Released: 2024
Genres: Industrial Hip-Hop, Trap, Experimental Rock
The Musiquarium’s The Collective Review Score: 9 out of 10
Back in 2019, Kim Gordon released her first solo album, No Home Record, which showed Gordon embracing her freedom as a solo artist, venturing into new territory like trap and industrial hip-hop, while still retaining the alternative, noise elements she is known for. Five years later, and The Collective leans even harder into its abrasive, dissonant beats.
Released at age 70, Kim Gordon sounds both as wise and youthful as she’s ever sounded, as she criticizes technology and its spell it has over modern society, while also embracing it. This album is a reflection of the hypnosis that our phones have on us (as evident by the cover art) and how so many of us have swapped out oxygen for Instagram and Tik Tok. Some people may reduce the message of the album to “old person doesn’t like technology”, but most people would be shocked if you told them this was the work of a septuagenarian.
Lead single and opener BYE BYE introduces the distorted synths and trap beats, which she began toying with on her debut. Her classic spoken-word vocals sound like they haven’t aged a day since the mid-eighties. The Candy House mixes 808s and sounds of broken glass.
I Don’t Miss My Mind is as nasty as it is blissful and displays Gordon’s knack for weaponizing abstract noise and turning it into avant garde art. On Trophies, she sings about her bowling trophies. I’m a Man may be an attack on her ex-husband/ex-songwriting partner, Thurston Moore, or a playful and satirical take on sexism and gender.
The Collective was quite polarizing, with some listeners seeing the album as adventurous and experimental, where others just see a 70 year old ex-art school student trying to sound like she’s 20 again, but goddamn, what other veteran rocker is doing this type of music and doing it this well?
For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Kim Gordon on Discogs.
Back to the 2024 Album Reviews Guide or the Kim Gordon Reviews page.
Written by Brett Nippard
Leave a Reply