Since Gordon started to record/release solo LPs (3 so far) she never
looked back to her unique career with Sonic Youth (1981-2011).
Not on record, not on stage.
Last month she launched her 3rd one, PLAY ME, to my ears her best yet.
And last night she landed in Brussels (3rd time in 4 years) to promote the new record. When she came on, before playing one note, she was welcomed with a big aplause and loud cheers, as a familiar shero.
From there on she focused (except for a thank you here and there, no in between talks, who needs them anyway?) on her intoxicating perfomance playing the new album Play Me in full followed by half of the previous one The Collective, a couple ones of her debut No Home Record and encoring with the unrecorded, but the well-known Cigarette musing.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
Gordon produces, backed by a pretty young, efficient band, an industrial-injected
trip-hop buzz that gets you slowly but surely into an amplified Massive Attack-like
trance. It all sounds raw, unpolished, but oh so fascinating.
With her expressive and articulated, partly spoken/partly sung vocality, she infiltrates
your psyche, while telling her stories, absurd ones and politically-charged reality ones
(fuck Trump, fuck Musk).
At almost 73, she still looks gorgeous, she still is a pivotal performance artist,
holding an audience’s attention with a firm sonic grip. To be honest, there were
a couple of monotone percussion moments, but that’s actually a detail that
had no impact whatsoever on the final, puzzling result. Hats off to imperishable
shero Kim Gordon.
Former Sonic Youth sheroKIM GORDON (aged 72) unleashed her
new solo album, titled PLAY ME.
Press info: “Kim Gordon‘s vision of art and noise has come sharper into focus just
as readily as it has changed, a paradigm of possibility that, four decades on, still
feels like a dare. Play Me is distilled and immediate, expanding Gordon’s sonic
palette to include more melodic beats and the motorik drive of krautrock.”
AllMusic says: “Reunited with Justin Raisen, Gordon tightens her focus on quickly recorded dispatches brimming with punk audacity and the multi-layered approach of an artist who still subverts expectations.”
TUTV: At age 72, no pension yet for Gordon. On the contrary, Play Me is her brand-new 3rd LP in 6 years; in between, she writes the records and tours. The first half (1-6) of the album stands out as more melodic the capricious Kim way, less percussion aggressiveness than on her previous work, especially on Play Me, Girl With A Look and sped-up rocker Not Today. Vocally, she impresses once again with her almost out-of-breath vocals.
The second half (7-12) of the full-length connects more with the other LPs. Harsh industrial shock-waves, edgy electro punches, all but one under 3 minutes, which makes your mind swing from left to right and back.
Overall, Gordon takes us again on a spooky-chilling-distressed-knife-edged crusade,
spiked with sinister, haunting, and at times bizarre lyrics. Play her on repeat.
Track: DIRTY TECH
New piece from her 3rd full-length in 6 years,
titled Play Me. It’ll drop on March 13th. More
info here.
“I was kind of musing about, is my next boss going to be an AI chatbot? We’re the first ones whose lights are going to go out — not the tech billionaires. It’s so abstract that people can’t comprehend.”
TUTV: Former Sonic Youth icon has found her niche as a solo artist. She experiments with synths, loops, overdubs, and other studio tricks, as she does also here again with this 2nd taster from the upcoming 3rd album, appropriately and sarcastically titled Dirty Tech.
Band: BLEACHERS Who: The moniker of American multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff, who worked under several other aliases and who composed
4 soundtracks, so far, too.
“An optimistic record that feels lovestruck and hopeful.”
TUTV: Bleachers always make me think a bit of Beirut and vice versa.
Both create relaxing atmospherics with multi-layered tunes, inventively
constructed, like Jack Antonoff shows here once more with this new
glorious pop symphony.
One of the 23 tracks performed by big-name bands/artists on a new album,
named Help, with all benefits going to War Child. An organisation that shapes
systems that protect and support the well-being of children affected by conflict.
War Child UK: Website
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Band: THE ORIELLES Who: 3 thrilling indies
from West Yorkshire, UK.
Track: TEARS ARE
Newest single from album #5, named Only You Left.
It’ll come our way on March 13th. Order info here.
Esmé Hand-Halford (bassist/vocalist) about the song: “You could think of
something deeply human. But you could also answer it in a completely linguistic
sense and think of a tear as a symbol or an image.”
TUTV: Near-whispering vocals and musing thoughts about tears
surrounded by creaking guitars until the long acoustic outro.
Former Sonic Youth icon KIM GORDON (aged 72) launched her 2nd solo album, titled The Collective last year in March. Another noise-distorted exploration of industrial sounds. A worthy follow-up to her startling 2019 debut No Home Record.
And Gordon isn’t running out of effervescent sonic ideas. She already bagged
her 3rd full-length, titled PLAY ME. It’ll land on March 13th. More info here.
Press info: “Kim Gordon‘s vision of art and noise has come sharper into focus just
as readily as it has changed—a paradigm of possibility that, four decades on, still
feels like a dare. Play Me is distilled and immediate, expanding Gordon’s sonic
palette to include more melodic beats and the motorik drive of krautrock.”
Along with the news comes the first single NOT TODAY.
KG: “I started singing in a way I hadn’t sung in a long time. This other voice came out.”
TUTV: Make some room, just like Gordon does (below in the clip) and make room for some swaying movements. It’s another musical affair this time. More straightforward, more rock, more zip. Whatever Kim says I’m gonna play her today. You should too.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
FULL JUKEBOX
.
The 10 new ones added this week
TRACK-BY-TRACK
Photo by Emilyn Cardona
Band: CARDINALS Who: Indie rock 4-piece
from York, Ireland.
Euan Manning (frontman) “To me, it’s a song about reflection, looking
at what went wrong but also at what went right. The worst and the best.
Its climax crowns love as an overwhelmingly positive force, whichever type
of love that may be. It’s a change of pace for us and definitely feels like
a bridging moment for what’s to come next.”
Guitar pop at its uplifting best.
A tantalizing, play on repeat tune.
Is that an accordion I hear midway?
Totally cool.
Band: SURRENDER THE GHOST
Who: Guitar-layered team from Columbus, Ohio.
With a focus on good hangs and brotherhood, creating
music has simply become a byproduct of everything has
built through friendship and love.
Track: WE DON’T DO PITY
Cut from their debut EP Don’t Mind Me for which
a brand new video (watch below) is online now.
Expect about a hundred shoegaze-layered
guitars speeding from start to finish,
grabbing your aural attention from the get-go.
Energetic vocals complete the sonic picture.
Artist: KIT ORION Who: Musical project of Cambridge songwriter,
producer, and DJ Caitlyn O’Brien.
Track: DEEP BLUE
From her debut LP Bottle Grin,
out on October 24.
Album artwork
Deep Blue is an evocative eletro-pop tune swinging
forth and back, with O’Brien’s seducing and crystalline
voice absorbing attention all the way trough.
Daily noise that works faster than a stream of caffeine
10 October 2024
Former Sonic Youth icon KIM GORDON launched
her 2nd solo album, titled The Collective last March.
It got mixed reviews, as (I also think) the record misses the coherence
of her previous, her debut solo album No Home Record from 2019.
Yesterday, a deluxe edition of The Collective went online (stream it below).
It contains 2 new songs, including this one, called BANGIN’ ON THE FREEWAY.
Wake op people,
and join Gordon
on her turbulent trip.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
FULL JUKEBOX
240 songs
The 10 new ones added this week
TRACK-BY-TRACK
Band: THE RETROGRADE Who: Intense rock unit
from Tallahassee, Florida.
Band: HUGE MOLASSES TANK EXPLODES Who: Italian outfit who offer a kaleidoscopic experience,
ranging from rugged and evocative beats to dreamy
soundscapes, inspired by post-punk and psych-wave.
Track: BOW OF GOLD
Single from their upcoming 3rd full length,
named ‘III’, and coming out in September.
Psych-pop at its dreamiest best.
Harmonious and starry-eyed.
