On April 17th, Kim Gordon performed at Le Trianon theatre in Paris, playing her acclaimed new album PLAY ME in full as well as tracks from her previous solo albums The Collective and No Home Record. The full concert was filmed by ARTE and is now available to watch, an arresting document of Gordon’s current musical era. Gordon is backed by her band Emily Retsas (bass), Madi Voigt (drums), and Sarah Register (guitar).
Of Gordon’s recent show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, The Observer wrote, “You don’t miss Sonic Youth much at all tonight. This iteration of Kim Gordon is just so fierce, assured and delightful”, while The Times called it “an electrifying affirmation of avant-punk attitude from a veteran artist who is clearly not going gentle into that good night”.
Gordon’s third solo album PLAY ME was released in March via Matador Records to widespread acclaim. PLAY ME processes, in Gordon’s inimitable way, the collateral damage of the billionaire class: the demolition of democracy, technocratic end-times fascism, the A.I.-fueled chill-vibes flattening of culture – where dark humour voices the absurdity of modern life. But despite its frequent outward gaze, PLAY ME is an interior record, one in which a heightened emotionality pulses through physical jams, rejecting definitive statements in favor of an inquisitiveness that keeps Gordon searching, ever in process.
Kim Gordon, live at the Trianon, Paris – ARTE Concert
ARTE PERFORMANCE SETLIST:
0:19 PLAY ME
2:48 GIRL WITH A LOOK
5:31 NO HANDS
7:39 BLACK OUT
9:25 DIRTY TECH
11:55 NOT TODAY
15:29 BUSY BEE
18:39 SQUARE JAW
21:08 SUBCON
24:10 POST EMPIRE
26:50 NAIL BITER
29:16 BYE BYE
32:59 The Candy House
35:30 I’m a Man
39:49 Trophies
42:39 It’s Dark Inside
46:19 Psychedelic Orgasm
50:13 Paprika Pony
54:56 Cookie Butter
1:03:08 Cigarette
ACCLAIM FOR PLAY ME:
“Her third solo album arrives with high expectations which PLAY ME casually blows apart with an ultra-cool, avant-garde melding of punk, lo-fi dance and mangled hip-hop (…) she’s recorded what may be the ultimate album for life right now” – London Evening Standard *****
“Someone give Elon Musk a copy of this smart, probing album of art rock brutalism as soon as possible” – The Times ****
“Gordon is on a roll” – Financial Times
“She’s still ahead of the curve at 72” – Pigeons and Planes
“Exhilarating (…) “This music sounds brutalist, slabby, but its looming threat is tempered by the distinct sense of joy taken in its creation” – MOJO ****
“Explores new territory – swinging vintage hip-hop (“Play Me”), Klaus Dinger motorik (“Not Today”), late-MBV industrial clatter (“Busy Bee”, with help from Dave Grohl) – alongside Gordon’s now customary Carti-esque trap” – Uncut (9/10)
“Play Me provides a left turn that has no place being this jarring yet pleasurable from any ‘rock’ artist” – NME ****
“Genuinely wonderful. Inventive, strange, funny, visceral, sensuous, angry and all things in between” – Electronic Sound
“A fierce, funny record that dares AI (and everyone else) to keep up” – DORK
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