Ciccone Youth – ‘Whitey Album - Remastered & Expanded’ (Geffen) Released 03/04/06

The second of three Sonic Youth re-releases for this week is only seeking to confound these ears as a glaringly obvious dub influence (again) stalks this confounding mixture of the adventurous and the throwaway. This was their first release after the Psychedelic Wonderland that was ‘Daydream Nation’, a record of such staggeringly fine execution as to send Rock into its final death rattles (along with My bloody Valentine, Young God’s and the criminally forgotten Disco Inferno a few years later).

Overlooked at the time, or maybe not given serious study and written off as a bit of an in-joke, 'Whitey Album' offers a multitude of strange delights exploring dubscapes, acid freak-out, two versions of songs by her highness (‘Burnin’ Up’ and ‘Into the Groove(y)’) and spoken word pieces.

'G-Force’ and ‘Platoon II’ are eerie creaky grinding landscapes, spacious with a monotonous echoing drum machine eventually imploding in to a swarm of bizarre electronic noise. The latter is a version of the first, stripping Kim’s eerie narration. This and a few others here pre-empt the short-lived Isolationist strain of dark ambient that came to prominence later. ‘Two Cool Rock Chics Listening to Neu!’ is just that until Kim phones Dinosaur Jr. man J. Mascis halfway through who then rips a mental solo other some electro.

There are throwaway moments - Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted To Love’ is recorded in Macy’s with Kim doing her thing over 80’s synthesisers, backing vocals and a truly dodgy pre-recorded lead guitar. The much-discussed (at the time) cover of ‘Into the Groove(y)’ is an off-tune dirge that only really excites when fragments of the original suddenly appear in the mix.
So, a mess of an album (as I’m sure was their intention) but with some truly astounding out-there moments which reveal fertile ground that begs further digging.