Sonic Youth :: Death To Our Friends (1981-2011)

Live In Brooklyn 2011 captures Sonic Youth’s extraordinary final NYC performance. It’s been available digitally for a few years now, but Ethan Miller’s Silver Current Records is giving it a bootleg-a-rific double LP/CD physical release.

Want to dig even deeper? Check out this lovingly curated fan-made collection of (mostly) live Sonic Youth. Presented (mostly) chronologically, Death To Our Friends takes us from those scuzzy No Wave days to that Lollapalooza haze to the band’s excellent latter daze. Take a dip in the Diamond Sea this summer.

Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth :: Transmissions

Ahead of the release of the instrumental freak out collection In/Out/In, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth join us to discuss The Simpsons, the Geffen years, stolen (and recovered) guitars, the science fiction of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, and much more on this episode of Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard’s weekly podcast.

Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley Selects 10 Gems From The Band’s Archive

Sonic Youth played its last shows just over a decade ago. But the band’s legacy lives on thanks to an ever-expanding archive available on Bandcamp. Curated by drummer Steve Shelley and longtime sound engineer Aaron Mullan, the archive swells with live tapes stretching back to the mid-1980s, crucial rarities collections, and stray tracks rescued from out-of-print singles, internet mixes, and random comps. Aquarium Drunkard spoke with Steve Shelley to get his thoughts on a few gems that await listeners.