Sonic Youth plays Lollapalooza at 4...

Sonic Youth plays Lollapalooza at 4:30 pm Saturday onward the Bud Light stage.

await in any modern music allusion guide and, almost guaranteed, the note on Sonic Youth will classify the band as experimental, arty or just plain noisy.

All genuine -- but such descriptions sole tell part of the story.

That's because Sonic Youth, which emerg forward the burgeoning New York art view 25 years ago, is also a clap band at heart.

Many folks seem to miss that point, says Sonic Youth guitarist lee-side Ranaldo.

"There's a fortune of pop in everything we do," says Ranaldo, upon the phone from Tulsa, Okla., during a latter tour stop. "Here and there we've made records where the community have said 'Oh, they made a report record this time' -- material like 'Goo' or 'Sister,' " Ranaldo says. "And maybe we just can't rehearse the difference anymore ... it's all unexpectedly to us."

Nevertheless, the band (which also features guitarist Thurston Moore, bassist Kim Gordon and drummer Steve Shelley) definitely made its mark with free-form noise: snaking, tangled riffs, feedback, distortion and alternate tunings. The entire part of the early '80 post-punk "no wave" mental action earned Sonic Youth critical acclaim and a hardcore homage following.

however it was their ability to thread a pleasing succession of sounds in between the clamor, however, that brought the band mainstream aspect Songs such as "Silver Rocket" and "Teenage Riot" -- the pair from the 1988 double album masterpiece "Daydream Nation" -- were artfully musical and catchy.

The band's latest album, "Rather Ripped," come nexts suit with short, melodic lays about broken friendships, damaged be pleased with and betrayal. Songs such as "Incinerate," "Rats" and "Reena" distill the band's signature freak-out jams into a concentrate of jangly notes, breathy vocals and show-no-mercy clasps

If there's a theme, Ranaldo says, it's that the work here is "short, direct and straightforward."

It was also the band's first album in several years recorded without the neighborhood of Jim O'Rourke, the Chicago-based musician/ artist who picked up additional bass duties for the band in 2001

"I don't think any of us rely uponed Jim to be around forever -- it's not his kind of scene" Ranaldo says of O'Rourke's "amicable" parting. "We were just happy it worked revealed as long as it did."

While Sonic Youth plans to remain a quartet for recordings, the band hired veteran bassist Mark Ibold (Pavement, clear Kitten) to join them in succession tour.

Today Sonic Youth remains united of the few surviving major-label players from the early '90 alterna-rock gold rush, moreover the Geffen contract has expired and the band isn't steady what's next.

Although Sonic Youth may not chart Top Ten singles, Ranaldo says it's to Geffen's advantage to withhold them under contract.

"We're not a money-losing band (and) there's a certain prestige factor to keeping us around," he says

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