After being on Geffen Records (now part of UMG) since 1990, Matador Records has signed Sonic Youth for what sounds like a one-album deal:

After rampant speculation, Matador Records can confirm the label will be releasing a new studio album from Sonic Youth sometime in 2009. Having fulfilled their contractual obligations to the Universal Music Group, Sonic Youth recently reached an agreement with Matador to release the band’s 16th album of new material in all worldwide territories, save for Japan. […]

For Matador, the opportunity to work in partnership with a group who’ve made such an profound impact on our roster/hometown/collective consciousness was one to jump at. Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley will commence recording the new Sonic Youth LP/CD this autumn and we look forward to sharing further details in the very near future.

Good for them. Seems like a perfect fit. Funny to think that Sonic Youth indirectly kicked off the entire “major labels scooping up alternative bands” things in the early 90s. There was a Kurt Cobain quote where he said something like, “If Geffen is good enough for Sonic Youth, it’s good enough for Nirvana.”

Via Billboard.

MP3: Sonic Youth – “Youth Against Fascism” (courtesy of Protest Records)