Customer Reviews

SYR 1: Anagrama

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

this album is VERY different from anything i have heard. it is as if sonic youth wanted to return to their no wave roots. this album is a combination of classical music done with electric guitars or an orchestra using rock guitars. kimm gordon hs put down the bass and taken up guitar so now we have a three guitar no wave band. the music is not digested in one listen. it took me awhile to appreciate this.
funky effects over slightly distorted guitars. there are no vocals. it is all instrumental but the music is interesting enough to not miss voice. some of the songs are really pretty. out of all the syr discs, this, i think, is the most ear accesible. the drums do an awesome job of holding it all togehter but then again i never doubted steve shelly. he always was (and is) amazing.
again, i cannot stress enough that this is quite different so if your looking for something different then come on down and check this out.

milkboydanny@hotmail.com

The first track, "Anagrama," may be a succinct summary of all that SY has done right with their last two albums, Washing Machine and 1000 Leaves. And when the drums finally kick music never sounded more glorious and frightening. Move over Zarathustra.

But contrasting the ethereal high of 'Anagrama' is the blatent and loud closer. The final track, "de corrosion," does just that. It is a maelstrom of flanged noises: pick scrapes and squeals, light snare, and even the perennial distorted rock chord. Are we looking at a taxonomy of sonic possibilities? Are these sounds to be taken as field studies for something more glorious? The flanger never sounded so fresh.

I think that it is fitting that Geffen has released SY from their contract just when the band is reaching new heights. Geffen can look for the next teen sensation and we'll stick with the youth.

fans of impressionist paintings would love this

this record, notably for track one, "anagrama", is my favorite record I own, no doubts. I love sonic youth, but understand that they are not for everyone. Anagrama is their pinnacle of listenability, it is the music for the dream of the story of your life. the two middle tracks seem to be schizophrenic variations/degradations of anagrama, until track four "mieux: de corrosion" which sounds to me like bombs being dropped on a car wash, with all the alarms of the cars going off. it is terrifying noise and is grandly irritating, which offsets the sheer beauty of the first track. while the fourth track is a gift to long-time sonic youth fans that have watched them evolve, the first track should be a gateway for those who have never heard SY before. No mix I make for someone lacks this song. it fits in nicely with the godspeed!, mogwai type of crescendo rock, but it is inherently beautiful and (along with SY's "unwind", "snare, girl" "beauty lies in the eye") is a wonderful testament to what sonic youth primarily does -- create something with noise that is no longer noise.

The 1st of the SYR series is not surprisingly the most accessible. Steve Shelley plays different sounding drums & the 3 guitarists just let it chime away for however long they feel necessary, minus the restraints which a vocals ong can place, well maybe Sonic Youth never had that problem really, but this way it's totally about the music. Most of theis disc really is quite pleasant, only moving along @ a casual strolling pace without being slow or boring, Anagrama & Tremens are the main themes here while the other 2 tracks are more experimental for their own sake. I eevn once thought Tremens could be filed under triphop, unfortunately for SY, the hype of that was starting to die off around '97 when this was done. Anagrama was performed as the opening tune on the Thousand Leaves tour & I was lucky to hear/see it live twice, a classic. Mieux: de Corrosion is the noisiest/ most abrasive track to end it off & is a preview to what would happen on the Silver Sessions. If you like this definitely get SYR2/Slaapkamers Met Slagroom as they complement each other well [it rocks harder too], avoid SYR4 though unless you really want a challenge. SYR5's not bad either. warning: this cd is 22:43 long, around 1/2 that of a 'proper album' so now you know, but it's still HIGHLY worthwhile. open yr mind & yr musical perspectives...

If you don't like this EP, I don't see how you can like Sonic Youth much in general unless you have to hear vocals. These bizarre explorations find Sonic Youth at their best. Some strange guitar noises to be sure, but actually not nearly as grating as some of their other music.

SYR 1, 2, and 3 (I can't wait for 4 and 5!) separate real music lovers from the fake. SYR 1 (especially "Anagrama," possibly SY's greatest achievement) will reward patient listeners with gorgeous layers of sound -- drones, melodies, harmonics, feedback, and some noises that cannot be described in words.

Of course, there will be those, even SY listeners, who do not like the SYR series, but that's the whole point: I honestly believe that music is a spiritual experience, and those that are too scared to open their minds to the beautiful sounds created by SY, Loren Mazzacane Conners, Jim O'Rourke, Aphex Twin, and Sun Ra are missing out.

By the way, SYR 3 (SY w/Mr. O'Rourke) is the best, and most experimental, in the series so far. Unfortunately Amazon does not seem to have it on their list of SY releases.

No vocals, just detuned guitars. Art using rock-and-roll tools. Chaotic to a novice listener, but easily appealing to patient open-minded musicians. After seven years with Geffen the Youth got sick of commercial music industry and went back underground to record this collection of "classic" pieces - with three electric guitars instead of a string orchestra. To add even artier feeling they packed the CD in a cardboard sleeve and wrote the track list and all fineprint (technicians, copyright etc.) in French. The perfect opening track "Anagrama" (Sonic Youth -> Noisy Touch) is an epic 9 minute piece, beginning with a soft distorted chord and quiet percussion. It continues with harmonic picks and arpegios and evolves into an ecstatic guitar fest - not losing tune and harmony for a second. For some that's Tchaikovsky. Second track, "Improvisation Ajoutée" ("Added Improvisation") was probably recorded when the band meant to play &quo! t;Anagrama", but something went wrong, so they just screwed around with some chords. "Tremens" is a slow improvised jam, again - harmonic and random at the same time. And the final "Mieux: de Corrosion" ("Best: of Corrosion") is exactly that - just wild guitar noise with occasional bursts with fast energetic rock riffs running around from speaker to speaker (yet another arty joke: somewhere the French fineprint says: "STEREO. This disk can be used on a mono player"). This rekkord and his successors in the SYR series are unseen diamonds. This is new Sonic Youth's Musical Perspective: Wait and see Hanson making an instrumental album and being hailed as pioneers of instrumental rock.

I would just like to begin this review by saying I do not own any of Sonic Youth's other albums, so this review will be devoid of comparisons to their other work. Now that that's out of the way, I can begin my real review.
I quite enjoyed this album, and thought it was a great value for the money (I got it for $8.95 at a used records store in Austin, Texas). "Anagrama" is definitely the best track here (coincidentally, it is also the longest), beginning with simple, soft melodies and feedback, accompanied by what sounds like wood blocks, and going through several other simple melodies that seem to almost overlap. At nearly 4 minutes into the song, the drums change into a more conventional rock beat, and the guitars pick up and follow along. The band jams like this for several minutes, before slowing down and going back to music that resembles what was heard at the beginning, before ending with the unaccompanied (wood blocks?) "Improvisation Ajoutee" is more experimental, mostly consisting of guitar noises and effects (including a slightly annoying sort of vibrato feedback thing that goes on for about a minute and a half) and a simple beat in the background. "Tremens" is a more slowed-down affair, with the drums sort of grooving along and the guitars overlapping with each other over the top. "Mieux: De Corrosion" is mostly Steve Shelley's cymbals, with layers of phasing over the top, fading back and forth between speakers (especially if you listen on headphones) with guitar noise in the background, also fading back and forth between speakers. It goes on for 7 minutes but never gets dull.
My only complaint is that this is too short! I know it's an EP, but come on! It could have been at least 10 minutes longer and still have been just as good. Maybe they could have extended "Anagrama"...
Buy now!

This is the only 1 of the SYR series that I have though I want to get the others. It's 20-something minutes of clearly recorded instrumentals by our gurus, when I saw them for the 1st time last year they opened w/ Anagrama & it is a beautiful song. Tremens is gorgeous too & the other 2 don't stand out so much but the chugging funk dirge @ the end is great. When is Ciccone Youth II coming?

the mighty Sonic Youth stretch their musical legs a little, and get off the Geffen bandwagon, and play some fun stuff. Much better than A Thousand Leaves, this record (or cd, depending on your taste) grows on you, and burrows into your lizard brain. Soon you are able to dance without movement, swallow without eating, and even, if you listen carefully, leviatate. Highly recommended.