Albums by this artist

This is what we've come to expect from Sonic Youth, elder statesmen (and stateswoman) of alternative rock, surely the best noise-pop band in history.

A Thousand Leaves dabbles in all the crucial aspects of the Sonic Youth every self-respecting modern rock fan should love, while expanding the band's range ever-so-slightly with innovative moods, textures and song forms. It's not the most adventurous record the band's ever put out, but its tone and beauty are an undeniable force of their own.

The album opens with a strange, creaky creation called "Contre Le Sexisme" on which bassist Kim Gordon seems to be lost in a wood somewhere, calling "Oh, Alice, come back / it's just a kitten / it's just..a..kittennnn...!" The song's title could be construed as describing the roles Sonic Youth's three vocalists will take over the course of A Thousand Leaves, because -- contrary to traditional sexist male-female roles -- Gordon is the only one who really lets loose, shouting and posturing on tracks like "Female Mechanic Now On Duty" and "The Ineffable Me."

Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, on the other hand, front reserved tunes like "Sunday" and "Wildflower Soul," which reveal glorious exhalations of sound, but mostly feature plaintive melodies and whispery vocals. Gordon's hyperkinetic ranting (as in "The smell is just the best! / I'll transform even your breast! / you are my new weekend guest!!" from "French Tickler") keeps the listener alert, spicing up the muted landscape.

Ranaldo's first lead vocal on the album, "Hoarfrost," paints a sensory vista of a walk through a forest in late Autumn. The music slowly builds, eighth-notes twirling and falling like brown leaves onto the moist woodland floor. "'We'll know where / when we get there,' / you said," Ranaldo repeats, in the midst of describing the journey: "I put my foot deep in the tracks that you make," "We turned into a frozen meadow / the wind the only sound." The band shows great restraint behind him, with Steve Shelley tapping lightly on cymbals and everyone contributing to the mood. It's as good an example as any of Sonic Youth's musical range and ability to conjure vivid imagery with their collective playing.

The album's centerpiece is the 11-minute "Hits Of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)," a meandering, introspective opus that travels from synchronized arpeggios to dripping improvisational sections to Moore's deliberate, cooing vocals. The lyrics are simultaneously profound and inane, a Ginsberg-esque description of the vibrant colors surrounding an LSD trip: "Blue is bashful / green is Michael / yellow girls are running backward," Moore intones. It all definitely seems inspired by "the six hits of sunshine...the hits of goldmine," and this strange psychedelic trip with Sonic Youth makes a fitting eulogy for the late poet.

Leaves shows a Sonic Youth that has held up remarkably well over 17 years. The album's motifs and moods prove the band is still interested in exploring its widely varied possibilities in the rock/pop world, even after releasing three highly experimental noise EPs during the previous year. Today's rock world would not be what it is without Sonic Youth, and to the joy of us listeners, the band continues to expand its legacy.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.