March 24 - Karen Revisited

My first meeting with Sonic Youth was the Murray Street album, which was released in 2002. While some hailed it as a return to form, others thought it was too boring. For me, it was a realization of the main contrast I seek in music: dissonance and harmony.

I remember being asked by friends if I had listened to Sonic Youth around the time Motorpsycho was experimenting heavily with noise, as Sonic Youth was one of their early influences, but I hadn't really listened to them. I remember Vegard having the collection Screaming Fields of Sonic Love, but I never got it. But then, thanks to online sources, I listened to Murray Street. And from there I found Daydream Nation and Dirty, and all of a sudden I was a convert.

Now, being a convert did not mean an indiscriminate acceptance of everything they have done. I am still having a hard time listening to the releases prior to Evol and Sister, which is when they really found their form. However, I still seek out some earlier tracks from time to time - maybe none as much as Death Valley '69 from Bad Moon Rising.

Karen entered Lee Ranaldo's songs with Karen Koltrane from A Thousand Leaves (1998), and on Murray Street she is back on Karen Revisited. I really like Ranaldo's approach to songwriting - and he is the one Sonic Youth member that I really am enjoying in his post-SY work. Here is Karen Revisited with the perfect tension between dissonance and harmony.