Their third album for a major label saw a complete about face for this inspirational New York band. Sonic Youth had unwittingly ushered in grunge with their last indie album, 1988's Daydream Nation, then with 1990's Goo and 1992's Dirty. But following bassist and singer Kim Gordon's production of the Hole debut LP Pretty On The Inside, the band became a figurehead for the Riot Grrrl movement, and this 1994 missive reflects the new sense of experimentation unleashed by that maelstrom. It works too, though the inherent frailty takes time to accommodate when back-to-back with the easy libido of Dirty's "100%" and "Sugar Kane". On tracks like "Bull In The Heather", "Quest For The Cup" and "Skink", the pace quickens and slows, the vocals lurch off beat and tune, the guitars creating a sparse climate newly morphed from their previous wall of sound. But the aim of this project is ultimately the same as always: cool, in turns funny, angry or emotional songs that take the language of iconography ("Screaming Skull", "Self-Obsessed and Sexxee") to create the most recognisable sound in the American avant-garde. --Charlie Porter
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