Sy are probably my favorite modern band.
"Sister" is my favorite record by them, period. It catches them right as they
were coming out of the noisy no-wave-ness of "evol" and "confusion is sex",
adapting those textures and sounds into more accessible pop songs. The result-
an album that's absolutely beautiful, yet fuzzy and noisy and chaotic.
"Schizophrenia" and "Cotton Crown" are two of my favorite SY songs.
Also-
I think that "Washing Machine" is horribly underrated by fans and critics.
It's in my top 3 ("experimental jet-set is number 2 after sister) - it shows
the band's dreamy, breezy, pretty side, without forsaking the noise or
experimentation.
Other SY records, randomly:
"NYC ghosts and flowers" - Absolutely awful. The band really tried to be
something they were not, instead of being themselves. Bad poetry over bad,
"trying too hard" music makes this a bad record.
"Dirty" and "Goo"- easily the band's most accessible records, and most
"normal" and mundane sounding. Some of the songs are great ("theresa's sound
world", "my friend goo"), but both albums have that "Nevermind" esque gloss
and sheen over them. Not completely inessential, but near the bottom.
"A Thousand Leaves" - a transitional album between "washing machine" and the
more recent, modern-improv oriented material like the SYR series. Not bad, but
ultimately forgettable. Check the downtempo Phish-jam of "hits of sunshine."
"Confusion is Sex"- actually one of my least favorites, it catches SY in their
formative Glenn Branca/DNA worship phase. They haven't found their own voice
(owing too much to Mars, Branca's Theoretical Girls/the Static, DNA, etc.),
and the actual songs just aren't that interesting yet.
andrew
