Doug Snyder And Bob Thompson, “Daily Dance” (Lion Productions, 2010; original release 1973)The guitarist on this 1972 session was one of the earliest Ohio fans of the Velvet Underground, MC5 and Stooges; the drummer a student of Coltrane and Third-World polyrhythms. The result is exactly what you’d hope for: a fluid, massive sound, heavy punk […]
Social Distortion, “Mainliner” (Time Bomb, 1995; original recordings 1981)Explosive first works by these So.Cal. punk pioneers, hardcore by virtue of scene association and sheer frenetic intensity, but with the Johnny Cash/roots rock’n’roll features that would distinguish them later already discernible here.Try 1, 5, 10.1/13/13
The Soft Moon, “The Soft Moon” (Captured Tracks, 2010)Hard-driving minimal electro-rock, its cold surface frequently bisected by sheets of hiss. Perfectly machine-tooled but violently precise, this has a lot more in common with classic Factory stuff like Crispy Ambulance (or J. D. themselves) than with any sort of putative “Chillwave” movement.Try A/1, B/11/6/12
Sonic Youth, “Daydream Nation” (Blast first/Enigma, 1988)Summary masterpiece from their great decade; the noise-torrents have been sanded down to something like melodic rock and roll, but this actually kicks harder than anything they’d done since “Confusion Is Sex.” A vision of pre-Giuliani NYC unmatched for grandeur and force by anything except “Marquee Moon.” All great; […]
Sonic Youth, “Sonic Youth” (DGC, 1990s; original release 1982)This is Sonic Youth’s earliest work, an EP, plus unreleased live stuff. It’s much starker and more focused than their subsequent efforts, with an almost Factory-like minimalist-funk pulse in spots, but this is also their most hypnotically pure sea-of-grey-guitar-whirr sound, unleavened by rock histrionics (much less any […]
Sonic Youth, “Experimental, Jet Set Trash And No Star” (DGC, 1994)I suspect I’m in the minority on this one, but I think this is far and away the best album they ever made for DGC. Nothing to prove at this point, they relax and let the avant-noise settle into concise, unassuming pop song structures that […]
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, “Live Masonic Auditorium” (Alive, 2007; original recording 1978)Band led by Fred “Sonic” Smith of the MC 5, with assistance by other vets of the late-‘60s Detroit scene, a continuation of the two-guitar sludge-bulldozer blues-rock attack, but with the cosmic aspect subsumed into hard-drinking rust-belt-stomp.Try 2, 76/18/18
Sonny and the Sunsets, “Longtime Companion” (Polyvinyl, 2012)I remember earlier stuff from them being more in a Beat Happening-esque primitive-strum-pop vein, but this has a more steady, reserved sound as it moves squarely into country territory, to excellent effect. It has an austere, almost timeless quality, illuminated by a feeling of mountain brightness.Try 1, 47/12/12
Sound Ceremony, “Sound Ceremony” (One Kind Favor, 201?; originally released 1979)In the spirit of this label’s Kenneth Higney reissue, here’s a rediscovered self-released obscurity that exists in its own musical universe. The basic ingredients are not dissimilar from Elvis Costello’s then-contemporary work – stripped-down, punked-up 50’s-style rock and roll with a bit of a Dylanesque […]
The Sound, “Jeopardy” (Renascent, 2001; original release 1980-81)At the time, these UK postpunkers were considered peers of Public Image, Gang Of Four, Joy Division, etc., but they’ve kind of slipped through the cracks since, which is too bad, because they definitely rank, especially on this debut. Streamlined Stoogely power-trio crankage (as honed in their prior […]