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Lee Ranaldo

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Lee Ranaldo
Ranaldo performing in 2013
Background information
Birth nameLee Mark Ranaldo
Born(1956-02-03)February 3, 1956(age 68)
Glen Cove, New York,U.S.
GenresAlternative rock,noise rock,no wave,experimental rock,art rock
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1980–present
Websitewww.sonicyouth/symu/lee/

Lee Mark Ranaldo(born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock bandSonic Youth.In 2004,Rolling Stoneranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list.[1]In May 2012,Spinpublished a staff-selected top 100 guitarist list, ranking Ranaldo and his Sonic Youth bandmateThurston Mooretogether at number 1.[2]

Biography[edit]

Ranaldo was born inGlen Cove,Long Island,studied art and graduated fromBinghamton University.He has three sons, Cody, Sage and Frey, and is married twice, first with Amanda Linn in 1981 but later divorced, and now withexperimental artistLeah Singer.

Ranaldo started his career in New York in several bands, including The Flucts,[3]and by playing guitar inGuitar TriowithRhys Chatham[4]before joining the electric guitar orchestra ofGlenn Branca.In Branca's orchestra he played mainly electric guitar, but he also played some of the harmonic guitars Branca designed and built. In 1981, Ranaldo and David Linton briefly joined the band Plus Instruments that had been formed by Truus de Groot. With this line-up they recorded the albumFebruary - April 1981,released on the Dutch Kremlin label.[5]After the release of the album, Ranaldo left the band and startedSonic Youthwith Thurston Moore andKim Gordon.

Solo records during Sonic Youth[edit]

In 1987, Ranaldo released his first solo album,From Here to Infinity,compositions which ended inlocked grooves.The second side of the album also featured an unplayable engraving bySavage Pencil.

Among Ranaldo's solo records areDirty Windows,a collection ofspoken textswith music,Amarillo Ramp (For Robert Smithson),pieces for the guitar, andScriptures of the Golden Eternity.His books include several with art or photography by Leah Singer, includingDrift,Bookstore,Road Movies,andMoroccan Journal: Jajouka excerpt(from a full-length book of writings onMoroccantravels and music). Ranaldo has also publishedJrnls80s(published bySoft Skull Press), as well as a book ofpoems,Lengths & Breaths,with photography byCynthia Connolly.His most recent book of poetry,Against Refusing,was published by Water Row Press in April 2010 with cover artwork by Leah Singer. His visual and sound works have been shown at galleries and museums in Paris, Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, Los Angeles, Vienna, and elsewhere.

After Sonic Youth[edit]

After Sonic Youth went on hiatus in 2011, Ranaldo releasedBetween the Times and the Tidesin early 2012 onMatador Records.The record was the first under his own name to feature comparatively straightforward, vocalpop rocksongs. Contributors to the record includeJim O'Rourke,Sonic Youth drummerSteve Shelley,former Sonic Youth drummerBob Bert,Wilco'sNels Cline,Alan Licht,John Medeski,and bassist Irwin Menken.

Preceded by a 2012 event atNuit Blanche,[6]on October 21, 2011,The Music Gallery,InterAccessand theImages Festivalpresented the North American premiere of Ranaldo'sContre Jour,a performance piece for swinging guitar, with visuals by longtime partner and collaborator Leah Singer. This performance was also done in Paris, Rotterdam, duringIFFR,and Madrid. In 2012, he performed a solo concert at Parisian music club La Maroquinerie where he was photographed byJean-Pierre Domingue.[7]

To tour for the album, Ranaldo organizedThe Dustas his formal group, featuring Licht, Shelley, and bassist Tim Lüntzel. In 2013, his follow-up albumLast Night on Earthwas released, credited to Lee Ranaldo and the Dust.[8][9]

In 2014 Ranaldo and the Dust spent one week in Barcelona with producerRaül Refreeand cut a full-band, all-acoustic album, Acoustic Dust, consisting of songs fromBetween The Times and the TidesandLast Night On Earth,plus cover songs includingNeil Young'sRevolution Blues,Sandy Denny'sBushes and Briars,andMike Nesmith(The Monkee)'sYou Just May Be The One.

In September 2017, Ranaldo releasedElectric Trim,his third proper solo album, made in collaboration with Barcelona Musician/ProducerRaül Refree,on Mute records. The album featured 9 songs, many of the lyrics co-written with American authorJonathan Lethem.Musical contributors includedNels Cline,Sharon Van Etten,Alan Licht, Tim Luntzel, Kid Millions and Steve Shelley. A film about the making of the albumHELLO HELLO HELLO: LEE RANALDO: ELECTRIC TRIMwas directed by Fred Riedel.

Besides working as a guitarist, Ranaldo has frequently produced sound, performance and visual art independently of Sonic Youth. He has released over fifty solo, band and collaborative recordings, and a dozen books; including travel journals, poetry and artists' books. His work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, including theHayward Galleryin London, theSydney Museum of Contemporary Art,NSCADin Halifax, theKunsthalle Düsseldorf,Mercer Unionin Toronto, andPrinted Matter, Inc.,ArtspaceandWhite Columnsin New York. In 2017 there was a large overview exhibition inMenen,Belgium about his visual art.

In 2019 he was the curator for a concert series inFondation Feltrinelliin Milan, Italy, under the umbrella name ofNatural Disruptors.

In 2021, Ranaldo releasedIn Virus Times,an EP of solo acoustic guitar pieces recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2024, Ranaldo received the honorary Doctor of Music degree from his alma mater, Binghamton University.[10]

Collaborations and side projects[edit]

Ranaldo has produced albums for artists includingBabes in Toyland,You Am I,Magik Markers,Deity Guns, andDutchart rock-ensemble Kleg. He has edited a volume of tour journals from the 1995Lollapaloozatour written by himself,Thurston Moore,Beck,Stephen Malkmus,Courtney Love,and others.

Ranaldo has worked withjazzdrummerWilliam Hookeron improvised music, and reading and improvising poetry and released several records together.

His main side projects are Drift and Text of Light.[11]

Driftis a duo with his wife Leah Singer, with whom he has performed many live installation pieces with improvised music. The collaboration, utilizing live manipulated 16mm film projections, electric guitar and recited texts, occupied the duo from the early 1990s until late 2005, when they re-created the performance as an art installation at Gigantic Art Space, a gallery in New York City. Since then the pair have been performing a new piece entitled "iloveyouihateyou", a combination installation and performance work that has been presented in the US and Europe. In 2005 Drift released a box set with a DVD and a book.[12]

Text of Lightwas founded in 2001 by Ranaldo,Alan Licht,Ulrich Krieger,Christian Marclayand William Hooker. The core group is Ranaldo, Licht and Krieger with changing DJs (Marclay,DJ Olive,Marina Rosenfeld) and drummers (Hooker, Tim Barnes,Steve Shelley). The music is free improvised and mostly played along with, but not really referencing, films byStan Brakhage.The name for the band comes from Brakhage's filmThe Text of Light.[13]

In 2007 Ranaldo collaborated with British rock bandThe Cribson their third albumMen's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever.Ranaldo performs a spoken word piece against the track "Be Safe". Ranaldo made an appearance in the 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan aboutBrion Gysinand theDreamachineentitledFLicKer.[14]

Glacial Triois a band consisting of Ranaldo, BagpiperDavid Watsonand drummerTony Buck.In 2010 Ranaldo released the solo albumMaelstrom From DriftonThree Lobed Recordingswith guest appearances of Buck and Watson. The band releasedOn Jones Beachin 2012.

In 2022 Ranaldo collaborated withCatalanFrenchmusicianPascal Comeladeand drummerRamon Pratsin a concert inspired byVelvet Undergroundmusic for the premiere of "Linger On: The Velvet Underground" a book published by Eva and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Library by Catalan music journalist Ignasi Julià. The concert was recorded and released asVelvet Serenade.

Art projects[edit]

Visual works[edit]

Ranaldo also has had some exhibitions with his visual arts and video works in combination with Sonic Youth-related art (posters, flyers, album covers, etc.). This took place as gallery and museum shows in Porto, Halifax, Miami, Tampa, Vienna, Prague, Gent, Bratislava, Auckland, Salt Lake City and in Brooklyn and at theVOLTA fairin Manhattan in 2015. Artist-in-Residence: CNEAI, Paris (2007, 2008); NSCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia (2013); Villa Arson, Nice, France (2014). In October 2017 his first European solo exhibition 'Lost Ideas' by Curator Jan Van Woensel takes place inCultuurcentrum De SteigerinMenen,Belgiumtogether with a music festival curated by Ranaldo. The festival also features hisfield recordingsound artpiece 'Shibuya Displacement'.

Sound art[edit]

In the late 2000s Ranaldo started giving manysound artperformances in the US and Europe with his installation 'Suspended Guitar', which involved a guitar hanging on a rope from the ceilingfeedbackingand being played with a bow, or hitting against the body or the strings. In 2006 he made the sound art piece 'Shibuya Displacement (a Soundwalk)' for theHudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art.

Equipment[edit]

Moonlanderguitar.

Ranaldo has used many guitars but is associated with theFender Jazzmaster,Telecaster Deluxeelectric guitarsand sometimesGibson Les Pauls,usually with radicallyalternative tunings,andmodifications.One of his Jazzmasters has a single coil pickup installed between the bridge and the tailpiece to exploit the resonating chiming sounds on that area of string at these so-calledtailed bridge guitars.Ranaldo is one of the few popular artists to use the Ovation Viper solid body electric.

In 2007Yuri Landmanbuilt for Ranaldo theMoonlander,a biheadedelectric guitarwith 18 strings: 6 normal strings and 12sympathetic strings.

Since Ranaldo and Moore are popularizers theFender Jazzmaster,Fenderintroduced in 2009 a special Lee Ranaldo signature edition of a transparent blue version, together with a transparent green one for Moore.[15]

In 2013, Ranaldo played a Watcher guitar from the French company Custom77 during his last Lee Ranaldo & The Dust tour throughout Europe.[16]

Printed works[edit]

  • Bookstore and Others(Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, Leah Singer, Hozomeen Press (April 1995),ISBN978-1-885175-06-9
  • Drift(box set with DVD) - Lee Ranaldo, Leah Singer, Gigantic ArtSpace (2005),ISBN978-1-933045-34-4
  • Ground Zero: New Yorkers Respond(Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, David Amram, Frank Messina, Wasteland Press (August 15, 2002),ISBN978-0-9715811-7-3
  • Hello from the American Desert[17](Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, Curt Kirkwood, Silver Wonder Press (November 2007)
  • JRNLS80s(Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, Soft Skull Press (1998),ISBN978-1-887128-31-5(Portuguese edition 2017 by Terreno Estranho)
  • Lengths & Breaths(Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, Cynthia Connolly, Water Row Press (August 2004),ISBN978-0-934953-79-5
  • Moroccan Journal(Hardcover) - Lee Ranaldo, Fringecore (1999),ISBN978-90-76207-52-0
  • Moroccan Journal: Jajouka excerpt(Unknown Binding) - Lee Ranaldo, Leah Singer, Ring Tarigh for the Literary Renaissance (1997), ASIN: B0006RJF80
  • Online Diaries: the Lollapalooza '95 tour journals(Paperback) - Beck, Courtney Love, Stephen Malkmus, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Mike Watt, David Yow, Soft Skull Press (1996),ISBN978-1-887128-20-9
  • Road Movies(Paperback) - Lee Ranaldo, Leah Singer, Soft Skull Press (November 30, 2004),ISBN978-1-932360-73-8
  • Against Refusing(Hardcover) - Lee Ranaldo, Water Row Press (April 2010),ISBN978-0-934953-84-9
  • Burglarproof Wheelbase
  • Water Days (w/ Leah Singer) (also in French published by Dis Voir under the title 'Jours D'eau')
  • IloveyouIhateyou (w/ Leah Singer), (Magasin3 catalog)
  • Some Writings on Music and Musicians, self-published, 2017
  • How not to get played on the Radio, SoundBarn press December 2012, 22 poems

Discography[edit]

Solo albums

Singles and EPs

Compilations

Collaborations with William Hooker

  • Envisioning (1995)
  • The Gift Of Tongues (also withZeena Parkins) (1995)
  • Clouds(1997)
  • Bouquet [also with Christian Marclay] (2000)
  • Out Trios Volume One: Monsoon (also withRoger Miller) (2003)
  • Oasis Of Whispers (also with Glen Hall) (2005)
  • The Celestial Answer (2005)

Collaborations with others

  • cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" onMartin Bisi's Creole Mass LP (1988)
  • MMMR (also withLoren Mazzacane Connors,Jean-Marc Montera& Thurston Moore) (1997)
  • New York - Ystad (with Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley,Mats Gustafsson) (2000)
  • New Life After Fire (ForTom Thomson) (WithDave Dyment) (2003)
  • Four Guitars Live (Ranaldo / Giffoni / Moore /Cline(2006)
  • Les Anges Du Péché [Jean-Marc Montera / Thurston Moore / Lee Ranaldo] (2011)
  • Trouble and Desire (The Callas with Lee Ranaldo) (2018)
  • Ranaldo Jarmusch Urselli Pandi (Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi) (2019)
  • Churning of the Ocean (Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balazs Pandi) (2021)
  • Velvet Serenade (Pascal Comelade,Ramon Prats, Lee Ranaldo) (2023)

Live recordings

As a band member

See discography forSonic Youth discography

References[edit]

  1. ^Fricke, David."100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke's Picks: Lee Ranaldo".Rolling Stone.Wenner Media.RetrievedJune 14,2012.
  2. ^Hopper, Jessica (May 3, 2012)."SPIN's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".Spin.Buzzmedia.RetrievedSeptember 18,2012.
  3. ^Maximum Drama: Lee Ranaldo's 13 Favourite Albums
  4. ^Maximum Drama: Lee Ranaldo's 13 Favourite Albums
  5. ^"Official Website for Plus Instruments".Tikibosko. Archived fromthe originalon April 19, 2014.RetrievedOctober 11,2013.
  6. ^"Scotiabank Nuit Blanche".scotiabanknuitblanche.ca.Scotiabank.Archived fromthe originalon January 15, 2013.RetrievedAugust 28,2012.
  7. ^"ROCKDEPT | Jean-Pierre Domingue".Archived fromthe originalon June 7, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 6,2014.
  8. ^"Sound Check: Lee Ranaldo and the Dust working as a unit".Themorningsun.RetrievedOctober 11,2013.
  9. ^Mike Ayers (September 27, 2013)."Lee Ranaldo and the Dust Release New Track 'Ambulancer' | Music News".Rolling Stone.RetrievedOctober 11,2013.
  10. ^Blando-George, Natalie."Binghamton University announces four honorary degree recipients - Binghamton News".News - Binghamton University.RetrievedMay 13,2024.
  11. ^"text of light".sonicyouth. Archived fromthe originalon August 8, 2010.RetrievedJune 14,2012.
  12. ^"Drift (w/ Art Book): Lee Ranaldo, Leah Singer: Movies & TV".Amazon.RetrievedAugust 28,2012.
  13. ^Hall, Glen (2009)."Text of Light".Musicworks.#103(Spring 2009). Musicworks Society of Ontario: 18–24. Archived fromthe originalon August 15, 2009.RetrievedOctober 31,2012.
  14. ^"FLicKeR:: A Film By Nik Sheehan".flickertheflicker.National Film Board of Canada.RetrievedJune 14,2012.
  15. ^"Fender® Sonic Jazz Master Jazz Blaster".Fender.Archived fromthe originalon May 27, 2010.RetrievedJune 14,2009.
  16. ^Gumble, Daniel."INTERVIEW: Lee Ranaldo talks gear, guitars and shops | Musical instrument industry news".MI Pro. Archived fromthe originalon February 22, 2014.RetrievedAugust 14,2014.
  17. ^"Welcome to Silver Wonder Press".Silver Wonder Press. Archived fromthe originalon July 3, 2008.RetrievedJune 13,2008.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lee_Ranaldo&oldid=1226153972"