SY @ SBUX
Starbucks to Release Sonic Youth Celebrity Compilation
Thurston: “We asked all these different people to choose their
favorite Sonic Youth song. Jeff Tweedy, Beck, Marc Jacobs, Portia de
Rossi, Michelle Williams … Starbucks is the new record store, right?”
When Pitchfork called up Thurston Moore for an interview, we expected
to chat about his forthcoming solo record, as well as Sonic Youth’s
legendary 1988 album Daydream Nation, recently reissued and being
taken on tour this summer (including, as you know, a stop at the
Pitchfork Music Festival).
And we did chat about that– a whole lot– and we can’t wait to let
you know everything Thurston said. But you’re just going to have to
wait until Monday, because in the middle of our interview, Thurston
dropped a bomb…
Pitchfork: Is Sonic Youth working on any new material right now?
Thurston Moore: No, no. We kind of need to record a song for this
Starbucks record that’s coming out.
Pitchfork: For, uh, Starbucks?!
Thurston Moore: Yeah. We sort of devised this idea of a Sonic Youth
record where we asked all these different people to choose their
favorite song, people like artists and actors and other musicians and
what have you. So all these people, from Jeff Tweedy to Beck to Marc
Jacobs to Portia de Rossi to Michelle Williams [laughs], they all
chose their favorite songs and wrote a little thing about it. So it’s
a compilation record of artists choosing songs of Sonic Youth.
There’s going to be one exclusive song of ours that we’ll record, so
that’s something we have to record.
Pitchfork: So it’s going to be one of those things up at the counter
along with the biscotti and the disc of Elton John’s favorite
Christmas songs?
Thurston Moore: [laughs] Yeah, something like that. I wish Starbucks
would ask me to compile a mixtape record.
Pitchfork: That would be … interesting.
Thurston Moore: I love doing that stuff. But you know, it’s so funny,
because Starbucks is the new record store, right? [laughs]
Pitchfork: Yeah. I guess if you’re in there buying a four dollar cup
of coffee, the idea of throwing down a few more for the CD seems like
no big deal.
Thurston Moore: Exactly, or getting the Paul McCartney gift card, you
know. It’s attractive, in a way [laughs]. I like these underground
bands that only make records and stuff that they sell only at gigs,
and it’s only available if you go to the gig to their merch table and
they advertise it on their site and at different blogs and they’ll
list all these things like “edition of 50, only available on this
little tour we’re doing.” So if you’re a fan you kind of got to go to
get the merch.
Well, there you have it. A Sonic Youth album… for Starbucks.
We’ll give you the weekend to think that over. Stay tuned for much,
much more from Thurston on Monday, when we’ll run the full interview.