Disco de Sonic Youth: “SYR 3”

This album is worth buying for Kim Gordon's trumpet playing alone! Her style on the horn owes alot to her vocal method: calm, world-weary and quietly amused. That's how it sounds to me, anyways. Jim O'Rourke also plays on the record, and his presence lends it a few more non-guitar sounds than are heard on the other early SYRs--and with that a bit less guitar sound--but especially on the third track the electronics blend wonderfully with what the other Sonics are doing. Note: this isn't really a pop record, and if you expect it to be you'll probably be disappointed. But if you're in the mood for 50 minutes of beautiful sounds and slow yet inevitable development, this is the record for you. And it rocks quite a bit towards the end, too.

After over 15 years of releasing some of the most intense and challenging rock albums of all time, Sonic Youth seem ready to take their first serious steps away from the constrictive realm of rock music and into the more free world of modern art music. Taking their cues from Stockhausen, Miles Davis, Varese, Frank Zappa, and Brian Eno, Sonic Youth have here created some of the most esoteric music released by a rock group in years. Structures of surprising delicacy and grace reside in the spaces created by Steve Shelley's elegantly reserved drumming, and the guitar noodling has never sounded more convincing. Believe!

Sonic Youth's third piece in their postcard series goes even deeper into sonic exploration than the first two, and anything the group has ever done together before. Jim O'Rourke joins the group as they experiment with different instuments and tonal structures over the course of over an hour. One of the best purchases I've ever made.

This is 57 minutes long. That's an album length really but some class it as an EP because it only has 3 tracks on it. Anyway that's besides the point

Sonic Youth go back to their " classical avant garde " roots and came up with the SYR series. This is strange music/noise depending how you view your avant garde. There's not really much I can say about this album.....you just have to listen to it with an open mind because when you start to talk about records like these it either gets rather technical and people will be lost ( which is why the joke " Avant garde? I avant garde a clue mate comes into play ) or people will make stuff up in the hope it makes them sound clever. An open mind is all you need for this album. That way you can accept the album for what it is or reject as well if needs must.

The only gripe I have with this album though is Kim's singing. It's badly out of tune at times ( there'll be some though who adore it ) but that's only minor. Happy listening

Whom the 1 star reviewer below feels doesn't waste his time, apparently. Read the other reviews and beware of people who would never listen to this sort of experimentation regardless.