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        Washing Machine

        Rate It! Avg: 4.5 (36 ratings)
        Sample Album
        Washing Machine album cover
        01
        Becuz
        		 4:43
        		$1.29
        02
        Junkie's Promise
        		 4:02
        		$1.29
        03
        Saucer-Like
        		 4:25
        		$1.29
        04
        Washing Machine
        		 9:33
        		$1.29
        05
        Unwind
        		 6:02
        		$1.29
        06
        Little Trouble Girl
        		 4:29
        		$1.29
        07
        No Queen Blues
        		 4:35
        		$1.29
        08
        Panty Lies
        		 4:15
        		$1.29
        09
        Becuz Coda
        		 2:49
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        10
        Skip Tracer
        		 3:48
        		$1.29
        11
        The Diamond Sea
        		 19:35
        Album Information

        Total Tracks: 11   Total Length: 68:16

        Find a problem with a track? Let us know.

        eMusic Review 0

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        Kevin O'Donnell

        eMusic Contributor

        Kevin O'Donnell has worked as an editor at Rolling Stone and SPIN and his writing on music, books and pop culture has been published in the Washington Post, NPR...more »

        11.16.10
        A two-part epic that morphs from a spastic, minimal punk jam into a sprawling, static-saturated reverie
        1995 | Label: Geffen

        Kurt Cobain had put a bullet through his head and grunge was officially dead by the time Sonic Youth released their tenth album in 1995. If there was any hope for these alt-rock lifers, now in their 40s, to have commercial appeal among younger listeners, those hopes now seemed totally shot. Even the band realized this: Lee Ranaldo joked to MTV at the time that Sonic Youth, disgruntled with the major labels' revenue-oriented, sausage-making-approach to their rosters, had considered changing their name to Washing Machine. "We're cleaning up the scene," he joked.

        To record the album, Sonic Youth left their hometown of New York for Easley Studios in Memphis. And just like Experimental, Washing Machine has a wonderfully unfussed-over, laid-back vibe. The most noticeable change to Sonic Youth's sound is the absence of bass throughout. Kim Gordon opted to pluck on a guitar instead, resulting in a thinner, more skeletal collection of tunes, especially on tracks like "Becuz" and "Junkie's Promise."

        The band started to stretch out their improvisatory tendencies for the first time since Daydream. "Washing Machine" is a two-part epic that morphs from a spastic, minimal punk jam into a sprawling, static-saturated reverie. "Diamond Sea" is even grander in scale:… read more »

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        After the regressive, low-key Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, Sonic Youth appeared to be floundering somewhat, but Washing Machine erased any notion that the band had run out of things to say. Easily their most adventurous, challenging, and best record since Daydream Nation, the album finds Sonic Youth returning to the fearless exploration of their SST records, but the group has found a way to work that into tighter song structures. Not only are the songs more immediate than most of the material on their earlier records, the sound here is warm and open, making Washing Machine their most mature and welcoming record to date. It’s not a commercial record, nor is it a pop record, but Washing Machine encompasses everything that made Sonic Youth innovators, and shows that they can continue to grow, finding new paths inside their signature sound. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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