A Thousand Leaves

A Thousand Leaves

Amazon.com

The ageless Sonic Youth return with a new, yet familiar, excursion into their own particular brand of ultra-amplified, dissonant rock. The quartets CD A Thousand Leaves evokes fond memories of yesteryears noisy, now-classic, avant-garde approach, while retaining snippets of traditional pop elements heard on several of their previous major-label releases. As Sonic Youths music has gained a larger audience, theyve preserved doses of the crunched melody and meandering structure that has always been their trademark. The new release sounds relatively unabashed, with wandering songs like "Female Mechanic Now on Duty" spewing extended barrages of feedback and Kim Gordons dry, unsettling scowls at the listener. Look deeper, however, and theres a quiet resonance among the racket, with tracks like "Sunday" and "Snare, Girl" making use of Thurston Moores cooler vocal tone and jagged, cascading guitar passages. --Matthew Cooke
Rate Points :4.5
Binding :Audio CD
Label :Geffen Records
Manufacturer :Geffen Records
MPN :25203
ProductGroup :Music
Studio :Geffen Records
Publisher :Geffen Records
UPC :720642520321
EAN :0720642520321
Price :$9.98USD
Lowest Price :$3.89USD
Customer ReviewsContinuous vitality
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :1
Quite superb, if only for songwriting/production triumphs like "Wildflower Soul" and "Hits of Sunshine." Outside of several gorgeously encapsulated songs, the albums entire structure practically shakes with creative energy.

Part of an essential trilogy with "Washing Machine" and "NYC Ghosts & Flowers."

The music sounds just like the color of the album cover.
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1
It took me a little while to really get into this, but once I did I just couldnt take this masterpiece out of my cd player. All the songs have like a little weird twist to them, like dejavu notes or melodies you swear you have heard before in your mind. Kim Gordons singing is pretty good too, at first it might seem like shes just screaming whatever she thinks of but keep listening and it will be very rewarding.

Hes just a kitten...
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
Another masterpiece in the Sonic Youth catalouge. Here the band keeps their avant style leaving behind the pop stylings of Dirty and Goo, and continue with Washing Machine songs. As an SY fan knows though every album is much different than any other, so this of course has its own unique.

The standout track is definatley "Sunday" with perfect Thurston vocals. Lee keeps up his spoken word masterpieces that always ring true. And the sometimes hit or miss Kim Gordon is in top riot grrl form blasting away on "Female Mechanic".

Interesting Stuff
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :0
This is the first time Ive listened to this band. Im really enjoying it, and will buy another one of their CDs soon.

Sonic Youth loses their way
Rating Point :2 Helpful Point :1
I remember when this album came out. I had been a huge Sonic Youth fan for years and I ran to Mod Lang in Berkeley to buy it the day it was released. I brought it home, put it on, and desperately tried to like it. But I just couldnt. SY had always had a penchant for strectching out their feedback experiments into sprawling, fasinating compositions, but here it all just seemed to melt down into a pointless noise crusade. There are a few high points, but mostly I just find myself thinking, "there is no way this song deserves to be nine minutes long." The slide continued on the next record, but fortunately they got it together again on "Murry Street" and have been putting out great stuff ever since.

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