Although Sonic Youth haven’t really been active since 2011, they’ve decided to dig deep into the vault and release Blastic Scene, a live album recorded in 1993 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Lockdown has given us so much good media to dive into. Recently, Noel Gallagher dropped a previously unreleased Oasis track, and Wheatus delivered the goods by collaborating all their fans in a ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ compilation video.
Now, we’ve got Sonic Youth making sure that we’ve got plenty of entertainment in isolation, as they’ve released Blastic Scene, a live album that was recorded in Lisbon, Portugal in 1993.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Steve Shelley noted that they “pretty much” recorded every night, “so there is tons of stuff in the archive, and we’re all self-quarantined right now, so it’s a good time to go through it.”
Vocalist Thurston Moore also spoke out of about the release that was initially only released as an authorised bootleg in 1995 in Portugal, where only 1,300 copies were produced.
“When Sonic Youth first went into Portugal, it felt like uncharted territory,” Thurston Moore stated. “We had blasted through Spain and Italy but Portugal seemed a bit disengaged from hosting any band as on the margins of experimental rock music as us.”
“When we arrived in Lisbon we realised that we were to play in a bullring. The stage was makeshift but sturdy enough with a fairly decent PA. I think anyone with the slightest interest in punk, post-punk and beyond in Lisbon was there, which was not more than a couple of hundred.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Keen to check out Blastic Scene? The live album is available via Sonic Youth’s Bandcamp, alongside a slew of other live recorded concerts such as 1989’s Live At Moscow, and 2004’s Live At The Orange Peel.
Check out ‘Teen Age Riot’ by Sonic Youth:
