Lee Ranaldo | Some Writings on Music And Musicians Book

Lee Ranaldo
Some Writings on Music And Musicians
New York City, USA: Self-published, 2016
56 pp., 5.5 x 4.25", softcover
First edition of 100 signed copies


Some Writings on Music And Musicians collects texts from the past twenty years, including pieces on Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Epic Soundtracks, Tony Conrad, John Cage, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Dylan. The volume also includes an interview with the late Mike Kelley about noise music and his band Destroy All Monsters.

Also included is an account of a mid-nineties visit to Morocco to meet with the The Master Musicians of Jajouka, a "4000-year-old rock and roll band" in the words of William S. Burroughs, who visited the group with Brion Gysin in the fifties. Ranaldo regrets not bringing a guitar but one is found that Blondie's Chris Stein had left behind almost twenty years prior and

"Before I even realized what was happening I was stepping out onto weird sonic wings of sound against the guimbri, drums and Tahir's violin accompaniment. It was so immediately relaxing there, on that wild African porch, with the rain falling lightly in the dark night, that I really didn't think twice about it."

The title was announced this week and has already sold out from the Sonic Youth website, but copies are available from the merch table of Ranaldo's current tour. He performs in Oslo tonight and forthcoming dates are below:


June 09 – NO Stavanger – Folken / Ticket / FB event
June 10 – FIN Helsinki – Kuudes Linja / Ticket / FB event
June 11 – RU Moscow – Stop The Silence Festival / Winzavod Contemporary Art Center / Ticket / FB event
June 12 – RU St Petersbourg – The Place / Ticket / FB event
June 14 – HR Rijeka – Impulse Festival / Pogon Culture / Ticket / FB event
June 15 – SI Ljubljana – Kino Šiška