New Books! Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Will Oldham, Etc.

Details are scant at this time (we’re still awaiting replies from respective publishers), but there are two exciting books coming out that I’ve been dying to mention. Only three deets are publicly known about the first one (the editor, publisher, and title), but throw some good ol’ speculation into the mix and this is kind of a big deal.

According to Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room, in an announcement about upcoming Loren Connors/Alan Licht album Into the Night Sky, which features Lee Ranaldo, both Licht and Ranaldo have books in the works: the former, which Licht is currently at work editing, is called Bonnie Prince Billy on Will Oldham and will be published in 2011 by Faber & Faber.

I can’t say for certain, but if this book is a longer version of Oldham’s infamous self-written press bio/interview, “Will Oldham on Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Vice-Versa”, then we’re in for quite a treat. Seriously, this thing is one of my all-time favorite musician-penned pieces.

As for Ranaldo, the Sonic Youth guitarist is prepping the follow-up to his last collection of poetry, Hello From the American Desert, for April of this year. The book, Against Refusing, will be published by the tiny Sudbury, Massachusetts-based publisher Water Row Press (they’ve previously published Thurston Moore, Ranaldo, and William Burroughs). But here’s the best (and most Sonic Youth-style) part: Against Refusing will be a “book of modern poetry based on internet spam.”