Lee Ranaldo, the wizardly guitarist for Sonic Youth [RIP?] is playing a solo show (with a backing band) at Webster Hall tomorrow night, opening for M. Ward. We apologize for the short notice (it's sold out!) but we recommend finding a way in if you can. Ranaldo will be performing selections from his first solo song-based album, Between the Times and the Tides, an unassuming and personal collection of tunes which, to our ears, evokes early R.E.M. more than it does the experimental noise of Sonic Youth. (Check out one the video for one of the songs, "Angles," below.) We recently spoke with Ranaldo about the record, his life in New York around the corner from Occupy Wall Street and Ground Zero, and the nebulous future of Sonic Youth. more ›

Psychic hearts no more: the coolest couple in the world, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, announced that they were separating after 27 years of marriage, putting the future of the long-running alternative band in jeopardy. At the very end of Sonic Youth's Williamsburg Waterfront concert in August, Moore left the crowd with this final benediction: "Anything is possible through the power of love." more ›

Everyone's favorite art rock noisemakers Sonic Youth are well known for their bizarre tunings and extensive collection of gear—they even have an inventory of all their guitar equipment on their website for gearheads and music nerds. And now, they've started putting some of it on eBay for charity! more ›

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of music journalist Michael Azerrad's history of indie rock, Our Band Could Be Your Life, indie musicians of all persuasions gathered at the Bowery Ballroom last night to perform the material of the 13 bands featured in the book. More than just a bunch of de facto cover tunes, the concert was an opportunity for a reinterpretation of enduringly influential music by contemporary ears. more ›

Grunge may have died when the first kid said, "Grunge's not dead," but 2011 is starting to really feel like the sub-genres 20-year-anniversary high school reunion. Hell, every kid in Williamsburg is wearing flannel again, and Dave Grohl has a freakin' number one album, which was produced by Nevermind producer Butch Vig! But best of all, long out-of-print seminal grunge documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke is being lovingly repackaged and released later this year, so you can relive every mosh pit from a magical time before Chris Cornell made albums with Timbaland. more ›

Is there any better big venue live band these days than Sonic Youth? Okay, maybe Radiohead, maybe Phish, and maybe—depending on how their Madison Square Garden debut goes this week—even Arcade Fire. (Yes, we just used Phish in the same breath as Sonic Youth; the crucifixion line forms on the right!) But none of those bands possess Sonic Youth's illustrious history, or restless dynamism, or reckless edge. Frontman Thurston Moore is middle age (his wife/bandmate Kim Gordon's even older!) but after seeing them crush the Celebrate Brooklyn bandshell in Prospect Park Saturday night, it's clear that their particular blend of punk-pop-noise rock is some sort of magical, anti-aging elixir that ought to be bottled and sold worldwide. Don't grow old gracefully; shred it every step of the way with Tonic Youth. more ›

Is there any band as old as Sonic Youth (nearly three decades!) still radiating such adventurousness and vitality? (The E-Street band, perhaps, but that's apples/oranges.) On Tuesday night the ever-fresh noise rock quintet unleashed yet another spellbinding show at The Music Hall of Williamsburg—an exhilarating return to form after seeing them swallowed up by the United Palace Theater in July. As if to emphasize their commitment to developing new material, the 90-minute performance skewed toward their most recent album, The Eternal, with highlights including a blistering "Calming the Snake," and an orgasmic "Anti-Orgasm." The night climaxed with a show-closing rendition of timeless classic "Silver Rocket," and though the improvisational segment never quite blasted into outer space, the song burned up completely, inspiring atavistic stage-diving which hilariously culminated in one husky, bespectacled man struggling to get on stage just as the show ended—and diving into the audience anyway. more ›

Also this week: more ›

Earlier this month, Sonic Youth dropped The Eternal, the band's 16th album and their first since fulfilling their contractual obligation to Geffen and moving to indie-label paradigm Matador Records. Recorded mostly in Northampton, Massachusetts, where front-couple Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon reside, The Eternal works as both an invigorating new turn in the band's 29 year journey and an ideal point of entry for newcomers, as the 12 tracks span the spectrum from tightly-coiled incendiary art rock to virtuoso mini noise odysseys. more ›

Saturday was the day the music died at McCarren Park Pool (well, not really), but one couldn't have asked for a better note to go out on than one provided by Sonic Youth ("Expressway to Yr Skull" was a perfect finale from the post-punk pioneers). The NY Times spoke to concertgoers and locals about the venue, which could return to its original function as soon as 2011. An elderly resident declared, “This music, very noisy. Swimming, O.K.” but one man noted, “I love this music. I come from Mexico, and in Mexico there is little music like that." And some businesses have enjoyed a 30% increase in sales on show days. The Times said hipsters claim they won't come back to swim because they think it'll be "too dirty" [insert dirty hipster joke here]. more ›

Hometown post-punk heroes Sonic Youth played a free show for approximately 7,000 fans in Battery Park on July 4th as part of the River to River Festival. The decades-old band started the set with a spellbinding, spacey rendition of “She is Not Alone,” followed by the Kim Gordon-led classic “Bull in the Heather.” By the third song, a blistering “Silver Rocket,” 50-year-old frontman Thurston Moore seemed to have had enough of the photographers separating his band from the frenzied crowd, so he climbed down into the photo pit to thrash through the scrum, before getting back onstage to finish the song. more ›

Don't let the name fool you, The Muggabears aren't creating cute, cuddly pop tunes. (In fact, their songs are peppered with profanities...gasp!) The trio has been garnering attention over the past year for their sound -- something akin to a lo-fi love affair with noise rock. They're not short on comparisons to Sonic Youth and Pavement, so if you like what you hear -- come catch 'em live tonight when they play Galapagos. How did... more ›

Did contemporary art and music come together for the first time in New York? The holy (or unholy -- if you're not a Velvet Underground fan) union can be traced back to, where else, Andy Warhol's Factory scene. So why is the Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 exhibit being housed all the way in Chicago? more ›

A fine way for the Seaport Music Festival to send off the summer, with two of the year's biggest breakout bands on a lovely evening. We were taking in both Battles and Dearhunter for the first time last Friday and were massively impressed by both bands. Deerhunter, down a man and with their usual shtick toned down, sounded like a young Sonic Youth or stripped down Broken Social Scene. A much lighter and more accessible experience that we had prepared for by listening to their thumping album. Battles was more what we expected, playing a hypnotizing hybrid of Math-Metal and some Jammy-Groove stuff that somehow works. Stereogum has some pretty pics. more ›

Sonic Youth are performing their 1988 album "Daydream Nation" in its entirety this summer at McCarren Park Pool. Don't want to spend $34 + fees for a ticket? Don't worry, we have you covered. more ›

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. more ›

(AKA The It doesn't feel like Friday and we're still hungover from SXSW edition) more ›

READING: John Sellers will be reading from his book, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, tonight. Idolizing bands like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Guided by Voices, the book outlines how he developed his taste in music. It reads more like a blog, than a book, which makes sense since Sellers has one. more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

Remember that smart-alecky retort, “It’s a free country”? That's the brazen spirit behind Radical Living Papers: A history of the free, alternative, counter-culture and underground press, 1965-75. Situated in the Passerby bar, it no doubt will inspire many fervent debates about freedom of the press. more ›

On the cusp of November, Music is a Better Noise opened up at P.S.1. The exhibit brings together musicians who make art and (you guessed it) artists who make music - or at the very least, use music as a creative motivator in their art. more ›

There are plenty of videos on YouTube of the concerts that have been happening at McCarren Park Pool this summer. Forget brunch and the Sunday Times, the almost apocolyptic feeling abandoned pool parties have become a Sunday ritual for many (the crowd yesterday was insane, we're sure there are plenty of missed connections). more ›

Jordan Blaugrund (vocals, guitar), Brett Sherman (bass), Michael Blaugrund (drums), Eliot Wadsworth (guitar) more ›

We're at the home stretch! Sunday was a bit of a quieter day for us, but by no means did the music disappoint. The plan was to make it a short day and get back to civilization that night, but due to some travel miscalculations we ended up sticking around till they kicked us out. Very glad we did. more ›

Tonight is a BIG night, TV-wise, so much so that we can't stand to DVR anything - we need to see it actual time. (Well, we are DVRing it so we can watch it over and over again, but you get the idea and urgency.) There's the Gilmore Girls finale, the Veronica Mars finale, and then a Kathy Griffin special on Bravo! (Okay, the Kathy Griffin special will probably repeat 10 times before the weekend, but we'll probably watch all 10 times because a Dakota Fanning-has-a-drug-problem joke is classic.) The Gilmore Girls finale will also feature Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Joe Pernice - thanks to music-lovin' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (we will miss you next season) - which makes it aces in our book, but overall, it's been a very uneven season for the double G. But we're most excited for Veronica Mars to be on Tuesday at 9PM after all this time - too bad the season must end. And we think she might be visiting NYU in order to get that other witness to confirm Steve Guttenberg's Woody Goodman's bad man tendencies. Of course, many of you will probably be watching American Idol and House - it's okay to disagree, but for all of you who have been missing out of Veronica Mars because of House or Lost, we strongly advise you to pick up DVDs of Season 1 and 2 (when it's out). more ›

," as part of the acclaimed 33 1/3 series. The book takes a look at the 1989 release of the Pixies sonic masterpiece of the same name, gaining insight from the band themselves. more ›

As the holiday countdown continues, this part of Gothamist has noticed that the number of major national touring acts has dwindled. All those midwestern indie-rockers had to get back to the Mall of America and finish up their shopping. Luckily, this is New York, where there are no malls, but there are hundreds of bands eager to play for indifferent ears no matter the season. This week, here's who should be on your list: more ›

FAIR: The WFMU Record & CD Fair is this weekend. Hundreds of music dealers will be there to help with your vinyl fix. Sift through obscurities and maybe you'll find what you've been searching for on eBay for the past 4 months. more ›