Tag: reviews

Getting Noisy

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“Flow Critical Lucidity” is the new album by former Sonic Youth alternative rock guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore released on September 20, 2024. Featuring seven tracks, it’s Moore’s ninth proper solo album overall.

Writer/poet Radieux Radio, whom Moore has collaborated with on previous projects, wrote the lyrics for the entirety of the album, according to AllMusic. These lyrics tend toward counterculture references as well as ethereal descriptions of otherworldly scenes, and are of a similar mind as Moore’s in the past.

My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe plays bass throughout the album. And Netativland member Jon Leidecker contributes electronics that span from foreboding sound clouds to more straightforward grooves.

All in all, Moore doesn’t do much to change his established sound on “Flow Critical Lucidity.” But the substantial contributions from Radio and the band allow the entire crew to go deeper and longer on Moore’s signature no wave guitar thrashing and heavy, transcendent bliss-outs.

The album in sum would seem to offer experimental, avant-garde and noise rock enthusiasts the chance to explore new sonic territories featuring a diverse range of textures. All bolstered by the band’s complex arrangements and musical sophistication. As well as Moore’s technically skilled, intricate guitar work, and the intellectual depth of the album’s lyrics.

An alternative rock icon, Moore’s work with Sonic Youth merged experimental art rock tendencies with unconventional guitar tunings. His abstract, poetic lyrics and perpetually mysterious aura were core ingredients of Sonic Youth during their 30-plus-year run. But these tendencies also bled into countless side projects and less-frequent solo albums such as 1994’s “Psychic Hearts.”

After Sonic Youth broke up in 2011, Moore continued to pursue his ambitions with projects like his band Chelsea Light Moving. As well as noisy collaborations with Merzbow and John Zorn. And solo albums that continued exploring the type of moody, twisting art rock that made him an icon with his pioneering indie rock band.

Moore was born in 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida. At age 18, he dropped out of college after one semester and moved to New York City to take part in the punk and downtown art rock scenes of the mid-1970s that were then forming.

The guitarist then immersed himself in the underground poetry and music communities, exposing himself to a constant flow of new ideas and artistic influences. He took in live readings from punk poet Patti Smith, and was also moved by composer Glenn Branca’s experimental approach to guitar.

In 1980, Moore co-founded Sonic Youth to bring aspects of Branca’s avant guitar techniques to noisy art rock songs. The band then became Moore’s main focus for the next three decades.

Pop/Rock Animal

Charlie CurnowLeave a comment

“Indoor Safari” is a new album from veteran UK pub rocker Nick Lowe in collaboration with Nashville, TN rock & roll combo Los Straitjackets released on September 13, 2024.

Lowe began touring and recording with Los Straitjackets in the late 2010s. They put out three singles between 2018 and 2022, which were re-recorded for this year’s release, according to AllMusic, Lowe’s first album in years.

As a whole, “Indoor Safari” is about half remakes and half new songs, all played in an old-fashioned rock & roll style. A few of the songs update Lowe’s crooner persona of recent albums. But the band strips off some of the layers of sophistication and gloss, while adding some surf rock guitar work.

Overall, the album would seem to offer fans of classic rock and pop, including British-influenced styles, a signature blend of nostalgia, humor and relatable themes. All combined under Lowe’s distinctive musical approach.

Lyrics about domesticity, everyday life and the passage of time might resonate with listeners who appreciate a touch of sentimentality combined with wry wit and an observational lyrical bent.

Meanwhile, the incorporation of musical elements from a mixture of genres including country and the blues, along with rock and pop could appeal to broader audiences and keep listeners engaged. And explorations of universal themes like relationships, loss and the human experience, delivered through Lowe’s heartfelt and honest songwriting, might feel relevant to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

A pioneer of pub rock, Lowe was a pivotal figure in the early days of punk, had subsequent hits as a power popper and then had a dignified third act as an elegant crooner.

He started his career in Brinsley Schwarz, a collection of hippies that helped create the back-to-basics pub rock circuit of the early 1970s. And the scene that eventually mutated into punk rock.

After the split-up of Brinsley Schwarz, Lowe aligned with punk and new wave, serving as house producer for Stiff Records and helming seminal LPs for the Damned and Elvis Costello. It was in this period that he earned the nickname “Basher” for his fast and rough production style, and also helped establish punk’s D.I.Y. aesthetics.

During new wave’s heyday, Lowe co-led the band Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and the pair regularly appeared on each other’s solo albums into the early 80s. Lowe’s high-water mark during this time was the 1979 power pop album “Labor of Lust,” which featured the hit single “Cruel to Be Kind.”

After Rockpile disbanded, Lowe moved steadily toward country-rock. He experienced a renaissance with the 1994 album “The Impossible Bird” featuring the song “The Beast in Me.” This led him toward his latter-day sophisticated crooner incarnation. A style he maintained even after hiring Los Straitjackets to lend a little rock & roll instrumental support for a series of EPs.