Thurston Moore – The Best Day

Dear Thurston,

I am mad at you. It really wasn’t very kool when you broke up with Kim. I mean, you two had been the archetypal example of egalitarian marriage for punk/underground/indie types. You two made it work – or so it seemed.

So yeah, it wasn’t very kool that you had to go and get some strange in your mid-50s. I thought that you – as a kool, enlightened and thoroughly (post) modern kinda guy – were better than that.

But above and beyond the fact that you cheated on Kim (who is really, really kool, BTW), I’m mad at you because – since you couldn’t keep it in your pants – Sonic Youth can no longer be a band. Sonic Youth was something we could always depend on. And because of your middle-aged boner thing, well, there ain’t no Sonic Youth no more. Was getting it on the side really worth jettisoning the band that was your life’s work? And how are you feeling about the diminished paychecks you get as a solo artiste? Alas and alack.

Even though I’m still mad at you, I’ve gotta say that you’re sounding pretty reinvigorated on your new solo album, The Best Day. The album sounds a lot like Sonic Youth. And that’s the sound that I wanna hear.

Thurston, I’ve gotta begrudgingly admit that I always liked your songs best in Sonic Youth, even though Kim was the kool one. Sonic Youth’s melodicism and pop sensibility came from you. And you were the dude who brought the all-important rock factor to the band.

So, since you pioneered the Sonic Youth sound, I guess it’s OK for you to keep doing what you do best. Yeah, the new album is a bit artsy – but I can take it. Those bits where the band plays one chord over and over forever sound a lot like Glenn Branca or Rhys Chatham. The interplay between the verse-chorus-verse structures – you know, the songs – and the minimalist/maximalist guitar thing, well, I get it. This is kool.

I think I’ll end up listening to The Best Day a lot more than I ever listened to Rather Ripped, Sonic Nurse or The Eternal. Those albums were kool enough, but I felt like the band was kind of just marking time in the last decade or so of its career. On The Best Day, Thurston, you just have that spark again, which is kool.

I’m starting to like you again, Thurston. I’ve accepted that you’re not really gonna liberate us girls from white, corporate oppression – and I guess that’s OK. Maybe I was expecting too much from you as a person. I just want you to know that we can still be friends.

Thurston Moore
The Best Day
[Matador]