10 Releases From 2008 – Sonic Youth/Mats Gustafsson/Merzbow – Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth

Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth (Danish for “Other Sides Of Sonic Youth”) is a recording of live collaboration between SY, Merzbow and saxophonist Matts Gustafsson, which was originally performed in 2005 at Roskilde Festival. It is the 8th record in an ongoing SYR series and aside from SY themselves (Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon and Steve Shelley), Gustaffson and Merzbow, it also featured assistance from Jim O’Rourke, former member of SY.
The record contains one hour long track, which the band itself dubbed “structured improvisation”. Art Rocker website described it as “A document of their now-legendary ‘progressive’ shows (in which Kim Gordon shrieks a lot and honks terribly on a trumpet)” and pointed out that “this release sees our favourite avant-urers collaborate with notable sonic pioneers Mats Gustafsson and Merzbow in an experimental show at Roskilde 2005. The set up is simple; each member of this ad hoc ensemble enters and leaves the sonic arena one by one until only Merzbow remains, probably crying onto his laptop.”

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