Album Review

** 1/2 Sonic Youth, “A Thousand Leaves,” DGC. This most influential post-punk outfit has been churning out genre-exploding guitar skronk since the early ‘80s. “Daydream Nation,” its 1988 masterpiece, inspired a whole crop of ‘90s bands with its trash-art aesthetic, and the New York group is now a whole genre unto itself.

Lately, that role hasn’t been great for its music. Mostly turning its back on the accessibility of less amazing but still arresting albums such as “Goo,” Sonic Youth has produced a sleepy, droning record that feels like a passionless, less thoughtful shadow of its former self.

There’s a surprisingly tossed-off feel to this experimental, psychedelic record, whose powerful moments are left washed-out and wasted. After the staticky, industrial splendor of the opening song, “Contre Le Sexisme,” the sweet pop of “Sunday” feels a little hollow, even if the tune has an undeniable chugging sweetness. “Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg),” a dreamy, slowly percolating song, wanders into nothingness after 11 long minutes.

Even mediocre Sonic Youth is nothing to sniff at, but “A Thousand Leaves” simply doesn’t add anything of real interest to the landmark group’s impressive canon.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).