Sonic Youth
Sonic Nurse
DGC

Not quite as easy to digest as the band's last record, but just as cool, Sonic Nurse offers a slight departure from the distortion, but that doesn't mean that Thurston Moore and company don't rock. The band drifts in and out of soundscapes that recall some of Sonic Youth's earlier work, but nowhere near as strange.

"Dripping Dream" features guitar feedback as the rhythm sections clean subtle strumming fills out the sonic holes. Kim Gordon's vocal performance is back in the forefront as the songstress lends her sultry pipes to some of the record's mellower tracks like "Dude Ranch Nurse" and "I Love You Golden Blue." The latter, a brooding number, where Gordon's voice is barely audible over the rumbling bass. Things get heavier on "Mariah Carey And The Arthur Doyle Hand Crème," a rockin' plea to the manic diva to 'get down before you fall and hurt someone.'

With "Sonic Nurse," Sonic Youth has married their signature chaotic sound with the melody that made the band huge with their 'sell-out' record "Goo." While this latest effort is still pretty out there, it is nowhere near as crazy as some of the jazz fusion stuff the band dabbled with in the late '90s. The group should hopefully bring back a few lost fans with this record while grabbing the attention of some new school rockers.


Reviewed by: George Koroneos
Reviewed on: August 16, 2004