Best of 2019 #5: Kim Gordon - No Home Record (Matador)

If you had told me in 2011 that the break up of Sonic Youth was going to be a good thing, I may have slapped you in the face while crying. Man, I loved Sonic Youth. But, their break up has given us more music from each individual in the band, and it's been uniformly great! It's also been interesting to see which member was instrumental in each part of the band's sound. Thurston Moore has given us the same moody, skronky guitar noise-rock that Sonic Youth was known for, and constistently ends up on my Top 10 lists. (2011, 2013). Kim Gordon has gone in some wildly extreme directions, first a wall-of-noise style instrumental guitar band with Bill Nace called Body/Head, a foray into visual art, a biography called Girl in a Band (which I desperately need to read still). some acting, an album with experimental band Glitterbust, and finally, in this year, the first proper solo album under her own name. No Home Record is a dense mix of experimental rock, guitar noise, skittering electronics, echoed vocals and ambient atmospheres. Kim Gordon continues to surprise with her range after 40 years in music.

Best of 2013 #4: Chelsea Light Moving - S/T (Matador)

It's been a bleak couple of years for Sonic Youth fans (like me), with the band on indefinite hiatus. But 2013 was a good year for side projects, with 3 albums coming out. First we had Lee Ranaldo and the Dust's Last Night on Earth, a solid noise/indy rock album. Then we had Kim Gordon's collaboration with Bill Nace, Body/Head, whose album of skronky guitar noise, Coming Apart, made my honourable mentions list (more on this soon). And Thurston Moore put together a new band, Chelsea Light Moving, who put out a great self titled album. Of the three albums, Chelsea Light Moving got closest to the Sonic Youth sound of old, and the sound they were recapturing in their last proper album, The Eternal (coincidentally, my favourite album of 2009). Those needing a Sonic Youth fix, check here first!

Best of 2011 #3: Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts

I've loved Sonic Youth ever since my first listen to Daydream Nation way back in the early 90s at CKUL in Lethbridge. Their sound totally rewired my brain and made me rethink a lot of what I thought about rock music. Their unique "wall of guitar noise" approach to music appealed to me, as did their later experiments in more textured indy rock. The members of the band are ruthlessly and unapologetically experimental. Guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore's latest solo effort is an often subtle album of understated guitar-based indy rock. Producer Beck Hansen's handiwork is apparent all of this album. Often the music less Moore's penchant for guitar skronk and more Hansen's tendency to layered, dense poppy rock. The collaboration produced some fantastic tracks though. If you're a fan of either Sonic Youth or Beck, you deserve to give this album a listen.

http://youtu.be/5wllPXb4lkI