NYC Ghosts & Flowers

As a result of the theft, the members of Sonic Youth relied upon "old guitars in their studio, unearthing instruments they hadn't used in years" which "along with equipment purchased to fulfill the remaining [...] dates [of the tour], would serve as the foundation for six new songs written over the next month", in addition to "Free City Rhymes" and "Renegade Princess", which were written prior to the tour. The band members later acknowledged that "the gear theft was somewhat of a blessing, if [also] a rather unwelcome and unpleasant one, in that it truly forced them to 'start over' and approach creating music with brand new boundaries".{{cite web |url=http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/lp/lp16.html |title=sonicyouth.com Discography – Album: NYC Ghosts & Flowers |website=sonicyouth.com |access-date=January 20, 2013}}

NYC Ghosts & Flowers was released on May 16, 2000, by record label DGC.

A music video was released for the track "Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)". According to the band's official website, it was a proposed single that "never actually found its way into stores."

{{Album ratings

| MC = 66/100{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/nyc-ghosts-flowers/sonic-youth |title=Reviews for NYC Ghosts & Flowers by Sonic Youth |website=Metacritic |access-date=January 20, 2013}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/nyc-ghosts-flowers-mw0000064163 |title=NYC Ghosts & Flowers – Sonic Youth |website=AllMusic |access-date=January 20, 2013 |last=Phares |first=Heather}}

| rev2 = Alternative Press

| rev2score = 3/5{{cite magazine |url=http://www.alternativepress.com/sections/rotw/07-17-2000/index.asp |title=Sonic Youth: NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=Alternative Press |issue=144 |date=July 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |last=Burgess |first=Aaron |page=81 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010430012054/http://www.alternativepress.com/sections/rotw/07-17-2000/index.asp |archive-date=April 30, 2001}}

| rev3 = Blender

| rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Back Catalogue: Sonic Youth |magazine=Blender |issue=52 |date=October 2006 |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Wolk |pages=154–55}}

| rev4 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev4score = B{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2000/05/26/nyc-ghosts-flowers |title=NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |issue=542 |date=May 26, 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |last=Brunner |first=Rob |page=74}}

| rev5 = The Guardian

| rev5score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,327039,00.html |title=Sonic Youth: nyc ghosts and flowers (Geffen) |newspaper=The Guardian |date=June 2, 2000 |access-date=February 22, 2016 |last=Mulholland |first=Garry}}

| rev6 = NME

| rev6score = 8/10{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/sonic-youth/2297 |title=NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=NME |date=May 23, 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |last=Chick |first=Stevie |page=41 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115819/http://www.nme.com/reviews/sonic-youth/2297 |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7score = 0.0/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7342-nyc-ghosts-flowers/ |title=Sonic Youth: NYC Ghosts & Flowers |website=Pitchfork |date=April 30, 2000 |access-date=January 20, 2013 |last=DiCrescenzo |first=Brent}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/nyc-ghosts-flowers-20000608 |title=NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=June 8, 2000 |access-date=January 20, 2013 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot}}

| rev9 = Spin

| rev9score = 8/10{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AlN-17xfY88C&pg=PA149 |title=Sonic Youth: NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=Spin |volume=16 |issue=7 |date=July 2000 |access-date=January 27, 2016 |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Wolk |pages=149–50}}

| rev10 = The Village Voice

| rev10score = A{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv800-00.php |title=Consumer Guide: Getting Them Straight |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=August 22, 2000 |access-date=January 27, 2016 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

}}

NYC Ghosts & Flowers received an approval rating of 66 out of 100 on review aggregator website Metacritic, signifying "generally favorable reviews". In a positive review for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot said "though Sonic Youth flirted with alternative-rock songcraft in the early '90s, these noise-rock renegades are once again happily viewing their guitars as hunks of wood, wire and infinite possibility." He went on to write, "No rock band makes the avant-garde sound quite this tactile and sensual."{{cite news |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-06-04/news/0006040188_1_nyc-ghosts-flowers-sonic-youth-noise-rock |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160036/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-06-04/news/0006040188_1_nyc-ghosts-flowers-sonic-youth-noise-rock |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |title=Sonic Youth NYC Ghosts & Flowers (Geffen) |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 4, 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot}} Salon.com also gave the album a positive review and stated, "Even while there isn't a single song here that holds together from beginning to end, even as the music makes only itself felt in halting jigsaw fashion... the album has a gloomy, unaccommodating tenacity that's hard to shake."{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2000/07/20/sonic/ |title=Sharps & Flats |last=Hampton |first=Howard |date=July 20, 2000 |website=Salon.com |access-date=June 22, 2013}} Mojo stated that "in the end, it's surprisingly worth it for the few great, strange tracks." In Spin, Douglas Wolk hailed it as Sonic Youth's "artiest, most texturally spectacular album" yet, writing that it "fashions a link between the free-jazz of the New York Art Quartet and the psychotic spasms of 1978's no wave grail, No New York." In NME{{'}}s opinion, the album "burns with such a sense of direction and focus" that revealed the group to still be "a vital creative force" in music.

According to Robert Christgau, NYC Ghosts & Flowers proved to be Sonic Youth's "dud by acclamation" among critics; he himself had given it a positive review in The Village Voice but later said the record's "meanderings", which had "captivated me in their ambiently environmental way, never fully reconnected" on later listens.{{cite news |last=Christgau |first=Robert |date=June 13, 2006 |title=Rather Exhilarating |journal=The Village Voice |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/sonic-06.php |access-date=January 20, 2013}} Select wrote that "the songs suffer from a lazy approach and the relentless repetition of unengaging chord patterns." Billboard believed the record "either encapsulates Sonic Youth's most endearing or annoying qualities, depending on how one feels about the band and the spoken-word poetics from Kim Gordon."{{cite magazine |date=June 3, 2000 |title=Sonic Youth: NYC Ghosts & Flowers |magazine=Billboard |url=https://www.billboard.com/reviews/reviewdisplay.asp?ID=87494 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001029042431/http://www.billboard.com/reviews/reviewdisplay.asp?ID=87494 |archive-date=October 29, 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2013}} Brent DiCrescenzo's review for Pitchfork was far more critical and assigned the album a score of 0.0 out of 10, with the critic panning it as "an unfathomable album which will be heard in the squash courts and open mic nights of deepest Hell." Commenting on the album's avant-garde roots, he said, "These are not new ideas. These are ideas that were arrogant and unlistenable upon birth thirty years ago." DiCrescenzo later reevaluated his opinion of the album and, in 2013, remarked on the higher esteem with which he now held it: "I now love the record. It's unlike anything else; eerie and beautiful. [...] No, the lesson here is: beware the opinions of a kid right out of college." He also described Pitchfork{{'}}s decimal scale as "knowingly silly" and "arbitrary".{{cite web |url=https://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/15974586/%25E2%80%259Ci-gave-sonic-youth-a-0-0-rating-on-pitchfork-%25E2%80%259D |title="I Gave Sonic Youth a 0.0 Rating on Pitchfork." – Arts + Culture – Time Out Chicago |last=DiCrescenzo |first=Brent |date=January 10, 2013 |website=Time Out |access-date=January 20, 2013}}

{{track listing

| extra_column = Vocals

| all_writing = Sonic Youth (Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley)

| title1 = Free City Rhymes

| lyrics1 = Moore

| extra1 = Moore

| length1 = 7:32

| title2 = Renegade Princess

| lyrics2 = Moore

| extra2 = Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo

| length2 = 5:49

| title3 = Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)

| lyrics3 = Gordon

| extra3 = Gordon

| length3 = 5:37

| title4 = Small Flowers Crack Concrete

| lyrics4 = Moore

| extra4 = Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo

| length4 = 5:12

| title5 = Side2Side

| lyrics5 = Gordon

| extra5 = Gordon

| length5 = 3:34

| title6 = StreamXSonik Subway

| lyrics6 = Moore

| extra6 = Moore

| length6 = 2:51

| title7 = NYC Ghosts & Flowers

| lyrics7 = Ranaldo

| extra7 = Ranaldo

| length7 = 7:52

| title8 = Lightnin{{'-}}

| lyrics8 = Gordon

| extra8 = Gordon

| length8 = 3:51

| total_length = 42:18

}}

Note: For the vinyl version, "Renegade Princess" was moved to track 6, and "Side2Side" & "StreamXSonik Subway" were swapped in order.

Sonic Youth

• Thurston Moore – vocals, guitar, production
• Kim Gordon – vocals, bass guitar, guitar, trumpet, sleeve illustration (Girl Drawing, 2000), production
• Lee Ranaldo – vocals, guitars, synthesizer, production, sleeve photography (1998)
• Steve Shelley – drums, percussion, production

Additional personnel

• Jim O'Rourke – bass guitar, electronics ("Side2Side"), production, additional recording, additional mixing
• William Winant – percussion ("Side2Side")
• Rafael Toral – Spacestatic guitar ("Renegade Princess")

Technical

• Wharton Tiers – recording
• Greg Calbi – mastering
• Frank Olinsky – sleeve art direction
• Dan Graham – sleeve artwork (video still from Rock My Religion, 1980)
• D. A. Levy – sleeve spiral drawing (1967)
• Joe Brainard – sleeve painting (Flower Painting IV, 1967)
• Robert Mooney – sleeve painting (untitled, 1992)
• William S. Burroughs – sleeve painting (X-Ray Man, 1992)

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{{Sonic Youth}}

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Category:Sonic Youth albums

Category:2000 albums

Category:Geffen Records albums

Category:Experimental rock albums by American artists

Category:Noise rock albums by American artists