SONIC YOUTH FREE SHOW IN NEW YORK JULY 4 - LIVE BROADCAST
Sonic Youth will perform in Battery Park in Manhattan on July 4 and the concert is free to attend. A very rare appearance by The Feelies will open the show. The show is part of the River to River Festival and also a celebration of WFMU's 50 years on the air. The concert will be broadcast live on WFMU and streamed on their website. In the off chance that more tickets become available to this show, subscribers to these email alerts will be the first to know.
SONIC YOUTH ETC.: SENSATIONAL FIX
The museum exhibition SONIC YOUTH ETC. : SENSATIONAL FIX focuses on the multidisciplinary activities of Sonic Youth since the band's formation in 1981. It features the band's collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, designers and musicians, as well as a choice of other works selected by the band. Through the multidisciplinary output of Sonic Youth and related works by other artists in the exhibition, an alternative history of contemporary culture is being uncovered in which the division between 'high art' and 'low art' is being called into question, while issues are explored such as teenage rebellion, adolescent wanderlust, gender, fame, fashion, sexuality, and religion.The exhibition is initiated and curated by freelance curator Roland Groenenboom in collaboration with the band and will be presented at LiFE , St. Nazaire, France (from 17 June to 7 September 2008), MUSEION , Bolzano, Italy (from 10 October 2008 to 4 January 2009), and Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Germany (31 January to 26 April 2009). Further venues are currently in discussion, in Europe, the US and Asia. A complete description of the show can be found here .
SYR 8 'ANDRE SIDER AF SONIC YOUTH'
This installment of Sonic Youth's series of experimental + mostly instrumental releases will be available July 28 2008 in a CD-only edition self-released on the band's own SYR label.
This disk presents the complete 'Other Sides of Sonic Youth' improvised live performance from the 2005 Roskilde Festival in Denmark, featuring Sonic Youth (with Jim O'Rourke) and guests Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, and Japanese sound artist Masami Akita (aka Merzbow). The single piece performed was a structured improvisation which for 60 minutes added and subtracted musicians one by one until only Masami was left onstage. Black Sabbath followed.
HITS ARE FOR SQUARES
Sonic Youth will release 'Hits Are For Squares' on Starbucks Music on June 10th. This exclusive compilation album features Sonic Youth songs chosen by friends of the band from the worlds of music, film and literature. Each contributor also offers a personal testimonial for their own selection from a unique and influential body of work spanning from 1981 to present. Amongst the selectors are Beck, Dave Eggers, Chloe Sevigny, Eddie Vedder, and Gus Van Sant. The compilation also includes an exclusive track from Sonic Youth, 'Slow Revolution' recorded with producer John Agnello.The album will be sold exclusively at select Starbucks stores in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia and DC. Available online here .
FREE KITTEN REUNITE - NEW ALBUM OUT NOW
Free Kitten, the band consisting of Kim, Julie Cafritz, and Yoshimi have recorded a brand new studio album which is available now on Ecstatic Peace! Records. Tracks: Erected Girl, Surf's Up, Seasick, Free Kitten on the Mountain, Roughshod, Help Me, The Poet, Billboard, Bananas, Monster Eye, Sway. More info .
NO WAVE: POST-PUNK. UNDERGROUND. NEW YORK.
A new hard cover book by Thurston and Byron Coley Abrams titled "No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980" will be published by Abrams Image Books on June 1st 2008. This is the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the New York underground of 1976 to 1980. This in depth look at punk rock, new wave, experimental music, and the avant-garde art movement of the 70s and 80s focuses on the true architects of No Wave from James Chance to Lydia Lunch to Glenn Branca, as well as the luminaries that intersected the scene, such as David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Richard Hell.
Thurston Moore and Byron Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images, most of which have never been published previously, and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews to create an oral history of the movement, providing a never-seen-before exploration and celebration of No Wave.
A reunited Teenage Jesus and the Jerks will perform one night only Friday June 13 at the Knitting Factory to celebrate this event. A reading/signing/release party with Thurston and Byron will take place at Other Music in NYC Saturday, June 14 at 6:30pm.
GOODBYE PSYCHIC EMPTY CONFUSION
Seems like May 2008 is Sonic Book month, so get yer library cards out, kids! Two new SY biographies have now come to fruition:'Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth' by David Browne will be published by Da Capo Press on May 26. Sonic Youth cooperated with the author on this one.'Psychic Confusion: The Sonic Youth Story' by Stevie Chick is available now from Omnibus Press in the UK. No band cooperation on this one, instead it pulls from sources far, wide and deep.Both offer their respective author's takes on the SY story from 1981 to the present.
In addition, 'The Empty Page: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth', a short story collection by a wide range of authors taking their cues from Sonic Youth song titles, will be published by Serpent's Tail in the UK on May 29, with a US release later in the year on Harper Collins. This book was edited by Peter Wild, with an introduction by Lee.
Friday July 11th David Browne and Thurston will read from and discuss their respective new books at McNally Robinson on Prince st. in NYC
SYR 7 AVAILABLE NOW
The seventh installment of Sonic Youth's series of experimental + sometimes instrumental releases will be available on April 22, 2008 in a vinyl-only edition self-released on the band's own SYR label. The record is available now for presale at the sonicyouth.com store .
The A-side, 'J'accuse Ted Hughes' is a previously unreleased 22 minute drone-piece recorded by Sonic Youth at the All Tomorrows Parties Festival in the UK April 2001. At ATP the band previewed instrumental and early versions of songs from the then soon-to-be recorded 'NYC Ghosts and Flowers' and performed this premiere + exclusive performance of 'J'accuse Ted Hughes'.
The B-side, 'Agnes B Musique' is a soundtrack-style piece recorded at the band's own Murray Street Studio in 2001 for a never-to-be realized collaboration with French clothing designer Agnes B. This 18 minute long musical piece was recorded with a 5-piece version of SY, the 4 members of SY being joined by Jim O'Rourke who also mixed 'Agnes B Musique'.
SONIC YOUTH IN BELGIUM, NORWAY AND SWEDEN - PLUS SECOND FRANCE SHOW ADDED
Sonic Youth will perform August 7 and 8 at the Oya Festival in Oslo and the Way Out West festival in Goteborg. Look out for an SY manifestation at the Les Escales Festival in Saint-Nazaire, France on August 9. The Les Escales appearance is in conjuction with the nearby "Sensational Fix" show at LiFE. August 5 is a Sonic Youth concert at the Lokerse Feesten in Lekeren, Belgium. And just announced is an appearance at the Les Mediterraneennes Festival on August 4 in Leucate (next to Perpignan), France. More info .
Follow along with SY tours via this map:
SOLO JAMMAGE
Text of Light (Ranaldo/Licht) will perform at the Knitting Factory June 28. Thurston will perform with Gene Moore July 5 at Club Rehab in Manhattan. Lee plus Bang on a Can are at Mass MoCA July 19. Details at the calendar page.
THURSTON MOORE - BUILT FOR LOVIN'Thurston has a Limited Edition LP available on info . Preorder the record now from Lost Treasures of the Underworld . Description: " A scabrous grab bag of weirdo recordings assembled by Thurston Moore: hardcore basement slam jammer with Mark Ibold (bass) and John Moloney of Sunburned (drums), a rough demo cue made for an HSBC TV ad, a few noise b-sides from various lost releases and a couple of long psycho-bead kosmi-killersz. And some subterranean acoustic luv — all wrapped up n a pic disc with art by T Moore extracted from his Street Mouth series of collages......."
PSYCHIC HEARTS AT NEW YORK ATPThurston and band will perform the entire 'Psychic Hearts' album at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, NY September 19. Details .
MASTER-DIK - FIRST TIME ON CD
Sonic Youth's 'Master-Dik' EP has been released on CD for the first time and is available exclusively through sonicyouth.com. Originally released between Sister and Daydream Nation this re-mastered EP includes the title track, a cover of the Ramones 'Beat on the Brat' and a sound collage of psycho-distorto-soundscapes recorded by the band while on tour and at Wharton's Palace of Confusion.Track List: 1. Master-Dik 2. Beat on the Brat 3. Under the Influence of The Jesus and Mary Chain/Ticket To Ride/Master-Dik(version)/Introducing the Stars 4. Ringo/He's On Fire/Florida Oil Drums/Westminster Chimes 5.Chinese Jam 6. Vibrato/Guitar Lick/Funky Fresh 7.Our Backyard 8. Traffik. Pick up yr copy exclusively at the sy.store .
CASSETTES, SINGLES, COMPILATIONS, TRIBUTES: PRODUCT AVALANCHE
Lee and Thurston have both contributed to the latest releases in Table of the Elements' Guitar Series, and you can read more about it here . Thurston, Lee, and Kim all are players on a new 3CD box set of Rhys Chatham's 'Guitar Trio'. Thurston will contribute to The Bored Fortress split 7" club. The subscribers to this series will receive 2 split 7 inches every other month. Other artists contributing include Vampire Can't, Charalambides and Magik Markers. Info . The Leslie Keffer live with Kim Gordon + Thurston Moore cassette is available now from Ecstatic Peace . Side K is Leslie and Kim duo live at The Flywheel in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Side T is Leslie and Thurston duo live at Bourbon Street in Columbus, Ohio. A new Bark Haze cassette featuring Thurston and Andrew "Gown" Mcgregor entitled 'Basement Psychosis" available now on Ecstatic Peace! w/ artwork by Dennis Tyfus. Thurston also makes a DVD appearance in the new The Thing box set . In related news, the second LP by the Original Silence, entitled 'The Second Original Silence' is available as of August 11 on LP,CD, and DL. The Original Silence is Thurston, Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustafsson, Terrie Ex of the Ex, Paal Nilssen-Love of the Thing, and Zu's Massimo Puppilo. And finally Text of Light, featuring Lee and this time Steve as well have contributed to a compilation entitled Chamber Music which sets poems by James Joyce to music.
THURSTON 'TREES OUTSIDE THE ACADEMY'
'Trees Outside the Academy', Thurston's first record of solo songs since 1995's 'Psychic Hearts', is now available. The album was recorded by Rather Ripped producer John Agnello at J Mascis' Amherst studio and Mascis guests on the album along with Christina Carter, Andrew Macgregor, John Moloney, and Leslie Keffer. The album also features Samara Lubleski on violin and Steve Shelley on drums. A vinyl LP picture disc is available from Cargo UK and Ecstatic Peace! More info at ecstaticpeace.com .
NO FUN
No Fun Productions announces the release of Nothing Make Any Sense, the new CD featuring a live recording of Nels Cline/Carlos Giffoni/Alan Licht/Lee Ranaldo. Also from No Fun comes the 'deep basement cosmosis' of Thurston's 'Sensitive/Lethal'. On CD. Northampton Wools: Thurston/Bill Nace (plus this time Nancy Garcia) will also take part in No Fun Fest 2008 which will take place at the Knitting Factory NYC in May 2008. Lee has also been added to the No Fun Fest line up. Lee will perform his "Blind Piece 2" on May 18th with drummers Pete Nolan (Magik Markers) and Tom Surgal (White Out).
ARTWORK UPDATE
Both Lee and Leah Singer will participate in 'Possibilities of Action. The Life of the Score', a show on the visual possibililties of modern scores both musical and otherwise. Lee will have 2 score-works in this show, including his 7 sheet "Madonna Generation" score, written for computer controlled guitar. Presented at MACBA , Barcelona. Show runs June 16-October 5, 2008.
KIM IN THE MOVIES
After her appearance in Todd Haynes 'I'm Not There', Kim will soon return to your DVD player in a new Oliver Assayas ('Demonlover', 'Irma Vep') film titled 'Boarding Gate.' The film which features Asia Argento debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and is now out on DVD . Kim will also be in a new short film directed by Ali Raza which focuses on a short story created by Miranda July.
NUMBER 79
The Sonic Youth song 'Silver Rocket' from Daydream Nation is the 79th greatest guitar song of all time, according to Rolling Stone magazine; coming in behind Sleater-Kinney's 'Dig Me Out' at 44 and the Beatles 'I Saw Her Standing There' at 45.
BOOKS PART 2
It's So You: Kim is amongst the 35 women contributors to the book It's So You which deals with personal expression through fashion and style. Kim's article "wonders if getting caught without underwear is the ultimate Hollywood celebutante fashion statement". Thurston meanwhile has edited a book called 'Punk House' with photos by Abby Banks. Over 300 images of fifty houses in twenty-five cities in the USA to enlighten the uninformed on the phenomenon. Some images from the book are in the new Arthur Magazine , where you can also find the latest Bull Tongue column by Thurston and Byron Coley.
LOST IN THE ARCHIVES - NEW MIXTAPE Vol. 6 + VIDS
Mix Tape 6 is up. Just click on the cassette on the front page and listen as it streams. We've included a couple of songs from the new Deluxe Edition of Daydream Nation, songs that might be considered outtakes from Daydream Deluxe, one song from Thurston's Trees Ouside the Academy record and a few rarities or oddities that could've wound up on the Destroyed Room LP. Keep checking the Store, MP3 and Video pages for new additions.
BASTILLE DAY BLUES
Berkeley Poet Richard Krech offers this .
NEW LOWER PRICES AT THE SY.COM STORE
Prices have dropped once again at the sonicyouth.com store . Single-disk CD's from Geffen are now $11 and the Deluxe Editions are $25. Certain select t-shirts, CD's, and LP's have new, lower prices. SYR 7 12"'s will soon be avilable for preorder. Also available are new skateboards, summer tour posters and several DVD's. Plus an ever-changing selection of Sonic Youth merchandise.