For her second solo album, American alternative rock icon Kim Gordon, co-founder of Sonic Youth, wanted something “more rhythmic” than the previous one. No Home Record (2019), she mentioned to her collaborator and director Justin Raisen who, in recent years, has worked for Drake, Kid Cudi, Teezo Touchdown, among other American rap stars. This presented the musician with a handful of trap instrumental compositions, which Gordon worked on in her own noisy way, adding learned and visceral layers of electric guitars, smearing the flashy rhythms with dense atmospheres on which she sings and recites (and yes , rap!) texts taking a caustic look at the modern world – the consumer society on BYE in the opening, the dangerous stupidity of men on the brilliant and boring I’m a Man, a song performed in a disturbing deadpan tone. And it is brilliant, full of the audacity and this vision which defined the long and rich career of the artist who, at 70 years old, has lost none of his relevance and his sensitivity.
Click here to view an excerpt.
This text is part of our Opinion section, which promotes a plurality of voices and ideas. It is a column and, as such, it reflects the values and position of its author and not necessarily those of the Duty.
To watch on video