Digging Our Own Crates: Sonic Youth – NYC Ghosts & Flowers

“This is claimed to be a German, promo-only single from the NYC Ghosts and Flowers album by Sonic Youth. But it looks, feels and sounds like a bootleg. There’s next to no information about any legitimacy behind this. I got word to Steve Shelley (SY’s drummer) and he’d never even seen a copy and is searching for one for himself. Regardless, it’s one of my favorite albums of theirs and I’m always a sucker for a single…bootleg or not.” — Ben Blackwell

Sonic Youth has been cemented in New York City’s music history for so long that they feel a part of its infrastructure. I once loved the band far from the city’s sprawl, in a Nevada desert suburb surrounded by peers that wouldn’t know good rock if it smashed them with a bloody guitar. Sonic Youth was a part of my infrastructure, allowing me to discover a world of noise that felt far removed from anything I had previously known. They always had a gritty flavor that connected perfectly to the desert sand, but when I finally listened to their 2000 album, NYC Ghosts & Flowers, amongst their beloved birthplace, I was surprised how much their music transformed.

In the years since Sonic Youth’s debut in 1981, and even more so since 2000, noise rock has lost its footing. It’s not a coveted genre that follows any trends, which is what makes it so unique; it exists as it needs to. But within every hazy pedaled guitar and unpredictable drum pattern, there is so much to discover. Every time this album plays, I tune into something I had never noticed before and rediscover the elements that they seamlessly weave together. Their music, especially in this album, is moody and sprawling, intricate and intentional, and never tired.

NYC Ghosts & Flowers was their eleventh album, recorded using the band’s retired instruments after most of their current equipment was stolen out of their touring truck in 1999. Ironically, it allowed them to expand their notion of sound and push boundaries in ways they felt unable to before, creating an experimental rock with spoken word album, which Ben Blackwell of Third Man Records cites as one of his favorites. He showed off a record that shouldn’t exist: a promo single from NYC Ghosts & Flowers that sounds and feels like a bootleg. Despite their legal illegitimacy, bootlegs have long been a source for music exploration and exposure for records that might not have been heard otherwise. It’s an exceptionally unique medium, coming out of love and desperation for music.

As a teenager listening to Goo nonstop, I talked with a classmate about Sonic Youth, and he claimed to have never gotten the chance to listen to the album in full. As kids in a music desert, with only one record store to shop at, listening to music in a physical format was a luxury that was scarcely experienced. So, after school, I went to Walmart to grab some blank CDs, burned the album through my laptop with my own copy, and gave it to him the next day. My own Sonic Youth bootleg resulted in my first boyfriend. Even in the desert, small flowers crack concrete.

Check out our full interview with Ben Blackwell.

Watch our video version of this post on YouTube Shorts.