ARTS
Tuesday, August 6, 1985

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Page 8
Sonic Youth
plays primal

The Michigan Daily

scream
By Richard Williams
W OW, MAN. That's all I can say.
Sonic Youth provided-one of the
most exuberant gigs I've ever seen.
It was unrelenting pounding and
grinding from the word go.
Their performance defined what
"Sonic Youth" implies: They did
whatever they wanted with sound.
They made it sound strikingly
beautiful, they made it sound
strikingly perverse. And they did it;
with all the reckless abandon of youth
that so many of us have replaced with
the complacency of adulthood. It was
fun just to witness the spontaneity
and let it affect you in whatever way
it did. It was as close to primal
scream therapy as rock'n'roll gets.
The setting was awkward yet
seemed comfortable. They played at
the Polish Army Vet Hall in Detroit
and there were a few vets keeping
tabs on the throngs of thrashers but
everyone behaved just fine. And
downstairs in the bar Mrs. Kowalski
PUT US TO THE
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therapy
served beer while a few regulars
leaned on the bar and stared at the
assorted thrashers and wondered just
what the hell was going on. It was a
normal and down to earth environ-
ment.
The opening band, Laughing
Hyenas, are from Detroit and grew
out of the Detroit/Ann Arbor band
11th Episode. They were simply
great. They combined the franticness
of the Birthday Party with the painful
drone of the Swans. It was very
emotional and had a primitive power
that few bands are able to master.
They are the best thing I've seen out
of the Detroit area in ages.
The second act was Rites of Spring
from D.C. They were above average
thrash/hardcore, but they didn't lend
any innovative ideas to an already Here com es 'T
buried concept.
Sonic Youth played like the ex- Sting and Jennifer Beals play Dr
perienced musicians they are. dam's 'The Bride,' opening soon h
Various problems with the P.A.
system were encountered but they
managed to salvage an amazing gig.
These guys are serious performers,
most out of their instruments. They
played long, imaginative versions of Robyn Hitchcock and'
many of their songs, never
rehashing a tune for more than a few The Egyptians - Fegmania
minutes, always adding something (Slash Records)
new yet still keeping the song's direc-
tion. Right now, if you've been reading
They combined a myriad of the right magazines, it's said that the
material into one cohesive show. big thing in clubs and discos the world
"Kill Your Idols" was simply over is Death Rock. Given the half-
ferocious live. "Brave Men Run" was life of any given musical fashion
blazing, Kim Gordon's plaintive movement, Death Rock stands to stay
chants and yelps were truly wonder- in that top notch for, say, the next 45
ful. By the way, Kim was wearing a minutes to an hour. Given that you
ZZ T-shirt, satin gold mini-skirt, have so little time to prepare, what's
tights, and black cowboy boots. A your best guess as to what the next
daring combination. movement will be? Time ticks
Before the Youth went into a away . . . ding! Your answer
blaring rendition of "I Love Her All please. . . Now, put down that Amy
the Time", they ran a sappy Pat Grant album, it ain't Resurrectior
Benatar tune (you know, one of those Rock.
reeeal sensitive ones) through the I might suspect psych-rock; but
P.A. before you tack an "-edelic on
The climax of the show featured a the end of that "psych-," con-
lesson in a guitar feedback drill that sider an alternative - psychological
ended with everyone pounding on rock. The telltale signs have already
their guitars with either their hand .r begun to emerge: look at Tears for
a drumstick. Fears, jamming pop psychology
Sonic Youth is one of the few down the throats of babes with a near-
American bands to be reckoned with. perverse aplomb, or Prince, who seems
to be something of a Masters and
Johnson study gone haywire with
religion. And maybe even a look at
Robyn Hitchcock, who'd rather forgo
7 HAIRCUTTERS the academic dogma and just putter
around in your psyche for awhile. Of
" NO WAITING course, Robyn's been doing it for a bit
longer than the new mind-poppers,
DASCOLA STYLISTS and has also incorporated
psychedelia (admiring the probably-
Liberty off State . .....668-9329 still-notably-crazy Syd Barrett,
Maple Village ........ 761-2733 among others) into his work for much
See RECORDS, Page 9

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he Bride'
Charles Frankenstein and Eva, his second creation in Frank Rod-
n the Ann Arbor area.

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Robyn Hitchcock has reformed the Soft Boys, minus guitarist Kimberly
Rew; .under the new moniker the Egyptians bor his latest record,
'Fegmania.'