Lee M. Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American singer, guitarist, writer, record producer, and visual artist, probably best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth.

Ranaldo was born in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, and graduated from Binghamton University. He has three sons, Cody Linn Ranaldo, Sage Ranaldo and Frey Ranaldo and is married to the experimental artist Leah Singer, with whom he has performed many live installation pieces with improvised music.

Among Ranaldo's solo records are Dirty Windows, a collection of spoken texts with music, Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson), pieces for the guitar, and Scriptures of the Golden Eternity. His books include Bookstore, Road Movies, and Jrnls80s (published by Soft Skull Press). A full-length book of writings on Moroccan travels and music, as well as a book of new poems, Lengths & Breaths, are out now. Recent visual work has been included in exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery in London, the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art and Mercer Union in Toronto.

Ranaldo has produced albums for artists including Babes In Toyland, You Am I, Deity Guns, Magik Markersand Dutch art rock-ensemble Kleg. He has edited a volume of tour journals from the 1995 Lollapalooza Tour written by Thurston Moore, Beck, Stephen Malkmus, Courtney Love, and others. Ranaldo has also worked with jazz drummer William Hooker on improvised music, and reading and improvising poetry.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, of Sonic Youth, the 33rd and 34th best guitarists of all time. Their playing style is very innovative and they both use a large variety of extended techniques, such as their 3rd Bridge screwdriver technique.

Ranaldo usually uses Fender Jazzmaster and Telecaster Deluxe electric guitars, with radically altered tunings, and modifications.

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Leah Singer is a photographer and multimedia artist. She is the long-time artistic collaborator and wife of Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. Singer performs with multiple modified film projectors that allow her to improvise and manipulate the film projections by adjusting the film rate. She has likened what she does with film as similar to DJs who scratch with records.

Singer was born in Canada and studied journalism and photography at Ryerson University in Toronto. She moved to New York City in the 1980s to study film and became involved with improvising musicians. She also trained as a painter. Her work combines these different approaches to mediums. Since 1991 she has been doing film and music collaborations with Ranaldo. Her work has been presented in museums, galleries and concert halls worldwide.

Her two sons are Sage Ranaldo and Frey Ranaldo. Singer has published several books with her husband, including Bookstore, Road Movies and Moroccan Journal: Jajouka excerpt. She went to Jajouka, Morocco with Lee Ranaldo to follow in the footsteps of luminaries like William S. Burroughs, Brian Jones, Brion Gysin, Paul Bowles and Ornette Coleman.

Drift is documented in a DVD and book publication. The book includes a conversation with Ranaldo and Singer, and texts by experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas, artists Sam Durant and Tom Leeser, writer and musician Alan Licht, and curators Roland Spekle and Lea Rekow.

Singer has also collaborated with Elliott Sharp and Ikue Mori.

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Nick Zinner is a mostly known as guitarist for several bands and projects,
most notably for Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He plays in Head Wound City, a hardcore punk project with members of Blood Brothers and The Locust, recorded several guitar parts for TV on the Radio, supports Bright Eyes on stage and remixed songs for Bloc Party amongst others.
His also an avid contemporary photographer. His photography work has also been published in the books "I Hope You Are All Happy Now", "Slept In Beds", "No Seats on the Party Car", and "Please Take Me Off the Guest List".



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