Further to...

the recent post here on TOoT that featured, within its 'Soundtrack', a mention of Sonic Youth's magisterial performance on BBC TV's 'Later...' - especially of their fabulous new song 'Antenna' - which then proceeded to ramble at some length about SY & referenced a selection of articles by Simon Reynolds & k-punk essentially critical of the band & their continuing musical output, comes this riposte to those specific & wider criticisms & issues thus raised from 'And you may find yourself...'.
And thought-provoking stuff it is too...as mentioned previously, I've invariably enjoyed more than a fair amount of 'retroreferentiality' - which, incidentally, I'm enjoying in turn as a new word - in either music (the oft-quoting of the Velvet Underground as an influence by all manner of artists - most of whom subsequently paled fatally in comparison - led me back to them, for a massive instance), the visual arts, cinema, etc, & am certainly not averse to such in my own work: in effect, it's 'the postmodern condition' I grew up within & an essential contextualizing device (by the very nature of, (self-consciously)'scholarly' & 'curatorial' in some way).
Thus, as long as the end product is pleasing to the old ears (an almost-entirely subjective aesthetic process, a direct empirical 'nervous reaction' that bypasses any prior intellectualizing), it's personally not a problem if SY or anyone are referencing any other bands, or even themselves & their earlier work.
It's a good point well worth reiterating too that Sonic Youth in their day - those mid-80s boundary-pushing ones of their early career (which as we've already established might well be something of a dread, deadly word & self-defeating concept in terms of the vitality & validity of rock groups) - did break new sonic ground, in the way that few bands or musicians do, like the VU, Cabaret Voltaire, early Public Image Ltd & Martin Hannett's production of Joy Division also did, for me, for example: I genuinely had never heard such sounds - exhilarating, intriguing, troubling - even if not all of them or the song-structures necessarily appealed unilaterally, uncritically (but that's of course what makes the good stuff so transcendentally wonderful). And Sonic Youth have cast almost a quarter-century-long shadow in terms of their undeniable & oft-explicitly-referenced influence upon the sound of what might be termed many a more 'experimentally-inclined' guitar band, from the Pixies to the grungesters and on.
As long as the retroreferentiality doesn't disappear up itself, isn't too reverential or is otherwise used for mere pastiche or 'tribute' purposes, is recombined in some 'new'(ish) & meaningful way, exhibits some degree of creative inspiration, then it's an enriching experience to be profoundly enjoyed, as evidenced in the work of many an SY-influenced band. Boards of Canada & Moon Wiring Club are fine examples of those who have reconfigured aspects of, for another instance, Cabaret Voltaire's influence (& others besides) to suit their own aesthetic ends in satisfying ways: often, it's this very dialogue - with the nearer or more distant, obscure past - that provides the catalyst for some of the more progressive (small p) music produced, as occurs within visual art & design, & cinema too. Much of such work could be termed 'curatorial' in nature - predominantly, even - & criticized by some for being so, but this forms an essential &, indeed, culturally-necessary aspect of its purpose.

Returning to the point at which I began (often, via the facility of the BBC i-player), 'Antenna' continues to mesmerize: for all that it self-referentially echoes SY's own past (in addition to, apparently, other sources, purposely) &, indeed, adheres to a repetitive template itself (essentially, the song's structure is the same thing times 3), still it's a thrilling work of art, the delight being in the subtly-accruing details of additional shimmers of guitar overlaying the sparkly continuum, for example: it's not 'Kotton Krown' (which I've also been listening to a lot recently), it doesn't perhaps possess that quality of never-having-heard-anything-quite-like-this-before (from its opening foghorn-blast & rattle of guitars), but it might in some way be a honing, a perfecting of such a precursor & is not at all diminished in the brilliant glare of the earlier song - 'Antenna' serves as a wonderful complement to the previous work & acquires significance & purpose through this mutually-enriching relationship.