At ATP, the band previewed instrumental and early versions of songs from the then soon-to-be recorded NYC Ghosts & Flowers album, and this exclusive performance was the premiere of “J’Accuse Ted Hughes.” The B-side is a soundtrack-style piece recorded at the band’s Murray Street Studio in 2003 for a never-realized collaboration with French clothing designer Agnes B. The 18-minute-long song was recorded by a five-piece version of the band—the four members of Sonic Youth plus Jim O’Rourke, who also mixed “Agnes B Musique.” This LP will be soon followed by a CD-only release of the band’s Another Side of Sonic Youth Roskilde Festival performance, where the five-piece Sonic Youth line-up was joined by saxophonist/reed player Mats Gustaffson and electronic noise legend Merzbow for an hour of improvised music.

TRACK LISTING

1. J’Accuse Ted Hughes.
2. Agnes B Musique.

"Rather Ripped", was recorded through the waning hours of 2005 into the dawn sunshine of 2006 at the venerable Sear Sound Studios in NYC's fading theater district. Mixed at Sear Sound and at Hoboken, NJ's Water Music by the golden ear of John Agnello, the album exhibits SY in positive vibration mode. "Rather Ripped" features twelve songs of forward motion and harmonic / melodic surprise with vocals shared by the frontline of Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo with Steve Shelley gluing the rhythms to the floorboards. The band bursts out of the barn with "Incinerate", contemplates holy war mind games on "Do You Believe In Rapture?" and keeps cruising strong through track after track of risk-laden rock, finally floating away with the curious "Or". This is a straight-up Sonic Youth field on fire, with a compact potency of rock'n'roll enlightenment. Rather ripped, indeed.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reena
2. Incinerate
3. Do You Believe In Rapture?
4. Sleepin' Around
5. What A Waste
6. Jams Runs Free
7. Rats
8. Turquoise Boy
9. Lights Out
10. The Neutral
11. Pink Steam
12. Or

In October 1987, four months after the release of their critically acclaimed 'Sister' LP, Sonic Youth showcased their latest work in a blistering set at Cabaret Metro, Chicago. The concert was introduced by Big Black’s Steve Albini (who at the time was banned from the venue) and subsequently released as a semi-official bootleg under the title 'Hold That Tiger' on writer/provocateur Byron Coley’s impishly Geffen-baiting label Goofin’ (years later the band would use this nom de guerre for their own imprint).

'Hold That Tiger’s sterling reputation among the Sonic Youth faithful is well deserved. In fact, it isn’t a stretch to suggest that the album is to the first handful of SY releases what 'It’s Alive' is to the first three Ramones LPs - a feral and liberatory public snapshot of a band’s blossoming imperial phase. Indeed, HTT is the sound of a group at the peak of their powers, presenting new songs alongside a handful of older ones with the kind of wild, cathartic enthusiasm common to rock ’n’ roll’s most revered live albums.

Taking nothing away from 'Sister' - inarguably one of indie rock’s first true masterpieces - it is reasonable that many fans prefer the live versions heard on 'Hold That Tiger' to their studio counterparts. On HTT, Sonic Youth is a spiky, pummeling and confident force, alternately mammoth and meditative. Sister and its predecessor 'EVOL' notably added an airy, dreamlike reverie to the band’s turbulent doom-lurch, a stylistic evolution that seems to crystallize on HTT. Throughout, Kim Gordon’s sinewy, sumptuous bass and Steve Shelley’s propulsive, tom-heavy percussion provide the bedrock groove for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s ferocious barrages of noise-guitar crunch.

By 1987, the band was confidently articulating their dual lexicon of punk-noir dissonance and supernal, psychedelic sonic calligraphy - bending their jagged, streetwise gnarl into balloon animals of dazzling and beautiful songs. This collision of splendor and chaos would become a hallmark of the group’s singular alchemy as well as provide a blueprint for the post-SST American underground they would help invent and ultimately nurture.

'Hold That Tiger’s encore - four songs by the band’s beloved Ramones, which Thurston would later astutely compare to “the perfect pudding after a hearty meal” - serves as a reminder that, like any true punks, Sonic Youth never could resist a good, rousing anthem to send the kids home with their ears ringing, their hearts hot-wired. This first-time reissue comes with gatefold jacket. Mastered by Bob Weston from the original tapes. Recorded by Aadam Jacobs. Audio repair/editing by Aaron Mullan.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Schizophrenia
3. Tom Violence
4. White Kross
5. Kotton Krown
6. Stereo Sanctity
7. Brother James
8. Pipeline/Kill Time
9. (I Got A) Catholic Block
10. Tuff Gnarl
11. Death Valley ’69
12. Beauty Lies In The Eye
13. Expressway To Yr. Skull
14. Pacific Coast Highway
15. Loudmouth
16. I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You
17. Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World
18. Beat On The Brat

The fourth release on the SYR label was not designated to new material or studio improvisations, but instead a double-disc set of Sonic Youth's interpretations of various works by other composers. A truly ambitious project, it's one of their most diverse releases yet, featuring a selection of guest performers and some extremely interesting recordings - from the seemingly random yet very calculated half-hour Cage piece "Four6" to Coco's shrill delivery of Yoko Ono's "Voice Piece For Soprano", from the torturous yet compelling "Pendulum Music" to the perplexing yet amusing 88-key destruction of "Piano Piece #13", the album offers a vast sample of Sonic Youth chasing us down musical paths we might not otherwise have ever visited.

'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

"Daydream Nation" is the kind of gorgeous monstrosity (born of extremes, rife with difficulties, and mythic in proportion) that can crush the will of the most resilient, well-intentioned listener if the necessary preparations haven't been made. In this book, Matthew Stearns explores the album from a range of angles, with input from the band members themselves.

Anagrama is an EP by Sonic Youth. It was originally released in May 1997, and was the first in a series of experimental and mostly instrumental releases issued on the band's own SYR label. While 1995's Washing Machine LP moniker was a thinly-veiled jab at the corporate aesthetic ("no, you cannot turn Sonic Youth into a household appliance brand", the band even considered changing its name to Washing Machine but settled on the album title instead), their major label relationship was indeed a curious buzzpoint of talk on the street after their intake to DGC in 1990. It wouldn't be fair to say that this state of existence propelled the band to reinforce its independent mindset by releasing a series of opaque-looking, French-language-dipping, highbrow-looking releases on their own that focused on the more abstract improv/compositional side of the band; in all truths they had been heavily steeped in self-releasing spillover material prior to that. But after a pressure pot of the early 90's indoctrination into a new operational mode for the band and its visibility, and the forces around it attempting to shape their direction, it seemed like a good time to create a strong show of radical concept. The Anagrama EP became the first in a series of the SYR label's Perspective Musicales releases seemingly cementing Sonic Youth's connectivity to an increasing public awareness in experimental composers of the 20th century (French or otherwise). The irony was that many of those original avant composers being rediscovered by the indie audience (Partch, Neuhaus, Reich, Messaien) often found themselves on major labels anyway! So, perhaps this reverse approach was a necessary concept/comment given the music biz climate of the 90's.

Regardless of how apples and oranges fell in Xenakian probability/theory, it was clear that both Sonic Youth's stature in progressive music, aided by now unlimited taperoll time thanks to a home base studio downtown established after their Lollapalooza stint, gave the band plenty of trailblazing time for their self examination of untraveled avenues. "Anagrama" unfolds into nine minutes of delicate textures, starting with thick drone segueing into moments reminiscent of the post-crescendo flutter/comedown of "Marquee Moon's" trail-out; Thurston, Lee and Kim's guitars all circling round each other taking delicate pokes and stabs before drifting into some post-rock rhythmic moves tapered with complementary percussive guidance from Steve Shelley. "Improvisation Ajoutée" reaches further out into dissolve with whirring oscillations, guitars hissing and clanking radiator-style in a short blast format that continues into "Tremens" and a spooked-out landscape of gelatinous notes snaking up slowly. The sparseness of attack is colorful, textures emit and linger, silent spots shine, all flanked by tasteful drumming that provides the thread to all the abstraction. Shelley's approach here is interestingly sideways to any kind of usual rock action, it's tempered, mutant and metronomic simultaneously. The finale track "Mieux: De Corrosion" is a real pedal-palatte showcase. Here, Plutonian guitar wash flanges upwards to buoy a myriad of colorful eruptions of amp-spuzz, chopped up tone blasts and general confusion. Out of the blue, some metallic one-note choogle kicks in and threatens to explode into some Judas Priestly motion, before it all sputters into aural glass showers, clang, and finally a ferocious wave of more flange hiss that crashes down on a dime. Fans of the '86 Spinhead Sessions as well as the recently-exhumed later jams of In/Out/In will take in the sounds of SYR1 with glee. - Brian Turner

TRACK LISTING

1. Anagrama
2. Improvisation Ajoutée
3. Tremens
4. Mieux: De Corrosion 

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.

The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.

In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where [Thurston] Moore, [Kim] Gordon and [Lee] Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.

The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. C.B.
2. Green Love
3. Brother James
4. Kill Yr. Idols
5. “Mad” Groove
6. I Love Her (All The Time)
7. Expressway To Yr. Skull
8. Spahn Ranch Dance
9. “Blood On Brighton Beach”
10. Burning Spear
11. Death Valley ’69
12. Speed JAMC
13. Ghost Bitch
14. World Looks Red
15. The Word (E.V.O.L)
16. Brother Jam-Z
17. Killed And Kicked Off

Unfettered by studio time limitations with their own home base of Echo Canyon, SYR 2 shows Sonic Youth chasing the shadows of predecessor SYR 1 and the series' distinct aesthetic: total exploration of freedom and further discovery. While the cover art evokes European contempo classical releases of yore, Sonic Youth distinctively reinvent their own personal output potential the way those kinds of records revolutionized a previously defined genre. Their ethos of utilizing the roots of the Ramones, Television, VU, Stooges, and No Wave to shape their first decade now find the band in later years bullet-pointing fascination in AMM, MEV, improvised music, free jazz and other outer-limit/organic refractions of traditional rock. While Sonic Youth's spontaneous-creation moments had long been showcased in their recordings, Peel Sessions, and live, SYR 2 sums up the band's state in 1997: rolling lots of tape, fine-tuning ideas and presenting great moments of exciting new directions, allowing deep-listener type fans to gain better insight into their sound process. Add to that the alchemy of Jim O'Rourke's gradual entry into the core band which would soon be fully on display for SYR 3, and this series is an X-ray of evolution, dissection and reconstruction

TRACK LISTING

1 Slaapkamers Met Slagroom
2 Stil
3 Herinneringen

The opener "Invito Al Cielo" is all amp-moan and synth scratch, yet placid (in the storm-eye sense), featuring some inspired trumpet-Brut and more whispered scats from Kim. The shimmering vibes and sine-pulse of "Hungara Vivo" actually recalls the digi-mosaics of oh-so-au curant electronicsters like Microstoria, yet nonetheless was performed by the band in good ole real time and space. "Radio-Amatoroj" is another long-form spelunk into an audio architectonics of cathedralic proportion. More cymbal-spray and guitar-gong percussives, shifting textures ebb and fade in some kind of psycho-sensory algebra you don't even need to know how to solve.

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

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

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. 

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

Back in print for the first time in ten years on split black & white vinyl. All profits donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. #MatadorRevisionistHistory #JayReatard

TRACK LISTING

Jay Reatard – “Hang Them All”
Sonic Youth – “No Garage”

Recorded at Battery Park NYC’s River to River Festival on July 4th 2008, this now classic Sonic Youth set features totemic live versions of career spanning tracks such as ‘The Sprawl’, ‘Schizophrenia’ and ‘Bull In The Heather’. Initially only available with preorders of 2009’s ‘The Eternal’, this incredible live document has been made available again on vinyl a decade after its original release.

TRACK LISTING

She Is Not Alone
The Sprawl
World Looks Red
Jams Run Free
Hey Joni
The Wonder
Hyperstation
Bull In The Heather
100%
Making The Nature Scene

Long out of stock, now re-pressed and re-issued.

Produced by John Agnello and the band, ‘The Eternal’ not only marks Sonic Youth’s return to the independent label sphere (titles on their own SYR label excepted) after a long association with Geffen but, more importantly, it ranks as one of their more inspired efforts in a 28 year career.

Recorded through November and December of 2008 at the band’s Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, NJ, ‘The Eternal’ features many firsts for a Sonic Youth album, including a number of shared vocals between Kim, Thurston and Lee and the studio debut of former Pavement / Dustdevils bassist Mark Ibold, a member of Sonic Youth’s touring band for the past few years.

TRACK LISTING

Sacred Trickster
Anti-Orgasm
Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
Antenna
What We Know
Calming The Snake
Poison Arrow
Malibu Gas Station
Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn
No Way
Walkin Blue
Massage The History

Sonic Youth's 14th album, and first to feature Jim O'Rourke as a permanent member. "Murray Street" is a return to a more song-based sound after 2000's largely improvised "NYC Ghosts & Flowers". A set of epic 60s inspired rock with complex interwoven guitar parts and the usual avant-garde flourishes. Featuring new bassist Jim O'Rourke, the album was named after the location of their studio. This is a nod to their past glories and also a preview of their future, and O'Rourke's involvement has added a rich new experimental texture to their already accomplished sound. A fantastic and ESSENTIAL addition to the Sonic Youth catalogue.

Classic 1987 album is one of the band’s most beloved releases. Includes a cover of Crime’s “Hot Wire My Heart”. 

There is no album in the entire corpus of indie rock—not Loveless, not Surfer Rosa, not Psychocandy— that reaches the heights of invention, joy, and magic of Sonic Youth’s sublime fifth album.... The haunted reveries of Sister remain with you for years, even if you only hear them once…. Sister is the sonic manifestation of refracted light. It’s a record that changes you.” Stereogum.

One of Sonic Youth’s most beloved albums, 1987’s Sister incorporated the dissonance of their earlier releases into more traditional song structures. It’s an innovative and thrilling work assuredly delivered by a band at the peak of their powers. Reissued on the band’s Goofin’ imprint, this 2016 pressing includes a digital download card with the vinyl edition. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Schizophrenia
2. Catholic Block
3. Beauty Lies In The Eye
4. Stereo Sanctity
5. Pipeline / Kill Time
6. Tuff Gnarl
7. Pacific Coast Highway
8. Hot Wire My Heart
9. Cotton Crown
10. White Cross
11. Master-Dik (download-only)

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

The third studio album by Sonic Youth, originally released in May 1986 on SST Records, shows the first signs that the band was ready to transform their no wave past into a greater alternative rock sensibility.

“EVOL … mark[s] the true departure point of Sonic Youth’s musical evolution,” says Pitchfork, who place the album in the #31 slot of their Top 100 Albums of The 1980s.  “In measured increments, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo … bring form to the formless, tune to the tuneless, and with the help of Steve Shelley’s drums…, [impose] melody and composition on their trademark dissonance."

Stereogum likewise praises the album as one that is “full of suspense…, the cornerstone [of] the Sonic Youth sound…, ground zero for the combination of chiming guitars and atonal skronk… [and] muggy delirium…. The virile ‘Tom Violence’ sounds less written than coaxed from a cauldron, the sort of song that fogs windows. The offkilter [droning love song] ‘Starpower’ … is sung [by Kim Gordon] in a frosty [Nico-evoking] monotone. ‘In The Kingdom #19,’ featuring Mike Watt on bass and … vocals [by Ranaldo]…, is a harrowing story of a highway wreck over a suitably edgy instrumental backing punctuated by … live firecrackers into the vocal booth.”

“EVOL slithers into the unconscious,” notes Popstache. “Once the [detuned melodies and haunting riffs and] final whispers of feedback [of ‘Expressway to Yr. Skull’] depart from the speakers…, the music [leaves] a faded footprint, forever reeling the listener back for another strange trip.” “The seeds of greatness…” —Pitchfork.

“A near-masterpiece.” —Trouser Press.

“A stunningly fluent mixture of avant-garde instrumentation and subversions of rock’n’roll.” —All Music Guide. 

STAFF COMMENTS

David says: Within a few months of arriving in Manchester I was flat sharing with an American girl. She was appalled at how Britcentric my record collection was and introduced me to her noisy compatriots...

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

'Daydream Nation' was Sonic Youth’s sixth full-length, their first double-LP, and their last for an indie label before signing with Geffen. Widely considered to be their watershed moment, the album catapulted them into the mainstream and proved that indie bands could enjoy wide commercial success without compromising their artistic vision.

More recently, 'Daydream Nation has been recognized as a classic of its time: Pitchfork ranked it #1 on their “100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s”; Spin listed it at #13 on their “125 Best Albums of 1985-2010”; Rolling Stone put it at #45 on their “100 Best Albums of the Eighties” list and #328 on their “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2006.

2007 saw the release of an expanded four-disc vinyl box set, but now the album is back in its original form after years of being out of print and highly sought after. As a special 21st century bonus, the vinyl now includes a digital download card - radical adults rejoice!

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

"The Eternal" is a supercharged rocker, recalling aspects of the "Evol", "Sister" and "Daydream Nation" holy trinity but with cleaner, louder production and more straightforward momentum. With Pavement's Mark Ibold joining on bass, and producer John Agnello back at the controls, "The Eternal" takes the melodic songwriting of 2006's "Rather Ripped" and slams down the accelerator pedal. Produced by John Agnello and the band, "The Eternal" not only marks Sonic Youth's return to the independent label sphere (titles on their own SYR label excepted) after a long association with Geffen, but more importantly, ranks as one of their more inspired efforts in a 28 year career. Of "The Eternal", Matador's Gerard Cosloy says, 'We've not had a record in our recent history that's been the subject of nearly as much speculation and anticipation. Suffice to say we're pretty amazed at the way the band delivered something this neoteric while still sounding like, well, themselves. Less of a reinvention and perhaps more to do with a particularly awesome dozen songs.'

Here is Thurston Moore's take on the songs:
Sacred Trickster (2:10)
Out-of-the gate hardcore matinee track with Kim singing salutes to French painter Yves Klein and Western Massachusetts noise artist Noise Nomads.
Anti-Orgasm (6:08)
Inspired by the story of Berlin 60s model/activist Uschi Obermeier and the gang at Kommune 1. Free love, dominance and submission, and other political states-of-confusion.
Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso) (3:32)
The NYC beat poet Gregory Corso once referred life on Earth as a leaky lifeboat. This tune expounds on this rumination.
Antenna (6:13)
Melodious ode to fleeting fantasy and unresolved desire with the sound of two analogue radios communicating the emotional action.
What We Know (3:54)
Charging forth with a riff in reference to Sonics Rendezvous Band, Lee sings a triptych to identity and unity.
Calming The Snake (3:35)
One of the first tracks written, musical references to the Dead C, the MC5 and Neu. Kim musing on visions of Death in painting.
Poison Arrow (3:43)
Dedicated to the lust groove of Kevin Ayers where thoughts of love as pretty poison rejoice in surrealist deliverance.
Malibu Gas Station (5:39)
An ode to the flash moment of the camera as you knowingly step from your SUV sans panties.
Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn (2:38)
Flashing back to a wishful existence in the original Masque basement on N. Cherokee in Hollywood, crashing through lawns and garbage cans en route to the Canterbury/Disgraceland to jump up and down on beds with Helen Killer, Mary Rat and Trudi.
No Way (3:52)
First song written for the album, with a nod to The Wipers of Portland, Oregon. A confrontation with the devil in his guise of temptation and staking a distinct place amongst the black legions.
Walkin Blue (5:20)
Lee with his arm around yr shoulder, getting you through a seemingly impenetrable day of dread to a clear vision towards sweet foreverness.
Massage The History (9:41)
The long way home, where blood rules the universe and time becomes myth.