If news that Paul McCartney was to release his latest album through Starbucks's record label raised an eyebrow or two, surely news that cult rock band Sonic Youth are set to follow suit will send jaws crashing to the floor.

Known for their nihilistic strand of alt rock, the band couldn't be further away from the polished, commercial image of Starbucks, and yet in an interview with Pitchfork.com, the band's guitarist Thurston Moore shocked his interviewer by responding to a question regarding plans for recording by saying: "We kind of need to record a song for this Starbucks record that's coming out."

Asked to explain, Moore elaborated: "We sort of devised this idea of a Sonic Youth record where we asked all these different people to choose their favorite song, people like artists and actors and other musicians and what have you. So all these people, from Jeff Tweedy to Beck to Marc Jacobs to Portia de Rossi to Michelle Williams, they all chose their favorite songs and wrote a little thing about it. So it's a compilation record of artists choosing songs of Sonic Youth. There's going to be one exclusive song of ours that we'll record, so that's something we have to record."

Sonic Youth are widely considered to be one of the most influential groups in America's alt-rock scene. Though still touring and working together today, the band hit their peak during the late 80s and are credited with influencing the hugely popular west-coast grunge movement. Their proto-punk stylings and traditionally "DIY" approach to music ensured them a cult status that remains today, though it's a status that may be jeopardized by the band's decision to team up with Starbucks, a franchise whose brand is synonymous with globalised consumerism.

Elsewhere in the interview, Moore expands on the band's relationship with Hear Music, the Starbucks label set up earlier this year, saying: "It's attractive, in a way. I like these underground bands that only make records and stuff that they sell only at gigs, and it's only available if you go to the gig to their merch table and they advertise it on their site and at different blogs and they'll list all these things like 'edition of 50, only available on this little tour we're doing.' So if you're a fan you kind of got to go to get the merch." Which may or may not help to elucidate matters.