Kim Gordon didn't invent SoundCloud rap, but she seems to have found a whole new sound. Collective, the former Sonic Youth guitarist's second solo record, carries the bold, innovative spirit that has defined her nearly 50-year career, and although she knew early on that she wanted to be rhythm-driven, how much it would sound like that strain Own hip-hop if it weren't for her collaborator Justin Raisen, who has worked with everyone from Sky Ferreira to Lil Yachty, and Yves Tumor to Teezo Touchdown? “BYE BYE,” the quintessential lead single and opening track, finds her wandering off a shopping list due to a trap beat by Raisin that she thought was “a little too wild” for Playboi Carti. Featuring additional production from Anthony Paul Lopez, Collective It is their second full collaboration after 2019 There is no home record, which was dark and broken in its own way, but not quite as exciting, cacophonous, or, yes, wild as its follow-up. Gordon doesn't seem to have absorbed, or even wholeheartedly adapted to, a range of contemporary influences, merely daring to shake them off, clinging to noise as the clear thread of her legacy. From line to line, her spoken word sounds cheerful, ambiguous, confused, reckless, and completely unfazed.
It's this dissonance — generational as well as aesthetic — that makes these tracks more fascinating than, say, a Drake track to which Raisen contributed. For the most part, Gordon knows exactly how to deal with this problem. She lets the sounds, throbs and screams bleed from the edges, pushing the red, her delivery splitting the difference between angry and listless. if There is no home record It provided a melting pot of musical ideas, Collective He takes more pleasure in distorting her; It never feels like more than a moment of complete breakdown, but there's enough variety to avoid listener fatigue. Despite the maturity of Gordon's intuition, some choices feel radically counterintuitive, such as the AutoTune that punctuates her spectral vocals on “Psychedelic Orgasm,” steering it toward hyperpop territory. The other tracks simply showcase the juxtaposition of explosive beats and more familiar to Gordon, the waves of industrial noise, perhaps more accurately emphasizing “It's Dark Inside”, especially since the fragmented rhythm is in keeping with the orbit of Gordon's lyrics: breathes, grinding. There is a logic to the sequence. Also, to make up for some of the chaos while also highlighting it: “Shelf Warmer” leaves more room for Gordon's singing, but it becomes hollow and strange, while “The Believers” is frenetic and muscular, a culmination of the recording's ideas that also makes it indecipherable.
There is no lyric sheet for the album, which makes matters worse. What is extremely difficult and uncompromising Collective Not their impertinent sounds but their cold air of discontent: human interaction reduced to meaningless interaction, overwhelming emotion spread through their constant omnipresence, confusion dissolving into indifference. It's an album consumed by the brutality of banality, feeding on the dopamine of scrolling on TikTok rather than the traditional appeal of journaling; She even mentioned the “Psychedelic Orgasm” platform. But there are mantras and phrases to uphold, and especially in the individual songs, Gordon's messages are powerful, not least because she revisits themes that have always permeated her art. “So what if I like the big truck?” “I'm a Man,” she sings, putting masculinity more than just explicitly mocking it. “I feel dizzy, I feel dizzy/Don't call me toxic/Just 'cause I love your ass!” The tone is clear, but even when it's not, the words are quotable and pithy, keeping you interested rather than carried away.
It works because Gordon finds ecstasy in the abyss, or at least seems curious about it. The final track on the album is “Brand Cement”, which is partly ironic because Gordon's style is so amorphous; You can call it great judgment, but that calm is very difficult to define, replicate, or institutionalize. She shows no interest in uniformity of sound or genre, only pulling out bits and pieces that allow her to convey the “absolute insanity” she sees around her; Despite its vagueness, this madness is conveyed immediately. Gordon's experience could have seemed trivial and insulting in the context of the takeover, but that had another meaning behind it Collective: It is so far from oneself that what you do cannot be called self-indulgence. It's seductive and relatable, mundane and horrific, even infuriating. But for whatever reason, you can't help but keep your ears glued to it, even if it's part of a greater whole.
