Sonic Youth Release Archive Recordings Of 12 Live Shows For Fans In Self-Isolation

Sonic Youth have released archive recordings of 12 live shows from throughout their career to help fans isolating from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The iconic New York alt-rock outfit formed in 1981 and split in 2011, leaving a huge archive of live shows. Yesterday, the band shared some glimpses into their live show over the years, releasing the 12 live sets on their Bandcamp page. The gigs documented included a show at New York’s CBGB’s in 1988, San Francisco’s The Warfield in 1993, and a ‘Daydream Nation’ gig in Glasgow in 2007.

Also among the recordings is the band’s final US show, recorded at Brooklyn’s Williamsburg Waterfront in 2011. You can find further information and all of the new archive recordings on Sonic Youth’s Bandcamp page.

Last month, former Sonic Youth mainstay Thurston Moore launched his own pop-up record store in London. The Daydream Library Series And Ecstatic Peace Library is based in Stoke Newington and sold posters, art, vintage t-shirts and memorabilia as well as records. It also served as a bookshop, art gallery and the HQ of an underground newspaper.

“[It] will be curated with all the energy and love we have for our local community and our passion for creative activism,” Moore wrote on Instagram. “While it is entirely idealistic to open up ship in a climate of demagoguery, we approach it with respect to our awesome neighbourhood.

The store was initially planned to be open between 5 February and 14 March, but Moore said it would “keep on keepin’ on” if it proved to be successful.

Last year, hundreds of records from Moore’s private collection went on sale at London’s World Of Echo in Bethnal Green. The selection included “a broad range of genres, spanning multiple variants of jazz, noise, hardcore, black metal, ethnographic, punk and post-punk, no-wave, krautrock, ambient, electronic and the avant garde.”

Listen to the Best of Sonic Youth on Apple Music and Spotify.

Format: UK English