Genres: Experimental Hip-Hop, Experimental Rock, Trap, Industrial Hip-Hop
The Musiquarium’s PLAY ME Review Score: 8.5 out of 10
After fully immersing herself in the trap instrumentals of The Collective, Kim Gordon and returning producer Justin Raisen are back with perhaps her best-sounding batch of songs yet. Much like its predecessor, PLAY ME revolves around criticisms of technology, particularly the recent A.I. push (DIRTY TECH, BLACK OUT) and though detractors of The Collective may write the lyricism off as curmudgeonly, but the hysteria and anxieties surrounding technology (and the resulting human redundancy) are more valid than ever.
The title track starts the album off feeling like some sort of dystopian, sci-fi blaxploitation film, making for a riveting opener. The Sonic Youth reminiscent lead single, NOT TODAY, is a blend of post-punk, dream pop and krautrock; GIRL WITH A LOOK has a similar dreamy instrumental. Dave Grohl provides the beats on the bizarre BUSY BEE, though the song does sound more like a b-side than anything.
The ire of SUBCON seems to be directed towards a certain tech-obsessed billionaire, criticizing his short-sighted ambitions to have the elite abandon Earth for the substantially less-inhabitable Mars (“You wanna go to Mars and then what?”); then there’s POST EMPIRE which seems to target a particular western world leader. NAIL BITER is full of fuzzed-out, bass.
My one criticism with PLAY ME is BYEBYE25!, a 2025 remake of the opener from 2024’s The Collective, which changes the lyrics to reflect major and controversial topics of that year. It would make more sense to have left it as a non-album single, but seeing as I liked it the first time around (and it still bangs here), then its inclusion isn’t too big of an issue.
Although I preferred The Collective‘s more experimental and overall psychedelic production, PLAY ME refines the admittedly rough edges and abandons the density of that album’s dark sound, making for what’s probably her most rounded (and relatively accessible) solo album yet.
This album is short at just under 30 minutes and although I preferred The Collective‘s more experimental and overall psychedelic production, PLAY ME refines the admittedly rough edges of its predecessor and abandons the density of that album’s dark sound, making for what’s probably her most rounded (and relatively accessible) solo album yet — it isn’t as bold or challenging as The Collective was, but this is still an excellent work from the veteran alternative rocker. I was a fan of Kim Gordon long before she went solo, but I still never expected the bassist of Sonic Youth to be one of my favourite major artists of the 2020s and yet, here we are.
For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Kim Gordon on Discogs.
Back to the master 2026 Album Reviews Guide or the Kim Gordon Album Reviews page.
Written by Brett Nippard
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