Customer Reviews

SYR 2: Slaapkamers Met Slagroom

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

 

 

The second installment in the lovely (and lately dormant it seems) SYR studio series. This one's a bit longer than the first, but still under 30 minutes long. Here we have a pretty nice warm-up for "A Thousand Leaves," kind of a work-in-progress mostly-instrumental jam session which includes a great deal of "raw-form" material that would later find its way onto the aforementioned DGC masterwork. (There is also, interestingly, a passage toward the end that sounds not entirely unlike "Disconnection Notice," from the new "Murray St." album.) But this recording is far cooler than mere archival demos, succeeding as an album all by its lonesome, albeit a loose one. The music really presents itself well in this format, and in many cases the songs take on a form quite separate from their correlating versions on "A Thousand Leaves." Its really very nice to have this audio snapshot of the Sonic Youth musical production process.

This is a bit less melodic than the first SYR release (there aren't any "pretty songs" here), but there is a little more of a sense of song structure here than on the third one (which, by the way, is my personal favorite in the series). This isn't the place I'd recommend a new listener start. To take it a step further, if you don't have "A Thousand Leaves" yet, I would recommend that you check that out before investing in this fine recording (though those of us who bought this when it first hit the streets of course had not heard "A Thousand Leaves" yet, and most of us still loved this CD). All the same, every Sonic Youth release is (in my opinion) pretty much an "Essential Recording," and this is no exception. I can think of no other band that so consistently satisfied its zealous fans so well. So where's the next one, Sonic?

This is a good example in that it's a bit longer than the similarly great SYR1 & more accessable than the way too long SYR4 which was too much for me [I crave weirdness but I haven't 'got' that 1 yet]. This functions as a sort of alternate extended version of side 4 of A THOUSAND LEAVES, Slaapkamers Met Slagroom [means Bedrooms w/ whipped cream in Dutch apparently] is the riffs from the Ineffable Me & Stil has a solo that is the tune of Snare, Girl. SMS is an outstanding funky jam & the last track Herinneringen features Kim's voice in abstract poetry & it's really quite enjoyable. It's a good, worthwhile record & nothing else really needs to be said.

Slaapkamers is SY's second piece in their (currently) 3 piece postcard series. More similar to the first one (Anagrama) than their third (Invito al Cielo). Jazz meets white-scrawling noise with beautiful undertones over the three tracks. They are not constricted to any particular format or length, and this freedom really shows through the music. These postcards are my best musical investment ever.

"Ahh ... i seem to like this chord ... let's play it again!" Yep, that's probably what Lee kept saying to Thurston as they were recording "Slaapkamers". The opening riff from this track deserves to be as popular as the one from "Smoke on the Water" or at least "Come as You Are". Quirky and cool - while, in the same time angry, very angry - and also very professionally played. On this record it evolves into a 18 minutes instrumental guitar fest. It's rocking. And, no - it's not just plain kakophonous as you might think. It reminds more of the band's old sonic explorations, like "Madonna, Sean and Me" or "I Dreamed I Dream". "Stil" ("Hush") follows; it kicks in with a slow jammy psychedelic solo and evolves into a quiet beautiful melody. And the finishing track has some Kim's vocals upon cool chords; not that it's really audible, but she mumbles something about guitars and blowing up. If you've ever thought that you "kinda wanted to learn to play a guitar", but you were scared of learning hard blues riffs - well, grab one fast and jam with this CD. An acoustic will do, they're not too much distortion here (in a common sense of distortion, of course). This is the blues for the intelligent youth of the 90's (but then ... no-one will ever admit he's a fan of a band for idiots, right?). To be brief: get this record. On the other hand you can just wait for the Hanson brothers to copy these riffs.

I bought this album because I heard it had some vocals and I hoped this would be a place for me to access this music from. Boy was I wrong. I was expecting Kim to sing like she did towards the end of Heather Angel (on A Thousand Leaves). Instead I was greeted with a ripping soaring sound that made me laugh uncontrollably at Sonic Youth's inventiveness. This is music to think by; no wallpaper music here.

Of all of the SYR releases, this one is my favorite.
the first two tracks are pure instrumental bliss, with plenty of feedback to keep everyone happy.
and on the last track when Kim Gordon starts singing....i can't put it into words, but her singing isn't like other songs, it's more of a jumble of words and whatnot WOAH!

In their new trio of EPs, Sonic Youth seems to follow further the noise-scape experiments that they embarked on with "Diamond Sea" the closing track of Washing Machine. Of course, SY has always been relentless in pushing the boundaries of music into noise, but these new EPs, especially SYR2 (Slaapkamers), take on a very soft, dream-pop tone to the experimentation, more gentleness, less sarcasm and irony. Which isn't to say that they can't still make the most imposing Wall of Sound around. Truly the pop-music for a daydream generation...

screaming fields of chugging guitars, and uhhh, free noise. It all makes sense if you listen more than once. No, seriously, some nice Sonic Youth exploratations. Don't expect three minute verse chorus verse chorus ditties, and you will be pleasantly pleased. Sun Ra anyone?

Sonic Youth don't let anybody down, and this (almost)instrumental recording proves their magical powers to create noise which seems to be going nowhere, sound brilliant. If you aren't a hardcore Sonic Youth fan, this might be an excellent record to expand your horizon a little bit. But prepare yourself mentally!!! This is guitar mutilation at it's best.

After the junk of SYR 1, Sonic Youth get back to normal with another excellent release.

This one don't give the impression of being a near joke. In fact, it's the opposite because there is many pre-A Thousand Leaves ideas with better soundscapes and much better noise jams!

Two "must" for any true fan of the band are the first two tracks. The last one don't really work to me, but it's quiet short and believe me you got enough good music (noise) after the first amazing two tracks! Great!