North London Expressionist Paintings Washing Machine by Sonic Youth | Review

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Washing Machine by Sonic Youth

Below the review are YouTube videos of all Washing Machine songs performed live by Sonic Youth.

No bass guitar on most songs, Kim playing regular guitar instead. The 'missing' track 9 instrumental is 'Becuz Coda', and was cut from the opening song Becuz, because Geffen wanted the first song to not be so weird.
I like Washing Machine, but it's not the 'back to form' it was made out to be. Only because there was nothing wrong with Experimental Jet set, Trash and No Star they did before it.
Brilliantly easy Becuz starts the album. The similarity to Because The Night by Patti Smith was deliberate tribute by the band. The first few songs are Sonic Youth madness and euphoric interludes bearing little or no resemblance to the song they appear in, but it still all flows. Something no band I've heard does better. After not singing on Experimental Jet set, Trash and No Star, it's good to hear Lee's voice on Saucer-like. Saucer-like was also known as Thumb for some reason. There's definitely an alien-spaceship-ness to this song, especially during the build up to 'I'm slipping around the bottom edge'. Thumb?
The song Washing Machine (aka Watching Ma Shine) is fantastic, maybe my favourite. I guess the band may agree, as they considered re-naming themselves Washing Machine. Maybe getting too old for 'Sonic Youth'.
Both Lee and Thurston join vocals for the Unwind. A brilliant song, not unlike Little Trouble Girl that follows, making me think even more that Little Trouble Girl would have been better left out. Little Trouble Girl, except for Kim's spoken breaks, which are beautiful, I don't get, and tend to skip over. No Queen Blues is much better live (see YouTube videos below). The album versions worth it though, if only for the intro and finish.
Panty Lies is Kim and the band at their best. I've heard this song is the unaltered demo. The stuttered vocal is brilliant, like parts of Thurston's vocal in In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader. If any guitarist wants to learn how to play Panty Lies, check out the YouTube video below. I couldn't find a live version of this song, so put this up instead. 'Becuz Coda' may not have been intended as a stand alone song, but it's there like a break in the album. Skip Tracer is almost a spoken word track, and the only song off this album Sonic Youth kept playing after 1996. There's a different kind of euphoric build-up towards the end of this song, to what Sonic Youth usually write, that not only works well for Skip Tracer, but as a run in to The Diamond Sea. The Diamond Sea doesn't really need anything said about it. I suppose to mention it's length: nearly 20 mins of mostly instrumental on CD, slightly longer on other versions. The single was about five minutes.
Washing Machine is a great album, and goes to show that when underground punk bands write more accessible and commercial albums, it doesn't necessarily mean compromising anything. Enjoy the YouTubes below.

Becuz:


Junkie's Promise:


Saucer-Like:


Washing Machine:


Unwind:


Little Trouble Girl:


No Queen Blues:


Panty Lies:


Becuz Coda:


Skip Tracer:


The Diamond Sea:

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Uploaded by Edgeworth Johnstone - Contemporary Expressionist Artist from Muswell Hill, North London. Visit artists blog.