"The Diamond Sea"

Sonic Youth
(DGC, 1995)

A song about constancy that tosses and turns and somehow sustains itself for nearly 20 minutes. The band have long had a knack for pop-punk abandon and electric-guitar screeds both short and long ("Kill Yr. Idols," "Expressway to Yr Skull," "Teenage Riot," "Kool Thing"). But here was a number that encompassed everything (all of Daydream Nation in one song?), harmonically static and calm at its depths but turbulent on the surface, with a burst of extroverted noise and a dreamy meditation. It starts off with a benedictory folk-pop ditty, wanders out to the electronic sea, makes a slight return, and then sails out forever.

-- Jon Garelick