Sonic Youth going indie route with 2009 record

The veteran rockers of Sonic Youth recently told Rolling Stone that they're planning to sign with an indie record label to release their next album, which is penciled in for a Spring 2009 release.

The move will break the band's relationship with major label Geffen (home to Weezer, Counting Crows and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few) after first signing with the label in 1990, for its Goo album. "The last four or five records we did were just so compromised by that [major label] situation. But that’s the way it goes," guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore told Rolling Stone.

Moore remains tight-lipped about which indie label the band is headed to ("I dont want to risk having a shit storm," he says), but was more forthcoming on how far along the band is with its next record, telling the mag that SY plans to hit the studio in November. "I’ve written a half-dozen song ideas. I try not to complete them so much. Last time we got together, we were creating sort of new band-zone-vibe sort of things.”

Despite high praise from critics (including a #5 placement on Paste's Top 100 Albums of 2006), the band's last record, Rather Ripped, didn't find much commercial success. In fact, none of the iconic band's last few albums have been all that successful sales-wise, so perhaps returning to its roots in the indie label world is the best move Moore and company have made in years.

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

Got a news tip for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.