Lee Ranaldo at Prospect Park, July 2012 (more by Dana [Distortion] Yavin)

While the status on Lee Ranaldo best-known musical endeavor remains up in the air, he's keeping busy supporting his new solo album which came out on Matador earlier this year, like opening for Wilco at Prospect Park last month. Next up: he's playing Union Pool on August 30 with Chris Lee and Spectre Folk. No advance tickets for this show at the moment.

UPDATE: Tickets go on sale today (8/15) at 6 PM.

Lee's Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley not only plays in Lee Ranaldo's band and Spectre Folk, but also runs new label Vampire Blues which just released new records by Spectre Folk and Chris Lee so this is basically a big label launch / record release party. You can stream both below via a Spotify player. Shelley plays drums on Chris Lee's new album, Bury the Kings, so he may not leave the drum kit all night.

In other related news, Ranaldo's other other band, Glacial, just released their new album, On Jones Beach, which consists of one 42-minute track. (Pitchfork gave it an 8.0.) Ranaldo will also be playing this year's ATP New York in September. And Thurston Moore's new band, Chelsea Light Moving, plays their first NYC show at 285 Kent on September 12 and tickets are still available with proceeds going to benefit Charalambides' Tom Carter who fell seriously ill this year while touring Europe.

Flyer for the Union Pool show and album streams are below.

Continue reading "Lee Ranaldo playing Union Pool with Chris Lee and Spectre Folk; Steve Shelley drumming for all three?"

photos by Lori Baily

Thurston Moore has always been the guy who gets around, jamming with free jazz heavies or making noise with youngsters half his age, but Lee Ranaldo, his mate in Sonic guitar battery, has also been a consistent (if less prodigious) source of compelling audio documents. Veering from near-industrial loops of pealing feedback and heavy guitar to intimate pairings of acoustic guitar and poetry, Ranaldo's catalog is one of satisfying diversity. Maelstrom From Drift, the guitarist's latest, is a microcosm of Ranaldo's catalog as a whole, a collection that spans 11 years, a variety of collaborators, and a sundry mix of approaches and sounds. [DUSTED]

Bagpipe player David Watson, drummer Tony Buck and Lee Ranaldo play as a trio called Glacial. Last night (Sept 15) they played at (le) poisson rouge here in NYC. More pictures from that show below...

Continue reading "Glacial (w/ Lee Ranaldo) @ (le) poisson rouge, NYC - pics"

Ian MacKaye & Thurston Moore in Brooklyn Heights Sunday (David Shankbone)

Aug 30 - Sonic Youth played McCarren Pool
Sep 12 - Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo played Fenders
Sep 14 - Thurston Moore & Ian MacKaye talked about books
Sep 15 - Glacial (David Watson, Lee Ranaldo, Tony Buck) @ LPR (tonight)
Sep 19 - Thurston Moore plays ATP NY
Sep 26 - Thurston Moore & Byron Coley discuss No Wave @ B&N Tribeca (7pm)
Sep 27 - Northampton Wools (Thurston Moore & Bill Nace) @ the Stone
Oct 13 - Northampton Wools open for The Dead C @ Bowery Ballroom
Oct 29 - 31 - a week of Noise curated by Thurston Moore @ Issue Project Room

Check Sonic Youth's site for more events outside the NYC area.