Sonic Youth Share Live In Kyiv, Ukraine 1989 to Benefit Ukraine Relief Efforts
Photo by Giotas
As plenty of artists have searched for ways to contribute to relief for the citizens of Ukraine, Sonic Youth have thrown their hats in the ring by sharing a live album of their April 14, 1989, performance in Kyiv (when the nation was still a part of the U.S.S.R.). All proceeds go to benefit World Central Kitchen, an organization that’s been providing meals in liberated Ukrainian cities throughout the crisis.
The recorded show was one of several the band played across Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine fresh off of the 1988 release of Daydream Nation (and side project Ciccone Youth’s The Whitey Album), meaning it features searing versions of then-new tracks like “Candle,” “The Sprawl” and “Silver Rocket.” The performance has been mastered by Aaron Mullan, who has also worked on previous remixes of Dirty, Daydream Nation and Goo, and the cover features a collage of pictures taken during the show by Alexej Zaika.
In a writeup attached to the album’s Bandcamp release, Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz reflected on the significance of Sonic Youth’s show in the former Soviet Union just months before the Berlin Wall fell: