Right now, the former Sonic Youth co-leader Kim Gordon is in the midst of a ridiculously cool run of solo records, all of them recorded with the avant-pop producer Justin Raisen. We're getting a new one called Play Me next month. On lead single "Not Today," Gordon leaned into the bleary melodies that have largely faded into the background on recent releases. Today, we get to hear the other side — the one where this underground rock veteran is making music that's fully in conversation with what someone like Playboi Carti is doing.
On her new song "Dirty Tech," Kim Gordon chants about encroaching AI over a nervous, hiccuping trap beat. Gordon's ultra-cool, sarcastic delivery is the same kind of spoken-word that she used to use on Sonic Youth tracks, and her lyrics come with the same layers of irony: "I like it when you talk dirty tech to me." But now, it makes a different kind of sense as both commentary and engagement with today's rage and hyperpop music.
The lyrical point of "Dirty Tech" is both obvious and right-on. In a press release, Gordon says, "I was kind of musing about, is my next boss going to be an AI chatbot? We’re the first ones whose lights are going to go out — not the tech billionaires. It’s so abstract that people can’t comprehend." In the Moni Haworth-directed video, we see Gordon alone in a ghostly, abandoned office. She's supposed to represent a displaced and outmoded corporate drone, but even at 72, she's too glamorous to fully sell the role. When she wears a call-center headset, it looks like a Janet Jackson mic. Below, check out the "Dirty Tech" video and Gordon's upcoming European tour dates.
TOUR DATES:
4/12 - Nantes, France @ Variations Festival
4/14 - London, UK @ O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
4/15 - Brussels, Belgium @ Ancient Belgique
4/17 - Paris, France @ Le Trianon
4/19 - Berlin, Germany @ Huxley’s Neue Welt
4/20 - Wroclaw, Poland @ A2
4/21 - Warsaw, Poland @ Progesja
Play Me is out 3/13 on Matador.
