A music icon for more than three decades, Kim Gordon, a founding member and former bassist of Sonic Youth, has released a gritty new track called “Murdered Out.” But despite its sinister title, it’s not about death; rather, it explores a current cultural phenomenon Gordon noticed after moving back to L.A. from New York, which involves people covering their vehicles with black matte spray, tinted windows, blackened logos and blackened wheels — thus “murdering out” — identifiable qualities.
Gordon noted in an official statement posted to her YouTube account that it seems to be a “reclaiming of a corporate symbol of American success, the car, from an outsider’s point of view.”
Like the trend that serves as Gordon’s muse,the song is also a bit of a statement piece: After more than 35 years of recording music — Sonic Youth released 17 studio albums, and Gordon also makes up one-half of the duo Body/Head with Bill Nace — but this is the first track that she’s ever recorded and released under her own name as a solo artist, though she did team up with producer Justin Raisen and drummer Stella Mozgawa from Warpaint. It also features edgy, heavy layers and while it can’t quite be described as pleasant, it is a rejection of the norm that’s worth examining.
(Photo courtesy of Emma Reeves)