Ruh roh. Marital troubles.

If it is, they had an incredible run but it'd be a pity that this would be the reason for their demise.

All the members have so many solo activities going that SY has almost become an afterthought anyway. The length between albums seems to be getting more and more distanced.

Everything has to end sometime. And I mean the band, not their marriage.

If Sonic Youth is done, that's fine. The band has pretty much run its course and has been doing victory laps for most of the past decade. They could call it a day without ever having embarrassed themselves or even put out anything less than good. They'd still have a better track record than REM at this point as far as I'm concerned.

But as far as their marriage, it sucks. Their daughter is a teenager. It could be one of those "amicable" things where everybody is "OK with it", but it still sucks.

It'll be like when John and Exene split: in a while they'll make amicable amends because they miss writing and performing together and we'll eventually get the Daydream Nation/Ciccone Youth tour.

Edit - Random sorta-related trivia: Exene's only child has Viggo Mortensen as a daddy.

Relationships under public scrutiny are just...weird.

Yeah it wears me out

who's next...Ira & Georgia? If that happens then I'll have nothing left to believe in...

Betting time...Kim caught Thurston with Jemina Pearl or Thurston caught Kim scissoring Kathleen Hanna

Well. Nothing official on the band front yet, so I'm not going to freak out about that.

As far as the relational stuff--best wishes to them whatever happens.

That'd be cause for celebration, not separation

if you're actually aroused by that scenario

kathleen hanna, yes. kim gordon, not so much.

If scissoring is your thing at all.

And he was already married to Kim Gordon you geniuses.

One of my favorite things in rock and roll in the past twenty years has been to be close enough to the stage to see the way she looks at him during performances. THAT is what love is... tolerant, unconditional, but firm.

I thought this about Tom and Christina Carter the first time I saw Charalambides. Then they wound up divorced a couple of years later and the couple of times I have seen them since then the show wasn't the same at all. Just felt different, less intimate somehow, they were disconnected in some way, which is a huge problem with music like theirs in a live atmosphere.

Hate to hear anything bad about anyone in Sonic Youth. Hands down my favorite band of all time, but I kind of echo Drinky's thoughts..if this signals the end of the band they had a spectacular run. Plus, with the amount of quality side projects each individual member has I will still no doubt be able to get my Lee and Thurston fix.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lee-ranaldo-on-the-future-of-sonic-youth-20111128

I'll be interested to hear a proper, more streamlined Lee album. Seems like with the success that Thurston has had straddling the line between noise/experimental and verse/chorus style music, Lee was contemplating wading in.

Sad part is, those songs probably were going to be on a new SY record, which we may or may never see again.

Also, interesting to read how open Lee was with details. He's not revealing a lot, but between the lines, it sounds like this while Thurston/Kim thing has been brewing for awhile and its been affecting the band.

Man, I am just not bummed about this in the least. I am way more interested in Lee's first whole album of his own songs that I would be in a new SY record.

Band's can end. It's OK.

I agree, but I still would love to see where SY were going to go with their next record. And, that's ok as well.

Good read. Thanks for the link!

I agree. I feel like at this point I know what to expect with a SY record...don't get me wrong I also know i am going to like it as (and I may stand alone on this) there really isn't a single SY release that I don't really like.

However, what Lee has done with bands like Vibracathedral Orchestra, Drift (Three Lobed's inclusion of Maelstrom on their series a few years ago stands as one of the best things they have done, that's saying a lot for a pretty flawless label), and that record with him, Thurston, and Carlos Giffoni from a few years back, has been great. With that I don't know that I really want him to approach the standard verse-chorus-verse type record...I would be way happier if at this point that guy just indulged his noisier side to the fullest extent.

Yeah, if I'm being honest, the Lee songs on SY albums are rarely my favorites. As a musician he's pretty incredible, though. Hopefully he does hook up with a lot more free improv type groups and do a lot more noise type stuff now.