NYC Ghosts & Flowers

Performer: Sonic Youth
Artist: Jim O'Rourke; William Winant
Engineer: Wharton Tiers; Jim O'Rourke
Producer: Sonic Youth; Kim Gordon; Lee Ranaldo; Steve Shelley; Thurston Moore; Jim O'Rourke
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley. Additional personnel: Rafael Toral (guitar); Jim O'Rourke (bass); William Winant (percussion). Principally recorded in New York, New York in August 1999. Personnel: Rafael Toral (guitar); William Winant (percussion); Jim O'Rourke (electronics). Audio Mixer: Jim O'Rourke. Recording information: 08/1999-02/2000. NYC GHOSTS & FLOWERS marks the approximate 10-year anniversary of Sonic Youth's involvement in arguably the most historic moment in indie-rock--their signing to Geffen Records. What NYC GHOSTS & FLOWERS mostly reveals is Sonic Youth's ability to continue to pursue their own vision, unencumbered by mainstream pop sensibilities. Continuing in the mellow vein of 1998's A THOUSAND LEAVES, NYC GHOSTS & FLOWERS starts on an introspective note with the gently winding "Free City Rhymes" which waits patiently for almost three minutes until Thurston Moore's unmistakable light gravel voice eases in beside the guitar noodling. The album's high point comes a couple of songs later on the lightly infectious "Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)," with Kim Gordon singing as powerfully as ever, followed by the potent poetic rambling rant of "Small Flowers Crack Concrete." While obviously not as experimental as releases on their own and other indie labels, NYC GHOSTS & SHADOWS proves that an indie band can survive a decade on a major label and retain its integrity.

Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.117) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000". Rolling Stone (6/8/00, p.120) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Explores rock's outer limits with renewed zeal....no band makes the avant-garde sound quite this tactile and sensual....a reminder of not only how far [they] have traveled but how high they can still reach." Spin (7/00, pp.149-50) - 8 out of 10 - "...The artiest, most texturally spectacular album they've ever made....it's also a deeper realization of the wiry, jam-oriented space-outs they've been exploring [for] years..." Entertainment Weekly (5/26/00, p.74) - "...Proves the band is still capable of energetic and exciting work..." - Rating: B Alternative Press (7/00, p.81) - 3 out of 5 - "...A dark, nervous-sounding album, a demanding and disruptive listen that only grows thornier....proving that [their] avant-pop and avant-garde sides are becoming less divided with time..." Magnet (8-9/00, p.92) - "...It grows and changes with every listen....the guitars are quite cool..." The Wire (1/01, p.34) - Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year" [2000]. The Wire (6/00, p.52) - "...Succeeds in bringing firmly back to the fore that aspect of SY's sound that's perhaps overlooked in discussions of their trash Americana, their lo-fi art music collisions - the clangourous, overpowering, joyful din..." CMJ (5/22/00, p.3) - "...One of their best to date....this fresh start actually brings a shock of the new to the Youth's own history....Two-thirds of the record is quasi-spoken word set to some of SY's spookiest, most unearthly music ever..." NME (Magazine) (5/27/00, p.41) - 8 out of 10 - "...Burns with a sense of direction and focus....capturing the contrary, questing essence of SY....Returning from the wilderness with a new-found hunger..."

Drawing equally from punk rock and new-music pioneers such as John Cage and Glenn Branca (whom guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo both played with), Sonic Youth employed a palette of white noise that deconstructed punk-rock orthodoxy into radical new configurations. Seemingly the opposite of what major labels would want in a band, Sonic Youth inked a deal with Geffen records in the late 1980s and caught the ear of a certain mainstream listenership. With the release of their 16th proper studio album, RATHER RIPPED, in 2006, Sonic Youth secured their position as icons of underground and alternative culture.

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