Sonic Youth are the quintessential New York band, a group of seminal art-rockers who became one of the most unlikely success stories of the 1990s. Named after the location of their studio, Murray Street is described as an 'operetta of place' designed as a soundtrack for post-September 11 grief, but don't let such pretensions put you off - beneath the intellectual trappings this is Thurston Moore and co's most accessible album for some time. Credit is probably due to the avant-rock omnipresence Jim O'Rourke, who's now been promoted to fully-fledged fifth band member and whose pop-savvy influence can be heard throughout. Blending their usual skewed harmonies with a range of dissonant beats, Murray Street is a powerfully charged collection which sometimes strays towards the overwrought but is more often elegant, expansive and gloriously inventive. Still heroes after all these years, then - but next time could we have more than just a measly seven tracks?
