Kim Gordon’s fascination for trap beats gets embraced even further, sinking deep within her No-Wave sonic foundations. While ‘The Collective’ doesn’t let the fusion of those genres get more punchy and anguished, there is enough sharp execution of ideas that allow the caustic experimentation to stick more than it doesn’t.
There is something to be said when musical figures go out of a band they’re a part of and spend trying to do something refreshing for a change, sometimes leading to fascinating experiments or a gimmick that feels less innovative than the surface. On that note, in Kim Gordon’s debut album, ‘No Home Record’, there is a specific sonic tapestry that she was trying to weave in between the noisy no-wave that she established back when she was part of Sonic Youth, notably her intrigue towards trap beats that are strewn a bit on that debut project. For the most part, that blend of genres did make for an experiment that has some promise, something that she managed to continue to keep pushing full throttle on her sophomore album, ‘The Collective’.
A complete deep dive into the brand of shambling, bulging strains of psychedelic Trap that has been popularized for the past couple of years due to acts like Playboi Carti amongst others, Kim Gordon’s No-Wave fervor with her guitar compositions allows for those beats courtesy of Justin Raisen to get more friction and edge, making the blend of these textures and styles to work more than it should be. ‘BYE BYE’ and ‘It’s Dark Inside’ for instance offer a headrush as the exploding bass amidst the trap skitters and the disorienting soundscape of the former and the swampy percussive beats of the latter sets just how much Kim Gordon is really into these genres. However, this is where the overall execution lies, because as much as it does create a unique sound for Kim Gordon, it only manages to work when the tunes manage to coalesce and develop nicely. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tend to get there. While there are still tunes of ‘The Believers’ and ‘Dream Dollar’ with their earthquake-shaking soundscape that is elevated further with these scathing guitar melodies, ‘I’m A Man’ and its scorching metallic feedback and pillaring trap stutters blend well effectively, and ‘Shelf Warmer’ that tilts into a subtle dread slither around with a sparer, yet nonetheless unsettling tone, the rest of the album resorts to tonal and melodic blemishes that just don’t have the same grinding quality, making them stumble apart instead. The sloppy hollowed beat and melodic slurries of ‘The Candy House’, the autotune warble with the odd compositional shifts and turns of ‘Psychedelic Orgasm’, the deflated pulse-pounding beat of ‘Trophies, and the repetitive melodic motifs of ‘I Don’t Miss My Mind’ and ‘Tree House’ doesn’t allow the distorted noise to create any dynamics as it just circles on its own limited space.
Expanding upon that limited execution does go towards the general mixing and mastering as well as Kim Gordon’s vocal performances. As much as these elements make total sense for the writing that muses around industrial exhaustion, masculine toxicities, and capitalism, as well as further nods toward American gun culture, L.A culture, dulled-out emotions towards mundane collectives, and the consistent eerie behavior by men underscoring “love” that blurs between excessive and stalkerish, they just don’t make that dread click further. Perhaps due to the inconsistent mixing and mastering that doesn’t allow these grinding and bulbing textures to cut through, and that Kim Gordon’s dilapidated, cold vocal delivery works bits and pieces when the tunes have a semblance of dynamic movement to let her pick up starker vocal swerves, which the album only has a handful of those moments that makes the tones stick neatly.
As an experiment being pushed further into its own lane, Kim Gordon’s ‘The Collective’ is a full romp into Trap with her No-Wave familiarities and blends them into a grimier fusion that inflicts more burnish results when the landing comes effective and inflicts sluggish flicks when it does not. While unconventionality is a part of Kim Gordon’s entire musical career, there could have been some refinement to allow these textures and melodies to go off even further, even if the sonic synthesis is at least a daring combination that has some efficient staying power. Perhaps at this point in her career, she doesn’t exactly need to thrive and blend within collectives churning out exhausting sonic mundanity, because she can just turn that into something unique, and tread a path that she can call her own.
Favorite Tracks: ‘BYE BYE’, ‘I’m A Man’, ‘It’s Dark Inside’, ‘Shelf Warmer’, ‘The Believers’, ‘ Dream Dollar’
Least Favorite Track: ‘The Candy House’