Kim Gordon, "Sketch Artist" (Matador)
Following the break-up of Sonic Youth in 2011, Kim Gordon has forged the most uncompromising musical path among the vastly influential New York avant-rock band's former members, just nudging out her ex-husband, Thurston Moore. Gordon's deconstructed-rock duo with Bill Nace, Body/Head, and now her solo LP, No Home Record (out October 11), finds the 66-year-old bassist/guitarist/vocalist doing the opposite of resting on her laurels. She's an inspiration to all aging rockers striving to expand creative parameters at a time when most musicians have long since ceased exploring new approaches.
The 2016 single "Murdered Out" foreshadowed this new album with its brutal, mechanized beats and jagged noise debris (it's also on No Home Record). Oddly, the album was mainly produced by Justin Raisen, who's best known for working with more pop-oriented artists (Charli XCX, Ariel Pink, Sky Ferreira). What ensues here is a hybrid of noise, rugged electronic music, and the sort of lean, forbidding rock that Gordon patented in Sonic Youth—although "Hungry Baby" recalls the Gun Club circa Fire of Love, but with more sick guitar distortion. Honestly, this explosive rocker sounds like it should be the first single from No Home Record, but Gordon refuses to be predictable.
"Sketch Artist" might be the most radical departure from what we know of Gordon's discography. It begins with what sounds like a lugubrious prog-rock fanfare (perhaps Henry Cow), but soon crushing bass pressure and splatting beats batter through in a manner similar to the Bug, and everything you thought you knew about Kim Gordon gets wiped out.
The lyrics are oblique, focusing on dead stares, wind chimes, and dreaming in tents, but Gordon's menacing whisper imbues them with grave meaning. Her vocal delivery is the only constant from past recordings, and it turns out to be just as evocative in this ravaging post-dubstep context.
