Real Life Rock Top 10, March 25, 2024
With tales of the Village Voice, Madonna on tour, language crimes, the most oppressive record ever made, the worst apartment building in Berkeley, and the never-ending adventures of the mole in the ground.
1. Kim Gordon, The Collective (Matador). Since Sonic Youth dissolved in 2011, then-bassist Kim Gordon has looked for a sound. She was always the most corrosive voice in the band, the most penetrating intelligence, the one with a sense of humor, the only one who winked. Even when the howls out of her throat seemed like nature gone wrong, you could feel her thinking, looking for the right word, the right hesitation, the precise rhythmic pause in what could seem like heedless noise. Gordon has gone through collaborations and two-person bands, toured and released a solo album, all while painting, designing, acting, publishing her book Girl in a Band, the collection Is It My Body?, the art book No Icon. But she never quite sounded as if she was where she wanted to be—or wanted to get.