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Post-Modernism as I see it is just the death throes of certain specific trajectories in art. Raising it to the level of a philosophy is ridiculous, but I have to admit that I like some of the products of post-modernism in music.
If there is an avant-garde in music today, it is located in rock music, electronic music, minimalist music, etc. In that sense, Sonic Youth were (are?) in the avant-garde and represent (among others) a new trajectory and a new practice. The reason I love SY and hang out at this board is because I think that they represent THE direction or at least an aspect of it.
The problem that many have though is adjusting to something new. At every major artistic upheaval (usually brought about by external social changes - the ars nova is a good example, or the "florentine camerata" changes around 1600 is better maybe) there will be those that can't adjust. I think we're in a period like this, only about 40 years in I think, though you might push it back to the end of WW2. I'm speaking about music specifically.
It's hard to say something substantial about something so new. You might say that time moves faster now, but I think that's an illusion. A cohesive practice lurks under what seems like sameness, but I'm still not convinced that there are forces that would allow something to get on its feet. New movements seem to be crushed by other forces. Anyway, I tihnk it's best to take the long view and just chill out.
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