Day 0901 - The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)

Air “The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)” (2000) – got it

Air’s debut album “Moon Safari” (entry 874) had been chilling people out for a year or two, and then the French duo reappeared scoring Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut ‘Virgin Suicides’, the film adaptation of Jeffery Eugenides’ novel.

The film is full of beauty and bleakness, life and death.  The music offsets this with a quality that is dreamy, yet with an underlying darkness.  A vibe not unlike Angelo Badalementi’s work for David Lynch on Twin Peaks.

The opening track "Playground Love" is a dreamy electro indie-pop track, but much of the rest of the album is instrumental with a few melodic themes repeated on different tracks like one of Marvin Gaye's song-suite albums.   

There's a vaguely trippy 70s-era Pink Floydian vibe to some of the music, particularly closing track "Suicide Underground" which also features narration from the film, linking the score back to its source.

Day 0724 - Dirty

Sonic Youth "Dirty" (1992)

Sonic Youth seem to be another of those bands whose discography is very heavily represented in this list, and I'm not entirely sure it's warranted.  That's not to say that any of their albums are bad, far from it.  There's just not enough variety between the albums to really set them above artists with more diverse catalogues who are less represented here.

The band chose Butch Vig to produce the album.  Vig was riding high on having produced Nirvana's punky-yet-polished "Nevermind", but this was apparently not why Sonic Youth chose him.   Certainly, while Vig sought to tighten the band's arrangements, their music was no more "consumer-friendly" as a result of the collaboration.

There are some great things done with hard-panning the guitars to either side to really make use of the stereophonic field, and with bassist Kim Gordon experimenting with a variety of vocal sounds.  Essentially this album sits in the same ranking as their others for me: good album, but kind of similar to its fellows (to my ears).

Day 0683 - Goo

Sonic Youth "Goo" (1990)

Sonic Youth's major label debut, but it doesn't feel as though they're trying to court a mainstream audience any more than they have on previous albums.

The band started with noisy no-wave, brought in swirling psychedelic noise pop.  This album feels a lot punkier and more riff-heavy (not that their albums have ever been bereft of riffs).  The band were followed and filmed on tour for the documentary film "The Year Punk Broke" which included some bands from the burgeoning grunge scene.

I liked it, though less impressed with the track "Kool Thing" with Chuck D from Public Enemy.  Not really the best thing that either party has ever done, but kudos to both for being willing to try it.  Sonic Youth were willing to experiment with different styles, they worked with samples and drum machines on the album "The Whitey Album" released under moniker Ciccone Youth, a reference to Madonna.

Day 0631 - Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" (1988)

Sonic Youth's last release before moving across to a major label.   Friends of the band, including Henry Rollins had told them that their albums were great, but the long-form noise jam versions of the songs that would characterise their live shows had never really been captured on record.

The band took this on board, and when Thurston Moore brought in the songs for "Daydream Nation", instead of refining and condensing his ideas, the band sought to expand them out into a form more recognisable to fans of their live work.   The resulting album is viewed by many as Sonic Youth's creative peak.

Myself I probably preferred "EVOL" and "Sisters" as I enjoy that more concise approach.  However, this is still a worthwhile and interesting album.

Day 0605 - Sister

Sonic Youth "Sister" (1987)

The more I listen to Sonic Youth, the more I start to like them.  I always had the idea that they were nothing but noise-makers with not a lot of musical substance, but they actually have some pretty solid pop songs and punk songs that they dress in a coat of feedback and squealing squalls of guitar.

From what I read, their first one or two albums might have been a bit more confrontational with their sound mellowing as they developed.  Certainly "Sister" and "Evol" are perfectly accessible for the average rock person.

Day 0575 - EVOL

Sonic Youth "EVOL" (1986)

Sonic Youth are a band that I'd hear & bits and pieces from, but they'd never really inspired me to dip deeper into their work.  I really quite enjoyed this album and ended up listening to it 3 times in a row.  Love the mix of hypnotic but noisy drones, pared-back riffing, and dalliances with musique concrete.

This is a sonically exciting and experimental album, that still has a solid base in 'song' writing, with melody and structure being employed where appropriate.  For me, the album's epic penultimate track "Expressway to Yr Skull" is the album's high point.

I like that it's not a straight instrumental album, but that the vocals are used sparingly, and often as more of an 'instrument' than as a way of communicating a message.

Day 0515 - The Violent Femmes

The Violent Femmes "The Violent Femmes" (1982)

The band were discovered while busking.  That stripped-down 'playing on the street' sound remained relatively untouched by studio gloss on this album.  Sticking largely to Victor DLorenzo's minimal drum kit, Brian Ritchie's upright bass and Gordon Gano's guitar and vaguely strung out vocals, the Femmes' sound came pretty fully-formed.

There seems like a pretty straight line between the Velvet Underground and the Femmes, though the Femmes seem potentially a bit lighter.  Less heroin and BDSM, and more run-of-the-mill sexual desperation.

The album would go on to sell over a million copies but never troubled the charts too much in the process, as it took them a gradual 4 years to amass those numbers.