NYC Ghosts & Flowers is a 2000 album by Sonic Youth. 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 since 1985's Bad Moon Rising, most notably on "Small Flowers Crack Concrete" (a file inserted over the neck pickup) and "Lightnin'" (a bike horn wedged under the strings). It is also considered to be the album on which the influence of beat poetry on the band is most evident. The lyrics to most songs resemble the beat style, Lenny Bruce and D. A. Levy are name-checked and the cover art is based on a painting by William S. Burroughs. The album received mixed reviews. Brent DiCrescenzo, formerly of Pitchfork Media, gave it the rarely used lowest rating of 0.0, while Inkblot Magazine praised its avant-garde direction and Robert Christgau said that at times the album is more beautiful than the more widely acclaimed Washing Machine or A Thousand Leaves. The album is generally well regarded among fans. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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