Album: Daydream Nation
Year: 1988
. . .
And so it was probably lost to nobody that the longest song on Sonic Youth’s longest album to date was called “The Sprawl,” a reference to the setting of William Gibson’s initial cyberpunk trilogy, and the third straight Daydream Nation track with sci-fi overtones.
“The Sprawl” is a two-part epic which starts with a blistering humming Thurston Moore riff that never seems to resolve properly, propelled by Steve Shelley and Kim Gordon playing fast beats. (I initially wrote “fast beasts,” which would also work.) This first half of “The Sprawl” doesn’t isn’t as manic as “Silver Rocket,” but it’s still plenty fast, and Kim Gordon doesn’t even bother worrying about rhyming her words in the first verse.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2349: Sonic Youth – “The Sprawl”