Thurston Moore, Oslo

Alternative-rock legend Thurston Moore is to play Oslo, May 2015. As Sonic Youth’s frontman, Moore helped to launch the alt-rock movement along with bandmate Kim Gordon. The band formed in the early 1980s, emerging out of the New York ‘no wave’ scene; alongside groups like Swans, they experimented with noise, feedback and atonality to create a sound that was by turns brooding and abrasive. Over the course of the 1980s, they expanded this sound, ending the decade by releasing the now-canonical alternative-rock record Daydream Nation.  
The band continued releasing records until 2009, but even whilst they were active, Moore was constantly involved in other projects. He’s a prolific collaborator who’s worked with experimental musicians from the legendary Yoko Ono to the avant-garde saxophonist Mats Gustaffson.
With a back-catalogue as expansive as Moore’s, it’s perhaps inevitable that there’ll be some errors of judgment, and at points his work can seem a little studied.
For the most part, though, Moore is a musician whose scope, application and adaptability ensures his continued relevance. His work as a solo artist has been consistently interesting, ranging from the lo-fi scuzz of Pyschic Hearts to the experimental folk of Demolished Thoughts. 
His new album The Best Day, released last October, was excellent: a squally, political guitar-cracking return, with a bluesy tinge an a touch of folk-rock.