Pitchfork

Mere months after the release of the seventh installment in Sonic Youth's even-more-experimental SYR series, plans have already been drawn up to bring out round eight. SYR8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth captures a "structured improvisation" from 2005's Roskilde Festival. The work features the band-- then with Jim O'Rourke on guitar-- plus Thurston and Jim's Original Silence bandmate Mats Gustafsson (also of the Thing) and Japanese noise icon Merzbow. The hour-long performance was set up so that musicians exited the stage one at a time, eventually leaving Merzbow up there by his lonesome. It's due July 28 exclusively on CD from the band's SYR imprint.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Sonic Youth update without a quick rundown of all the other stuff these inhumanly creative people are getting up to of late. The well-traveled band's got a few shows throughout the rest of the summer, including an Independence Day jamfest with the recently reunited Feelies. As part of WFMU's 50th anniversary, that show will be broadcast live on the NYC-area radio institution beginning around 4:15 p.m. Eastern, as well as streamed at the station's website.

Thurston's got a few dates as well, and the second Original Silence LP is due August 11 from Smalltown Superjazzz. Original Silence, minus one Jim O'Rourke, will take the stage at the Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway on August 7 for a rare gig. And it looks like Lee Ranaldo will make an appearance with the Bang on a Can All-Stars July 19 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA.

Sonic Youth:

07-04 New York, NY - Battery Park *
08-04 Leucate, France - Les Méditerranéennes Festival
08-05 Lokeren, Belgium - Lokerse Festival
08-07 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-08 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-09 Saint-Nazaire, France - Escales Festival

* with the Feelies

Thurston Moore:

07-05 New York, NY - Club Rehab (with Gene Moore) *
08-07 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival (with Original Silence)
09-19 Monticello, NY - Kutshers Country Club (My Bloody Valentine ATP) #
09-27 New York, NY - Stone (with Northampton Wools)

* with Metal Mountains
# performing Psychic Hearts