Typically, a band’s move to an indie label after years of laboring
on a major means one thing: The big-bucks company dropped the
underperforming group. But in the case of Sonic Youth, who pretty much
invented indie-rock as we know it more than 20 years ago, it means
something totally different. For their 16th album, Sonic Youth head
back into indieville for the first time since 1988’s landmark
Daydream Nation, and they do so with dignity. In fact, their
first-time pairing with indie-label kings Matador seems like one of
those matches destined from the start. The hook-up certainly sparks
The Eternal, the veteran noise-rockers’ most inspired album in
years.
Swapping the four-minutes-and-outta-there structure of their past
few records for a less-ordered approach, The Eternal’s
songs build their way to five-, six- and even nine-minute blasts of
choking guitar hugs. But it’s not all epic. The opening “Sacred
Trickster” clocks in at an economical 2:11 and doesn’t waste a note.
And one of the album’s best cuts, “Poison Arrow,” barely reaches the
three-and-a-half-minute mark. Still, The Eternal‘s core
consists of the long, sprawling cultural observations they’ve dispensed
for a quarter century now — whether they’re dishing on Britney
Spears on “Malibu Gas Station” or giving props to some old-school
philosophical musings on “Anti-Orgasm.” — Gallucci
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2009.
