Sonic Youth
Goo
(DGC; 1990)
Sonic Youth’s sixth release, Goo, shows the band in transition continuing the move away from their early No Wave noise that they started on Daydream Nation and towards the art rock of the next two decades.
The album starts with a bang. Opener “Dirty Boots” is a foot stomping straight-ahead (by Sonic Youth standards) rocker. While this is one of the most conventional songs by the group, it’s hardly commercial, with flashes of noise, spacey tangents and what could be a chorus were it repeated. The good continues on “Tunic (Song for Karen),” sung by a disembodied-sounding Kim Gordon from the point of view of Karen Carpenter looking down from heaven. The album also features a stellar, if bizarre, cameo from Chuck D. of Public Enemy on “Kool Thing.” One of the band’s trademarks, has been their ability to shift gears within a song, and nowhere is this more apparent than on “Mote,” which lulls the listener in with a solid melody before subtly transitioning to a noisy instrumental.
Trial Track: “Dirty Boots”
