A quick scan of the world's favorite crowdsourced discography reveals that Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo was not a total stranger to crackling electric experimentation in the years following his songwriting turns of the 20-teens. Yet The System, ingeniously culled and sequenced from Ranaldo's soundtrack work for Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s "eco-doc" of the same name nonetheless feels like a reawakening. Quietly released in a vastly different (and much more "filmic") form by Doxy Music/ Riva Media Records in 2025, this LP reimagines and reconfigures the initial release, including unreleased material (written and recorded for the film) to lend it new stature as both a return to drone-improv form and a reunion with introspective Downtown angst. Given the state of the world, it's not surprising that the film Ranaldo scores -- a documentary on three climate activists bruising their fists on the black iron prison of techno-fascist deathkultur -- is a study in despair and futility. But rather than wallowing in navel-gazing doom and gloom, the film documents the unstoppable spirit that has animated human resistance since the time of the Pharaohs. As it turns out, the gorgeous scope of Lee Ranaldo's guitar palette is a perfect manifestation of the hope and despair that animates the film. But like other high-water marks in the guitar-centric soundtrack canon -- the high plains raga of Bruce Langhorne's Hired Hand, Neil Young's sparse and ghostly solo transmissions on Dead Man, or the monolithic mantras of Popol Vuh's Nosferatu -- its devotion to spectral...
LP $27.00
10/02/2026
LP COLOR $29.00
10/02/2026
Sonic Youth's left-minded, and soft-spoken lead guitarist continues to wield a big stick on this solo outing of the highest sonic magnitude. First off is the title track, a 34-minute live recording from 1994 with after-the-fact wave-shaping and spectral improvement by Rafael Toral, followed by an instrumental "Anagrama" type frolic with bandmates Steve Shelley and Thurston Moore. Also: a couple of soundtrack excerpts and a John Lennon cover featuring the late Epic Soundtracks. As always it's a brilliant ride.
CD $12.00
01/08/2001
Five early ’90s tracks by one of the original lords of howling, including a Sebadoh cover. With cover art by Michael Morley (of The Dead C. and Gate), this is the flailing ultimate in rubberized, flatline wawaaarph.
CD $8.25
01/08/2001
***REISSUE. Solo recordings, live to tape at the Knitting Factory in late '88 and '89. Guaranteed sonic salvation in the form of great slabs of feedback drift, tape delay, and the voice of a lone storyteller in the midst of a storm. Co-release with Father Yod; check out Lee's other releases on the Starlight Furniture Company (carried by Midheaven) and Atavistic labels.
CD $12.00
02/22/2000
MP3 $9.90
02/22/2000