sonic youth t-shirtLast month, Sonic Youth’s co-founders Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore released a statement through the band’s record company announcing they were separating after 27 years of marriage.

Immediately, speculation followed over what this meant for the future of every self-respecting hipster’s favourite post-punk noisenicks, and now guitarist Lee Ranaldo has told Rolling Stone that the band is “ending for a while.”

He said he was “feeling optimistic about the future no matter what happens at this point,” adding “I’m just happy right now to let the future take its course.”

We’ll go out on a limb and say this sounds ominous at best.

Sonic Youth formed in New York City back in 1981, and have released a total of 16 albums, most recently 2009’s The Eternal. That title is now starting to look strangely poignant if it turns out to be the band’s final record.

If you’re wondering why you should give a hoot about any of this, we highly recommend you check out some of their classic material!

Daydream Nation is a great place to start. The opening track, Teen Age Riot, is definitely more accessible than a lot of their material, but that doesn’t stop it being a work of musical genius, as far as we’re concerned.

And who could forget their rendition of The Simpsons theme which they recorded when they appeared as themselves in the 1996 episode Homerpalooza? Brilliant!

In case you were wondering, yes, we do have some rather lovely Sonic Youth t-shirts. Check ‘em out!