Kim Gordon – PLAY ME
Kim Gordon has mastered a modern mixture of distorted guitar and intense trip-hop beats with the release of her most political solo album
With the release of PLAY ME, Kim Gordon has mastered a modern mixture of distorted guitar and intense trip-hop beats. Gordon’s lyricism throughout the album is more politically confrontational than her past two solo records. Perhaps the heightened political moment and technofascism has created a need for more pointed criticism. PLAY ME opens with Gordon singing over an R'n'B beat, sarcastically naming Spotify-curated playlists, 'Easy Rider, Spring Pop, Chill Vibes / Play me, feel free'. With discourse over the ethics of using streaming services having been overwhelmingly prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist, it’s fitting that an artist who’s been creating music years before the streaming heyday would be critical of this mode of musical consumption.
Stand-out single, DIRTY TECH sustains internet-inspired trip-hop beats with interspersed sounds of vinyl scratches, producing a danceable and anxious technofascist takedown. Gordon creates a much-needed paradox by using a soundscape so integral to the evolution of technology, while slamming the morally corrupting nature of such machine power with her lyrics. Even though the song can leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable due to its trip-hop beats, its grounding in rhythm differentiates Gordon’s use of these beats.
Listen to: NO HANDS, DIRTY TECH, NOT TODAY