December 10, 2009 3:00

Sonic Youth set to begin work on new album

Lee Ranaldo says the band are 'most probably going back into the studio next year'

Sonic Youth are set to begin work on their 17th studio album.

The follow-up to this year's 'The Eternal', guitarist Lee Ranaldo has confirmed that they're "most probably going back into the studio next year", but did add that the band were still enjoying playing their current album live.

"We're still deeply ensconced in our new record, so we're gonna play a lot of 'The Eternal'," Ranaldo told BBC 6 Music, "that's what we're having the most fun with."

In the meantime the band are also planning a DVD release, combining footage from their recent 2007/2008 'Daydream Nation' tour, as well as footage of them playing the classic album back in 1988.

As for future releases, Ranaldo revealed plans to digitise over 30 years of the band's recordings.

"We're doing a big archival house clean right now," he explained. "We've got a massive archive of audio and video that's sitting in our studio in Hoboken. We've got somebody in there who's noting every single thing down and making a massive database, and then we're going to start digitising it because some of the tapes are 30 years old now."