Sonic Youth, like fellow New York legend Andy Warhol before them, have always walked the tightrope between commerce and art, and that knotted lifeline splits its strands the more time passes and the band is rightfully canonized. Their perseverance as musical purists in the age of the Internet’s mess consumption is nothing short of extraordinary; same goes for their enduring support for what’s left of the underground in the age of YouTube (property of Google) and MySpace (property of Fox News prick Rupert Murdoch). From their championing of left-field workhorses like Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch, DJ Spooky and others to Thurston Moore’s indie label Ecstatic Peace! and up into the mainstream, Sonic Youth’s double consciousness has allowed them a startling degree of latitude for a band still at home on a major label like Geffen, whether on the... More >>>