Lee Ranaldo

As one of Sonic Youth's founding members and on his own, Lee Ranaldo bridges the gaps between experimental music and alternative rock. Along with former bandmate Thurston Moore, Ranaldo developed an innovative approach to the electric guitar with unique tunings and a percussive playing style that lent an atmospheric, vaguely psychedelic undertow to their music on tracks like "Eric's Trip." During his years with Sonic Youth, Ranaldo's solo releases were a platform for his more introspective music, such as 1998's Amarillo Rand (For Robert Smithson). He also embarked on collaborations with fellow experimental music luminaries on albums like 1998's Clouds, one of several works with percussionist William Hooker. When the band ended, Ranaldo incorporated some of the more structured songwriting into albums like 2012's Between the Times and Tides and 2017's Electric Trim, balancing these releases with more free-form efforts such as 2021's In Virus Times.