Dancing About Architecture #2

The very wonderful TQ #72/73 is out this week. Please buy it & not just because it includes the following piece by yours truly that discusses the autobiographies of Sonic Youth alumni Kim Gordon & Thurston Moore -:

There are many different musical routes and experiences that have brought us all to this issue of TQ . Our interest in underground, experimental, outsider music could well have been engendered by an initial interest in one or more of the following genres, whether they encompass improvised or scripted practice: classical, jazz, folk, electronica (be that one or more of the ambient, dance or prog varieties) or rock, in any of its myriad forms. However, if your path involved detours among the many substrata of American post punk, including hardcore, straight edge, noise, or No Wave, I'd imagine the work of New York's Sonic Youth , especially during the 1980s, will have been of paramount important. Without a doubt, the vinyl triumvirate of Bad Moon Rising (1985), EVOL (1986) and Sister (1987), though markedly less avant gardethan the band's earliest material, are crucial highlights in the history of American art and noise rock, though everything the band released between their establishment in June 1981 and dissolution on November 14 ^, 2011, is of exceptional merit, even allowing for the fact that from Goo in 1990 onwards, Sonic Youth were a major label act, signed to Geffen Records .

Although Sonic Youth used both Richard Edson and Bob Bert as drummers in their early years, as well as Jim O'Rourke and former Pavement member Mark Ibold as bassists towards the end of the group's life, the quintessential line-up that played on most of Their greatest works consisted of Kim Gordon (bass/vocals), Thurston Moore (guitar/vocals), Lee Ranaldo (guitar/vocals) and Steve Shelley (drums). I only saw Sonic Youthin the flesh once. Having missed their 1986 tour, on account of residing in County Derry at the time (bands just didn't play in the north of Ireland back then), I caught them at Newcastle Riverside on March 17th ^, 1989. They were incredible. A stunning sonic maelstrom that almost literally lifted you off your feet. Perhaps not as extreme as Swans or as uncompromising as Big Black or as primal as Killdozer, but a seminal experience, nonetheless.

Musically, all the members of Sonic Youth were endlessly creative. As well as the band's 16 studio albums, the four of them participated in a baffling number of collaborations with many different musicians and released a shelf-bending series of solo records. Since the band's demise, both Moore (twice) and Ranaldo have played solo shows in Newcastle, at The Cumberland Arms in Byker of all places. Tickets sold out instantly and I didn't get to any of these gigs, but I did have dealings with both of the other members in 1994, interviewing them for Newcastle based listings magazine, Paint it Red . Steve Shelley, affable and charming, drummed for The Raincoats when they first reformed and I caught up with them backstage at Riverside between soundcheck and set for a relaxed chat. The other, considerably less enjoyable, encounter was a telephone interview with a tetchy Kim Gordon about her Riot Grrrl project, Free Kitten , that she'd formed with ex- Pussy Galore guitarist Julia Cafritz. I thought at the time, and still do now, that the Free Kitten project, especially the debut album Nice Ass , was an ill-disciplined, self-indulgent mess. I wasn't the only one to express that opinion, which Gordon was all too aware of. Presumably this is why she slammed down the phone on me after half an hour of small talk that studiously avoided reference to her new project, I asked when Sonic Youth would be getting back together. Fortunately this incident doesn't get a mention in Gordon's excellent 2015 autobiography, Girl in a Band , though in its pages, she still bristles at the reception Free Kitten got. Good job I didn't make mention of her Harry Crews outfit who released a steaming 12” pile of ordure in 1989.

Some important facts to consider: Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore married in 1984, had a daughter Coco in 1994 and precipitated Sonic Youth's public disintegration in 2011 when their marriage ended in highly acrimonious circumstances after Moore left Gordon for Eva Prinz, who he is now married to. Last year, Moore published his autobiography, Sonic Life , which is a very different beast to the one his ex-wife released 8 years previously, both in terms of content, approach, and attitude. In some ways, you'd think the two books are talking about a completely different set of experiences, rather than a shared, if disputed, narrative.

It was always a nagging regret of mine that I'd not read Gordon's book, which had been released to universal critical acclaim. That regret became an unquenchable thirst once I'd got about halfway through Moore's take. Her book is 273 pages long, concentrating on her childhood for about the opening quarter of the book, but focusing mainly on her and Moore's partnership, both from a personal and a musical perspective, with considerable emphasis on their daughter and her impact on their life . I know the cliché that time is a great healer, but back in 2015 both Kim Gordon and her daughter were absolutely decimated by Moore's desertion of the two of them. Girl in a Band features an unflinchingly honest account of the sudden disintegration of a previously happy, if not perhaps idyllic family circle, and how badly it affected both mother and daughter. In contrast, Sonic Life is 480 pages long, he spends the first couple of hundred pages cataloging all the records Moore loved in his early teenage years, then the gigs he and his best friend Harold drove to New York City from their home in suburban Connecticut , before he found a place to live in the Big Apple and formed Sonic Youth . From that point, we get an exhaustive, though completely fascinating, account of every album and tour the band embarked upon. In only the last chapter, barely a dozen pages in length, does Moore give his guilt-free account of how he turned his life round 180 degrees, in a matter-of-fact way that is astonishing for its lack of both emotion and insight . Frankly, I simply can't understand how such selfish, narcissistic actions can be validated by Sonic Life being awarded the accolade of Rough Trade's Music Book of the Year for 2023.

I'm glad I read both books and I certainly won't allow the revelations, or otherwise, gleaned from either publication to influence my attitude to Sonic Youth's extensive back catalogue, though I was certainly more interested in investigating Gordon's 2024 album , The Collective , than in anything Moore may release in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad Blood

 NUFC; September 2024. We've got Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Ruddy on the bench, on the bench. NUFC; October 2024. We've got Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Thornton on the board, on the board.

Percy Main's narrow 10-0 loss away to North Shields Athletic in our local derby last weekend was the last game I'll see of ours for a while. However, and I must be clear about this, the result is not what will be keeping me away from Purvis Park in the immediate future, as I'm fully aware of the fact that both management and players are giving their utmost in highly trying circumstances . No, the fact is I'm going to be busy for a few weekends in a row. Saturday 12 October will see me at Durham Gala Theater for a reading by David Peace from his new novel Munichs (and we're off for a pint afterwards). Yes, I won't be at a football game, astonishingly enough. Saturday 19 I'm in Brussels with Ben to see Royal Union St Gilloise v Genk, as well as to sample the odd lambic or saison. Saturday 26 sees me attending Montrose v Cove Rangers as I zoom in on completing the 42. Hence, I'll not be able to see The Main until our trip to Burradon New Fordley on the first Saturday in November. The fact we lost 8-0 at home to them back in August has already tempered my expectations, unlike large numbers of those who intend to support Newcastle United, who reacted to the loss to Fulham and drew at Everton with the kind of wry sense of humor akin to Macduff's response to the murder of his family in the Scotch Play.

I don't know about you, but I'm becoming ever more conscious of the fact I'm too old to understand how youngsters analyze football these days. Don't even begin to ask for an explanation of the Man City court case that, apparently, they and the Premier League both won (I thought that was called a draw?). Even matters on the pitch are too complicated for us old fellas these days. To me, the final score is what matters, meaning that Newcastle v Man City and Everton v Newcastle are worth the same at the end of the day. I mean, I do recognize a point against City is a more praiseworthy outcome than a point against the Scouse Mackems, but apparently, I'm being naïve and old fashioned (at the same time?) and that I need to get with the program by looking at the stats and XG in particular in order to grasp the complexities of the modern game. Frankly, no thanks; football is an art, sometimes a brutal one, not a science, so don't try and blind me with equations and theorems. Let's just look at how often the ball hits the net, or otherwise, as at Goodison Park.

Since the last international break, Newcastle have played 5 games (four of them in the league and one in the League Cup). While 4 were broadcast live, the only one I got to see was the Everton one. The Wolves game was the first time it struck me this season that allowing my cheap deal with Virgin to expire and not sign up again for a Sky Sports package may have been an error. After putting up with BBC website coverage of a performance that seemed to be going nowhere, I switched the thing off after an hour. I’d seen the solid start, mini collapse and late rally at Bournemouth, and it seemed we were only going to see the first two elements of that recipe on this instance. Of course, in the same way that you’re never more than six feet away from a rat, modern technology means you’re never more than 10 seconds from a goal alert. Notifications of the blinding long-range strikes by Schar and then Barnes had me dancing round the living room. Of course, I didn’t know about Pope’s brilliant late save until I saw the highlights. He’s no good with his feet you know, as the social media doom mongers insist. Whatever the truth in that assertion, the simple truth was that, on the back of the score from Molineux, if Newcastle won at Fulham, they would go top of the Premier League.

We didn't. We lost badly and I blanked all coverage of the highlights, by ignoring Match of the Day , because I think sulking silently is the most mature way to handle defeat. Things might have been different if Joelinton's early effort had stood, but it didn't, and things didn't get any better from that point onwards. I would point out though, at the end of last season Newcastle finished in a slightly disappointing 7th place, after suffering terrible injuries, a loss of form and putting in as many a shoddy performances as sparkling ones. This season, we're in exactly the same position after turning in a series of, apparently, terrible performances that should see us sack Howe while sticking with him, spend £300m in January while waiting until next Summer before bringing more players in, at the same time as selling Gordon, Longstaff and Trippier while building a team around them.

The really crazy thing though, is just how many people seem to know the intimate details of a supposedly blazing row/power struggle between Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell, with the shadowy presence of James Bunce (whoever he is and whatever he is paid to do ) lurking in the background. Back in my day, the club was owned by Westwood (is a Pirate), Russell Cushing signed the checks and Joe Harvey managed the team. End of story. Now we've got a whole panoply of suited executives doing lots of different important tasks. Even this week, some chancers were commenting wisely on social media about what a “shrewd move” it was to appoint a new director I've never heard of (“we've got Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Thornton on the board, on the board"). I suppose it makes a change from signing yet another goalkeeper ("we've got Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Ruddy on the bench, on the bench"), although it won't do anything to silence the hysterical squealing from the Fourth Estate or prevent another doom-laden True Faith h editorial telling us exactly what to think.

Whatever the truth behind the Howe/Mitchell Mexican stand-off, the really sad news is that Darren Eales has been diagnosed with a fairly severe form of cancer. It's a tragedy for him and his family. Let's hope it isn't used as a way for various self-appointed fan oracles to empire build on the back of it. One thing the under 30s have got right is their absolute contempt for the Chronophiliac apologists for the House of Saud and the atrichorous chuckle heads who insist that we all keep on keepin' on. All of this came about in the week of the AFC Wimbledon postponement, leading up to the Man City game. I think most of us were dreading this one, not just because we'd not been playing great, but because they're so maddeningly good. In the end, a solid point and a sparkling team performance (the best of the season) restored something like positivity to the NUFC supporting world.

I really will have to give the AFC Wimbledon game a bit of a swerve as I was down in Manchester watching another mesmerizing gig by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. All I'll say is that it was good to see the Mythological Greek get some pitch time, meaning that Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Ruddy had to stay on the bench, on the bench. Despite the win, there were still murmurings because Osula wasn't at the same standard as Isak yet, but moaners like that are never satisfied.

Goodness knows what they made of Jordan Pickford and Anthony Gordon sharing a laugh and a chat at full time after the Everton game. Fair play to little arms for doing his homework for the penalty and also to Calvert Lewin for recognizing after the game he'd fouled Burn and not the other way round. In truth, we should have won this and the reason we didn't is the lack of a proper alternative to Isak, as Wilson appears to be claiming PIP these days. Let's hope he gets well soon, although I doubt he will, as we face Brighton (H), Chelsea (A), Chelsea (H – League Cup), Arsenal (H) and Forest (A) in the next series of matches. We need 6 points minimum and a cup victory to be achieving anything close to a reasonable set of results.