Right beside Kim Deal, Sonic Youth's bassist Kim Gordon has also held a lofty spot in my hierarchy of women rockers. Being a Sonic Youth fan has always been a challenge. They've always stayed true to their -ndie-inclinations and along with some of the greatest music ever made, they're also guilty of recording a fair amount of stuff that borders on the unlistenable. With the exception of their near-perfect 88 release Daydream Nation, SY records have always been a hit and miss affair.
Murray Street is definitely their most consistently compelling release for years, and finds them trading in their punkier edge for more of a laid-back approach with a surprising amount of definable verse/chorus structure. Several of the tunes veer off into space jam territory--think Grateful Dead meets Velvet Underground, which makes it a record well suited for drifting away with a set of headphones.
Thurston Moore handles the majority of the vocal duties and it's Kim Gordon's songs that, though tempered, recall the patented sound of the SY you may be more used to. I don't mean to suggest that this record isn't without it's share of experimental dissonance, but the addition of Jim O' Rourke on guitar and keyboards has richened their sound, and Murray Street holds out the promise of even greater Sonic avenues to be explored.