The band built themselves a studio with their Lollapalooza earnings, and started their own label, SYR, which released a series of experimental EP's, as Sonic Youth returned to their indie roots. The band has continued to release its albums on Geffen.
A Thousand Leaves, their 1998 release, finds the band moving away once again from the hardcore sonic dissonance and into the realm of improvasatory jamming. This was followed by Goodbye 20th Century, from 2000, a tribute album of sorts to their avant-garde heroes, including John Cage, Yoko Ono and James Tenney. Unlike any other Sonic Youth album, this really is true avant-garde; minimalist and weird, it's an interesting listen, but shouldn't be considered an album proper.
On NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000), on which Jim O'Rourke produces and plays, the band attempts to follow up their avant-garde tribute with a concept-album of sorts, in homage to the beatnik, bohemian New York of olden days. This album is perhaps their biggest misfire, the point where their ambitions just were beyond their abilities. Featuring deadpan beatnik prose that gets cringeworthy in places, it's an interesting conceit, but never quite escapes a certain self-consciousness that almost derails a number of otherwise promising tracks.
O'Rourke became a fulltime member of the group nontheless, producing and appearing on Murray Street (2002). It's tempting to call Murray Street a return to form, but that sells the band short; for the first time in years, they show real tangible progression, just like in the old days. Having become excellent guitarists after nearly a quarter of a century, Moore and Ranaldo play with a new precision, even if they haven't abandoned their tunings, and strategically placed noise explosions. For the first time ever, the intricacy of the band's interplay is highlighted by just the right production; not the chilly crystalline Butch Vig brought them, but a warmer clarity from O'Rourke. The leadoff cut, "The Empty Page" is a particular standout, but the entire album shows that whatever slowed their growth in the 90's had been addressed.
The last word so far has been Sonic Nurse, from 2004, which displays an encouraging continuation of Murray Street's directions with an increased input from Kim Gordon and yet more re-interpretations of the band's indie and early 90's concepts, refiltered through their accumulated experience and honed abilities. They may no longer be at the vanguard of alternative music, they may no longer be groundbreaking, and their best work may lie behind them.
Article comments
1 - The Theory
nice write up. Sonic Youth has been one of my favorites for a while... though I tend to drift more toward 90s material... the material SY fans tend to scoff at, like Experimental Jet Set... whereas I cannot really enjoy listening to "Daydream Nation"
2 - beben
i from indonesia. i verylike song from sonic youth. grunge never die
3 - Diamond Sea
Well written, though NYC Ghosts & Flowers and Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star are both great albums imo and i don't consider them a failure.
I was a bit sceptical about their new 2006 album, Rather Ripped, but after listening to it lots of times i tend to like it a lot too !