SONIC ATTACK

SONIC YOUTH'S LATEST ALBUM, Dirty, probably won't be very popular at Harvard. It's brash. It's loud. It's unconventional. And it sounds nothing like Steve Miller, James Taylor or U2.

Harvard students' bland tastes aside, Dirty is one the best things to happen to music this year. The disc features fifteen songs of raw energy, biting political commentary and visceral passion captured superbly by Butch Vig, the producer of Nirvana's last album. It ranks with Daydream Nation as one of Sonic Youth's best releases.

Thurston Moore, singer and guitarist for the band, brings his instrument to a new level on this record. His guitar crashes, wavers, floats, oozes, jives, jitters, screams and howls--sometimes all in the same song. His voice is equally versatile.

"100%," the first song on the album and the only one you'll hear on the radio, opens with a couple of raging guitars screeching in each channel. The ensuing kick-ass chord progression, penetrating drums and wailing guitars guide Moore's voice for just over two minutes. "I've been around the world a million times," he admits, "And all men are slime."

In the scorching "Wish Fulfillment," things start off relatively quietly with light guitars adorning Moore's slow melody: "I see your wishes on the wall/And that's all right with me/I see you run to make a call/ Hoping that there's someone free/Your life and my life, they don't touch at all/ And that's no way to be/I've never seemed so far." Immediately, a wall of guitars crashes down on Moore's serene voice and he begins to roar. After a chaotic minute, the quietude of the first part returns, and the cycle repeats itself.

The next song, "Sugar Kane," alternates Sonic Youth's trademark minor up-down chord progression with guitar free-for-alls--complete with requisite distortion and ample feedback. Moore's voice complements it all well.

Singer-bassist Kim Gordon is at her irreverent best in the pulsating "Shoot" and "Swimsuit Issue." In the later, a loud ballad condemning sexual harrassment, Gordon squeals "I ain't giving you head/In a sunset bungalow" before belting out a dozen women's names and eerily murmuring "I'm swimming."

More political messages are provided in "Youth Against Fascism," an all out attack on the Republican adminstration. "I believe Anita Hill/The judge will rot in hell," Moore yells. His evaluation of Bush's re-election prospects? "Yeah, the President sucks/His shit is out of luck."

One of the more accessible intros on the album--a fairly conventional guitar line sans distortion--launches "Chapel Hill," a piece that speeds into a frenzy as it brutally mocks the "terrorized face" of a certain North Carolina senator and his Klan connections. "Jesse H. coming to our pit," Moore quips, "All ages show."

Sonic Youth's new album is all about being young, loud, and free. The music--and that message--won't appeal to many people at Harvard. But Sonic Youth hasn't become one of America's most important bands of the past decade by trying to satisfy everyone.