Reviews (page 3 of 8)
A bit pretentious and droning, yet common enough to play in the background. Minor key alt rock noise.
Sonic Youth were definitely different for 1986. They weren’t classic rock, they weren’t exactly new wave, they definitely weren’t hair metal, and weren’t exactly punk either. They were a mix of different genres and influences that would eventually become grunge. But they weren’t quite that either. They were like a proto-grunge. You could hear what was coming, but there was also a kind of poppy-ness, along with some alternative and harder elements too. That all being said, it didn’t knock my socks off. It’s ok, but it’s not like the songwriting or musicianship is amazing or anything. As influential as it was, it was only mildly enjoyable.
Sonic Youth is always an interesting listen, and this album is no exception. A little off kilter, as they do, but definitely enjoyable.
My musical journey: Small boy: Glam and Radio 1 chart music (Tiger Feet, This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us, Crazy Horses). Big boy: Punk and beyond (The Jam, The Clash, The Birthday Party, Siouxsie). 20s: Full-on music addict. Anything new and interesting (C86, Blast First, 4AD bands - Cocteau Twins, Shop Assistants, The Pastels, Killdozer, Pixies, Big Black, SONIC YOUTH!). Anything old that influenced the new (The Shangri-Las, Bo Diddley, The Kinks, Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers). Beyond 20s: Still obsessed, but more narrow and picky in my tastes nowadays. Current favourites: Westside Cowboy, Humdrum, Tulpa. All with roots in my musical past. I still love all the music I grew up with (why wouldn't I?) and Sonic Youth still blow me away. They were like nothing else that had gone before. Detuned guitars, feminist, punk attitude...Bad Moon Rising, Sister, Daydream Nation, Dirty, Goo and Evol are all still essential albums. Radical and quite, quite brilliant.
Meh.
Riktigt häftig band, men Daydream Nation är ett häftigare album än detta
Är inte emot den här typen av oljud rent generellt, ibland fångar det en på något speciellt och inte alltid förklarligt sätt. Det hände dock inte den här gången.
Känns tongivande för sin tid, och imponerande på ett sätt, men lite för mycket oljud för min smak för att ge ett starkare intryck. Men lagom coolt!
Lyssnade på denna två gånger är ändå osäker på vad jag tycker. Men det gav en positiv känsla!
I got introduced to Sonic Youth with Dirty, which is a more accessible SY. I like their sound, I like the dynamics and buildups throughout the album. What I don't like is that their artsy side shines through too much. Like the spoken words songs. That's too much. For me, Green Light is the best track.
I really try to like Sonic Youth so bad... Favorite track: Shadow of a Doubt
Yesterday I was complaining about this site giving me a second Coldplay album and having to listen to their bland vanilla. Today, early Sonic Youth, which is the very opposite of bland. There are recognisable song structures here, but they're overwhelmed by great waves of noise and feedback, guitars like atonal divebombing chainsaws, lyrics so indistinct as to be indecipherable, so that the songs just break down. And yes it's not for the timid and faint hearted, but if you're timid and faint hearted have you considered that this might not be the Web project for you? Personally I'd prefer this to a truck load of Chris Martins emoting "Yellow".
I was getting into the first few songs on the album, but then the album started devolving into a lot more noise, which wasn’t bad necessarily, but I don’t think it was as good. It’s definitely early punk with the driving rhythm of the drums backing the beats of the songs, so it was listenable but not really my favorite.
all time fav
Mmmmm, me parece que solamente no es para mi. Medio medio
Better than the other 2 SY on here 2.5
A good album but I didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as the two I’ve had previously. In saying that, Sister took a few listens to properly click with me so maybe this one will grow on me as well. Top Track - Shadow Of A Doubt
Loved the start of this, a little wierd by then end but I’m looking forward to more. Sonic youth was very popular as a Tshirt on bands I loved in the 90s, I’m impressed by the sound and this isn’t even their most acclaimed album.
I had The Velvet Underground on here a little while ago, and though the VU were widely considered the band that kicked off punk rock, I think the band that most embodied their essence wasn’t all those three chord rockers, it was Sonic Youth. Here was a band that came out of the New York art scene that likewise was bringing outside and avant garde and experimental influences into rock music, and they did it a way that made it entirely theirs. Evol isn’t my favorite Sonic Youth record (that would be either Sister or Washing Machine) but it’s a good one. “Shadow of a Doubt” is great and Kim Gordon is the coolest. “Expressway to yr Skull” is of course a classic.
Meh
Not for me
Masters of noise and sonically riding on that edge of chaos. Solidly a 4 for me, unsure if it will move to a 5 the more I sit with it.
I liked it, didn’t click with it like I did with Daydream Nation, but it was good.
Did not have chance to give this full listen, but agree with many of the comments, just not a great vibe for me.
Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 3/5
I love sonic youth, but I prefer the other SY albums on this list. This will get a 3
2.5/5 — Good album, just not really my style. The guitar tones and melodies are pretty, but it leans heavily on long guitar sections and I prefer more lyrics. Glad I listened, but I probably wouldn’t search for it again
ha estado bien aunque he de reconocer que pensaba que me gustaría más :(
For the most part, dissonant nonsense. I employ you to reconsider your reviews of Robbie Williams, because at least that was somewhat musical.
I listened to this once, about an hour ago, and should probably listen to it again, a little more carefully, but my motivation for doing so is not high. And that's sort of how I feel about Sonic Youth generally: not motivated to listen to them very often. I do have one of their albums (probably their best?), Daydream Nation (actually a double album), which came out in 1988, 2 years after EVOL. For me, once in a very long while, Daydream Nation is just the thing. They're good at what they do; it's just not something I'm particularly drawn to. After a second listen, I did like it probably a tiny bit better. Anyway, it's between a 3 and 4 for me. (Btw, this is another one where I'm curious to read what you guys think.) I think I have to go with a 3 - it's interesting, but hard for me to feel much enthusiasm for it, so, yeah, a 3.
uuuuuh I like the darker, weirder parts of the album, but the more straightforward stuff is everything I don't like about 80's music. Too white, no syncopation. But because of some interesting ambiences and storytelling I may want to revisit this. For me, 3 stars means something I might listen to again I'm usually not that impressed by dissonance, but they make some impressive dissonances. I don't know if I like it much but I'm intrigued.
Isn’t really grabbing me…
Classic Sonic Youth, far from their best album but still very good
I like Sonic Youth, but in small doses. This one isn't as good as some of their others IMO.
Meh. It's just sloppy noise-rock. There are so many Sonic Youth albums on this list. I don't get what all the fuss is about. 2⭐️
On the face of it, this isn’t the type of music I’d have gone for in the past, and now in my 50s I’m wishing that I’d been more open-minded when I was younger. I think I’ve heard 1 or 2 Sonic Youth tracks before, but always felt a bit intimidated by them and never explored further. I really enjoyed EVOL. I felt like I was diving into a fully formed world, one that prizes self-expression and experimentation and is delighted that you came along and found something in it that you liked. I have a new back catalogue to explore, and this is exactly what I hoped to get out of this project.
Vielleicht ein biiiiischen zu experimentell aber schon n vibe 2-3
I didn't listen to Sonic Youth in the 80's and 90's, and I don't know why. I find them fascinating.
I remember Sonic. Youth being the darlings of the music press back in the day. I even bought one of their albums. Never got them though. With the best will in the world their stuff does nothing for me. This one started strongly but then faded away rather quickly. 2..5
Meh
Good. Interesting.
Nope. Bad all around
I don't get it. I love pavement, I like lots of grunge, I like avant garde pop, I like indie. I experienced the full weight of the 90s. I just cannot ever get with Sonic Youth. Where's the melodies and harmonies? What do people like about them?
Fun little album
Best Song: Death To Our Friends. It is not lost on my that my favourite song here is the instrumental one. Worst Song: In The Kingdom #19. The backing music was alright, but the attempted edgelord narrative was a totally uninteresting. Overall: It isn't awful, but it feels like music that is trying very hard to fill a particular aesthetic more than trying to be that enjoyable to listen to. And since I'm not really interested in that aesthetic, it is a miss for me.
Ahead of his time
I absolutely love Sonic Youth but they got way better albuns to make the cut
Not as bad as I thought, just fine 2.5 rounded to 3
I do not care for Sonic Youth. Please let this be the last of their albums on this list.
More like De-E.V.O.L. Top tracks: "Starpower," "Tom Violence"
Man, this just ain't it for me. Fucking sad mad alt rock but just angsty and eye rolling. Like, turning this on is just the RDJ eye roll gif on repeat.
--Tom Violence...hmm --Shadow of a Doubt...never loved Kim Gordon's whisper-singing but there's a general lightness to this that I enjoy --Starpower...a little bored by this one --In the Kingdom #19...woof --Green Light...I'm already tired, Thurston --Death to Our Friends...definitely noise rock --Secret Girl...sure --Marilyn Moore...zombie walking to the end --Expressway to Yr. Skull...I have listened to and enjoyed Sonic Youth before. I am not enjoying this listen --Bubblegum...something a little poppier. of course it's a cover
Loving this. Sonic youth has yet to let me down. So interesting all the way through and completely separate of the rest of what we’ve listened to but uniquely them. Maybe they are the great band they’ve always been billed to be. Too bad they were mean to Nardwuar.
Not extra my brand of rock music I enjoy. Felt all over the place.
I really did NOT enjoy this. No hate on the band, it’s just not for me, I just didn’t enjoy it.
This is not an album I would ever want to listen to again. It's just scraped into a 2, in that it's not as awfully obnoxious as some of the hip-hop and death metal shit they've got going around here, but altogether my ears thought it was pretty bad.
- I like this a lot more than I expected to - I had Goo and never really reached for it, so I never explored their other stuff. Thought this was going to be more of the same (post-punk, despite the name and cover, lol), but this one feels a lot different -- much more dark, creepy, and atmospheric (way more goth than punk) -- almost a horror vibe, at times. - Really enjoying the layers of sound and the combo of there being a ton of sound, but also really distinct riffs. - I'd say it's a 3.5. It's not really one that I want to listen to over and over, and I felt like it went on a little too long, but overall, I'm into it.
Had a moment of Sonic Youth fandom in the 90's, but never really went and listened to much of their earlier stuff. Loved the songs with Kim on lead vocals, thought the rest of the songs were hit or miss. Had a good time with it, but don't see myself returning to it often.
Meh. Rough and evolving. Not there yet. Sonic Youth has a harsh, experimental sound generally. Later albums, they managed to make it Click and pull off something that should not work. For this album... it still doesn't.
Sonic Youth at their rawest and most unpolished, and it does feel like it. The album is fine and feels like a place holder for where they would eventually go, but definitely not my favorite work by them. Death of Our Friends in particular feels like a precursor for their later work. I liked Shadow of a Doubt, but overall I was pretty dissapointed with this.
Pas forcement ma came
Грязно, шумно, авангардно — всё как я люблю. В такой музыке мне немного не хватает некой законченности песен, но, пожалуй, что в контексте альбома это не так важно, всё и так отлично работает. Лучшая песня: Death To Our Friends
My pre-listen opinion of Sonic Youth was that they are potentially the most overrated band of the generation. After the opening 3 songs of EVOL I was ready to renounce that take and beg forgiveness. Tom Violence and Shadow of Doubt are fantastic. Raw, energetic and cohesive, 3 things later Sonic Youth lacks in my opinion. There seems to be a purpose that they often loose. And they definitely lose it over a lot of the rest of the album. But the start definitely shows their potential. Maybe it’s their peak. 6.2/10
я заебалась подбирать прилагательные и просто чувствую его на 100 проц
What was the point of this?
Tiene la dosis adecuada de experimentación para mí.
⭐ Trodde inte jag skulle gilla denna och mina farhågor infriades. Vet ju att Sonic youth är en vattendelare. Har verkligen svårt för detta och kan inte förstå hur man på allvar kan uppskatta Sonic youth. Som bäst kan man väl beskriva det som monotont skrammel. Bästa spår är Bubble Gum som i alla fall är acceptabel.
Has some great hits
Good background music, enjoyed it all. Curious how I'll rank it after hearing all the Sonic Youth albums on this list.
I like Sonic Youth. I enjoyed them a lot in the early 90's and still will put them on. I don't like this album. Never did. It's not bad, but because I found them when I did this album kinda falls flat for me. It lays out where they are going but because they hadn't got there yet it's a miss. That and some wanker once told me it's like if Sonic Youth and The Cure had a baby. So whenever I hear this album I think of that.
What nice music!
It's good but too noisy for me
The first two (maybe three) tracks were listenable. The rest was just an identity crisis. I've never heard anybody try so hard to sound like The Cure. This album was the equivalent of drunkenly butt-dialing your ex.
2.5 This is my fourth or fifth Sonic Youth album and I definitely got them in “descending importance” order. This one is fine, I guess? A little more indie/post-punk, I think it’s their earliest album represented? Is this their debut? Idk I don’t care enough to check. I liked the Kim-sung songs the most.
Noise. Not for me
There are definitely too many Sonic Youth albums on this list, but this isn't one of them. I've been kind of hit or miss with their albums on this list, but this is one of the stronger efforts. Best songs were "Tom Violence," "Shadow of a Doubt," and "Madonna, Sean, and Me" but most of the songs were pretty strong. Not my favorite album of theirs, but definitely worthy of a solid 4 stars.
dreamy, grimy and spiky in places, with an atmosphere of dread and urban decay
I can’t get into their stuff
Like a band jamming unafraid of making noise for the sheer hell of it. Whats not to EVOL?
I love Sonic youth and even I will admit there are too many of their albums on this list. This one definitely doesn't need to be there.
I can't believe that there's *still* one more Sonic Youth album to go after this one! I'm not a big fan of them, but I would think that even diehards might question whether everybody else really couldn't die without gorging on five SY albums. Nonetheless, it was nice to get a somewhat less discordant album from them with "EVOL", and even the hint at times of actual songs (but only a hint, of course, and really only on the first side). Interesting too to get so many SST albums around the same time, with Minutemen coming just a few albums before this one, and then having Minutemen's Mike Watt guest playing on a few tracks on this album too. I'm not sure I could say that any of the tracks really spoke to me, but I liked reading that on the vinyl release "Expressway to Yr. Skull" had a locked groove at the end, so it played to infinity and beyond. (Weird too that the cassette/CD/streaming version of that song is titled "Madonna, Sean and Me".)
Felt like pretentious shit.
This album was so ahead of its time.
I never really "got" Sonic Youth. But this was changed things for me. I really love this record. The songs are all well composed and perfectly executed.
Maybe I’m not punk rock enough but I’m pretty sure this just sounds like shit
Gritty rock static.
nothing great but nothing bad, they have better records than this.
this was one of the harder listens from my experience, noise rock isn’t really my thing, so despite listening to this whole album, I really couldn’t get into it. I found myself often losing attention on the music, as I didn’t think it was doing anything particularly interesting, bar a few rare segments, like the piano on secret girl, or the last track bubblegum. other than that, this really didn’t excite or interest me. Perhaps it would if I was in a different headspace. Not looking forward to inevitably seeing more of this band.
Still not a Sonic Youth fan no matter how many of these albums are thrown at me. I don't understand how so many of them are on this list.
nice
No L.O.V.E. One big skip.
songs are great vocals are not, music is overall good low end of a 4
Ok 2/5
Rubbish 2/10
I days past, I use to enjoy listening to Sonic Youth, now I seem a bit indifferent.
It looks pretty interesting, but i dont think it is amazing. So its a ok album.
This is better than the other sonic youth album I heard. This one is way less shrill and screechy.
For whatever reason, I just can’t get into sonic youth I listen to about half the album then just stopped. It all sounds the same to me.
Not mine, sorry
A lot of noise on this album, some of it is not in tune, and a lot of it I didn’t really enjoy.
I once paid money for this album based on a recommendation and definitely regretted it. They have a little good stuff but not this many albums worth
I feel like Sonic Youth should be right up my alley but something about them is very unpleasant to listen to
Started out OK, then I didn't like it.
Forever my favorite Sonic Youth album, and also one of the greatest atmospheric noise-rock albums ever. This album really takes those Joy Division gothic, monotone, and reverb sounds established only 5 or 6 years prior and elevates them to something horrific, crushing, and at times jaw-droppingly dystopian. The waves of distorted guitars, reverb, and tremolo-picked delay on these songs make the whole album feel like the unfolding of some awful disaster, a disaster that ushers in the end of an already empty, macabre, and dreadful world, one where the sun never shines, and the soul has been sapped out of just about everything. I'd say this album comes together to form a strong, singular atmosphere - but each song is still very much unique-sounding and brings something special to the table. 'In the Kingdom #19' is maybe the most industrial punk song here, with a killer bass backing from none other than Mike Watt. It's like what standard punk rock in a dark parallel universe would sound like - the way the song screeches, pauses, and stutters before devolving into nothing but feedback over Ronaldo's ugly and gory spoken word piece. 'Marilyn Moore' feels like being in a single room as it's collapsing in on itself, just absolute crushing feedback as Moore howls off-key about the struggles of this troubled protagonist, painting such a horrifically vivid picture of the scene. I just love how the band is constantly able to dish out these incredible short bursts of reverb or delay-drenched guitar, not just on this song but the whole album. They do some incredible shit with guitars on this record that really brings many of their contemporaries to shame. This is true dissonance. With all that said, there are subtle moments of beauty here that sprout out of seemingly nothing. For example, the reverby guitars, synth, and thumping bass hits of 'Shadow of a Doubt' over Kim's hushed vocals are such a genuinely serene moment, like a lone flower sprouting from miles of debris. Or the surprise piano in the second half of 'Secret Girl.' And I'd argue 'Madonna, Sean, and Me' (or whatever title it chooses to go by, there are many) is maybe the most easily digestible song here, parts of it, especially in the beginning, with these wholesome chords, remind me of a group like Have a Nice Life, nearly 20 years before the fact. And this closing track finishes with this horrowing dark ambient piece that's actually an infinite locked groove on the vinyl version. And I know it's a bonus track, but I really love the song 'Bubblegum'; it doesn't really fit in the mix here, but on its own, it's a pretty great punk rock track. I love this thing to death. Just the atmosphere it paints from start to finish. Sonic Youth remains undeniably influential in this world of dark, moody music - so many future acts would draw from the superb dark atmosphere construction (and deconstruction) of EVOL.
A lot more Joy Division-esque than their other offerings here (that I can recall). Best offering by them here. Would choose to listen again.
Awesome noisy stuff. Love the guitar and bass growls and degenerate noise. Maybe less epic than daydream nation, but a bit more digestible. I think I like the longer instrumental sections more than anything vocal here.
Just a bunch of noise! Got through it but only just!
I had an ocular migraine while listening to this album - coincidence? I think not.
7.5/10
I've tried listening to sonic youth a few times and their good albums are all like this - three great tunes followed by something like in the kingdom #19, which sounds like something most bands would reject for a b-side. All momentum and energy lost we start the process again.
Pretty good, this album is their 3rd, and their first step form the avant garde distorted sound baths into mainstream rock punk. It defined the genre, and it's good, but some of their later albums are better.
Interesting
Not one of their best but it is still Sonic Youth
Pretentious garbage
Idk if I will ever love this band
I talked about this with Nirvana, but sonic youth is so fuckin cool. Like that’s their main appeal to me is that they just sound like the coolest music that has ever existed. This album isn’t as good as goo since the songs aren’t half as strong, but it’s still real solid.
Lots of noise, not very enjoyable
Dark rock music, with aggression down under it.
Boring droney bullshit. There's just not enough energy to it. I think this is my 4th album of theirs now, and I understand that they can be real hit and miss - or at least vary greatly between albums in terms of their approach. This one is a miss unfortunately.
Amazed how modern this album still sounds and the influence in so much music I like is obvious. I want to spend more time with it, could become a five star album.
Love the gothic gloomy vibe of this record!
One of the interesting things about this list is getting a sense of the things that the editor was into at different times in his life. This is the fifth Sonic Youth album on here that I’ve listened to, and as previously mentioned, they were a band that I missed out on at the time, but it’s interesting to hear the progression in their sound. The other albums were definitely post punk and proto grunge, but this has more in common with late 60s/early 70s experimental garage rock and beat poetry with a gothic tinge. Tracks like Bubblegum go right back to the Stooges and pull it off with aplomb. I suspect past me would have enjoyed this at the time, but maybe not as much as current me.
Blech
Not very fun to listen to. 2.5
With each subsequent Sonic Youth album I get on here, the less I like them. Daydream Nation was awesome but everything else has been a let down. This album was particularly bad. At points I wondered if they weren't proficient at their instruments and just thought we'll make noises to cover it up. Bubblegum has one of the worste guitar solos ever recorded.
I think I have written this for every sonic youth album so far, but u love noise rock and no one does it better than sonic youth. The first three song on this album are so good. I love Kim Gordon, and shadow of a doubt is one of her best songs. High 5!
T.I.H.S.
Their third album. Inide / Rock. Starpower is a good track. A very atmospheric album with some good production. I don't know, it's neither good nor bad. A solid yet middling album.
Good record but one of their more meandering efforts
I didn't hate it, it's just not my type of music... I'm sure it's good? I kinda liked "Shadow of a Doubt" and parts of "Secret Girl" but nothing else really stood out? I was just a little bored and I am sorry
I listened to it a few times today. I enjoyed it the first time, but the dark energy got taxing when I had the album on loop. I'll still throw it a 3; feeling jolly this week.
almost completely forgettable and annoying walls of sound. if you had shown me the cover and asked me to guess what it sounded like, i probably could've gotten close to what sonic youth did here. it's rare i've skipped a track on the albums we roll that i haven't heard, but I had to skip "Death to Our Friends". and whhhyyyy is "Madonna, Sean, and Me" seven minutes long?? actually don't answer that. i don't fucking care. this album sucks.
This one wasn't for me. The first half had me hopeful, but by the end I really just wanted it over so I could move on to something else that I would enjoy more.
I liked this because it made me feel like a character in a montage where they make really bad decisions. The first half was much stronger than the second though. By the end of it I felt a little exhausted. 3-3.5
This wasn't the hopeful album I needed this week, but it certainly felt right for the dystopic landscape we seem to be headed towards. I enjoyed this, and I thought Kim Gordon was especially wonderful. I can't say I'll be back to it anytime soon.
I discovered Sonic Youth at the ripe young age of 10, via the Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza" in which Homer goes on the road getting shot in the stomach with cannonballs for a Lollapalooza parody called "Hullabalooza." This is also how I learned that Lollapalooza used to be a tour and not confined to Chicago. Anyway, Sonic Youth is in the episode and they raid Peter Frampton's cooler and eat his watermelon, which led to an image I've seen on a lot of t-shirts in my life. Sometimes when I'm flustered and ranting about the misfortunes in my life, I throw in the line "and Sonic Youth's in my cooler!" to add a bit of levity. They also do the theme song in the episode's closing credits, which is a thing that used to constantly get uploaded to YouTube and even LimeWire attributed to pretty much every noisy rock band you can think of (I definitely remember seeing it uploaded as being by the White Stripes at one point). Over the ensuing 20 years (😳), Sonic Youth has become a band that I: 1). Really enjoy quite a bit; and 2). Almost never listen to. As a neat bit of synchronicity, they beat the Pixies by a few years on the combining pure fuzzy noise and pop sensibilities and also on having a female bassist/co-vocalist named Kim. In regard to this album, I'm pretty sure it's what Spacemen 3 thought they were making. Today's listen led to my embarking on an attempt to solve the mystery of why the song I have always known as “Expressway to Yr Skull” is titled “Madonna, Sean, & Me” on streaming. Wikipedia lists the track title as "Expressway to Yr Skull" but states that it is listed as "Madonna, Sean, & Me" on the back cover of the album and, on the lyric sheet, it is called "The Crucifixion of Sean Penn." So now I am left with the opposite issue of how the song's title changed to the more commonly known one. I reviewed no fewer than 3 Reddit threads on the topic and quite literally none of them gave me more information beyond "it was called that and now it's called this" and "they like Madonna." I saw a copy of Kim Gordon's book out in the wild the other day, maybe it holds the answers.
Shadow of a Doubt. Fuck yeah.
Grungy and moody I like it
Sonic Youth are the coolest band that I 100% can't get totally into. I've actually never listened to EVOL and didn't know any of the individual tracks, so this was an interesting exercise. It sounds like... early Sonic Youth. I wonder why the went with this one instead of Daydream Nation?
Yea that was quite an experience
I’ve listened to multiple Sonic Youth albums and not one has ever done it for me
Short and creepy
Points for being experimental. Not very enjoyable. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.
most of this is pure misery. the last 2 songs are listenable but sonic poop had completely lost me by that point
Album 15 Top 3 "favorites" off the album: Bubblegum, Madonna, Sean, and Me; Shadow of a Doubt In an honest attempt to be fair, I'll keep this short. It was noisy in a way that was grating. It felt long even at 39 minutes. I put off listening to my next album to listen to some of my favorites instead because I didn't enjoy this one. I did like In the Kingdom #19. Very visceral and interesting. I also liked Bubblegum because it was the end of the album. I tried to appreciate this. At least it isn't Coldplay. Won't be coming back to this one.
WHERES MY DAVID BOWIE! Also this flew over my head. Daydream nation is better. 3.5/5
There are times when it's very hard to distinguish bold, experimental music from random, jarring noise. This is one such record and I think ... I think I'm just about erring on the side of bold and experimental. There's an interesting slew of different styles and concepts underneath the sludge here, but a substantial portion of the tracks don't feel worth returning to.
This was an alright album, nothing too exciting and definitely didn't start well, but as the songs started being less popular (fewer listens), they actually started being more chill and more decent to listen to.
some very cool songs
creepy reminded me of jess mariano 2.5
Absolutely loved this album- wasn’t expecting to like it so much! This one’s going in the rotation
Love me some sonic youth. It’s no daydream nation but was a fun listen.
I didn't get anything out of this, it was basically noise to me.
Não ouço nada aqui que eu queira ouvir novamente.
are you fucking kidding me? 2 Sonic Youth Albums in a row? somehow this 1001 albums list could have been just 500 i guess. No reason to put every fucking album of one band in the list. they all sound the same to me.
3.3 2x ATL airport and drive home
Sehr laut + hektisch
Yes I might have been introduced to EVOL after a cover of Starpower was performed on Gossip Girl, but what of it? 4/5
not my style, decent though. 3/10
It was okay. Had some decent moments but nothing to write home about.
I liked last two songs. The other ones... Well, they have nice sound and nice melodies but somehow it doesn't work really good. Nice as a background music, I guess
When Sonic Youth isn’t being self indulgent, they write amazing songs. This album has 2-3 of those songs surrounded by endless jam-band sonic meh-scapes.
In the movie Juno, Ellen Page’s character describes Sonic Youth as “just noise.” This is better than described, but just because it’s a good Sonic Youth album doesn’t mean it’s a good album. If it was ahead of its time, it doesn’t hold up; dumb songs are dumb songs regardless of the decade.
Yah was pretty ok
Početak najboljeg djela karijere
This challenge might genuinely have turned me into a Sonic Youth fan. I really enjoyed EVOL. I love how dark and brooding this record feels. The atmosphere is heavy, uneasy, and unmistakably gritty, with a grungy edge that pulls you in rather than pushes you away. The guitar work is the real star—distinctive, dissonant, and unmistakably Sonic Youth. I Not everything lands perfectly, but the mood, tone, and guitar textures make this a compelling and rewarding listen from start to finish. Favourite track: Least favourite track: Secret Girl – a bit much for me and doesn’t really add anything to the album Album artwork: Dark, minimal, and very cool—perfectly matches the mood of the music
Low energy, monotone, buzzy 80s alternative. For some reason always mixed these guys and social distortion up. Looks like they are still around making new music. Good for them.
again? Just noise, why this is a must hear album is well beyond me.
These again? I really fail to see why this band got so many entries on this list when it's not even considered an all-time great, and, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't even exist now. This album was like the rest of them: okay, no bangers.
Remettons les pendules à l'heure. Nous sommes en 1986 et si tu allumes la radio ou ouvres un magazine grand public de l'époque, et bien c'est l'enfer. C'est le règne du synthétiseur plastique, des batteries avec tellement de réverbération qu'elles sonnent comme des coups de feu dans un canyon, et des permanentes qui défient les lois de la gravité autant que celles du bon goût. Le rock est en train de devenir une caricature de stade, gonflé aux hormones et vide de sens. Et pendant ce temps-là, dans le Lower East Side de New York, au milieu des seringues usagées et des loyers pas chers, quatre types sont en train de bricoler la bombe à retardement qui va finir par exploser à la face du monde quelques années plus tard. Cet album, E.V.O.L., c’est le point de bascule. C'est le moment précis où Sonic Youth arrête d'être un collectif d'art contemporain bruyant pour devenir le plus grand groupe de rock du monde souterrain. C’est la fin de la récréation No Wave et le début des choses sérieuses. Pourquoi 5 sur 5 ? Parce que c’est la définition même de la perfection imparfaite. C’est sale, c’est glauque, mais bordel, qu’est-ce que c’est beau. D’abord, il y a cette pochette, une photo de Richard Kern. Une fille, Lung Leg, qui a l'air de sortir d'un mauvais rêve ou d'une nuit blanche trop chargée. C’est granuleux, c’est rose fluo et noir. Ça ne te vend pas du rêve, ça te vend de la réalité crasseuse. Le titre lui-même est une blague cynique : "E.V.O.L." c'est l'amour (LOVE) à l'envers ou "Evolution" tronquée. Choisissez votre camp, de toute façon, ça finit mal. Musicalement, c'est l'arrivée du messie, j'ai nommé Steve Shelley. Avant lui, Sonic Youth avait des batteurs qui jouaient des percussions tribales sur des bidons. C'était marrant cinq minutes, mais Steve Shelley, lui, c'est une métronomie humaine. Il vient du hardcore, il frappe dur, il frappe droit. Et soudain, les délires de guitares de Thurston Moore et Lee Ranaldo trouvent un ancrage. Ils ne flottent plus dans le vide intersidéral de l'avant-garde ; ils ont une colonne vertébrale. C'est grâce à cette rythmique implacable que le groupe peut se permettre de torturer ses Jazzmasters avec des tournevis, des baguettes et des accordages que même un mathématicien ne comprendrait pas. Ce disque sonne comme une nuit d'été à New York où l'air est tellement lourd et humide que tu as l'impression de respirer de l'eau sale. Il y a une tension sexuelle et mortifère qui traverse tout l'album. Prenez "Shadow of a Doubt", Kim Gordon ne chante pas, elle te murmure à l'oreille des secrets inavouables sur fond de larsen contrôlé. On est dans un film noir, assis sur la banquette arrière d'une voiture conduite par un psychopathe, et on adore ça. C’est l’antithèse de la pop joyeuse, c’est de la pop pour les gens qui aiment regarder les accidents de la route. Il y a une magie noire dans la façon dont ils mélangent la mélodie et le chaos. "Starpower" commence presque comme une chanson normale, un truc éthéré qui pourrait passer à la radio si la radio n'était pas tenue par des lâches, et puis ça dérape. Toujours. Ça finit par grincer, par hurler. Les guitares ne sonnent pas comme des guitares, elles sonnent comme des cloches d'église fondues, comme des freins de métro, comme des sirènes d'alarme au loin. Moore et Ranaldo ne jouent pas des notes, ils sculptent du son, ils prennent de la texture et te la jettent au visage. Et puis il y a "Tom Violence" et son riff d'intro. C'est hypnotique, c'est la bande-son idéale pour fixer le plafond pendant quatre heures en se demandant ce qu'on a fait de sa vie. C'est d'une langueur monotone qui te drogue littéralement. On sent que le groupe maîtrise enfin son art : ils ne font plus du bruit pour faire du bruit, ils utilisent le bruit pour peindre des paysages. Des paysages urbains, dévastés, en ruine, mais des paysages quand même. Mais le clou du spectacle, la raison pour laquelle cet album mérite sa note maximale et sa place au panthéon, c'est la fin. La trilogie finale qui mène à "Madonna, Sean and Me" (ou "Expressway to Yr. Skull", peu importe comment vous l'appelez). Ce morceau est un monument. Neil Young l'a qualifié de "plus grande chanson de guitare jamais écrite", et qui sommes-nous pour contredire le Loner ? C'est une véritable épopée. Ça commence cool, ça monte, ça devient épique, et puis ça se dissout. Littéralement. Le morceau ne s'arrête pas, il s'évapore... Sur le vinyle original, le groupe avait gravé le sillon de fin pour qu'il boucle à l'infini. Si tu ne te levais pas pour relever le bras de ta platine, tu pouvais passer le reste de ta vie à écouter ce bourdonnement final, ce résidu de larsen. C’est une idée de génie, c’est l’infini mis en musique. C’est la musique qui refuse de mourir, qui reste là, tapie dans l'ombre, prête à te sauter à la gorge. "E.V.O.L." n'est pas juste un album de rock. C'est un manifeste esthétique, c'est la preuve qu'on peut être intellectuel sans être chiant, qu'on peut être punk sans jouer trois accords à 200 à l'heure, et qu'on peut être américain en détestant l'Amérique de Reagan. C’est sombre, c’est vénéneux, c’est addictif. C'est l'album qui a ouvert la porte à tout ce qui allait suivre. Sans "E.V.O.L.", pas de Nirvana (Cobain a tout piqué ici, les structures, les larsens, l'attitude), pas de My Bloody Valentine, pas de post-rock. C'est la racine de l'arbre généalogique de tout ce qui est cool dans la musique moderne. Alors oui, 5 sur 5 et c'est non négociable. C'est un disque qu'on n'écoute pas pour se divertir, mais pour se transformer. Une fois que tu as goûté à ce poison-là, les tubes du Top 50 ont le goût de l'eau tiède. C'est une claque magistrale, froide et définitive.
"EVOL" was a huge leap forward for Sonic Youth. Through collaborations with Lydia Lunch and Minutemen's Mike Watts, they moved from the New York no wave scene into more pop-oriented noise rock which would become their signature style. Kim Gordon called it their "goth" album and you can kind of see how it could sound a bit like a a grittier, more experimental version of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The vinyl version ends with "Expressway to Yr Skull" (renamed "Madonna, Sean and Me" on later versions), with a lock groove at the end, essentially making the song infinitely long. Well, at least until you couldn't take it any more. These recording sessions would also include the side project Ciccone Youth, where the band members with Watt would cover pop songs from the likes of Madonna and Robert Palmer. Well worth seeking out if you're a fan of this album.
Sonic Youth your dares you to like their music, and I did this time
YEP - DIA
A lot more artsy than I was expecting but in a good way. 👍Shadow of a Doubt
love it
Misheard a lot of lyrics
Sonic Youth is wasted on the young 🗑️🗑️🗑️
❤️ 🫁🦵 (98/100)
I really want to like Sonic Young and I guess I like the sound, but I just can't get into it.
Excellent
Goodness, there are quite a few Sonic Youth albums on this list, aren't there? I mean, from how I've always understood about their legacy, I would've thought they'd've had only two: 'Goo' and 'Daydream Nation'. Those seem to be the only two that "matter," in the grand sense of thing. They're the only two I've seen show up on the Rolling Stone 500, anyway. But, no, there's five — and this is my group's fourth. So, OK. What does this have to offer that the others didn't? It occurred to me listening to this album that I haven't really been paying too much attention to the tones of these albums. Like, on 'Dirty' I was still tryna get over how 'Psychocandy' scared me on noise rock; with 'Goo' I largely focused on how it sounded like an album people would listen to for "cool guy" points; and when we got 'Daydream Nation' I took it solely as a "metal ambient" album. In all the time I've been talking about Sonic Youth, I've yet to actually discuss the tone these albums are tryna get across. From what I've gathered from the lyrics, 'EVOL' seems to be an album looking at love backwards — if you couldn't tell from the title, anyway. But seriously, it looks that it's a collection of unnerving stories that all somehow relate back to love in some kind of reversed, unusual way. It makes all the sense in the world, then, that the music itself takes on this dissonant, unnerving tone to match. And I don't know what it was about when I listened to this album, but I found I was surprisingly into it? Like, I couldn't recall the last time I dug a Sonic Youth album this much. Even if the songs are all supposed to be a little messed up in one way or another, I honestly thought they rocked a little. Ain't no typical rock or light metal or whatever, but it did the job in a lot of places. If I could've been more into it ... well, for one, the lyrics didn't do too much for me. And I know, I'm never good with lyrics, so it should never be too much of a factor, but I'unno. There were just a lot of times where I had no idea what they were trying to get across. Like, I'll say at least that the first track is as worse as it gets for that sort of thing, but goodness me, what a first impression. And beyond the lyrics, I'unno. It just didn't have that undefinable "wow" factor I seem to be bringing up more and more. As much as I **was** into it, and as much as I **did** feel like I was in the right headspace for it, I guess I still could've been **more** in the right place? I'unno, I just never had that moment of "Damn, this is some **good shit**!" Mostly, I think I was just pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoying it. So, y'know, I suppose I can't say I really "evol" this album. But "gud dna ekil yllaer"? Yeah, that seems more fitting. It **did** provide me with something I didn't get out of the other **three** Sonic Youth albums we've gotten, so if nothing else I can't knock it for that. At this point, I'm just hoping the final one of five can prove itself worthy of being here. But in the meantime, yeah, I wouldn't call this one essential, but if you wanna give it your time, as long as you can meet it where it is, you'll have a good time. You'll "yojne" it, I guess. I'unno.
Might not be as influential as something like Goo or Daydream Nation, but it's still decent, nonetheless. Solid 4 Stars.
I’m at a 4.5 & I think this album does just enough to bump itself up to a 5. I don’t know why, but something about the eerie tones of this album just clicked for me really well. From a purely musical standpoint, it’s not super appealing, at least compared to their other albums, which are already kinda hit-or-miss, but from a sound design standpoint & how it uses its dissonance & uncomfortability to create an atmosphere, it’s highly effective, at least for my brain. As the title would suggest, a lot of these tracks are thematically linked to backwards ideas of love, in their insecure, misaligned or fucked up ways. “Tom Violence” didn’t click to my brain on a first pass, but I think it’s about someone daydreaming about an abuser as a sort of perfect lover (even with the apparent Tom Verlaine references). “Shadow of a Doubt” appears to be a pretty clear “Strangers on a Train” reference, with the twist of that shared lust for violence being a catalyst towards love itself. “Starpower” sounds like it’s about getting seduced by fame itself, no matter how much of a trainwreck that could be. “In The Kingdom #19” is a tribute track to a friend in a car wreck, yet it’s giving equal emphasis to the car itself & a little animal that survived. “Green Light”, at least to my brain, feels like being hypnotized into enjoying a truly bad relationship, which would line up with the extremely dissonant guitar chords on the track. “Death to Our Friends”, being fully instrumental, sort of breaks the pattern, but I think the slight glowing tone at the end implies pain inflicted out of some kind of weird religious psychosis. “Secret Girl” is… tricky. Personally, I’m of the mind that it’s about a boy going through gender dysphoria, & trying really desperately to suppress those thoughts (hence the several slamming doors in the soundscape). It’s ambiguously uncomfortable, and while that’s a little disappointing, I think it’s an honest struggle for self-love for 1986. “Marilyn Moore” is based around a real story of a serial killer who murdered prostitutes on “orders from God”; she survived, but that’s another weird sense of love in a fucked up way. The original vinyl version ends on “Madonna, Sean & Me”, where it apparently locked itself so it looped forever. Lyrically, I think it’s loosely about finding pleasure from murder, but I just enjoyed the guitar solo a lot, I dunno. “Bubblegum” is a bonus, and I think it’s just a straight cover, so I’m not factoring it in too much. I liked it, though. Out of the 9 core tracks here, 7 of them hit well for me on a first pass, with “Tom Violence” feeling a little too cryptic as an opening track & “Green Light” feeling too dissonant to really get into it from a musical standpoint. Neither are bad tracks, though. The main reason I’m at a 4.5 is because for as strongly as this album executes on its theme, I do think there are a lot of lull points in these tracks that just use sound as filler; when it’s done well, it can add to the tracks, but some of the time, it just comes across as padding between verses that can feel sonically uninteresting. However, this album presents itself strongly enough that I feel inclined to bump it up to a 5. It’s not for everyone; you do have to buy into this album a little bit, and I understand why it’s the lowest rated Sonic Youth album on the site. I just admire the way they were able to give each track a presence & identity, molded by the sound design & dissonance present throughout. It’s not a breezy 39 minutes, but it’s worth sitting in & just feeling the tracks out; if you can make the mental pictures I did, you might like it in the same way. If you can’t, it’s probably a 2 or a 3, and that’s fine all the same. Ultimately, I think it’s worth being on the list.
Decent album
Okay. I have never really understood the appeal of Sonic Youth. Just doesn't hit for me. Justice for Nardwuar.
This is my third Sonic Youth album from the list and I think it's the best one yet (the others being Goo and Daydream Nation). This one is hypnotic in a way that the other two are not.
Didn't enjoy this and I hoped that I would. A band who have passed me by. The term noise rock seemed pretty accurate. Not for me.
It didn’t do anything for me. I liked Kim Gordon’s songs
Sound of a band disappearing up their own arseholes. It's not completely irredeemable , but not an enjoyable album all the same 2*
Been meaning to listen to sum sonic youth. Couldn’t hear it great because I was in line at guardians of the galaxy and it is loud in there. Overall from what I could hear pretty solid.
A bit noisy for me, but I like it.
Second Sonic Youth album in 2 days. Like the first one I reviewed, not sure how often I'll go back to this (if at all). It's less punk than the last one, a little more noise rock, but the indie rock elements still shine through. I liked "Shadow of A Doubt", reminded me of The Cure a little. The album is okay, I preferred the other one.
This is the fifth Sonic Youth album I've reviewed on this list. It's pretty good, but not what I was in the mood for today.
I thought it was a relatively interesting listen, with some experimental tracks (such as the spoken lyrics of "In the Kingdom #19). But compared to some of the other albums of its time and others I have listened to its not particularly great.
Very good
Not too bad, kind of like a slower alternative punk album.
you have to be stupid to not like this album lol
kinda meh
Missing a signature song to elevate it from okay to really good
Love spelled backwards.
Too discordant and just sloppy overall. This list is trying to get me to enjoy Sonic Youth and that just isn’t happening.
Not their best but a start of something awesome!
This is far from my favourite album by them. I find it to be just a bit too noisy and discordant for me to fully enjoy putting on regularly. I guess they're aiming for those sounds and they're doing that well. It's desolate feeling at times and I guess that's the point.
There are better SY records in my opinion
Atrocious, one of the worst albums I have ever heard. The "music" lacked any coherent rhythm or reason whatsoever, the vocalists sounded completely tone deaf when they weren't offering mercy to my ears by lazily whispering songs, and the lyrics sounded like drunken attempts at shoddy beatnik poetry. I genuinely have no idea how anyone could enjoy this irredeemable garbage of sounds they claim is music.
I havent got the head to write a proper review, and tbf if I listened to this album right now I’d probably hate it. It’s weird, it’s interesting, it’s mildly inaccessible. It’s Sonic Youth find their sound and (yesterday) I loved it. 4.2/5.0
I enjoyed this, you can really feel the influence they had on grunge from this. It was a lot of fun, and super moody. I'm not a huge fan of his voice, but overall i enjoyed this album a fair bit. Best song: Madonna, Sean and Me
Uncharted territory for me. Scared me a few times while listening, but then it had me in a vice grip.
This album has some of the very first sonic youth songs I liked. I like Kim’s songs a lot more on here than Thurstons
Alternative/ Punk band. Never really cared for their music style.
Not to my taste but added some good tunes
Good one!
Albums described by words like noise and dissonance are generally not my thing. But I kinda liked this album. Kinda.
It's fine but the production lets this one down. The last two songs are the best but overall, I think the other albums from Sonic Youth that made this book are better. Still, this was a band I'm glad I woke up too after sleeping on them for many years.
Scholastic music filtered through the accessible medium... I don't know any of it, I just like the noises. Ooga booga ooh
Still not a fan of this band
I would have liked it in my youth. Now I am just frightened.
So many people rave about this band and I just don't get it. All I hear is noise. I really tried, but this fell short for me.
Cool, though I find that Sonic Youth hits better as a fleeting mood rather than whole album pieces.
Liked it less then the other SY albums on the list
Shit
One of my all time fave albums
This just meanders around a bit. Great album cover but little of substance within it. Undoubtedly influential but to what end. The pixies did this kind of wayward melodramatic better.
Not doing it for me...loud...very much of its time !
I didn't like this album as much as other several other Sonic Youth albums, but I do think it is among their better half of releases. "Shadow of a Doubt" is likely one of my favorite Sonic Youth songs ever, though some of the other songs don't stand out much (compared to their other albums). EVOL is around where they really started to get their own sound that persisted through basically their entire career with little variations.
I've heard so much fuss about this band and sadly, instead of hearing alternative genius, I heard noise.
4 - BAD
Well you know, it's not because it's noise that it needs to sound bland.
I don’t get the appeal. I also could have used something more chill and melodic today, but oh well.
So apparently I have previously awarded four stars to two of Sonic Youth's albums. I'll have to revisit them sometime to remind myself why. Another one got two stars, but hell, with the band only just carrying a tune on the best track, "Bubblegum" I can't justify anything more than a single, solitary star... and of course, I have no plans to revisit this one.
I was late to sonic youth, and then haven't listen to this for 10+ years. Not surprised to find it’s still a great album.
Former SY addict. 15 years sober. I’m not about to relapse just because the 1001 album generator threw EVOL at me. Sure, I did search the attic for my old Kim Gordon posters. And maybe I bought my Washing Machine T-shirt and Corporate Ghost DVD down while I was there. And fine, I might’ve tuned my Jazzmaster to F#F#F#F#EB and hit it with drumsticks. And okay, I did scribble “Sonic Life” on my forearm in biro. …But that absolutely does not mean I’m relapsing. *switches on every kitchen appliance, closes eyes and starts reciting Allen Ginsberg poems*
Another Sonic Youth album. Another 3 stars. Again, it’s OK. I imagine that if I had the patience to spend more time with it I’d rate it higher. But I don’t. The spoken word bit seemed a bit annoying.
i don’t expect it, but this album is pretty okay
Det är oklädsamt coolt Det är löjeväckande dåligt ...och Kim Gordon är en bluff
Konsten att göra musik utan låtar. Behöver inte nödvändigtvis vara dåligt, men här hittar jag inte riktigt syfte och riktning. Inledande Tom violence och avslutande Bubblegum når godkänd nivå. Svag tvåa.
Dåliga nyheter. SY har med 5 album i boken! Hur är det möjligt? Vi är alltså inte ens halvvägs. Om förra var trist, når vi ett steg djupare mot botten här. Jag känner allt mer för att kopiera Pernas text om Goo. Är det något de ska ha till sin fördel får det vara att albumet kom redan 1986 och här finns glimtar av ett sound som kunde vara tilltalande i 90-talsindie där själva råmaterial till låt höll. Så är inte fallet här.
Jag hittar inte in i detta. Det är inte dåligt men här är inga låtar som sticker ut. Det är mest något som pågår. Funkar som bakgrundsmusik.
Cool start, but it all sounds the same by the end
3.4
Just kind of noisy & whiny (—to my ears, at least.)
Dark, noisy but always interesting. More than once I did that thing dogs do where I tilted my head at an unexpected sound. Borders on Post Rock at times, which I love.
is it weird to say this album is lowkey the musical equivalent to edging? i appreciate the weird and horrifying sound they got going, but im not really feeling it yet. maybe ill warm up to it though, idk.
rock, etwas speziell, aber so wie von SY gewohnt.
Etwas viel Noise.
This was okay, some vaguely interesting sounds and themes which I’m sure the biggest gothic music fans will love. I found it to just lack a little cutting edge to make me want to keep listening. A tiny tiny bit too boring for me.
I’m certainly in the group thinks while Sonic Youth is a fine band they probably have two too many albums on this list. Daydream Nation I understand, but Goo and Dirty have never resonated with me and I think some other bands without mention on the list (Weezer as a prime example) could have used one of their slots. E.V.O.L. was new to me altogether. After giving it 3 listens, I have to say E.V.O.L. could be my favorite album from Sonic Youth. It doesn’t have a standout track that’s near the highlight that Teen Age Riot is on Daydream Nation, but as a whole listen I think it could be better than DN. It’s got some great moments, and the noisy instrumental stretches of the album are less abrasive here than in later SY albums. Overall it’s an album I’m glad I was introduced to through the 1001 list, even if I think Sonic Youth is overrepresented here.
Predominância de um som ruidoso e áspero, num disco em que sobram experimentações e faltam melodias. Regular, mediano.
2 sterne
Not a huge fan. This harsh style isn't for me. Maybe I'm not angry enough inside for it .
Meh. This one is just not hitting. Sonic Youth is cool sometimes, but no so much on this project. Dark an industrial. Maybe im just not in the mood for this kind of music.
First time listening to Sonic Youth. High hopes based on the first track but then became quite average. I expect I might like some of this band's later works
I did not really enjoy the listen, it's sloppy but it's also cool? I don't know I liked it more conceptually than I did in practice.
An overall fine album, but I’ve definitely heard better from Sonic Youth. Like most of the bands/artists that have more than 2 albums on this list, albums like this one could have given up a spot for something else. 3.25 / 5
Would be great if I were sad or had poor taste
I kind of got the point after the last two Sonic Youth albums
Solid alternative album. Some people try and be cool and hate Sonic Youth but I’ve yet to hear anything worth the hate.
I've listened to it three times and can't say I remember anything. But that's only cause I'm unfamiliar with noise music, so gonna give it more time to marinate and get acustomed to it.
I love this album.
Well this is deadly! Another savage Sonic Youth album
Noise just isn't my bag, baby. This reminded me of Pixies. Like 'Surfer Rosa', there are some good ideas here, but they're corrupted by and ultimately lost to all the unnecessary dissonance. Unlike 'Surfer Rosa', I didn't hear ANYTHING enticing enough to want to ever revisit this again; so, even after giving this two playthroughs to prove itself, it's a fail for me.
I was surprised that I didn’t hate this. I also didn’t really like this.
The Good: We are evolving… The Bad: Into what, we don’t know… The Ugly: Finding out that the actor Ving Rhames took his name by filling out the blanks… At times I felt like I was listening to Jeff Buckley, which means that he took inspiration from these peeps. I knew of Sonic Youth, I just did not know them, so this has been an interesting listen, which, I believe, will have to be repeated as there is too much to take in all at once. Unsure of what to call this, may I call it Noise? Also, am I now officially allowed to wear a Sonic Youth t-shirt and be one of the cool kids? Really tempted to give this album a 4* rating, as I want to listen to it again, however, I don’t believe that it merits more than 3*
I'm a Sonic Youth fan and I have listened to this before, but my go to albums tend to be Dirty, Goo and Washing Machine. This probably deserves to be on rotation as well. A high four.
Ehh - never was a fan. Good stuff, I guess
3 or 4? Always appreciated their inventiveness but never listened to them much.
I am a big Sonic Youth fan from Confusion is Sex thru Experimental Jet Set but somehow I missed this album. I loved hearing the transition from experimental noise rock of Confusion to the more structured experimentation of this album, you could here the foundation be laid for the SY sound in this album. It was a huge influence on a lot of the bands that I listened to in the 90's.
lotta noise
Cool album. Feels like it's always riding the line between control and chaos, but intentionally so. You're not going to get a radio single off this one, which to me makes it a fantastic album to spin a couple times.
The lyrics seemed a bit half-assed, but I guess that's what you get in noise rock. Much better overall than I expected.
I was previously familiar with a couple Sonic Youth tracks, but none from this album. While I respect the music and appreciate the cohesive mood throughout the entire album, this is a little bit too dissonant for me, I didn't really care for it. I would not listen again.
I like this but there is no reason for there to be multiple Sonic Youth albums on here.
4 stars
Not easy listening - this is haaaaard. Pre-grungy punk, spoken word lyrics, repeating, thumping guitar beats, dark lyrics, bad singing. It would make an incredible live show, I'm sure.
Had some awareness that they existed. Knew Kim Gordon has, and I believe continues to make important contributes to the world of rock. There were interesting moments on this album, not sure any of it pulled me in to the extent that I’ll come back to it or look more deeply into their catalog though. At this point in the 80s, I wasn’t that angry or sad and wasn’t looking for or listening to music like this.
The most interesting Sonic Youth album I've had so far
Lidt Joy Division-agtig støjrock. Kunne li' det bedre, end jeg forventede.
Another good one from Sonic Youth. I'd put this one slightly above Daydream Nation, but still slightly below Goo in my opinion. I am a fan of Sonic Youth, but do we really need 3 albums from them from the same time period? If you don't like the first 2, why would the third one change your mind?
See my other review on Sonic Youth ... my thoughts are the same, a band I need to explore the discography more.
It's a real middling compliment to say i let this album play through a second time rather than put on an album from my backlog, but here we are. 3.5
interminable and droning
another "yeah, fine" album
I guess you can pinpoint where Sonic Youth begins to truly emerge and it is here with EVOL. One foot still in the avant-garde noise world while the other is dangling towards complete immersion into the waters of accessibility, EVOL documents fascinations unforseen but glaringly obvious in hindsight. Is it the greatest Sonic Youth record? No, it hadn't arrived yet but it is a sign of things to come. Favorites: Tom Violence, Shadow of a Doubt, Starpower, Death to Our Friends, Expressway to Yr. Skull, Bubblegum.
In my opinion, this is the first truly great Sonic Youth album, where they find their balance between noise meanderings and tight songwriting. It remains one of my favorites from them as well
Their most post punk-ish, maybe? Quite enjoyable!
An album that makes me want to break all the windows in my house. Always in for well made chaotic noise rock!
Solid
Hm. Um disco apropriado pro mês de outubro. Quero dizer, ele é frio, dissonante, assombroso, pesado. Foi aqui que se iniciou o processo de germinação de um espírito de Rock alternativo com sensibilidades pop em uma banda que, previamente, se encaixava na onda da não-onda. A prematuridade da banda nesse novo chamado fica exposta em alguns momentos do álbum, como nos vocais decepcionantes e refrões inexistentes, mas nada que subtraia da experiência sem igual de Evol. Aqui se deu a estréia do novo baterista da banda, e dá pra ver que o cara quis mostrar serviço na nova firma. Batera demais. As guitarras também se destacam nessas canções. Me lembram um pouco Pixies, e acredito que o Rock Alternativo tinha como objetivo revitalizar o som deste instrumento já unânime na música popular, trazendo à ele dimensões ainda não exploradas. Cria-se paredes de cacofonia, algo abundantemente exposto nas canções finais deste disco, onde parece que todo elemento é plugado no 110. Enfim, um ótimo disco, mas sei que a banda estava em um processo de transformação, e que eles possuem lançamentos mais estrondosos, memoráveis e icônicos nesta lista. 4/5
5/10 When a song breaks out, it's ok, but there are large expanses of noise that it is difficult to convince myself I enjoyed
It's weird. The song "Shadow of a Doubt" was interesting until the woman starting being crazy at the end. Nothing impressive when it comes to vocals. If anything, they are underwhelming. Terrible album. At best, they can be played in the background of a coffee shop at low volume.
Decent when they decide to actually play music. Not as much when they just sorta make noise and talk over it
Sonic Yourh is a group I feel I should like more but never fully get it…
Not sure this one was necessary.
Meh, it's ok.
Vauhdikasta ajoa, mahtava meininki.
Solid album
HOLY SHIT THERE'S SO MUCH DISSONANCE AND NOISE WAAOOOW SONIC YOUTH ARE THE MOST INFLOOENCIAL BAND EVER!!!!!1! Sonic Youth are shit, end of. They didn't do anything that hadn't been done before, nor did they do it well.
4.5/10
Remember that friend from school who started teaching himself guitar in his bedroom and then started a band with some other friends a month later and now they're playing their first "show" at the VFW and excitedly shoving a flier in your hands cuz "you're gonna come, right? RIGHT?" Yeah, that's how Sonic Youth sounds to me. If there's a Master Key to understanding this band I'd love to see it because they make no sense to me.
Was expecting something a bit more explosive. Idk wanted some good punk shit and really kinda got some more mellow melodies. 2.5 maybe a 3 hut goin down.