Rather Ripped is Sonic Youth's 20th official studio album release and comes in their 25th year of being. Produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies), the album doesn't feature Jim O'Rourke for the first time since before Goodbye 20th Century in 1999 and is the last release to fulfill their contract with Geffen. As Thurston Moore describes it, the album is "a super song record" containing "rockers and ballads" and with quite short tracks (averaging in at about 4 mins each), the album certainly lives up to that billing. Harking back to the Dirty/Experimental Jet Set era of songs - as can be especially heard on Sleepin Around, Rather Ripped is littered with twinkly guitars and pop-rock melodies. There isn't much of the classic Sonic Youth noise on the album, apart from a few tracks, such as Turquoise Boy with its buzzsaw rock out and the slow fuzzy drones of Do You Believe in Rapture? The album does have its mellow moments too, with the very tuneful Lights Out and Or. The Moore/Gordon/Ranaldo lead vocal breakdown (6/4/1 respectively) gives the album balance and Kim Gordon's singing is quite refreshing. On the whole, the album is a very good offering from the SY stables and one certainly to buy if you consider yourself a Sonic Youth fan. If you are just starting out on the road to finding out what SY are all about, Rather Ripped is a pretty decent place to start.
