'Were you there? Well this is as close as it gets! Thurston Moore's compelling and spirited account of the streets, the songs, the clothes, the clubs and the contenders! A sensitive and authentic testimony to Moore's life lived through art and music. Beats with the heart of a true artist and mutineer.' Viv Albertine'Downtown scientists rejoice! For Thurston Moore has unearthed the missing links, the sacred texts, the forgotten stories, and the secret maps of the lost golden age. This is history-scuffed, slightly bent, plenty noisy, and indispensable.' Colson WhiteheadA music-obsessed retrospective, beginning with his childhood epiphany of rock 'n' roll in the early 1960s into an infatuation with the subversive world of 1970s punk and no wave blasting forth from New York City - where he eventually runs off to join a band in 1978.

By 1981 Moore would form the legendary and notorious experimental rock group Sonic Youth, who proceeded to record and tour relentlessly for almost 30 years, always progressing, always exploring. Along the way we meet a constellation of artists and musicians who colluded and collided with Sonic Youth including Velvet Underground, Stooges, Patti Smith, Television, Sex Pistols, Clash, Nirvana, Hole, Beastie Boys, Neil Young and a cavalcade of other musical visionaries, as well as figures from the art world - Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Gerhard Richter. Simply put, Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth changed the sound of modern alternative rock music and opened the minds of a generation of artists to new possibilities within the form.

This is essential reading. 'I thoroughly enjoyed Thurston Moore's trip down the gauntlet of memory lane, dodging beer bottles and pools of blood as he balances the demands of art and survival. Plus I'm a sucker for anyone who name-checks Saccharine Trust.

A raw, rollicking document.' Nell Zink

The final U.S. show, a triumphant and blistering bookend to the storied career of one of the most influential bands in rock music, featuring a unique and expansive eighty-five minute set list that spans Sonic Youth’s nearly three decade catalog. Mixed from multitrack by longtime live engineer Aaron Mullan and mastered and cut by Carl Saff.

On August 12, 2011 Sonic Youth played their final US show on an outdoor stage overlooking the East River at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn. Fitting that their storied career would bookend with a panoramic view of New York City where it all began 30 years before, having left in their wake one of one of the most powerfully influential careers in rock music.

Following incredible sets from Kurt Vile and Wild Flag, the band took the stage. As the sun went down over the city, Sonic Youth ripped through a 17 song set that spanned from deep cuts off their first studio album and highlighting many other albums all the way through to their last, like a band with everything to prove. Or as Brooklyn Vegan’s Andrew Sacher said at the time: “While most bands who are thirty years into their career are either fading away or living off of the nostalgia of their older material, Sonic Youth continue to sound and perform as fresh as ever.”

Steve Shelley explains the uniquely career spanning set list of Live in Brooklyn 2011 and how it came to be, as well as the importance of outdoor NYC summer shows in Sonic Youth’s legacy:

“This show was a culmination of a run of really special outdoor summertime shows in New York City for us, starting in ’92 with Summerstage in Central Park when we played with Sun Ra. For the Williamsburg Waterfront show I wrote out the set list to present to the band and it was a lot of material we hadn’t played in a while, a lot of deep cuts, so I wasn’t sure if everybody would feel like doing it. After worrying about which songs the band might say yes or no to, I threw those concerns out the window and I just made a list of songs that I thought would be a great set. We practiced the week of the show at our space in Hoboken and put the set together. First we’d try and make sure we had a guitar in the song’s tuning, then we’d try to remember the arrangement and try and put it together, sometimes re-learning bar by bar. In the end I think the whole song list made it through. Even as early as ’86 and ’87 we stopped playing ‘Death Valley 69’ and ‘Brave Men Run’ with any regularity. We’d just get excited about new material coming into the set and songs would get ‘retired’ and wouldn’t get played again for years. So on this particular night in Brooklyn a lot of those retired songs and deep cuts got dusted off and played for this show. It turned out to be a pretty special event with a really special song list.” The band would go on to fulfill a contracted festival run in South America a few months later but, by then, the group’s center was severed beyond repair and the festival appearances didn’t hold the same kind of weight.

“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. It was a pretty magical, if kinda weird day. Fitting, somehow, that our ‘last show’ should be in New York City, our home and where it all began…” Lee Ranaldo

The Williamsburg Waterfront show would fondly become referred to as ‘The Last Show’ by fans and band alike, equally for its triumphant high energy performance, its unique and expansive set list and locale.

Newly remixed and remastered, Live in Brooklyn 2011 is presented for the first time on 2xLP, 2Xcd, August 18, 2023.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: The legendary Sonic Youth played an historic gig on the Williamsburg Waterfront overlooking the East River on August 12th 2011. It would prove to be their final U.S. show, and this double vinyl and double CD on Silver Current Records perfectly captures this raw and expansive 85 minute set.

Heavy on songs from their early years Sonic Youth powered through these tracks like a band full of teenage energy. The fact that this show was their U.S. swansong after around 30 years together makes this blistering set all the more remarkable.

Kicking off with the hypnotic “Brave Men Run (In My Family)”, before exploding into the sensational noise carnage of “Death Valley ‘69”. Sonic Youth continue to rip through the set with 80s classics; “Kotton Krown”, “Kill Yr. Idols”, “Eric’s Trip” and the awesome “Tom Violence” all dispatched with visceral vigour and punky power.

Interspersed with three tracks from their last album ‘The Eternal’ along with a brilliantly brutal “Sugar Kane” they finish off proceedings with an apocalyptic version of “Inhuman” complete with feedback and wailing guitars and then it’s all over with the line “… with the power of love anythin’ is possible”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Brave Men Run (In My Family)
2. Death Valley ’69
3. Kotton Krown
4. Kill Yr Idols
5. Eric’s Trip
6. Sacred Trickster
7. Calming The Snake
8. Starfield Rose
9. I Love Her All The Time
10. Ghost Bitch
11. Tom Violence
12. What We Know
13. Drunken Butterfly
14. Flower
15. Sugar Kane
16. Psychic Hearts
17. Inhuman

Choice collection of B-sides, rarities, alternate takes and previously unreleased tracks dating back to 1993.

New York’s most influential avant-garde rock band, Sonic Youth, follow up their critically acclaimed 2006 release, Rather Ripped, with a special set sure to please fans and completists. The Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities, a collection of near-hidden Sonic Youth gems hand-picked by the band, brings together songs from throughout the band’s tenure at Geffen Records. Focusing on tracks previously available only on limited-edition compilations, vinyl-only releases, or as B-Sides or international singles, The Destroyed Room also features material that has never before been released.

This deluxe, double-vinyl LP edition is being released on the band’s own Goofin Records imprint with a CD version available via Geffen

TRACK LISTING

1. Fire Engine Dream - (2003) Outtake From Sonic Nurse
2. Fauxhemians - (2001) From Noho Furniture Sessions; Originally Released On All TomorrowÕs Parties 1.1
3. Is It My Body? - (1993) B-Side From The Sugar Kane Single
4. Razor Blade - (1994) B-Side From The Self-Obsessed And Sexxee Single
5. Blink - (1999) From The Pola X Soundtrack
6. Campfire - (2000) From The At Home With The Groovebox Compilation
7. Loop Cat - (2003) From The You Can Never Go Fast Enough Compilation
8. KimÕs Chords - (2003) Japanese Bonus Track From Sonic Nurse
9. Beautiful Plateau - (2003) Japanese Bonus Track From Sonic Nurse
10. 3 Sectional Love Seat - (2001) From Noho Furniture Sessions
11. Queen Anne Chair - (2001) From Noho Furniture Sessions
12. The Diamond Sea (1995) LP Version, Alternate Ending. 

Originally slated to be a 7” to follow up their self-titled debut, Sonic Youth’s Confusion Is Sex blossomed into the band’s first album: a brain-bludgeoning, completely fried endeavor of dissonance and disarray, a perfect soundtrack for running from a chain-wielding gang near the SIN Club. This was the sound of 1983 New York City, nothing like the jangly roots of college radio rock starting to formulate in Athens, Georgia. It sounded like no one else on Earth, for that matter. The raw, Wharton Tiers 8-track production is dark, the Kim Gordon- scrawled cover figure art of Thurston Moore is dark, Lee Ranaldo’s back cover photo-collage and Catherine Ceresole’s crumpled-xeroxed images that adorned the inside are dark.

It’s an album that moves Sonic Youth forward from their first EP almost by devolving backwards into true ugly, lo-fi primitivity. The bareboned arsenal of junkpile guitars and implementation of alternate tunings was growing, and so were the songs that matched the individual attributes of each instrument: certain ones groan and growl a specific way that the band started to realize itself could become the compositional germ of a song. Herein is the threshold of a new explosion of the band’s creativity, replacing the comparatively cleaner buzz of the Sonic Youth EP with guitars that spew fractured, uglier chunks of sound everywhere, held down by menacing minimalist basslines (actually played by Thurston on half of this LP, and for the only time ever on “Protect Me You,” Lee) and the brutal-yet-controlled metronomic drumming of Jim Sclavunos, augmented with replacement drummer Bob Bert’s notable bashing on “Making the Nature Scene” and grotty no-fi live rendition of “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Hearing the crashedwindow intro of “Inhuman” and subway-brake screech of “The World Looks Red,” you can attest that while Sonic Youth’s guitars are not quite yet being utilized in the totally controlled, lyrical fashion seen later on albums like Evol, Daydream Nation et al., they were well aware of the colors and tonalities that were unfolding and the possibilities presented. Also, they were getting a grasp on adding colors to the chaos with tempered, simmering moments like Gordon’s “Shaking Hell” and Renaldo’s chimy, home-taped “Lee is Free.” “Making the Nature Scene” and “The World Looks Red” even toss in glints of hip-hop vocal approach way ahead of its time, albeit through a blender. While its confrontationalism might have put off some critics, time has rewarded Confusion with a truly distinctive air and atmosphere in the Sonic discography, enough to have Moore declare it his fave along with the band’s swan-song The Eternal

TRACK LISTING

1 (She’s In A) Bad Mood
2 Protect Me You
3 Freezer Burn / I Wanna Be Your Dog
4 Shaking Hell
5 Inhuman
6 The World Looks Red
7 Confusion Is Next
8 Making The Nature Scene
9. Lee Is Free

In Spring 2010, Sonic Youth gathered at their Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, to watch the rushes of a new film, Simon Werner a Disparu, by French director Fabrice Gobert. They spent the following few weeks recording music which was then shaped as needed to fit the various scenes. For this release, rather than present the small clips of music as used in the film, the band went back in the autumn to the original tapes and reorganized the various pieces for this original soundtrack release, sometimes montaging multiple tracks together, other times extending cues into new sonic realms. The film premiered at Cannes in May 2010 and opened nationwide in France. Original soundtrack inspired by French director Fabrice Gobert’s latest film. Vinyl which is released in March includes digital download coupon with bonus track

TRACK LISTING

1 Thème De Jérémie (4:27)
2 Alice Et Simon (2:34)
3 Les Anges Au Piano (3:27)
4 Chez Yves (Alice Et Clara) (3:29)
5 Jean-Baptiste à La Fenêtre (3:01)
6 Thème De Laetitia (5:58)
7 Escapades (3:00)
8 La Cabane Au Zodiac (2:04)
9 Dans Les Bois / M. Rabier (5:46)
10 Jean-Baptiste Et Laetitia (1:13)
11 Thème De Simon (3:48)
12 Au Café (5:24)

Album formatted collection of underheard Sonic rarities - from the legendary band's 2000-2010 era - most for the first time on any physical format.

TRACK LISTING

1. Basement Contender
2. In & Out
3. Machine
4. Social Static
5. Out & In

Forming in New York in 1981, "Goo" was Sonic Youth's major label debut when it was released by DGC in June 1990. An important stepping stone in bringing underground 'alternative' rock to mainstream America, the band were also instrumental in Nirvana signing to Geffen the following year. Probably best known for the single "Kool Thing", sung by bass guitarist Kim Gordon, a 4 star review in Rolling Stone hailed the record as 'a brilliant, extended essay in refined primitivism.' The album's other key tracks are "Tunic (Song For Karen)", a tribute to the late Karen Carpenter, and "Dirty Boots".

TRACK LISTING

1. Dirty Boots
2. Tunic (Song For Karen)
3. Mary-Christ
4. Kool Thing
5. Mote
6. My Friend Goo
7. Disappear
8. Mildred Pierce
9. Cinderella's Big Score
10. Scooter + Jinx
11. Titanium Exposé

Sonic Youth's eleventh album "Washing Machine" is the first record to almost exclusively feature Kim on guitar rather than bass, and contains some of their lengthiest material since "Goo" and "Daydream Nation", including the epic "Diamond Sea" which drifts onward for an unprecedented 20 minutes, still the longest track on any SY album (excluding the SYR releases).

TRACK LISTING

1. Becuz
2. Junkie's Promise
3. Saucer-Like
4. Washing Machine
5. Unwind
6. Little Trouble Girl
7. No Queen Blues
8. Panty Lies
9. Skip Tracer
10. The Diamond Sea

Issued two years after "Goo", "Dirty" reflects touring with Mudhoney and Nirvana, whose "Nevermind" producer Butch Vig was employed for "Dirty".

Probably Sonic Youth's rockiest album this still sounds as heavy, intense and utterly fantastic as it did when it was released. ESSENTIAL!!!

TRACK LISTING

1. 100%
2. Swimsuit Issue
3. Theresa's Sound-World
4. Drunken Butterfly
5. Shoot
6. Wish Fulfillment
7. Sugar Kane
8. Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit
9. Youth Against Fascism
10. Nic Fit
11. On The Strip
12. Chapel Hill
13. JC
14. Purr
15. Creme Brulee

Sonic Youth’s second full-length LP Bad Moon Rising was originally released on Homestead and Blast First in 1985. The album is a fascinating examination of “the junction where hippie idealism [meets] the cold hard world,” says guitarist Lee Ranaldo, “where Woodstock [meets] Altamont—Death Valley, Charles Manson, Brian Wilson, musicians, murderers, heroes and villains.” Its original eight-song tapestry of droning guitar feedback, distant clattering percussion, and sullen vocals, all held together with interstitial noise loops and shadowy haze, ambles through a long, dark night before the feverish “Death Valley ’69,” driven by runaway guitar riffs and a frantic Thurston Moore / Lydia Lunch vocal duet, pounds the capstone into place.

Sonic Youth’s big leap forward from Confusion Is Sex and Kill Yr Idols “reflects the spirit of the time,” to quote All Music Guide. Bad Moon Rising views “American gothic through the glassy eyes of wilful moonlit paranoia.” Back in print on Goofin’ Records, this reissue includes bonus tracks “Flower” and “Halloween,” both from a 12”single of the same era. The sound collage morsels “Satan Is Boring” and “Echo Canyon” are your cue to begin moving toward the exit and get out while you can. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Brave Men Run (In My Family)
3. Society Is A Hole
4. I Love Her All The Time
5. Ghost Bitch
6. I’m Insane
7. Justice Is Might
8. Death Valley ’69

Bonus Tracks On CD / Digital Download:
9. Satan Is Boring
10. Flower
11. Halloween
12. Echo Canyon

In August 1985 Sonic Youth were touring across the states following the release of their recently released LP ‘Bad Moon Rising’. This performance from August 11, 1985 at Chicago’s Smart Bar was recorded on 4-track
cassette. This live recording consists of much of Bad Moon Rising and early performances of Secret Girl + Expressway to Yr Skull later to be released on EVOL, as well as a rare never before released live rendition of Kat ‘N’ Hat.

Mixed and mastered by the band from the original tape source for this double LP edition w/ download card (or CD) along w/ liner notes by Gerard
Cosloy and Sonic Youth engineer Aaron Mullan and photos by Pat Blashill and Steven Koress and released by Sonic Youth on their own label, Goofin’ Records.

An excerpt from the LP’s liner notes: “Having now listened to this tape maybe 100 times, I can say this: it’s a killer show. The material was mostly released on the studio album Bad Moon Rising. The album is brilliant, but the material is also so visceral and improvisatory that it greatly benefits from the additional perspective offered by a live recording. Kim’s vocals, more detached on the album, are fierce here. Sheets of feedback insanity on the album which I always assumed to be lucky studio accidents turn out to be actual parts that Lee and Thurston can re-create at will. The album was recorded with Bob Bert on drums, but this show was one of the first after Bob left and Steve took over. Bob’s primal stomps doubtlessly propel the studio versions, but hearing these parts as interpreted by Steve’s systematic pummeling, illuminates the crucial transition to the Evol and Sister albums and beyond. We do get a taste of Evol too, with an early performance of ‘Expressway To Yr Skull’ and the first known live performance of ‘Secret Girl,’ plus an instrumental version of the rarely performed, and never released, ‘Kat ’n’ Hat.’” —Aaron Mullan, Feb. 2012

TRACK LISTING

1. Hallowe’en
2. Death Valley ’69
3. Intro/Brave Men Run(In My Family)
4. I Love Her All The Time
5. Ghost Bitch
6. I’m Insane
7. Kat ‘N’ Hat
8. Brother James
9. Kill Yr Idols
10. Secret Girl
11. Flower
12. The Burning Spear
13. Expressway To Yr Skull
14. Making The Nature Scene