Sonic Youth plans album, art exhibition, more

Sonic Youth seems bent and determined to prove its superhero levels of endurance this year. With three staggeringly diverse projects in the works, Superman couldn’t keep this kind of schedule.

Already one of rock’s hardest working bands with more than 20 albums to date, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley will reunite this spring to begin writing material for a new album after a four-month break, NME reports. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2006’s rather-good Rather Ripped is scheduled for release sometime next year.

The band is also poised to enter the art world with an upcoming show, Moore told New York Magazine after the band’s performance at a Marc Jacobs’ event during New York City’s Fashion Week. The traveling exhibition will feature artists who have worked on the band’s album covers and other artistic concepts, and will visit “young” museums in locales such as Paris and Malmö, Sweden. The band plans to perform at each venue where the exhibition is installed, beginning in Saint-Nazaire, France, where the show is scheduled to open in June.

And to top it all off, a film version of the band’s 1988 masterpiece Daydream Nation is in the works. Rookie Michael Goldbach will direct, and Heroes ass-kicking cheerleader Hayden Panettiere will star in what is described as a 21st century coming-of-age tale, in the vein of whip-smart teen fare like Juno and Election. Filming is scheduled to start later this year, Pitchfork recently reported.

As Sonic Youth gears up for perhaps its busiest year ever, Moore will make time for one more solo performance at this year’s SXSW festival in support of his latest, trees outside of the academy.

Related links:
SonicYouth.com
Sonic Youth on MySpace
Review: Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition)

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