Sister is just like any other Sonic Youth record in that its plagued with its own "sound" issues. EVOL (as I mentioned before) had a very hollow reverberated sound. Sister claims a more muffled sound. In fact, one of the attracting factors in using Sear Sound Studio to produce Sister was the fact the soundboard was an old 24 channel board that still used vacumm tubes. Thurston claims you can "hear" the tubes humming in several places of the songs. In fact, the sound of the electricity pumping through the tubes can be heard ALL OVER the record. Total silence is actually in the key of A-flat, I wonder key tubes hum in? The guitars on Sister get a more "raw" sound with some grit. The drums in fact come out muffled. Despite the bands best efforts to "cool off" the drum sound, they came in too warm! make sense?
"Stereo Sanctity" could easily be a pre-cursor to grunge. Its fast and abrasive and leaves little time for thought. Again, we are dealing with the idea of "cyber-punk" or futuristic punk rock. The grunge explosion is only a few years away. The drums are very pounding while the guitar utilizes a more noise riff rather that the three previous songs that have recognizable riffs. The breakdown though is quite melodic and creative.
The lyrics are what drive this song the most. Alot like "Schizophrenia," this song takes inspiration from writer Phillip K. Dick. "I can't get laid cause everyone is dead!" is one of many exact quotes from Radio Free Albemuth.
Although is was performed nightly in 1987, the song never really made it past the initial touring outing for Sister. It came back briefly in 1993 but has not been played since.
This video is another from 10-13-87.
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