Producer/collaborator Justin Raisen has unlocked another level of Kim Gordon’s eternal (no Sonic Youth pun intended) coolness on the three solo albums they have created together. The indie icon’s last album, The Collective, was a triumph, blending her inimitable voice and provocative, humorous commentary with trunk-rattling trap beats and blasts of abrasive noise. Play Me blends Gordon‘s inimitable delivery with a fuller range of sounds for another stellar collection, this time incorporating more industrial-leaning noise and classic hip-hop, as if the swagger and satire of her former band’s classic “Kool Thing” were the jumping-off point, but de-emphasising the guitar focus.
The title track opens the record with a 1990s-inspired hip hop beat and Gordon asking for make-out jams over horns. “GIRL WITH A LOOK” has a propulsive beat. “NO HANDS” recalls the abrasiveness of the best moments on The Collective, with its industrial thump. “BLACK OUT” has a hypnotic beat and an air of menace in the noise guitar that pops up and disappears again under Gordon’s provocations.
Raisen’s blend of pretty and noisy is sublime on “NOT TODAY”, a song that isn’t far off from what Sonic Youth might sound like today, that irresistible blend of cool, catchy, and alluring that typifies their best work. Elsewhere, “DIRTY TECH” is a savage takedown, with the laugh-out-loud “Are you my white-collar service worker?”
Picking apart the state of things is the primary focus, and she does it in grand style. Gordon has always poked at the insecurities of weak men, and here she goes all in. Judging by the comments section of a recent interview with The Guardian, she’s still capable of triggering snowflakes. It is sad to see men bristle at the now-famous “Girls Invented Punk Not England” t-shirt. Stumping for the Sex Pistols‘ boy band version of punk as the “true” start of the genre is truly a sad look.
Elsewhere, the quarter-century blues are in full effect. Gordon calls out a certain tech bro who wants to go to Mars on “SUBCON” (“You wanna go to Mars and then what? Then what? Then what?”) and calls out the dreams that have become unattainable, like home ownership.
The final track is a callback to The Collective highlight “BYE BYE”, and the lyrics are all words the current President has more or less banned (“Non-conforming/Sex/Hate speech” and plenty more), with an accompanying video that references Bob Dylan‘s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. It’s a powerful statement, a kindred spirit to classic Sonic Youth tracks like “Youth Against Fascism” and “Chapel Hill” in its directness.
At just under 30 minutes, PLAY ME has the spontaneity and rawness of a surprise-release mixtape, but the fully realised sound of an artist operating at the peak of her powers. On paper, it sounds implausible, having Gordon flow over dense beats, but in practice, it is one of the most exciting reinventions in recent memory. Gordon and Raisen have crafted the perfect next chapter for her across these three albums, overlaying the most compelling aspects of her vocals and iconography over a contemporary sound that is just so right. As Gordon says in “BLACK OUT”, you don’t trump her; she trumps you.