Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame is all set to reveal his new band’s self titled debut record under the Chelsea Light Moving moniker. To give you a flavor of what to expect from Moore’s new outfit we’ll let the man himself do the hard sell, via Brooklyn Vegan, the noise monger stated “the band is ready to detonate any birthday party, wedding or hullabaloo in any country, planet or stratosphere that doesn’t support right wing extremist NRA sucking bozo-ology.” Subtle acoustic jams this is not.

With these explosive comments in mind it’s something of a surprise that the eponymous record begins with a low-key opening track ‘Heavenmetal’. The commencing nugget is almost breezy and upbeat with subtle strums accompanying Moore’s drawl of “Be a warrior/love life”. It isn’t until mid way through the second song does the noise come in, that trademark barrage of feedback and squall. ‘Sleeping Where I Fall’ almost takes a run up to the tsunami effect, beginning paired down but slowly morphing into a crushing beast of riff rocking proportions. The cobwebs are fully blown away from here and this is where guitars are mutilated and feedback is your best friend. ‘Alighted’ and ‘Burroughs’ are elongated voyages into ravaged fretwork and the art of static manipulation. Not all the barrages are length endeavors; ‘Lip’ and closing number ‘Communist Eyes’ all rattle in under three minutes and demonstrate a punk edge with a succinct delivery. ‘Too fucking bad/too fucking bad!” hollers Moore repeatedly on the former where as the latter sounds like the band actually detonating at any of the celebratory events noted above.

Punk barrages and full on juggernauts of racket is what has made Moore’s name across his career, however on CLM, the Sonic Youth man filters in mixes of psychedelia with ‘Empire of Time’ cooing about being the third eye of rock ‘n’ roll and ‘Groovy & Linda’ lives up to its name with a hip shaking riff run through it.

Some may think that CLM’s debut is an indulgent affair what with all the howling wafts of cacophony but the only track that drifts in self-gratification is ‘Mohawk’. The six minute spoken word track made from mournful noises and trembling chords perhaps veers too close to go nowhere meanderings but the atmospheric instrumentation stops it from becoming tiresome.

Booking now for all birthdays, bar-mitzvahs, wedding and christenings, Chelsea Light Moving might be the most explosive events band the world has ever seen.

Words and Thoughts of Adam Williams

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/category/chelsea-light-moving