Free Kitten is as close as indie-rock can come to a "supergroup": it includes
Pavement's Mark Ibold, Pussy Galore's Julie Cafritz, the
Boredoms' Yoshimi, and Sonic Youth's
Kim Gordon, and most of
Sentimental Education dabbles in the sort of New York artiness one would expect from this collection. Half of the tracks sound like Goo-era
Sonic Youth ("Strawberry Milk," "Bouwerie Boy"); the other half are either deconstructive experiments ("Never Gonna Sleep," D.J. Spooky's "Spatialized Chinatown Express Mix") or pop parodies (the album begins with a campy cover of
Serge Gainsbourg's "Teenie Weenie Boppie.") While
Sentimental Education can't really compare to the work of any of its members' bands, it provides enough of the thrills of each to be consistently satisfying. ~ Nitsuh Abebe