NYC Ghosts & Flowers is a 2000 album by Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

. The album was a slight departure, mainly as a creative reaction to the theft of their instruments in July 1999. Irreplaceable guitars and effects pedals with numerous modifications were stolen. It is also the first Sonic Youth album to extensively use prepared guitar

Prepared guitar

A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...

 since 1985's Bad Moon Rising

Bad Moon Rising (album)

Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on the New York independent record label Homestead Records in 1985. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, and includes references to obsession and insanity, Charles Manson,...

, most notably on "Small Flowers Crack Concrete" (a file inserted over the neck pickup) and "Lightnin'" (a bike horn wedged under the strings).

On this album the influence of beat poetry on the band is strongly evident: The lyrics to most songs resemble the beat style, Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce

Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...

 and D. A. Levy

D. A. Levy

d.a. levy , born Darryl Alfred Levy , was an American poet, artist, and alternative publisher active during the 1960s, based in Cleveland, Ohio.- Biography :...

 are name-checked and the cover art is based on a painting by William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...

.

Reception

The album received mixed reviews. Brent DiCrescenzo, formerly of Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

, gave it the rarely used lowest rating of 0.0, while Inkblot Magazine praised its avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 direction http://www.inkblotmagazine.com/rev-archive/Sonic_Youth_NYC.htm and Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...

 said that at times the album is more beautiful than the more widely acclaimed Washing Machine or A Thousand Leaves

A Thousand Leaves

A Thousand Leaves is an album by Sonic Youth. It was the group's first major album to be recorded in their private Manhattan studio, dubbed Echo Canyon....

.

Track listing

Album charts

Year	Album	Chart	Position
2000	NYC Ghosts & Flowers	Official French Albums Chart	No. 37
2000	NYC Ghosts & Flowers	Official Norwegian Albums Chart	No. 37
2000	NYC Ghosts & Flowers	Official UK Albums Chart	No. 113
2000	NYC Ghosts & Flowers	Billboard Top 200	No. 172