Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo and his band The Dust are embarking on a tour of Europe on May 25, starting at De Kreun in Kortrijk, Belgium (head to his website for full details), in support of last year’s Last Night On Earth, Ranaldo’s second solo album. They’ve also just released the video for psychedelic jam ‘Blackt Out’ via Nowness – take a watch above.
The video, directed by Ranaldo’s friend Fred Riedel, is a paean to The Velvet Underground’s New York, taking in references to the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, The Factory and Warhol’s Screen Tests, working up to a climax that bathes the band and friends in strobing coloured lights.
As the title suggests, ‘Blackt Out’ was written by candlelight during Hurricane Sandy and features some expectably beautiful guitar interplay between Ranaldo and bandmate Alan Licht. On the subject of Reed, Ranaldo says: "Lou Reed was my neighbour and we got to be friendly over the last decade. When he died I found it much more moving than I imagined I would. He influenced so many things and was such a New York guy – he was a victory right here." While on the subject of New York, he adds: "[W]hen Warhol was here young people could live very cheaply, but it’s still a place where different creative disciplines bump up against each other. That’s been part of its character since the 1920s and that’s not going to change."
