Sonic Youth - Dirty

Steve and Sonics... Studio Sublimation...

Never heard of Sonic Youth? Feel free to start here... Love SY? Feel free to start here... Open with a tune-up of an old blues standard, Thurston style, melting into your anti-corporate riot-grrrit of Kim Gordon's career as a super-model. Thrash me, bash me, and soak me in sound. By the time I get to Track 4, I feel like a Drunken Butterfly swimming around in Kim's stomach as she chants "I love you, I love you, I love you... What's your name?" *vomit spews* - - - This is what happens when you give a constantly shifting force of music (Sonic Youth) a corporate record producer and tell them to please their growing fan base. They please us... but we're the last one's to hear about it. If you've listened to some other SY albums, don't expect to find a familiar friend in "Dirty", it truly stands apart. The melodic insanity is there, the 5-string noodlings and erotic crooning are both there, but the package is somehow... SHARPER than the others. Sharp to cut, not sharp to impress. As you either know or will soon find out Sonic Youth is... well, Sonic Youth. You either HAVE to get it for your collection or you HAVE to distance yourself from the friend that recommended it. But if ONE SY album could fit in with someone's top 40 tapes AND someone's Sonicshrine... it would be this one. (Or Daydream Nation) - DV April 2, 2008

DIRTY still sounds FRESH

DIRTY was released by Sonic Youth in 1992 during the grunge years. This album, their 8th release was produced and directed by Butch Vig the same producer for Nirvana's Nevermind and the Smashing Pumpkins debut: Gish.
Always changing their sound, this is their grunge effort. Very upbeat with a natural rock coolness that includes propulsive layers of sound and fury. DIRTY is the second shot of shorter pop songs in the same way "Goo" was produced. Both Goo and DIRTY sound more accessible w/o the long instrumental guitar noise passages that graced earlier albumsMy favorite songs on DIRTY are: "100%" - "Swimsuit Issue" - "Drunken Butterfly" - "Shoot" - "Sugar Cane" - "Orange Rolls,Angel's Spit" - "Chapel Hill" - "JC" - & "Purr"
ESSENTIAL SONIC YOUTH along with Daydream Nation(which sounds completely different) and EVOL- I also LOVE Murray Street, Sister, Thousand Leaves + 2006s Rather Ripped. I am also a REALLY BIG fan, I had to buy all of their albums.
DIRTY shows a wonderful transition for Sonic Youth still sounds fresh and clean - 15 years after it's release. April 3, 2007

another very solid SY release

Each Sonic Youth album has a very unique flavor, and each Sonic Youth album stands out in their extremely lengthy catalouge... yet it is hard to find a Sonic Youth album that is virtually flawless. Obviously, Sonic Youth are not at all interested with perfection, rather atmosphere... but isn't that what makes this band so great?

There seems to be two basic problems with Sonic Youth releases. On some, the production is way too obscure and lacking to let the beauty of the album be heard, and on others, the soaring sections of feedback and reverb can sometimes wander off into obscure directions with seemingly no purpose. Both are aspects that I do not criticize too harshly, because I think of Sonic Youth as artists rather than musicians, throwing the ugly in with the beautiful to create a very realistic picture. Reguardless, these flaws do bring down the overall release somewhat.

In 'Dirty', there are no throw out tracks, great (but not too great wich is a good thing) production, and the feedback sessions are shortened and too the point. This is a very straightforward release by Sonic Youth standards, but also a very dark and atmospheric work at the same time. Everything seems in place here, a classic SY release. The only complaint I have is that in some places, 'Dirty' may be a little too straightforward. Not quite a masterpiece such as 'Daydream Nation' or 'A Thousand Leaves', but a very solid, and entertaining album as a whole.

March 14, 2007

I Don't Get It

Clearly I'm far too closed minded for this album. If I wanted to listen to people screaming and crashing and banging completely out of sync I'd open my window at 5am while the neighbors are screaming at each other again and the early-bird construction crew is cutting concrete outside my apartment while the garbage truck is slamming the dumpster onto the pavement repeatedly. Absolutely no musicality, no message, NO TALENT.

If I wanted to hear this I could go down to the local foundary yard and listen to them cutting steel.. FOR FREE.

I could go into a blow-by-blow for each track on why it's musical murder but that would be a grand waste of my time. Horrible.

This is one band that the indie snobs made it "uncool" to dislike, so everyone looks around like "wow this is flippin genious" while in their heads they can't believe that everyone else likes them and they don't. GET OVER IT. You want arty music, go listen to Sigur Ros or Godspeed you Black Emperor. April 14, 2006

Dirty sounds, but dirty is nice isn't it...

"Dirty" was Sonic Youth's most commercial album. I am not sure if this was done on purpose, but it makes 'Dirty' SY's most open album. Open for the lovers of alternative/progressive rock with an almost jazzlike way of listening to music.

Musically it may not be as interesting as their 'Daydream Nation' or masterpiece 'Sister' but there are great songs on here. Without a doubt this is their best collection of songs.

'100%' was an MTV hit and could rival with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', the track following that 'Swimsuit Issue' (Gordon) with strained and coarse vocals has a great break and suddenly slows down.

A dreamer side of SY can mostly be found in the songs sung by Kim Gordon like 'PR' or the thumping, metallike 'Drunken Butterfly'. 'Shoot' is carried by Kim's voice and a rolling bassline.

Best song on the album is the brilliant 'Sugar Kane' with some great moments of pure musical genious, clarity, chord changes. I could go and on. Similar songs like 'Chapel Hill' and 'Purr' come close too.

Even know almost 15 years later there is so much you can still discover in the album, it surely shows that Sonic Youth are the godfathers of all the indie/underground bands that followed. Husker Du and Dinosaur came close, but in importance to alternative music only the Beatles, Neil Young and the Velvet Underground are above Sonic Youth.

Their approach to music is almost jazzlike, and like many jazzartists, after a while they started making fully rounded songs but of a scary quality.

If you are interested in buying a Sonic Youth album but never heard anything before get this one. March 4, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...