The iconic postpunk band Sonic Youth is famed for blurring musical genres,
veering from thundering rock to dismantled experimentalism, and expanding the
possibilities of the electric guitar. "What we're doing is always inventing
itself. I have no terminology for it," guitarist Thurston Moore observes. Moore
and his bandmates Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley have also, over the
course of 27 years since they first started playing together, more quietly
engaged in multidisciplinary solo efforts and collaborations with visual
artists, filmmakers, designers and other musicians. Numerous artists, from
Richard Prince and Raymond Pettibon to Gerhard Richter have contributed artwork
for Sonic Youth album covers, and Moore, Ranaldo and Gordon in particular have
collaborated with visual artists; but the group has also produced a large amount
of great ephemera over the decades. This comprehensive 720-page volume--which
includes two 7-inch records with unpublished songs by each member, album covers,
band portraits and documentary photos, many of which have never been published
before--is a must for fans and anyone wanting to connect the dots between New
York's various scenes. It features writings by band members and contributions by
a host of other luminaries, including Richard Hell, Mike Kelley, Jutta Koether,
Alan Licht, Lydia Lunch and John Miller.