Niki N. Phaser

Sonic Youth are not the kind of band you first hear of through a video you see on MTV. Therefore, the whole concept of the single is quite irrelevant to them. Another thing one might state about this band is that their work could be, with few exceptions, divided into two categories, eras, whatever: the crazy, extremely experimental one with unique impossible to reproduce tunnings and the more accessible one, which you don’t have to be a snob to appreciate. New Hampshire, a track from Sonic Nurse (2004) contains the best of both worlds. There are plenty of weird tunnings in it, but they are played with fingers, not hardware. It’s quite a melodic song, despite being filled with layers and layers of guitars and their subtle effects. The vocals are carefully laid on the music, which is not something that happens too often with Sonic Youth records. Lyrically, it’s as confusing and puzzling as they can get. B.B. King gets mentioned at one point and also some New Hampshire boys, but, let’s be honest, no one listens to Sonic Youth for their lyrics. It’s the things they do with that instrument of the devil, named electric guitar, that capture us.

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It is really heartbreaking for me to include Stina Nordenstam in the Ignored-Gold section, but the truth is her music will never be mainstream. If it were, it wouldn’t be Stina anymore. It was just as heartbreaking to select just one of her songs and review it. She has such a wonderful collection of little masterpieces on her five original albums, but I guess This Is Stina Nordenstam remains a favourite. This album contains classics like Sharon & Hope, Trainsurfing or Keen Yellow Planet, her collaboration with Brett Anderson, Suede’s ex-frontman. The opener is a track by the name of Everyone Else in the World, taken from the chorus: “Everyone else in the world would love me by now, would love me from day one, but not you”. And yes, everyone else in the world would love Stina after hearing this simple three minute song. Like all her stuff, it’s strange, hard to label, but ever so intoxicating. The instruments sound subtle on this one – there is a piano and some distorted trip-hoppy bass for the chorus, but they work so great, it makes you envious that so much effect can be achieved with so little sound. But then, of course, you have Stina’s baby voice, that always seems so shy, as if she would be embarrassed to sing louder. She has been compared to Tori Amos or Bjork, but listening to Stina’s experimental music, you get the feeling that she hasn’t listened to anything ever. It sounds that strange and pristine. Instinctual. She truly is a hidden treasure.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR Everyone Else in the World BY STINA NORDENSTAM