Sonic Youth’s storied 30-year recording and performing career concluded more than a decade ago in 2011, but in recent years, the band have blessed us with an impressive cadence of archival releases. This proliferation of output encompasses a series of rarities-rich collections including last month’s In/Out/In and a string of digital-only live releases, the latest of which captures their April 14, 1989 gig in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, two-and-a-half years before the country gained its independence following the dissolution of the USSR.
Live In Kyiv, Ukraine 1989 features raw performances of seven tracks lifted from their 1988 classic Daydream Nation and “Brother James” from their 1983 Kill Yr Idols EP. "That Sonic Youth Kyiv show was life changing for all musicians that were there,” says Eugene Hutz, the Ukrainian-born frontman of Gogol Bordello. “We were already attuned to Nick Cave, Einsturzende Neubauten, Sex Pistols and Discharge, but these were the new vitamins we needed. I made a decision to experience NY right there. Plus my friends VV were opening so i got in free. The fact that it wasn't shut down halfway through like all other punk gigs was the doing of a Ukrainian man named Mikhailo Gorbachev, who set up the atmosphere of political ‘springtime’ and a promise of change.”
Currently available for purchase via the group’s Bandcamp profile, proceeds from the album will benefit Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen (WCK) and its mission to provide much-needed food relief to those impacted and displaced by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
We’ve purchased our copy and we encourage you to do the same, if you have the means.
BUY Live In Kyiv, Ukraine 1989 via Bandcamp
LISTEN: