Murray Street

AlbumJun 10 / 20027 songs, 45m 42s
Noise Rock Indie Rock
Popular Highly Rated

The yin-yang of Sonic Youth\'s career has always been a pull toward abstract avant-garde atonalities and a push toward conventional rock \'n\' roll songwriting. Essentially, the band has forced rock \'n\' roll to accept it as a logical expansion of the genre\'s definition; in return, it\'s earned fans who argue over which albums are the essential ones. *A Thousand Leaves* and *NYC Ghosts & Flowers* worked near the style of the avant-garde releases on Sonic Youth\'s own label imprint. *Murray Street*, with producer Jim O\'Rourke officially joining the band as a fifth wheel, is gentler; it\'s the most accessible the band has been since *Washing Machine* or, perhaps, *Dirty*. \"Rain on Tin\" is a gorgeous, dry mix of guitars weaving without a need to break down into chaos. Lee Ranaldo\'s \"Karen Revisited\" has a nearly nostalgic tone before turning into a space jam. \"The Empty Page\" sounds like an indie-rock pop song from the early \'90s. \"Plastic Sun\" and \"Sympathy for the Strawberry\" lead with Kim Gordon on vocals, with the nine-minute \"Strawberry\" best representing SY\'s signature style and sound. 

9.0 / 10

Meet Jeremy. Jeremy likes Sonic Youth. His favorite album by the Youth is Goodbye 20th Century, their self-released cover album ...

Check out our album review of Artist's Murray Street on Rolling Stone.com.

Virtually every album Sonic Youth has released since the underrated Goo has been hailed as a return to form.

<p>In this week's pop: INC manage to make anti-globalisation sound fun, Sonic Youth remember how to write a tune and Lee Hazlewood gets covered in style. Plus the rest of the week's releases.</p>