Sonic Youth
NYC Ghosts & Flowers

THE REVIEW

It's beautiful.
I truly love the moment when the airplane lifts off and with that strange tail dip, dives into the blue sky. The landscape that was rushing past at a crazy speed seems to slow down and almost stop the higher the airplane ascends into the sky.
Like a child, I always make sure to get a window seat where I love to gaze at the landscape with the wide eyes of someone witnessing something incredible every time.

Something very strange happened to me.
Suddenly, I see something I recognize, the lake of the village where I grew up. I recognize the places of my childhood, my adolescence, the church where I got married...
The book of memories whose pages are turned by the wind in a disorderly yet vivid manner.
What would life be without memories to savor once in a while?

This record that I purchased for 36 Zloty (8 Euros) has that strange taste, of life seen and revisited from the window of a plane that ruthlessly follows its route.
Since this site is populated by Radiohead fans, I'd say that "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" is to Sonic Youth what "Kid A" is to Radiohead.
An experimental, almost conceptual album, at times Dadaist.
At times it intrigues, at times it drives you crazy and you wake up at the end of the track, after having flown over your dearest memories.

A record born from the personal "ground zero" of the New York band when in July 1999 all their equipment was stolen from inside their van, particularly the guitars that produced that distorted sound, so specific and inimitable to their sound. Very old instruments but vital for their creative process.
For them, therefore, a zero level on which to rebuild their fragmented and fascinating music. Total experimentation, almost unrestrained, at times incomprehensible.

However fascinating, so many themes hinted at inside this container of only eight tracks, of what will be the future sound of SY.
For those who loved "Evol", "Dirty" and perhaps even "Washing Machine", maybe a question mark. I don't feel like criticizing it because it doesn't have "songs". I judge what it conveys to me, that sense of Pindaric flight that fascinates me so much.

It's not a masterpiece, but I'm pleased to have purchased it like that, randomly, while searching for that song whose title I don't remember with that particular video that...
I've always had a soft spot for Kim Gordon, I've always considered Thurston Moore a genius, sometimes misunderstood, I've always liked Jim O'Rourke's productions.

To those who aren't ready for these things, I'd advise... to overlook.