Sonic Youth To Officially Re-Release Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008 On June 2019 For Live Streaming and as a Stand Alone Release

Although Sonic Youth concluded their epic career in 2011, after performing for over three decades, their legacy as one of the pioneers of noise rock remains. As a tribute to the band’s epic career, and to commemorate a decade since the release of the band’s final album The Eternal, Sonic Youth will be re-releasing their live album Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008 on June 7, 2019.

This upcoming Matador Records release will coincide with a 25 percent off sale for Sonic Youth’s final album in honor of the aforementioned decade since its release. With a set-list that spans the entirety of the band’s career, Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008 was originally sold with The Eternal back in 2009.

Beginning their career in 1981, Sonic Youth became immediately became a standout in the mid ’80s with their pioneering sound that helped inspire numerous noise and indie rock bands. The band’s most iconic members, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore helped push the guitar into new sonic territories that were considered innovative for its time.

The group broke up in 2011 after Moore, and Gordon, who were a couple for 27 years, ended their relationship due to an extra-marital affair on Moore’s behalf. Although the band has remained broken up for eight years, their influence lives on, with much of their archival and video footage being released late last year.

Both Moore and Gordon have stated that the group is unlikely to continue. “The last record we did was called The Eternal. When that record came out – without thinking it would be the last Sonic Youth record – I thought it worked as the last Sonic Youth record, especially with that title. It’s almost like a lazy-eight sign of infinity. Like, ‘Here you go. This is going to last forever.’  I mean, I’ve had ‘Sonic life’ tattooed on my arm since 1985, so I feel it’s there until the grave for me,” Moore explained in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Gordon expressed similar sentiments in her Rolling Stone interview:

“the clock was ticking [for Sonic Youth]. You do something for 30 years . . . I think we were all kind of feeling [it] but we never got to cash in. We still had to tour.”

Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008

1. She Is Not Alone
2. The Sprawl
3. World Looks Red
4. Jams Run Free
5. Hey Joni
6. Silver Rocket
7. The Wonder
8. Hyperstation
9. Bull in the Heather
10. 100%
11. Making the Nature Scene