Sonic Youth: Last News

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley reunited on stage together in New York this week – see footage below.On Friday (December 6), the three members of the classic lineup of the band joined together at The Stone venue in Greenwich Village, with drummer Shelley a special guest of guitarists Moore and Ranaldo.The intimate show was comprised, as explained by some of those in attendance, of “an hour of improvised instrumental noise”. See fan-captured footage of the show below.Rare convergence last night at The Stone with Thurston Moore/Steve Shelley/Lee Ranaldo zoning an hour, great set pic.twitter.com/IrrbjRp9TZ— Brian Turner (@btrnr) December 7, 2024just saw thurston moore, lee ranaldo, and steve shelley play an hour of improvised instrumental noise, which for a SY fan like me is sort of like seeing 3/4 of the beatles jam.

Kim Deal and Kim Gordon teamed up to perform Sonic Youth‘s ‘Little Trouble Girl’. Check it out below.The moment, which marked their first time ever performing live together, took place on the new Netflix talk show Everybody’s Live, hosted by John Mulaney.Gordon was the first to perform, singing her song ‘Bye Bye’ taken from her 2024 solo album ‘The Collective‘.

Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore and Napalm Death are reportedly teaming up for a Ramones cover – find out more below.The collaboration – which has reportedly already been recorded – will be part of Magnetic Eye Records’ upcoming ‘Ramones Redux’ and ‘Best Of Ramones Redux’ compilation tribute albums that are due for release sometime in “early June”.The ‘Ramones Redux’ will see select acts cover the entirely of the band’s iconic 1976 self-titled album, while ‘Best Of Ramones Redux’ will be a tribute compilation of the band’s best career-spanning hits.While exact release dates and tracklists for the tribute albums have yet to be revealed, pre-orders are now available via a Magnetic Eye Records kickstarter campaign – check it out here.One song will see Moore and American grindcore legends Napalm Death unite to cover a Ramones classic, while other acts named to be involved in the albums include Bauhaus‘ David J, Swans‘ Paul Wallfisch, ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Venamoris, Kayo Dot and Emperor’s Ihsahn, GWAR‘s Blöthar The Berserker and Arthur Brown and more.A post shared by MAGNETIC EYE RECORDS (@magneticeyerecords)The two tribute albums are being produced by Grammy-winning producer Marc Urselli, who said of the project: “The Ramones weren’t just a band, they were a sonic revolution that challenged the established norms of popular music. Decades after their inception, the effect of their work echoes through the chords of new generations.

Sonic Youth have announced that a rare live recording from 1987 is being released in 2025 – find out more below.Yesterday (November 21), the band took to social media to announce ‘Hold That Tiger’, a rare live recording from their October 1987 gig at Chicago’s is getting an official release after first being issued as a semi-bootleg way back when.‘Hold That Tiger’ is due for release on February 7, 2025 via Superior Viaduct. It is available for pre-order now, and will be available CD and 2x LP versions in black and clear variations.The live recording will also include an introduction from the late Steve Albini, who introduced the band onstage before their performance.

Courtney Love, Thurston Moore, My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe and Portishead’s Adrian Utley have been working on a project together at Konk Studios in London, along with PJ Harvey collaborator Rob Ellis.It looks as though they’re working on a Marianne Faithfull covers project, per an Instagram post Googe shared on Tuesday (September 10).In the post, Googe wrote, “I spent a day in the Kinks‘ studio, covering Marianne Faithfull songs,” alongside a range of photos from the studio.The producer Ben Christophers made a post, too, in which he called the meeting “an amazing experience in the merging of music and film.. Don’t want to say much more but you’ll find out soon enough.”A post shared by Deb Googe (@googoogiegoo)While we don’t know any more details about the project at this stage, the album ‘The Faithfull: A Tribute To Marianne Faithfull‘ was released last December, featuring covers of 19 songs originally performed by the singer-songwriter between 1964 and 2004.

Kim Gordon has said she’s “not really a fan of Taylor Swift“.The Sonic Youth singer and bassist released her solo album ‘The Collective‘ in March this year, and is due to perform at Volume Festival at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on July 18 and 19.Speaking to The Guardian in a new interview, Gordon was asked her most controversial pop culture opinion.“I don’t know if it’s controversial but I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift,” she replied. “I couldn’t tell you what her music sounded like, actually.” Instead, Gordon said she preferred “pop icons” like Billie Eilish.Gordon recently released her disorienting new single ‘ECRP’ in June to coincide with the start of her European tour for ‘The Collective’.In a four-star review of ‘The Collective’, NME wrote: “Here the 70-year-old balances her less than commercial sensibilities with crunchily on-trend production and relatable lyrics about rotten capitalism and fragile masculinity – if these sound like themes she explored during Sonic Youth’s ‘90s heyday, it only goes to show how little has changed.“Not all of these experiments quite come off: the industrial clang of ‘It’s Dark Inside’, on which she drawls, “they don’t teach clit in school / Like do Lit”, veers close to ‘Yeezus’ parody.

Thurston Moore has announced a new album, ‘Flow Critical Lucidity’ – find out more below.Yesterday (June 20), the Sonic Youth co-founder, guitarist and vocalist, revealed ‘Flow Critical Lucidity’. The album will be his ninth solo offering, and is due for release on September 20 via Daydream Library Series. Pre-orders and pre-saving for the album are available now.The album has been previewed by a new single, ‘San Limites’, which features as Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier.

Kim Gordon has shared the intense new single ‘Psychedelic Orgasm’ and announced tour dates across the UK, Europe and North America. Listen to the track and find ticket details below.The single is the latest to be shared from the former Sonic Youth guitarist, taken from her upcoming solo album ‘The Collective’.

Kim Gordon has announced her second solo LP ‘The Collective’ and has shared its lead single ‘Bye Bye’.The track sees Gordon hauntingly recite a packing list alongside a dark, trap beat and squealing synths. It is the first song to be shared from ‘The Collective’ which is set for release on March 8 via Matador and is available to pre-order and pre-save here.Directed by filmmaker Clara Balzary – the daughter of Flea – the track’s accompanying video stars Gordon and Thurston Moore‘s daughter Coco Gordon Moore and sees her sneak out of a house and run away to a motel where she changes her clothes, cuts her hair and dances around. Kim shortly shows up to pick her up in a truck from which Coco jumps out and runs away.‘The Collective’ follows Gordon’s 2019 solo debut ‘No Home Record‘.

Raw Power to the hairstylist as a template. “An hour later I walked out with an embarrassing feathered shag, like the kind John Travolta had in Saturday Night Fever a few years later,” he writes.

Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore has discussed his recent struggles with atrial fibrillation that led him to cancel his US book tour for the memoir Sonic Life.Speaking to The New York Times, Moore shared that he has been living with the condition for several years now, but the condition became “slightly concerning” this year. “I was finding myself at times to be so weak I could hardly walk around the neighborhood,” he said.Though Moore was initially convinced he “could just power through it” for his book tour, his doctor ordered him not to fly.

Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore has shared his memories of the days that followed Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain taking his own life.In an extract published in The Guardian from his autobiography Sonic Life, which is released this week (October 24), Moore recalls receiving a phone call from Sonic Youth’s booking agent Bob Lawton that confirmed the news on the morning of April 8, 1994.“It hadn’t been looking good in the preceding months: the overdose in Rome, reports of Kurt missing in action around Seattle, the intervention by his friends and family,” Moore wrote. “Reportedly Kurt had taken his life three days ago, before being discovered by a worker installing security lighting at his Lake Washington house.”“Kim [Gordon, Moore’s then-wife and Sonic Youth bandmate] was at a photoshoot for the X-girl clothing line that she had co-founded with her friend Daisy von Furth at Daisy’s apartment farther downtown,” he continued.

Thurston Moore has announced the unfortunate cancellation of his US book tour due to a “debilitating” health condition.The Sonic Youth guitarist and vocalist took to social media last night (October 10) to announce the cancellation, which was meant to promote his upcoming memoir, Sonic Life. The book tour was scheduled to run from October 24 in Jersey City until November 4 in San Francisco.Moore wrote: “It utterly bereaves me to pass on the news that I have been advised by my medical team here in the UK to cancel my upcoming USA book tour.

The experimental music community mourns its losses intensely. Just this past weekend, an army of deep listeners rushed to pay tribute to one of their own — Stars of the Lid co-founder Brian McBride, who died on Sunday, August 27 at the age of 53.

Sonic Youth have announced the release of a live album from their final North American show that took place in New York City.The album titled ‘Live in Brooklyn 2011’ captures Sonic Youth’s full 17-song set from their August 2011 show at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn. The New York natives played in front of the Manhattan skyline after Kurt Vile and Wild Flag served as openers.Sonic Youth’s final hometown show was released during COVID lockdown on Bandcamp but is now getting a proper release as a remixed and remastered live album.“The stage was facing the East River from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, waterfront, and I recall the sun going down in the west during our set,” Lee Ranaldo, the band’s guitarist, said of the concert in a statement.

Thurston Moore has announced details for his upcoming memoir Sonic Life.The former Sonic Youth frontman had previously told NME in 2020 during an interview that he had written a book during the pandemic. He described it as a retelling of his “history of coming to New York City as a teenager and finding my footing as a musician”.

Bikini Kill’s guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle and drum tech Vice Cooler (who also drums in The Raincoats) have announced a benefit compilation featuring contributions from The Linda Lindas and Kim Gordon.Bikini Kill vocalist Kathleen Hanna features on the album’s first single ‘Mirrorball’, which can be heard below.READ MORE: The 50 best music documentaries of all time‘Land Trust: Benefit for NEFOC’ is released June 3 on Bandcamp and all funds raised will go towards Northeast Farmers Of Colour Land Trust.“This is the very, very rare benefit album where no one just sent in some crappy B-side,” Hanna said in a statement. “All the songs are fucking great and the performers really put their hearts into it.

Sonic Youth have shared a live album on their Bandcamp, featuring a set recorded in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 14, 1989.Following the release of ‘Daydream Nation’ in 1988, the band performed for the first time in Kyiv when it was still part of the USSR, with other dates in Vilnius, Leningrad and Moscow.According to a statement on their Bandcamp, “This revisiting of the April 14 set honors that nation’s spirit…and timestamps a moment where new ears got transported for a first time.”All proceeds from the live album will benefit World Central Kitchen, which has been providing meals in liberated Ukrainian cities.One of the attendees of the gig was Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, who said: “That SY Kyiv show was life changing for all musicians that were there… we were already attuned to Nick Cave, Einsturzende Neubauten, S Pistols and Discharge but these were the new vitamins we needed.“I made a decision to experience NY right there. Plus my friends VV were opening so i got in free.

Rip It Up And Start Again documentary has been released.The forthcoming film is based on Simon Reynolds’ 2005 book of the same name, which offered the reader “a big-picture view of the entire post-punk period” between 1978-1984.The doc was directed by Nikolaos Katranis and Russell Craig Richardson and features new interviews with the likes of Jah Wobble (PiL), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Ana da Silva (Raincoats) and Mark Stewart (The Pop Group). Rip It Up… will also include rare live performance footage.

Sonic Youth have announced ‘In/Out/In’, a compilation of rare tracks recorded throughout the 2000s.Due out March 11 via Three Lobed Recordings, the five-track effort bundles two songs recorded at the band’s old stomping grounds – the Echo Canyon studio in New York, which they operated before relocating to Hoboken – in 2000, one tracked during a soundcheck in 2010, and two home recordings minted in 2008.To preview the record, Sonic Youth have shared the slow-burning jam ‘In & Out’.

Sonic Youth covering The Stooges at a benefit gig in 1987 – watch it below.The band were the surprise guests at an event supporting Jimmy Johnson and Byron Coley’s experimental music magazine Forced Exposure, taking place at The Rat in Boston.Joined by Dinosaur Jr.‘s J Mascis, Sonic Youth, using equipment borrowed from Dredd Foole and the Din, covered Crime’s ‘Hot Wire My Heart’ with Thurston Moore on lead vocals, followed by The Stooges’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ sung by Kim Gordon.You can see the footage below:A few weeks after their performance in Boston, Sonic Youth performed another cover of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, this time with Stooges frontman Iggy Pop himself at London’s Town And Country – watch it here.Last year, an unearthed cover of