There's so many layers here - not just throughout the album, but within each track itself. Sonic Youth had a real buzz about them. The songs aren't going to trouble the Top 10, but they remain upbeat and joyous, despite the subject matter. Youth Against Fascism had more than one repeat play. It was good to hear a LOUD album to start the week.
Love Sonic Youth, but not a fan of this era particularly. This has a few moments – Sugar Kane is prime bombastic psychedelic pop rock in the way only SY can do – but a lot of this does sound like they were trying to out-grunge grunge and forgot about all of the other elements that made their sound so engaging. Not enough subtlety in the guitars, and not generally their best tunes. Dirty: not pretty.