With live music on lock down (like everything else currently in New York City) live streams and old concerts have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. While this current state of pandemic separation is in order we will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and you can always check out or weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past. Please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: Kim Gordon talks with Carrie Brownstein
Kim Gordon discusses her new book No Icon with Carrie Brownstein tonight at 8pm EST on Zoom.
RtBE has not read the book yet but it is on our list. To get in the mood for the discussion here is a tune from Kim Gordon's last album, 2019's No Home Record which we reviewed for Glide.
Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2024's Favorite Albums Part 3: Top Five.
In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation; click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20 so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.
Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, Spotify, or singles for us.
The number ten just works for this, so here is the second part of our top ten, numbers five through one. You can see the back end of our top ten and the honorable mentions albums that just missed our top ten as well.
Like all of our lists or 'best of', these are meant to start conversations, not end them...
This time around shit has gotten real. While we don't agree with the overhyped title of the review (which we didn't write) the album is top notch. We used the phrase "mental breakdown dance music" in the review and think that sums it up. Gordon herself has stated:
“On this record, I wanted to express the absolute craziness I feel around me right now. This is a moment when nobody really knows what truth is, when facts don’t necessarily sway people, when everyone has their own side, creating a general sense of paranoia. To soothe, to dream, escape with drugs, TV shows, shopping, the internet, everything is easy, smooth, convenient, branded. It made me want to disrupt, to follow something unknown, maybe even to fail.”
She nailed it, all except the fail part, this record is wild in a good way and a clear success.
Here are our all of our favorite albums of 2024. This is the year end review, all in one place.
Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.
It is of Kim Gordon's first solo release, No Home Record.
RtBE love Gordon, having followed her as the coolest lady back in the day with Sonic Youth, her work with Body/Head and are now happy to dig her first release.
It fits that she found a home in modern LA and can give her spin on the city, culture etc. through this album and hopefully beyond.
The duo teamed up for Converse EP series CONS EP Vol 3. The track is an angsty lo-fi jam called "Slow Boy" that has a punk sneer and a fuzz drenched foundation punctuated by Mascis classic runs.
That is some noiserock goodness right there. Hopefully the two long time friends will continue to make music together.
RtBE would like to wish a Happy 60th Birthday to one of our personal favorites, Thurston Moore.
Just yesterday RtBEreviewed his ex-wife, Kim Gordon's newest release and mentioned that we were fans of her's for a long time. Sonic Youth came into RtBE's ears circa 1991. Goo had been out for a bit and was our first exposure to their noise-rock styling. While that album was solid RtBE happened to purchase Dirty the week it was released and were instantly hooked/transformed.
Kim and Thurston haven't left the brain for long over the years as they have consistently been engaging; Sonic Youth were an incredibly formative to our tastes and playing. From the first time we saw them, to bumping into Thurston on Broadway or Kim and Lee at various shows throughout the years, to reviewing later albums to attending the bands last American show, they have/and will always have a place in our heart.
One of the coolest live moments for RtBE took place back in 2008. Moore and his guitar slinger in crime Lee Ranaldo crafted a whirling electric odyssey in the old Knitting Factory for a Fender Jazzmaster showcase celebrating the guitars 50th year. The tiny venue was excellent for them to showoff their interlinking style and sound. We also caught Moore at the Solid Sound Festival when he was focusing on his Demolished Thoughts record and messing around with Pillow Wand.
To celebrate let's listen to some songs. We will start with RtBE's favorite Moore's solo song, then continue with a story/interview/few acoustic live tunes before closing with the best Sonic Youth song (you can dive into the better extended version here if you got twenty five minutes to spare).
For Lower, his first album in over eight years, Benjamin Booker has reinvented his sound, moving away from the rambling, soulful, gospel influenced garage rock towards more artsy, beats based, restrained offerings. Lower is dark, lonely and isolated, not a comeback album, more of a reinvention that sounds like a personally evolving work in progress.
With a self titled release and a picture of his mother on the cover it would be easy to guess that Thurston Moore would be continuing with his acoustic based introspective solo project work on The Best Day, but here instead he offers a Sonic Youth-light effort that affirms he can still make glorious noise, but doesn't showcase anything new from the legend.
Bringing back into the fold drummer Steve Shelley and adding James Sedwarda and Debbie Googe in the Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon roles respectively, Moore has assembled a unit that sounds a lot like his famous one. The music itself on The Best Day plays like copyrighted SY action if not as abrasive and right off the bat the group gets exploratory.
Opener "Speak To The Wild" roles out easily and builds with distinct guitars and a steady beat for over eight plus minutes. "Forevemore" ups the game in the same vein going for almost twelve minutes through different soundscapes of experimental post punk rock. These are the two longest running tracks on the disk and set the tone that the group is not afraid to free up and improvise. They also happen to be the most satisfying overall efforts as the interplay works well.
After those two run their course the band becomes tighter with the punky "Detonation" and "Vocabularies" before expanding again for the closing combo of the excellent seven minute instrumental "Grace Lake" and "Germs Burn". Musically there is not much different from the later day Sonic Youth it is just the lyrics and vocals that can begin to get stale.
While Sedwards is a great guitar foil and Googe brings her rhythmic noise pedigree from My Bloody Valentine not having Ranaldo and Gordon to vocally change the script can lead to Moore overload. While his vocals have never been his strong point, his lyrics have been very poetic and here nothing really sticks or hits home. The strongest lyrics seem to be regarding mixtape making love on "Tape" as Moore sounds more honest here then repeating "I Want To Love You Forevermore" over and over again.
With Chelsea Light Moving's excellentone off release Moore felt invigorated, aggressive and still expanding his musical and lyrical horizons. Here it sounds like he went back to a safe musical place and one he has visited so often it seems a touch derivative. While longtime fans (present company included) will find solace in the familiar clashing guitars, The Best Day isn't the freshest, something he mentioned his famous band was lacking...not much has changed solo.
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We love Thurston, but this one didn't really speak to us as some of his recent past releases have, even though there isn't much wrong with it, it made us just reach for a SY album.
Anyway, support the artist here, buy the album here and peep some video below:
The final US show the fantastic Sonic Youth ever played is captured on this special release as the August 12th 2011 Williamsburg, NYC Waterfront set from the noise rock legends is now available on vinyl from Silver Current Records.
Having attended this show, which at the time no one knew would be the bands last, there was a sense of something special in the air. The previous few years found the band revisiting past albums with strong shows, but this career ranging affair was unique and powerfully played. Lovingly captured here, this gorgeous night from the hometown band will now live on.
The setlist was created by drummer Steve Shelley and as he explains it:
“This show was a culmination of a run of really special outdoor summertime shows in New York City for us, starting in ’92 with Summerstage in Central Park when we played with Sun Ra. For the Williamsburg Waterfront show I wrote out the set list to present to the band and it was a lot of material we hadn’t played in a while, a lot of deep cuts, so I wasn’t sure if everybody would feel like doing it. After worrying about which songs the band might say yes or no to, I threw those concerns out the window and I just made a list of songs that I thought would be a great set. We practiced the week of the show at our space in Hoboken and put the set together. First we’d try and make sure we had a guitar in the song’s tuning, then we’d try to remember the arrangement and try and put it together, sometimes re-learning bar by bar. In the end I think the whole song list made it through. Even as early as ’86 and ’87 we stopped playing ‘Death Valley 69’ and ‘Brave Men Run’ with any regularity. We’d just get excited about new material coming into the set and songs would get ‘retired’ and wouldn’t get played again for years. So on this particular night in Brooklyn a lot of those retired songs and deep cuts got dusted off and played for this show. It turned out to be a pretty special event with a really special song list.”
The band (Kim Gordon - voc, gtr Mark Ibold - Bass Thurston Moore - voc, gtr Lee Ranaldo - voc, gtr Steve Shelley - drums) tore into this old material right off the bat with that combo of "Brave Men Run (In My Family) > "Death Valley ’69" deploying scratchy layers of guitars, feedback, rumbling low end, and desperate vocals to recall the groups early noise days with passion and energy.
Another old warhorse noise number "Kotton Krown" found Moore singing the prophetic words for this night, "New York City is forever, kitty I'm wasted in time and you're never ready Fading, fading, celebrating". Shelley puts his powerful drums to work with the head banging "Kill Yr. Idols" while Ranaldo gets the crowd revved up to go on "Eric's Trip". The muscle car guitars and motoring sounds continue for "Sacred Trickster", the cataclysmic "Calming The Snake", and the grooving "What We Know" all off of the bands final album (the underrated The Eternal), these were the newest song played on this evening, yet all fit in with the deep cuts/classics wonderfully.
Speaking of deep cuts, "Starfield Road" is up next with crushing bass from Ibold, while the free jazz gets rolled out for the extended screeching and pounding of old school tunes "I Love Her All The Time" and "Ghost Bitch" from the early days of SY. The slow burn of "Tom Violence" builds with sexy power while the unhinged screaming guitars and Gordon's strong vocals slam on "Drunken Butterfly" ending the main set of tunes.
The encores on this night were special as the group continued to delve into their past with feminist force of "Flower" and a rare "Psychic Heart" from Moore's solo career. Both were nice, but it was a gorgeous rendition of the band's "Sugar Kane" that really hit the sold out summer crowd squarely in the chest, the highlight of the whole night.
Feeling extra giving the band returned for a second encore that saw them dig deep and unleash the chugging, noise rock blast of "Inhuman", ending the night, and basically their whole career, on loud clanging feedback, just the way these legends should.
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On a personal note, Sonic Youth are one of our all-time favorite acts, and RtBE has owned an audience taped copy of this show since it happened, so the music is well loved to these ears. It is nice to now own a soundboard recording on vinyl, but it is also bitter sweet as the band was still kicking ass at such a high artistic level when they broke up. It is another reminder, like with the recently broken up Screaming Females, enjoy this amazing music live while you can.
The duo Body/Head consisting of Kim Gordon and Bill Nace will release their second album titled The Switch on July 13th.
The artwork, track listing and tour dates are below. The duo also released the first song from the album titled "You Don't Need". We reviewed their first album, Coming Apart, for Glide when it was released in 2013 and will hopefully do the same for this one as we are always interested in what Kim is up to. Upon first listen this is some noise spacious stuff, less concerned with form or structure.
The Switch tracklist:
1. Last Time
2. You Don’t Need
3. In The Dark Room
4. Change My Brain
5. Reverse Hard
Body/Head – 2018 Tour Dates: 6/21 – Cincinnati, OH – No Response Festival 7/13 – Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge 7/14 – San Francisco, CA – The Lab 7/19 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere * 7/20 – Kingston, NY – BSP * 7/21 – New Haven, CT – Statehouse * 7/22 – Greenfield, MA – Root Cellar * 7/24 – Boston, MA – Great Scott * 7/26 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA * 9/6-8 – Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Festival 9/15 – Austin, TX – Beerland * denotes w/ Gunn-Truscinski Duo
It is of Body/Head's newest release Coming Apart. The group is Kim Gordon's first Sonic Youth outing as she whirls guitar noise with Bill Nace, trading six string scratches back and forth.
This is strictly arty noise rock, and not for those wanting easy soothing listens. It made me laugh when in the press release they said they were going more for songs, no verse-chorus-bridge here, but that is too strict of a definition for the duo.
I like this stuff and enjoyed reviewing it but I know it is not for everyone so giving it a star rating is always difficult for people to judge it. This isn't the best of it's kind, but it is pretty solid for this type of stuff also the more I spun it the more I dug it which is always a positive.
On PILL's first full length they amp the chaotic feelings and craft some dynamic post punk for a new generation coming to age in a odd millennium. The Brooklyn based four-piece (Veronica Torres, Benjamin Jaffe, Andrew Spaulding, Jonathan Campolo) came to some national attention with their first EP that showcased some fantastic horns and a bubbling angst, both still present on Convenience but the band seems to be playing with more urgency.
"Which Is True?" scrambles around, frantically looking for meaning but "My Rights" is more laser focused with the lyrics "Is this situation based on power?/My body, my queerness, my decision to bring life./My body my fight - Congressman wants to steal all of my rights." That finding off a voice and direction helps the band as their music touches on different genres and flights of fancy.
The bass and drums excitingly drive the way for "Fetish Queen" as Torres deals with sexual restrictions, misinformation and desires. "Dead Boys" tosses around gender roles and experimental offerings, but sticks around a bit to long while "100% Cute" does the same thing but with more aggression. Closer "Medicine" proclaims the war is over, but for PILL it seems to be just beginning.
There are art tracks that work more as sonic landscapes ("J-E-N-O-V-A", "Sex With Santa") leaning towards some "no-wave" but the band is most engaging when they get their drum/bass/sax combo cooking behind their fierce front woman.Veronica Torres may not be for everyone, but her Kim Gordon spoken word style can be engaging especially when she elevates her lyrics above mere poetry. Pill are still finding their way, but aren't we all in this Brave New World littered with Convenience?
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Support the band, buy the album, stream at bandcamp (and below) and peep some video.
That is really all we have to say (not really but we need to stop now or we won't ever), read the review, read our take on YLAOM and watch the videos below...here's hoping they officially release this in the near future, it was pure boosh from the opening to closing notes.
"Little Fury Things" with Lee Ranaldo on vocals
"Tame" Pixies Cover with Frank Black
"Alone" with Kyle Spence, Al Cisneros and Kurt Vile
"Don't" with Kim Gordon fucking killing it one of the most emotional/symbolic outings I have seen. Everyone was thinking of her divorce and it made it even more amazing....
One of RtBE's favorite albums of all time turns 30 today asSonic Youth'sDirty was released on July 21st, 1992.
Back in the days of cassettes, this one stayed in my Walkman for a large chunk of fall 1992 and beyond. I can still vividly remember sitting in my high school library, study hall and home room blasting this loud in those puffy headphones. Sonic Youth and Dirty particularly influenced everything from my love of loud noisy guitars to fashion sense to desire to see other bands like SY (Dinosaur Jr. etc). While other albums were bigger in the grunge era, this one spoke to my young ears and mind the most.
Everyone has their own favorite SY album, but when asked recently about my personal favorite, Dirty topped the list easily. We will probably set aside a post to go over our list of favorites from the New York noise rock legends at some point in the future, but from the exhilaratingly powerful, bordering on beautiful rock ("Sugar Kane", "Wish Fulfillment", "Chapel Hill", "Purr") to the avantgarde ("Creme Brulee") to the punk rage ("Nic Fit", "Youth Against Fascism") to just flat our dirty as titled rumbling bass line and riffs ("100%") everything just connected on this release.
A major part of the appeal was Kim Gordon's feminist based, confusion-as-sex-as-violence designed lyrics under guttural and breathy vocals ("Drunken Butterfly", "Shoot", "Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit", "Swimsuit Issue", "JC"). She was (and remains) both alluring and scary, capturing the immediate (and sadly future) cultural sexual zeitgeist in a profound way. Thurston had his chugging/slicing riffs combining with Lee's spacey wandering tone, both zig zag up and down fret boards, all the while supported by Steve's strong, but never intrusive drumming that kept everything together.
Years later when I checked out the special edition release and found out "Genetic" was left off this album, I sided with Ranaldo who almost quit the band because of this decision. I am not sure what the band was thinking then, but to be fair the other outtakes of "Stalker", "Hendrix Necro" and "The Destroyed Room" are all top notch, the band was clearly in the groove recording with Butch Vig. We will never know why they left certain songs off or why they didn't release "Sugar Kane" as the lead single, but it all works out eventually (even the dissolution of this great band) and now this gem of a noise rock release turns thirty.
The first bass line I learned was the Ramones...then Sonic Youth's "100%". When my first band played our first show "100%" made the cut, The Ramones didn't, and this was about 15 years after this album came out. While I was slow to get onstage to play music, the influence of this album still loomed large when I began my live music adventure. It still looms large today.
Celebrate the best way possible, buy the album and play it loud.
A deep but lean toned groove starts off Pill's self titled EP becoming more ominous with squiggling light guitars and a predatory saxophone. By the time Veronica Torres disaffected lyrics enter, the scene has already been set for "T.V. Wedding".
The dynamic between Torres spoken word, relationship/creepy lyrics and the bands pulsing sense of dread make this tug of war in the post punk realm appealing. Ben Jaffe's rock sax makes the band unique in this day and age but the squanks which come to play on "Hotline" add more guitar screech mimicry then free-jazz freak-out.
The band gets its noise on for "Personality" flaw lead by guitarist Jon Campolo's warbling otherworldly clangs or Jaffe's sax, it is hard to discern. What does come across is the bands willingness to go in lots of different layered directions, at times reminding of a toned down Rollins Band, a more condensed Kim Gordon led Sonic Youth or even a less song structured Pere Ubu.
The energy of the group never goes above a mild head bob, and it would nice to see them go over the edge, but the textured sounds and experimental feel are both intriguing on Pill's first offering, a very positive sign for fans of adventurous rock and roll.
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Really intriguing NYC group getting lots of press right now.
We reviewed Body/Head's first release and liked it slightly better than this one. For some reason this one really didn't do it for RtBE. Growing up huge fans of Kim Gordon she seems a bit wasted here.
That said it is a mood record that can connect when the time/world is right so we will def keep it around and try again later in the year.
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