This album is from a band I recently mentioned last week in a bash article about the new scene and how bands sometimes will only play what is popular just to make money.  Sonic Youth is New York’s original hipster/Indie Rock band who was known for their musical expertise as well as their New York style.  What makes them so important is they stay true to their roots by playing shows several times a year in small clubs around NYC playing their own form of alternative music which has been labeled as Experimental Rock due to the fact they have obscure timings and use various guitar effects.  I will admit that some albums by them are unlistenable or to be fair, just very hard to enjoy.  But they have albums that are so good and so original that they can be praised as one of the best bands of the past few decades with albums like this one, Daydream Nation.  It’s probably their benchmark album by critics and one of their more popularalbums by fans who have been lucky enough to see them play it in it’s entirety lately live.  Daydream Nation is a Indie rock super album  filled with hits and what makes them different then most hits is that they aren’t radio friendly since each song is rarely under 7 minutes long.

The album opens with one of the band’s more popular tracks and probably my favorite song entitled “Teen Age Riot” which is sort of a ambient trippy intro that leads into a catchy riff with lyrics that seem like an anthem for the teenagers who can’t rest during the Reagan administration.  Daydream then goes from the fuzzed out “Silver Rocket” to another solid track “The Sprawl” that finally fades out into the ever popular ” ‘Cross The Breeze” and like most Sonic Youth songs they all feature both Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore taking turns on vocals while each one shreds their instrument into a speaker for that oh so perfect distortion.

As the album progresses it goes to show the dedication Thurston Moore had during this time period on writing music and I mention this because it has been stated that the band was friendly criticized by saying they could never accomplish on an album what they do with their songs live.  Some speculate Moore took their live approach of extending songs to writing songs for this album and expanding it when necessary to keep that effect of their live shows. Which gives reason why most of the tracks are a plus 7 minutes like the song “Total Trash” which is the fourth 7 minute song on the album.

The album concludes with the mega song/Trilogy of songs that perfectly ends what Sonic Youth was trying to accomplish on this album.  I would suggest this album for anybody trying to get into this band who doesn’t know where to start with their monster discography.  It’s a fan favorite and a critic favorite and most people who don’t really care for this band that much seem to really respect and enjoy this album.  I have yet to see them live but that’s because their native New York City does them justice by selling them out every time they put on a show.  I just hope I can get a ticket soon to experience what they’ve been doing for over 25 years now.