Sonic Youth – NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000/2016) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

NYC Ghosts & Flowers is the 11th studio album by American noise rock/alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on May 16, 2000 by record label DGC. The album was very experimental and can be considered as a reaction to the theft of their instruments in July 1999, in which many irreplaceable guitars and effects pedals were stolen. This is also the first album since Bad Moon Rising in which Sonic Youth used John Cage-like prepared guitar, for example using a bicycle horn between the strings on Lightnin, a lime between the strings and the first pickup and a file inserted over the neck pickup on Small Flowers Crack Concrete and a drum stick between the strings in Free City Rhymes.

Continuing their high-brow path towards avant-garde guitar music and away from their late ’80s punk-influenced style of controlled cacophony, Sonic Youth have continued to make it difficult for fans to follow their evolving style of influential alternative rock. With the aid of renowned producer Jim O’Rourke, this iconic group has stripped away much of the murky sound that polluted its late ’80s masterpieces such as Daydream Nation and Sister. This new style of clean production on NYC Ghosts & Flowers also differs from the group’s early ’90s sound partly attributed to Butch Vig on colorful albums such as Dirty and Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, where Vig masterfully juxtaposed the group’s knack for noise with his gift for salient production. Similar to Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, Sonic Youth have again written a collection of shorter songs, focused primarily upon lyrics and song structuring rather than guitars. Thurston Moore’s songs dominate this record, sounding unlike anything he has ever written. These songs seem to evolve spontaneously, moving into and then out of Moore’s Ginsberg-like beatnik vocals. Songs such as “Free City Rhymes” and “Small Flowers Crack Concrete” sound like the music from SYR 1 and SYR 2 accompanied by subtly spoken poetry, focused more on enunciation than melody. More than ever, it seems as if Moore has abandoned his goofball charisma of the past for his new status as an ambitious poet looking to be respected as much for his words as his guitar. Kim Gordon’s contribution, “Nevermind (What Was It Anyway),” stands above all other songs on the album as the only song with a memorable yet kooky vocal melody: “Boys go to Jupiter to more stupider/ Girls go to Mars to become rock stars.” Contributed by Lee Ranaldo, the title track of this album serves as the guitarist’s best lyrical piece to date and also as the album’s grand finale, stretching to nearly ten minutes of slow building guitar intensity. In the end, this Sonic Youth album will appeal to those attracted to the group’s mellow side — a subtle side of the group more interested in collective contemplation than electrifying energy. Never before has the group sounded so consciously mature. For some fans, this album will sound refreshing, but for the many Sonic Youth fans still in love with the confrontational attitude of “Death Valley ’69,” the charged feel of “Teenage Riot,” or the epic scope of “The Diamond Sea” this album may sound tired. ~~ AllMusic Review by Jason Birchmeier

Tracklist:

1 Free City Rhymes 7:30
2 Renegade Princess 5:47
3 Nevermind (What Was It Anyway) 5:33
4 Small Flowers Crack Concrete 5:10
5 Side2Side 3:32
6 StreamXsonik Subway 2:48
7 NYC Ghosts & Flowers 7:47
8 Lightnin’ 3:50

Personnel:

Thurston Moore – uncredited performing, production
Kim Gordon – uncredited performing, sleeve illustration (Girl Drawing, 2000), production
Lee Ranaldo – uncredited performing, production, sleeve photography (1998)
Steve Shelley – uncredited performing, production

Additional personnel
Jim O’Rourke – bass guitar (“Free City Rhymes”, “Small Flowers Crack Concrete”), electronics (“Side2Side”), production, additional recording, additional mixing
William Winant – percussion (“Side2Side”)
Rafael Toral – Spacestatic guitar (“Renegade Princess”)

Download:

mqs.link_SnicYuthNYCGhstsFlwers20002016HDTracks24192.part1.rar
mqs.link_SnicYuthNYCGhstsFlwers20002016HDTracks24192.part2.rar

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