As a founding member of Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo etched his name into the canon of New York rock artists during his 30-year tenure with the group, from 1981 to 2011.
His inventive guitar playing, built upon unusual tunings, sprung from the city’s downtown experimental ‘No Wave’ scene and had a profound, far-reaching impact. The Long Island-bred, SUNY Binghamton-educated Ranaldo was a veteran of the electric guitar orchestra of Glenn Branca when he co-founded Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. With his bandmates, he expanded the vocabulary of rock and emanated a unique brand of New York cool that has aged like fine whiskey.
Ranaldo began recording as a solo artist in 1987 with From Here to Infinity, and has been especially active since becoming a free agent. The Times and the Tides was issued in 2012, followed by Last Night on Earth, co-credited to his band The Dust (along with its companion, Acoustic Dust).
This chat came upon the release of Electric Trim, featuring songs he hatched with Barcelona musician/producer Raül Refree. Nels Cline, Sharon Van Etten, and his old bandmate Steve Shelley. In addition to hearing the fascinating way he made the new album, he spoke about Sonic Youth including how New York was truly imprinted on the early records and how Goo and Dirty answered the question ‘ What would Sonic Youth music sound like if you threw a hundred thousand at a record instead of twenty or thirty.’
Too hear the interview and see Lee Ranaldo perform two songs from Electrim Trim at WFUV studios, click here.
