and punk/heavy metal fusion. The instrumentals here are very cool, featuring a great distorted guitar, an inconsistent (but often excellent) drummer, and lots of very neat distortion and ambient noises peppered throughout. It really feels like Sonic Youth are inventing a soundscape - not everything works, but it's all interesting, and super cutting-edge for its time. Where the album loses me a bit are the vocals. The singer doesn't have much of a presence to them, singing their lines without much passion or charisma, and offering little of the grit and edge you can find in the instrumentals. On top of this, the mixing is all off, leading to a vocal performance that is barely legible above the noise of the instruments at times. The final nail in the coffin for this aspect of the record is that the lyrics are generic rock humdrum at best, and nearly-incomprehensible at worst. There's definitely a lot of artistry going on here, but it almost feels like the songs have lyrics and a lead vocalist for no other reason than "that's how rock albums work." I found myself really dialed in for the sections of tracks that were wordless, allowing the cool drum beats and excellent guitar grooves to take center stage. If there's one other issue here, it's the moments of total cacophony, which happens at least once in nearly every song. It feels a bit like Sonic Youth were attempting to have their "Day In The Life" moment, but none of the songs on this record quite earn that cacophonic ecstasy the way the Beatles did in their song. There's a lot of angst behind the music, but you never get the sence that SY have done much of interest with it. Overall, I recognize this record as a foundational part of the punk/metal sound, and I respect its experimental format. But I didn't love any of the songs on it, and I can't see myself returning to anything from it again. Like the Quest album I listened to recently, this formula has simply been improved upon elsewhere by future practitioners, which makes returning to this sound's roots a bit more of a chore than I would like.
Interesting, rather different from the mainstream, some fun.
Pretty chill alternative vibe. Not really something I would listen to again, but not bad.
Album No. 0008 on my list. I have to admit that I was not at all familiar with Sonic Youth at all. Even though I regularly listen to a lot of Alternative Rock, I only knew very few Sonic Youth songs at all (Teen Age Riot of course), so "Sister" was a completely new listen for me. I recently reviewed a Pixies album - a band in a very much similar situation: infuential alt rock, something that I "should" like but never much listened to (and both with a female bass player!). Howver, I did not really enjoy the Pixies album ("Bossanova"). In contrast, I like "Sister" by Sonic Youth better. I have some doubts that it will ever become an all time favorite of mine, but compared to the pixies album, it's much better. The songs are more interesting, catchier, and feel more complex. Sonic Youth (based on this one album) feels more "charismatic" to me. "Catholic Block", "Beauty Lies in the Eye", and "Tuff Gnarl" are my favorites from this album. To summarize: not a great album, but a good one. 3/5 stars.
Fine
Ehhhh. This was okay.
schizophrenia- 6 catholic block- 5 beauty lies in the eye- 5 stereo sanctity- 5 pipeline/kill time- 5 tuff gnarl- 5 pacific coast highway- 5 hot wire my heart- 5 cotton crown- 5 white cross- 5 master dik- 5
#667. This album starts really strong, but doesn't quite maintain it throughout the entire thing. 3/5: decent
My third Sonic Youth album on this list, and it's completely fine. Just like the first two. I'm tired. There's plenty of dissonance to please even the most industrial of music fans, as well as some sick guitar riffs to appease the fans with correct opinions. Lots of screaming and weird chords, too. I didn't enjoy the vocals much, but then that seems to be a problem with my own listening preferences. I should really stop comparing everyone to Freddie Mercury. The drumming throughout the album is a strange combination of punk and math-ish metal, a set of genres I wouldn't normally place in a room together. It makes for some pretty darn interesting music even if it isn't particularly pleasant. Some of the tracks drone a lot, like Tuff Gnarl and Pacific Coast Highway. Others, like Master-Dik, are completely devoid of content and read like a proto-Endless, Nameless. A song called Schizophrenia immediately makes me think of Anxiety. The internet has broken me. (Obviously, Sonic Youth's one is better by a wide margin, being a sort of melancholy rock ballad that contrasts sharply with the death and destruction that follows.) That trippy psychedelic guitar solo closing out Pipeline/Kill Time is majestic, alien, magical. It's just a shame it comes after such a bland vocal performance. Kotton Krown, though technically consisting of a medium-length repeating riff for five minutes, does the best with what it has – and it's surprisingly enjoyable. Beauty Lies In The Eye is similar to the album opener and I quite like the distortion, which also surprised me. I think you have to be in the right headspace for this sort of music. 3/5 Key tracks: Schizophrenia, Beauty Lies in the Eye, Kotton Krown
Post No Wave movement heavy influenced documentary of music.Raw and alive.Creative & experimental enough but gives you the idea it's their first album which it isn't.
все шумит пердит, иногда очень гармонично
7/10. noise rock is honestly just not my favorite style of music. the chaotic and out of tune distorted guitar playing was interesting at first, but towards the end of the album the lack of structure and musicality in the jam solos were just hard to get through. that being said i actually did think the album was pretty solid, but a lot of the songs i could do without. rly liked hot wire my heart and a couple others. i think its worthy of a relisten at some point. Albums remaining: 1000
Really enjoyed some of the songs: Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Pacific Coast Highway, and White Cross all felt like a bridge between Joy Division and Interpol, which basically leads to the indie rock of the 2000s that I came of age listening to. Now I get why a lot of the bands I love cite Sonic Youth as a major influence. But the noise rock songs found elsewhere on this record are not my jam. For some of these tracks I shall return, but I’m probably not coming back for another full album listen.
Different, dissonant and slightly dystopian. Doesn’t mean I didn’t like it though
Did this album change my life? No but, I liked it enough to give it 3 stars.
Interessant aber nicht viel mehr um es höher zu packen. Master-Dik war das schlimmste zum Schluss. Das Dirty album hat mir mehr gefallen 3/5
This was good - at times it felt a bit noisy but nonetheless enjoyable. Don’t know if I would consider this a classic album but it was still engaging.
point8.
Not the best indie album I’ve heard, but it’s passable. Wanted to like this more. 3/5 Might listen again
As hard as I try I just cannot take to Sonic Youth. Legends they may be but their music does nothing for me. It doesn’t move me or excite me, I’m not blown away by the musicianship or the vocals. I don’t get it. 2.5
A hot mess - everyone doing something different yet on time and creating their own time. Not relaxing - Temse
Better than any of the other Sonic Youth albums I've gotten from this list. They do better when the are more stripped down and raw. Less is more for them.
Yeah pretty good
Good album. The tracks with Kim on vocals are sonically superior to the others.
With a lot of these songs I feel so close to really enjoying them but some aspect of them is holding me back. Maybe this is something that will diminish with time and further listening. The Wikipedia articles I read about this album and it's loose influence, Philip K Dick, were very interesting. Cotton crown was probably my favourite.
Not that enjoyable to listen to. Maybe they actually are cooler than everybody else, just sounds like songs that arent good are the point?
my first exposure to sonic youth was absolutely pretty crappy but this album is actually decent 6.5/10
In terms of sound, this album is a few years ahead of its time. It sounds more like the grunge scene of the early/mid 90's. But in terms of songs/hooks, it's just OK.
Unpopular opinion: Sonic Youth is a fundamentally important band. And they’re not very fun to listen to.
Partially melodic and listenable, but mostly too harsh and noisy to enjoy
Go to hell persia
There are great moments but it washes over me exactly the way it did in the 80s.
I saw Sonic Youth in a small club in Boston in 1990 and have long enjoyed Daydream Nation and Goo when I'm in the right mood for it, but I'd never listened to Sister before. Some good stuff.
I've been determinedly not listening to Sonic Youth since the 80s, so I was surprised by how tolerable this was. It turns out they are capable of tunefulness and sometimes the noise is interesting.
That was certainly a Sonic Youth album. Noisy jangle -- odd tunings -- lyrics with an edge -- lots of screaming. But not what I needed today.
No mal, pero me gustó mucho más el Dirty. A este lo sentí bien, pero con mucha menos personalidad.
Nice
Was hoping to like this one a little more given some of my recent noise based reappraisals. That said, this week I am mainly listening to albums on really poor quality laptop speakers so it's probably hard for anything to sound good - will bookmark and give this another listen when I am back around higher fidelity...
Decent album. Many elements that I enjoyed. Definitely a lot of random noise (which I don't necessarily hate). Wanted to like this more than I did, but still not bad. Decent 3.
Like it don’t love it. Definitely gonna have to listen to it more and then it’ll be a great album, it’s one of those. I liked pacific coast highway, especially when Kim wasn’t singing. Opener was good too, idk I know this is something I’ll get into, give me another sonic youth album dimery and I swear I’ll give it a 5. Knocking 1 point off because these turkeys bullied nardwuar not once but twice. Going with a 3/5.
I took 2 listens of this album because despite being very familiar with sonic youth , I had never listened to this album. I have mixed opinions. Every song has elements that are fantastic along with elements that are repetitive. The best part of the album is the mid section instrumental for pacific coast highway. After that the album kind of wanes. I want to give it a 4 , but it is more like a 3.5
In high school, I thought maybe being into Sonic Youth would get me in with the hipsters, but they all - to the extent took the time to look - saw the truth that I was really a Soul Asylum guy. I have a feeling Grave Dancer's Union is not on this list, but if it were, instant 5 stars.
# Album Name: Sister # Artist: Sonic Youth # Rating: 3/5 # Comments: Honestly, it started off well. The first four tracks are enjoyable. Then it just went downhill from there. Pretty fast. # Top Tunes: Schizo / Catholic block / Stereo / # Would I listen to it again? Only parts
Not the best Sonic Youth, but still enjoyable. 3.5/5
Heard of Sonic Youth but never listened to them. This album was a good place to start. I give it three stars because half of the album came across as brilliant and the other half came across as a little rough around the edges. Still left me with the impression that it is a band worth exploring further.
Female vocal sonic youth songs are much better and theres like none on this one. Overall im not crazy about their music. Its fun but its not blowing me up.
It was okay.
It was not bad, but not memorable.
Some songs were a little much, but some I very much enjoyed. 6.5/10
Discordant, thrashy, noisy, chaotic but still very listenable.
Pretty good. I prefered a couple of their albums more.
Vocals sounded a bit quiet or drowned out. Would like to listen again on something with equalizer settings. But what I could hear had good punky energy. Not sure when I'll listen again, but there will be a repeat and it'll be in days not weeks or months.
In my younger years this type of rule breaking music really got me going. In reflection in my Middle-Aged years, you got to have rules to be able to break them. If it's just breaking rules all the time, it's really kind of a mess. Though I will say generally speaking, I do like Sonic youth. This was not my favorite of their albums for sure. I also love when the female singer sings. I can't remember her name right now. Kim Something. I would give it 3.5 Stars if I could.
I thought I would like this album more. I should have liked this album more. But I just didn't. The album didn't do much for me and thought it was just solidly mediocre.
I have heard of Sonic Youth but was not really familiar with their music or anything on this album. I wasn't really sure what to expect. It's pretty far out there as alt rock goes. I liked some, did not like some. Overall I would say it's not something I would likely come back to, but I am glad to have heard it once.
Sonic Youth is the bridge between punk and indy rock. It's right in the sweet spot - more sophisticated and thoughtful than 70s punk, but still pretty edgy. It's cool.
Punk, noise, new wave vibes. I can’t say that I like the genre much, but I appreciate what they’re doing. It’s not a good sign that I can’t recall many songs, save for “hot wire my heart” which is objectively a badass song name.
This was pretty noisy. I think I liked this better than others I've listened to by them.
alright s. youth
Not bad but not that excited to listen more.
I appreciate Sonic Youth more than I enjoy Sonic Youth. My second SY album on the list. (Which is wild because this is only my tenth album.) I much preferred Goo.
3.5
It's not bad I guess, but not incredible either.
Некоторые песни ещё ничего, но в основном звуки мелодий раздражают и вызывают головную только головную боль. 5,5 из 10
Great album. Not my fave sonic youth but has White Cross which is a 10/10 song
6.5/10 Favorite Tracks: *Schizophrenia*, Catholic Block, Tuff Gnarl, White Cross Least Favorite Tracks: Beauty Lies In the Eye, Stereo Sanctity, Pipeline/Kill Time
I always think Sonic Youth will sound cooler than they do, but they leaveme disappointed. Its definitely alt rock to its bones, unconventional and fast paced, it has its place but not with me!
Sonic Youth is just not my thang. But they’re talented and obviously mean a lot to a lot of people so I can’t hate on them!
Punchy and vibrant
Muy experimental el approach al noise y las guitarras. Algo que me encanta es lo raro y jugado, pero en este caso no logro que no me aburra. Estas bandas parecen difícil de entender a primera escucha. Ningún tema para las listas. Nota: 2.8 pero pongo 3.
Noisy and ancient goodness.
This was a fun change of pace for me. Maybe not an everyday thing but I like it.
A solid 75% is quite good. Best album of theirs I've heard.
frekar gott, eru að sigla inn í blómatíma. aðra, 3,5.
One big takeaway from the first quarter of this list is that I like Sonic Youth way more than I expected. Probably need to be in the mood for this one, but another solid entry. 3.5 stars
I enjoyed this a ton. Loved how messy it was, but with enough structure to keep moving forward from track to track. Kim Gordon is a legend.
Альтернатива, много экспериментального звучания возможно попробовать послушать позже, распробовать
I've had 3 sonic youth albums now and I'm convinced theyre trying to sound cool. Only song that grabbed me schizophrenia .
I have no idea what people’s problem with the “noise” is here. This doesn’t feel remotely challenging to me - it’s not exactly I Hate Nerys Hughes is it? Not necessarily my thing, but it was OK.
I guess to like Sonic Youth you must be one of the cool kids. I have never really been one of those. I feel like it started well enough and maybe my cool level had increased with my age but by the end of the album I knew I was still uncool.
To my surprise I found myself enjoying this, to the extent that I felt the need to swap from the Bluetooth headphones I was using to some decent wired cans on a good amp. I am getting distinct Velvet Underground and Doors vibes a lot of the time, but its not a pastiche. 3/5. I could easily see this becoming a 4/5 with further listening.
Good
Pretty neat.
Rating: 7/10 Some very good songs and catchy moments, some songs would benefit from less noise but that's their sound so it is what it is.
This is decent, a nice discovery. 3/5
Shame I always want to fall in love with sonic youth but I just can’t fully 3/5
Not my favorite SY album that's for sure. Too much noise. A couple songs they cut through to put some actual melodies together but those moments don't come along often enough according to my liking. 3.5 stars
I mean, cool sounds. Maybe good for an angsty fall mid-late afternoon drive through Washington State
Glemte å følga med som vanlig, men sikkert streit nok
Hated Fast Car when I was 16. At 53 I’m upset with my younger self for not realizing how beautiful this album is.
Good album.
Bom
Solid effort for a debut, but nothing really memorable here. 3
I've never been a big Sonic youth fan but this is okay. I know they're appeal is that they're like a dirtier sound but for me it doesn't translate well
I was a bit disappointed by this one, to be honest. I haven't listened to a whole Sonic Youth album before this, and I was expecting to really like it given how much I like similar bands and their hits, but none of these tracks stood out much for me.
When you think Alt-rock you would be hard pressed to find a better representation than Sonic Youth. This is one of those great “no-hit-wonder” kind of albums somewhere between psychedelic space rock and hipster pop. Honestly, I like some of their other albums better but I appreciate the rawness of this one. Catholic Block is blasphemous fun, and PCH feels like an acid trip that last longer than 4 minutes. For me, Cotton Crown was the best track. This is a listen to again and a solid entry.
Pretty good album bit of it were just screechy reverb between songs but didn't ruin it too much.
Highlights: Schizophrenia, Stereo Sanctity, White Cross. In a nutshell: chaotic good Sonic Youth are less avant garde and more noise with album number four. We get a spit-shine, not a polish. Definitely better than EVOL, not quite as good as Daydream Nation. Overall: 6/10
Liked it. It's what I was expecting even though I had not heard this album. 3.5
Fuckin horrible
Rock, on the harsh/punky side but not too much
I am a Sonic Youth fan, this is not my favorite Sonic Youth album. I would not turn it off if it popped up in my feed.
3.5 stars. Weird noise/art rock with dark lyrics. Liked it, didn't love it. Standout is "Hot Wire My Heart". "Schizophrenia" also good, more reminiscent of a traditional song and less experimental.
Sonic Youth’s Sister sees the no-wave band take the careful steps towards a more traditional song structure, and the result was possible a ending to the original post-punk era. Alas, I just never got Sonic Youth, and this album just leaves me cold.
Apparently part of the noise rock scene of New York. If I didn’t know the year of release I probably would have assumed it was an indie album from the 90s. Kind of cool but no songs stood out. I’d give it another shot.
No private session used. I don't know if this is the 3rd or 4th Sonic Youth album this site has had me listen to. I like it, but again it won't go into steady rotation.
Admittedly not really my kind of music but I don't mind it. This is the third Sonic Youth album I've gotten and can't help but feel like maybe that's more than enough representation for this group.
I anticipated straight up noise but there were some tunes underneath the layers of grunge. Not bad
Sister is an album i wanted to like more than i do but i just don't see that happening. When i first saw this album, i thought that it was gonna be your standard typical rock-out album but this album actually turned out to be an art rock album. And with most art rock albums, they have almost no accessibility to them and are only for people who really like that kind of music. I still think the riffs here are cool and i definitely do see the direction but the songs just tend to meander longer than i would have wanted. This album is not a bad one but i do think that it is pretty hard to get into. Best Song: White Cross Worst Song: Beauty Lies in the Eye
Interesting and nice but nothing stood out to me personally.
I will not include the CD bonus track "Master-Dik" for this review. I know I’ve listened to Sonic Youth before as an influential experimental noise rock band. Though I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard anything from this album until now. After listening through, Sister left me feeling that it was more of a transitional album. While I’ll admit that noise rock is not my forte and the blaring fuzzy sound can get homogenous in places, I can recognize where the group were working in more traditional song structures and implementing other instruments like acoustic guitars and Moog synthesizers. Songs like “Catholic Block”, “Beauty Lies in the Eye” and “Pipeline/Killing Time” pop off well in their droning yet melodic sensibilities that aren’t overwhelming. There are moments where I can hear the stylings of what Sonic Youth would become from Daydream Nation onward, and it’s cool to hear the formation of that sound. The songwriting potential may not be fully realized yet on Sister, but it’s still a nice listen through for those curious.
This was a alright album. Its lyrics were good, but it music just didnt connect to me.
Do you like upbeat rock? If so, then this is the album for you! I really like this album because I am a big fan of rock, and I think their voices are really good, but they're a little too soft for the background. I also love the background music, all in all I think that you should listen to this album.
1st song- I rate like 2/10 its ok but I don't like it tho 2nd song- I rate like 3/10 I don't like it at all so yeah 3rd song-
the instrumentals are really good. You cant really hear the lyrics but its still really good. i would recommend to most people 6/10
Pretty good, but didn’t catch me enough for future listens
There is some stuff I really liked and some stuff I kind of liked. 3.75
I had to return to my Spotify wrapped '24 with the remaining three songs on the album. I couldn't continue to listen to them. They were starting to hurt my ears. The first few songs in the beginning were okay and I enjoyed but as it neared the end, I couldn't.
So, Sonic Youth again. I think the point I’ve been trying to make throughout my two previous reviews is that I think Sonic Youth are overrated, possibly? Their legacy will be inevitably tied up with Daydream Nation, which is a great album, and their image, which is impeccably cool. Sister balances it’s instrumental freak-outs with some great riffs and calmer sections, and the tracks feel less like songs and more like tone poems throughout, which is both it’s strong suit and it’s weakness. Unlike with Daydream Nation, where the songwriting is at the band’s peak, there doesn’t seem to be any recognisable song structure, but the schizophrenic nature of the songs does work with the similarly schizophrenic instrumentals. On the other hand, and this is something that I’ve come to realise with the other Sonic Youth albums I’ve listened to, I don’t think any of the songwriters are particularly great at lyrics. They’re fine, serviceable, but for a group that’s so often linked with the Velvet Underground in terms of similar influence and experimentation, the lyrical deficit becomes quite apparent. All in all, I did like Sister, although the production was a bit thin compared to their later albums, but the problems I’ve had with Sonic Youth were more at the forefront here than in either Daydream Nation or Dirty. Maybe there will be that one album that finally make them magically click for me, and I do still appreciate the influence they had on a lot of artists I love, but I’ve not come across it yet. The fact I appreciate them will have to do for them in the meantime
Liked Stereo Sanctity. Hard but grunge, this would have been perfect for high school me but I'm not quite so angry now so I'll go with a three.
Pretty meh for me at first glance, but I might come back to it.
Approved
Eu gosto, preciso ouvir mais
Fine
I love my grunge and this album is a good one... great drumming, a simple but effective bass and guitars to dominate the soundscape. However it gets a bit tiring after a while and I don't really enjoy this album in one sitting. I miss diversity, I miss a nice groove in many songs. Interesting more than enjoyable.
Not a fan. I think it's probably "noise-rock" in general that I don't enjoy. I found this mildly irritating, as a whole, so 2.5*. But I guess I'll round up to 3 due to their influence on subsequent bands?
There's something I really enjoy about Sonic Youth. Unfortunately there's also something I despise about them, the vocals usually. Some of the instrumentals are extremely interesting. Would like an album with just that.
I never really connected with Sonic Youth in the 90s, but I gave their other album 3 stars, so let's see how this goes. I wouldn't say i'm excited for this, but I am feeling significant relief that it's not another goddamn 70s album. Final verdict: It's fine. Whatever. Sounds like Sonic Youth.
This was a musical album by the band Sonic Youth
Neat that it's based on Philip Dick. Interesting about all the copyright issues with their cover. I don't know much by Sonic Youth - enjoyed this album. I'd say a 3.5. I'll call it a 3.
Not quite as bad as I expected
Never got into them. Too noisy for my taste.
Good guitar playing but feels off at times
Original but repetitive and not very good. I imagine this was influential on alt-rock and grunge but the successors thankfully did better 2.8
Si, aquí hay ruido y disonancia, pero a diferencia de otros discos de SY, al menos hay melodías.
Need to Kill Time so I gave this a listen. It was alright.
Good, but too 'noisy' for me
Too much sonic for me
punky American noise
Hmm
A lot of reverb. I get how it was influential but it genuinely overstimulated me.
I really like Sonic Youth, but apart from a few highlights, this album was boring to me.
I enjoyed it but nothing more than that
Fun tunes, bit similar across but still fun
Not their best or even 2nd best. It's decent. Interesting to look at the number of plays on Spotify -- almost every song has fewer plays than the previous. It's a decent album, but not good enough to stop people from starting it and then slowly dropping out while listening.
Not good, not bad.
I feel like this is a band I should love. I don't know why they haven't clicked with me. Its fine. It's better than their other albums on the list. But 4 albums from this band is overkill. 2 would be overkill. 1 is kinda overkill.
Music for teenage white boys to cream themselves over with squalls of guitar historonics and cooler-than-thou vocals. I once was a teenaged white boy and am now a middle aged white man. Still great. Sonic Youth doing what they do. Best Tracks: Schizophrenia; (I Got A) Catholic Block; Tuff Gnarl
Hmm, not sure I'm in the write frame of mind for this today, nothing really grabbed me and I've defintely digged some of their stuff in the past. It's probably an album that needs a little time to settle but I have so many of those already do I just add this to the pile or move on? Fave: not sure, maybe Catholic Block.
I can see the appeal if you're into noise rock, which I am every now and then. But I don't think you gotta hear this one.
Feels like there’s a bit too much to “get” here and not enough to enjoy. A bit of a frustrating listen, as SY has always been on my list of bands I should probably dive deeper into. I like a lot of their contemporaries and bands they’ve influenced, but gave this a few listens and can’t really break through, beyond a few songs - Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Tuff Gnarl. Overall like the guitar layering and pushing of dissonance, but doesn’t really hang together as an album.
Sonic Youth has a good sound and put out some interesting stuff. I didn't get to listen to this enough but will try to give it another shot.
I enjoyed this. I get lost in noise rock like this which makes it hard for me to pin point any specifics. I would understand this not being for everyone. This does belong on this list. I hope to re visit this.
Onpa tätä Sonic Youthia paljon tällä listalla, tää joku neljäs? albumi tähän mennessä. Meni ehkä vähän kikkailuksia loppua kohden, joten kolmoseen jää.
Sonic Youth has a way of seeming really cool, as if I should like them, but this album continues the trend of me *almost* liking them. It's the closest I've come to liking an entire album of theirs. Maybe one day it will click...
A lot of these songs seem really poorly mastered, Schizophrenia sounds nothing like the rest of the album, I can barely hear the lyrics over the instrumentals. There's a few quality songs on here I enjoy, namely Catholic Block, Stereo Sanctity; But there's also a few songs on here I /don't/ enjoy, like: Cotton Crown, Master Dik (WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE WE'RE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE CICCONE ) Pipeline/Kill Time (two and a half minutes of fucking guitar reverb? wtf is that shit?) I definitely didn't hate this album, it was on the enjoyable side. I honestly feel like where this album falls over is the vocalists - neither of them can sing and they detract from the awesome guitarwork. Listen to White Cross and tell me that their male vocalist can sing. He can't. If there was an instrumental version of this album, it would be an easy 4, but alas.
i can already tell im going to be in the minority on this one. sonic youth, despite going out of their way to make (for their time) one of the most hostile, chaotic sounds in music, managed to avoid the pitfall of so many other noise rock and experimental post-punk bands. the male vocalist doesn't fucking scream. god i fucking hate screamo. anyway, lee is actually a pretty bad vocalist but he does spoken word so it doesn't matter too much. where it works really well is when they do the call and response sections similar to those in schizophrenia. kim is a brilliant vocalist and her soft, soothing tones are a good parallel with lee's more blunt spoken word sections, while kim also maintains a certain level of monotonality that results in the vocals never clashing too much with the chaotic instrumentals. speaking of instrumentalism, conventional rock enjoyers will HATE this one. aside from maybe washing machine, i'd say this is one of their more chaotic albums. it was before they started to make their albums a little poppier with releases like the aforementioned washing machine, so it definitely had more of a rock/punk vibe than the admittedly more unique sound they would eventually form. it's an undeniably loud, angry sound from a loud, angry time. ultimately this is an album composed by teenagers for teenagers. ask me when i was 15 or 16 and this was an easy five, but now i enjoy it more as a conceptual album. sonic youth was incredibly influential on noise and post/alt rock and punk to come and this was them at their punkiest and rockiest. my tastes have moved too far away from this kind of sound to really love this album anymore. schizophrenia is still a banger and kim's vocals in beauty lies in the eye are definitely standouts for me, but the punky, noisy chaos and clashing guitar parts on the rest of the album just aren't for me anymore. i absolutely loved listening to this album all the way through again, but i couldn't bring myself to put it on repeat.
Not as good as that other one!!!
Our third Sonic Youth album on the list; similar in ways to their other albums; good artsy noise-music.
3.5
Yep more of the same - don’t see the need for more than on Sonic Youth record. Same out of key, punkish, alternative indie stuff. I respect it but can’t say I really like it. Three solid stars.
I know its sort of good but not really my thing
Not bad, but didn’t stand out
I think I caught the Sonic Youth train a little too late in that I'd never heard the entirety of this album. And though it's from way back in the late '80s I'm assuming it sounded like shit back then too. Definitely not what I was expecting and really didn't quite get this one. But taken time into account, I suppose this was cutting edge garage-y noise rock / new wave punk or whatever when it was released. Though I really liked Sister, the opening track, it was a lot of downhill from there. Not super stoked on this one and need to rate it as so.
At one point my 8th grader asked, totally seriously, “is this music?” Sonic Youth’s talent and potential is often derailed by those sonic tangents of noise that, yes, are music. It’s just not music that is not consistent enough to make whole albums worth it. Sonic Youth was only able to put it together for a full album on “Daydream Nation.”
Second album ive listened from these guys. I’ve come to appreciate their pretty unique vocals and tracking, though I’m more of a fan of EVOL. 2.8
An okay album, not really my thing for casual listening. It has an interesting sound to it but I feel like this album is weak overall.
really enjoyed a couple of songs on this. but there was a good chunk i was just “okay” on. overall enjoyed the experimental/alt sound
Come back to album When I stop listening to Elvis Costello. Not a band I'm Biblicly familiar with. I understand they are minorly important in some capacity. I merely gave it a spin while multi-tasking. Let it be known, my review receives an asterisk since I did not do a deep analysis. I reserve the right to revise after a more measured listen. Which I may or may not do. I blame Robert Frost for this.
Sonic Youth is guitar guy music in a way that should be right up my alley but for some reason, they aren’t. Liked this one fine, but I don’t think it’ll stick with me.
The late 80s was a wild time. I enjoy observing the struggle of forward-looking bands to break away from norms of the previous decade. Sonic Youth definitely fits this mold. Although I can't say I love to listen to the music, it does at least hold my interest as something different and original.
i gave this a 2 a while ago. i didnt like how it sounded and if got annoying and boring at times. after a relisten, i can say that its a 3 now. i really wish the album had more songs like schizophrenia since that was the only song i really enjoyed put of the album. i didnt care much about the rest of the songs. side a was a rollercoaster of ups and downs with my enjoyment, but with the ups being a mild like. side b was consistently just ok to me. even seperating the art from the artists, its still just ok to me. 3 personal favs: schizophrenia
I compliment the experimental side of this but also think it’s ehh for this current timeframe. Which I’m sure at the time it was very new sounding
Decent
Okay, I guess, doesn't particularly excite or offend me.
stop yapping guys
I did enjoy this one!
This is a difficult one to rate. I more appreciate it than love it. The only Sonic Youth album I own is Dirty and although I liked it at the time it has never got repeated listenings in the meantime. I think Sister would be somewhat similar for me. I can appreciate the music but it just doesn’t cut through for me as an album that I will give repeat listening to. So a 3/5 for me, with the caveat that I do hear why many would rate it higher.
I've loved the name of this band since the first time I heard it, but I don't think I've ever actually listened to them. Read a bunch of 1001 reviews and surprised at all the ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings. Someone, giving this a ⭐, complained about it being "sustain guitar depressed teenager music". But for a band named SONIC YOUTH, who formed in the middle of the post-punk no-wave period, what would you expect?!? "Sustain guitar depressed teenager music" is what they were supposed to do. I wonder if they were influenced by the PIXIES... On another day, I might give it ⭐⭐ - it's not my cup of tea, but I'll give it ⭐⭐⭐ because it's a pretty accurate picture of what was happening in 1987. ________________________________ 🎧 LPs reviewed: 57 🎧 LPs left to review: 944 🎧 LPs I found great/relevant enough to be mandatory listens (5): 12 🎧 LPs I *might* include in my own list (4): 17 🎧 LPs I will certainly *not* include in mine (1-2): 16
56/100
3.5
Pretty decent, noisy and grumpy but enjoyable. Dissonant in a positive way.
Good but it's driving me a little crazy. I'll definitely get a headache if I listen to this 2 times in a row. But it's not a terrible album 3/5. 3 because I thought it was a good album but the further it goes the worse it starts to get.
Fantastic deep cut! I've listened to Daydream Nation and Goo a bunch but never Sister. Don't know if it really needs to be an album to hear before I die but I do enjoy it.
p579. 1987. 3 stars. Noisy bridge between punk and grunge. Well done of its kind but no redeeming features.
Thoughts before listening: Sonic Youth is one of the most polarizing bands for me. They wrote some amazing 90s underground anthems like "Teenage Riot" and "Kool Thing", but they also have some stuff that is way too out there for me. I don't know this album, but I fear it's going to fall in the latter category. Review: This is okay. There is definitely a cool aesthetic to pretty much everything Sonic Youth does, and that comes through here in spades. I have tried for years to like this band, but I still just don't enjoy listening to them all that much. Its too atonal and weird for its own good or something. I know this is a selling point for their fans, but I guess I'm just a pop music fan. Even with punk and alt-rock bands I need catchy melodies and cohesive musicianship to really enjoy it. Best songs are "Schizophrenia", "Tuff Gnarl", and "White Cross". 3-stars.
Influential band in the alternative rock scene for sure. But for me some songs are just the dull mix of simple noise. I liked the first track of the album tho
As Thurston Moore sings: “Flies are flaring through your brains.” That’s pretty much how I felt listening to this. The album started the bridge of the band moving into songs with more structure and actual hook. But not much of that here. There’s only so much art rock noise one can handle. Granted, the bonus track Master-Dik espousing “I’m the royal tuff titty and you gotta taste my love” while sampling KISS’ “Strutter” was pretty sweet.
I think I preferred Daydream Nation slightly over this. Still feels like a band I can’t get into for a full album
2.5 Some solid moments but I can’t get over the rock noise. Makes it tough to listen to at times.
I liked when they broke down and got heavy. Stand-out: White Cross
Nirvana with less going on and no nostalgia.
Nothing remarkable. Not much reason to come back to it.
Try as I do, I never really enjoy Sonic Youth. And I tried again. Don't get it. Loud indie guitar rock. Obligatory guitar squeal...
Good album. Vocals and lyrics a little dated but music great.
The 90s.
80's alternative. I knew of Sonic Youth but hadn't explored their catalog. You can clearly hear the punk rock roots but they experiment heavily with different chord structures and instrumentation. Very creative stuff but you have to be in a certain frame of mine to appreciate it.
https://youtu.be/bWQYwqHWiyQ?si=QsbYaZO-z236ViU5 I hate to contradict Juno, but Sonic Youth is pretty cool and this is a pretty good album. I don’t like noise rock but Sonic Youth has always kept their noise poppy enough for my tastes. I wouldn’t want to listen to this all the time but I’d take a kinda noisy rock and roll record over another bland snoozefest most of the time.
OK
the Sonic Youth album without any of the great Sonic Youth songs, this was a chore to get through at points. 2.5 stars but rounding up