Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation

(Paperback)

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Description

Daydream Nation is the kind of gorgeous monstrosity (born of extremes, rife with difficulties, and mythic in proportion) that can crush the will of the most resilient, well-intentioned listener if the necessary preparations havent been made. Matthew Stearns explores the album from a range of angles, including a track-by-track analysis and a look at the historical and cultural context within which the album was made. Featuring a foreword by Lee Ranaldo and exclusive interviews with the band, this truly is the definitive guide to Daydream Nation.

Reviews

Matthew Stearns is a writer of considerable moxie, possessed if a thoroughly unhinged and seemingly endless thesaurus, and supremely convinced of this album's majesty...After painting the scene for us wherein the band recorded the album (hot New York summer, cramped recording space, a legendarily experimental band at a crux in their career and looking to expand, explosively if necessary) Stearns methodically walks readers through the album itself. Song by song. Line by line. Moment by moment. It's a revelatory construct, particularly for a record as deeply layered in influences and abstractions as Daydream Nation is. Along the way, Stearns gives a helpful overview of the band members themselves (most of whom he appears to have interviewed), annotating how their omnivorous cultural feedings and art-school backgrounds created such an ambition and uncategorizeable piece of work...Stearns' words stick. Few writers could get away with lines like "We're all teenagers at the mercy of rock's beauty and elan." Amen, brother. -- Chris Barsanti * Pop Matters *

Author Bio

Matthew Stearns is a regular contributor to Resonance magazine. A onetime graduate student in comparative literature, he has also held down jobs as a seasonal construction worker in Alaska, black-market babysitter in Paris, bookseller, editorial assistant, and record store clerk.