Someone requested some Free Kitten in response to the epic Sonic Youth post of yesterday (THANKS again, Jon S, simply stellar.....be hard to imagine you topping THIS one, but you never fail to amaze me).....Free Kitten were a side project, consisting of Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, Julie Cafritz from Pussy Galore, Yoshimi P-We of the Boredoms on drums, and Mark Ibold of Pavement on bass....ok, that's lot of diverse talent, and I'll say off the bat, I am not crazy about these albums......they are OK, and JUST ok.....happy to share them as I am sure many haven't heard them, but at least I personally don't consider them lost masterpiees or anything.First up we have "Unboxed" from 1994.....this is noisy, experimental stuff, the kind of stuff that Kim Gordon loves to indulge herself in (see: Glitterbest, probably still available on this very site)......."Unboxed" is a collection of early singles from the band, also the EP "Call Now"......it's, you know, OK, it breaks no new ground, reminds me a good bit of Destroy All Monsters attempts to be "the next" Sonic Youth (Destroy All Monsters would have been MUCH greater had they simply stuck to their punk approach, but I digress...)...this is pretty good, if you are a Sonic Youth diehard, you will likely enjoy this. It does include an 'interesting" cover of X-Ray Spex "Oh Bondage Up Yours!", hard to go wrong THERE.
"Nice Ass" was their first "proper" album,and it's the only one that I REALLY consider a "good" effort.......and it really is, likely 3 stars or so.....the trademarked bored-as-hell vocals are still in the foreground, but there are some interesting tunes here, I mean, this is experimental shit, BIG TIME......it's cool to listen to the totally out-there lyrics and oddball concepts, "Greener Pastures" is kinda based around the theme from Green Acres. I DO like this album, actually, a pretty fair 1990's period piece......and of the three I have here, it's the only one I would really call a "good" album (I'm saying if you only want one, it is CERTAINLY this one.
Because the next effort "Sentimental Education" does not do much for me at all.....it's a bit TOO experimental for me, I'm sure that it has it's fans, but some of it, notably the 12-plus minute title track are a bit much......still, stuff like "Scratch the DJ" is amusing, and if you want the WHOLE picture, you'll need this one as well.All in all, not a huge fave of mine, obviously, but "Nice Ass" is a good record, and the others have their moments, most likely "bigger" Sonic Youth fans than me will consider these essential (don't get me wrong, i love Sonic Youth, but their "anything goes" approach could be brilliant OR off-putting)
Hey, I forget who requested it, I could look but I don't care.....somebody wanted it and here it is!
UNBOXED-01 Skinny Butt/02 Platinumb/03 Smack/04 Falling Backward/05 Oneness/06 Dick/07 Yoshimi Vs Mascis/08 Oh Bondage Up Yours!/09 1,2,3/10 Party With Me Punker/11 John Stark's Blues/12 Guilty Pleasures/13 Sex Boy/14 Cleopatra/15 Loose Lips/16 Oh Baby
NICE ASS-01 Harvest Spoon/02 Rock of Ages/03 Proper Band/04 What's Fair/05 Kissing Well/06 Call back (Episode XXT)/07 Blindfold Test/08 Greener Pastures/09 Revlon Liberation Orchestra/10 The Boasta/11 Scratch that DJ/12 Secret Sex Fiend/13 Royal Flush/14 Feelin'/15 Alan Licked has Ruined Musaic For an Entire Generation
SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION-01 Teenie Weenie Boppie/02 Top 40/03 Never Gonna Sleep/04 Strawberry Milk/05 Played Yrself/06 DJ Spooky' Spatialized Chinatown Mix/07 Bouwerie Boy/08 Records Sleep/09 Picabo Who?/10 Sentimental Education/11 One Forty Five/12 Eat Cake/13 GAA/14 Daddy Long Legs/15 Noise Doll