Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) with Ian Williams (Battles)
Last month, Ian Williams (Battles) and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) chopped it up in front of a fully packed house at the grand opening of Everlane's flagship store in Williamsburg for a live taping of the Talkhouse Podcast.
The experimental guitar legends shared the unusual processes of making their new LPs (Battles' Juice B. Crypts came out last week, and Lee's drops early next year). Their talk also takes in Sonic Youth's versus Wilco's insane touring guitar collections; how a chance encounter with Les Savy Fav led to the first ever Battles show; the cross-genre pollination of 1980s New York; and their thoughts on recently departed icons Ric Ocasek of The Cars and Daniel Johnston.
Stay tuned after the talk for an audience Q&A with Lee, Ian, and myself.
Links galore: If you enjoy this episode, keep an eye peeled for the wonderful Consequence of Sound podcast This Must Be The Gig's upcoming show featuring Lee Renaldo and his collaborator Raül Refree; I attended the live taping in New York and just loved it. You can also check out past Talkhouse Podcast episodes featuring Battles' Juice B. Crypts collaborators Xenia Rubinos, Tune-Yards, and Shabazz Palaces. And finally, here's Lee and Ian's first meeting on the show from back in 2016.
Today's show was recorded by Stephan Kimbel Olson and Mark Yoshizumi at Everlane, and at Hook and Fade Studios in Brooklyn by our co-producer Mark Yoshizumi.
The Talkhouse Podcast’s theme song was composed and performed by The Range.