SY ARCHIVE ON BANDCAMP -LIVE IN COPENHAGEN, RARITIES 3, LIVE IN TORINO

New releases on Sonic Youth Archive’s Bandcamp page:

Live in Copenhagen 2000

Excerpt from Notes by Brian Turner:

A good snapshot into the Sonics’ live state of mind circa 2000 in the form of a sprawling, and often exploratory set of some standards and five tracks from their recently-released NYC Ghosts & Flowers. While not pleasant to invoke the infamous gear theft in California prior to that album’s birth, it’s somewhat important for perspective here. The creation of the album not only inspired recommission of guitars that hadn’t been dragged out in a long time (as well as breaking in new gear), but the band’s creation process itself became revamped in a way definitely reflected in the twisting, expansive record. I always kinda thought of it as a big ball of twine, with all the individual components being dense yet leaving great space for its players; Jim O’Rourke’s studio aid evolved into him joining the live lineup here allowing often for Kim’s guitar figures to factor more into the equation. When Lee announces at the top of the set “we’re gonna take our time tonight and play real slow and long,” ensuing opener “Schizophrenia” swirls more delicately than some of the roaring ’87 initial live versions, though throttlers like “White Kross” and “Brother James” stoke up the usual fire and add additional blast with the expanded lineup.

Rarities 3

Volume 3 of Sonic Youth’s Rarities series features unreleased and hard-to-find studio recordings, mostly instrumental. This collection spans from the group’s first Peel session – recorded remotely from NYC – to demos and rehearsals for our final record, The Eternal. Booklet includes notes by Steve Shelley and front cover  photo by Stefano Giovannini.

Live in Torino 1987

Our Sister lp was released on June 1st and by June 4th we were on tour and somehow joined by hero Iggy Pop for our London Town & Country encore. This show a few weeks later, was recorded nearly halfway through our Summer tour of Europe on June 21, 1987 and our only Italian concert of 1987’s journey. Italy would grow to be one of our favorite places to visit and it still is to this day.

Rarities 2

Volume 2 of our Rarities, here consisting mostly but not exclusively of tracks from the 1980s, and mostly found scattered across a series of obscure 7″ singles and the like. See individual song notes for the when and the where. Included booklet contains all notes and 2 photos from 1985 by Leslie Fratkin at CBGB.

Live in Denver  1986 – excerpt from Brian Turner’s notes :

An all-ager-rager in Denver; I am so glad this one is up cuz my late ’80s live-tape-swapping-obsessive self has always been hopped up about this 1986 gig. It was right off a Europe run and a week later flat-splat into a summer Evol USA tour, SY were kicking around in a hot van gigging everywhere, coast to coast and back with the likes of Saccharine Trust and Dinosaur.

Rarities 1
The first in a series of rare recordings selected from various out-of-print and hard-to-find compilations. This collection begins in 1982 at The Kitchen in NYC (with James Sclavunos on drums), journeys through the 80’s and 90’s and ends in 2009 at Bad Bonn Festival in Switzerland. Track by Track notes by ss.

World Trade Center Benefit 2001:

Live In Bremen 1991 – bootlegged on vinyl twice in the 90’s and featured as part of the soundtrack to The Year Punk Broke documentary – finally the band’s audio source is released in it’s entirety.

Also search for new Text of Light recordings featuring Lee; and a Strange Fruit 7″ from 1983 with previously unreleased bonus tracks  and a new Gata Pirâmide EP both featuring Steve at https://vampireblues.bandcamp.com/

Perspectives Musicales – Live At Cat’s Cradle 2000 – on an off night from opening for Pearl Jam in 2000, Sonic Youth presented an evening of solos/duos/group improvs/poetry/noise and a complete SY song-set at beloved venue Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC

Live In Irvine 1990 – Goo-era multi-track recorded and mixed by Aaron Mullan and Steve Shelley.

Live At Brixton Academy 1992 – London show during the Dirty Tour – broadcast by the BBC and widely-bootlegged but never from this complete audio source.

Live In Yugoslavia 85/87  – 2 partial sets recorded in 1980’s Yugoslavia and originally broadcast by Student Radio in Yugoslavia.

Melbourne Direct – direct-to-lathe recording from 2004. Four improvised sides with Steve, Jim, Lee and Thurston. Originally released as a limited edition 2xlp.

Blastic Scene Live In Portugal 1993 – Blastic Scene was recorded live at Sonic Youth’s first ever concert in Portugal, at a bull-ring in Lisbon, in July 1993. SY had not yet recorded the songs that would make up EJST&NS but previewed several new songs nightly on the Summer 1993 European tour. This recording was released in Portugal in 1995 and a portion of the limited pressing was offered to SY fans via  Sonic Death fan club.

Live At All Tomorrows Parties 2000 – In conjunction with the 20 year anniversary of NYC Ghost & Flowers,  Sonic Youth Archive has  released All Tomorrows Parties 2000. Sonic Youth’s first show in 2000 was by the invitation of Mogwai and ATP to play the debut ATP Festival in Camber Sands Holiday Camp in E. Sussex, UK. Playing a mostly instrumental set of new songs from the upcoming NYC Ghosts & Flowers and the only performance of  a new 23 minute song then known as “New Drone” and later to become “J’accuse Ted Hughes” on the 12″ SYR7. All Tomorrow Parties 2000 is available here

Thurston has several Bandcamp pages w Thurston Mooore Group and Thurston Moore pages featuring unreleased and rare group and  solo recordings.

Lee has been posting rare and hard to find recordings of his on Bandcamp

Kim, Alan Licht, Jim O’Rourke, Chris Corsano and Tim Barnes have posted the sole live 2003 show by their group The Supreme Indifference.

Steve has recently posted unreleased recordings of his (Gata Pirâmide, Riviera Gaz, Disappears-Steve Shelley-White/Light) and others and deep catalog recordings (Jad Fair, Hungry Ghosts, J.P. Shilo) from Smells Like Records on his Vampire Blues page . Steve also appears on Emma Tricca’s new single It Don’t Bother Me/ Good Morning Diner

newly released: Strange Fruit 7″ from 1983 with previously unreleased bonus tracks  and two new Gata Pirâmide EP, and a demos single both featuring Steve

The Wylde Ratttz (Ron Asheton, Thurston, Steve, Mike Watt, Don Fleming with vocalists Mark Arm and Sean Ono Lennon) have released their long-lost LP and several singles with more to be released.