iSound

Sonic Youth began in 1981 in downtown New York City with Thurston Moore on guitar and vocals; Kim Gordon on bass, guitar and vocals; Lee Ranaldo on guitar and vocals; and Ann Demarinis on keyboards (she played for a very short bit). The first drummer was Richard Edson. This is the band that made the eponymously titled mini-LP released in 1982 by Neutral Records, a label founded by NYC guitarist/composer Glenn Branca. Lee and Thurston were witness to the original 1976-77 NYC CBGB/Max\\\\\\\'s scene of Television, Patti Smith, Suicide, the Ramones, etc. Kim was in Los Angeles at the time studying as a visual artist. She came to NYC, met up with Thurston, and they started playing together during the era (1978-79) of what is termed No Wave - harsh, challenging and abrasive music informed by rock, noise, jazz and modern composition/experimentation. Through the mutual acquaintance of Branca - then known as a remarkable iconoclast of the new radical rock composer scene - they joined forc...