Sonic Youth + I.C.P. + The Ex — In The Fishtank 9

In The Fishtank 9

Konkurrent/Touch And Go

James Davies (CHARTattack)

10/08/2002 2:42pm

A number of years ago a certain cable music channel permitted Thurston Moore to rule the airwaves for an hour. Well-known for a range of strange habits, Moore played an eclectic collection including a homemade video of some guy smashing glass over tin cans in front of a Tokyo audience. The camera panned back to Moore, giddy as an eight-year old in a candy store, gleeful under a shaggy mop of hair.

This penchant for noise has always been a trademark of Sonic Youth. The approach this time is minimalist, yet the end product is probably less accessible than anything they’ve done in the past. Joined by two Dutch bands, I.C.P. (the jazz trio, not a certain demented collection of rapping clowns) and The Ex, Sonic Youth have constructed 29 minutes of sparse, asymmetrical sounds.

Recorded over a two-day period for Dutch art project Konkurrent, the 10 musicians recorded eight songs each titled as roman numbers. The record is silly, confusing and terribly amusing. Yet, at the same time, like the best of instrumental records (regardless of how experimental), startling and unrepentant in its demand that it be listened to and not merely over heard as background ambience.

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