As some of you might know, I recently moved to a new apartment. I don’t miss the old place at all, although this week I felt a pang of sadness. Here’s why: Thurston Moore, frontman for the pioneering alternative rock band Sonic Youth, will be performing at Upstate Artists Guild on Lark Street on Thursday night. The guy is basically a legend, but because I no longer live on Lark Street I’ve lost the right to brag about how Thurston Moore is hanging out on my street. In other words, I’m not nearly as cool today as I was four weeks ago.
No matter. The fact that Thurston Moore is coming to Albany is cool enough. His performance is part of an event sponsored by the Albany Sonic Arts Collective, an intriguing new organization that promotes experimental and improvisational music that exists far outside the mainstream. They’ve hosted a few other events that sounded worthwhile, but I haven’t been able to get to any of them. Moore will be playing with Bill Nace, an avant-garde guitarist. The duo will be joined by L.A.-based Robedoor and Pocahaunted, and Albany’s own Century Plants, who I caught when they opened for the Sunburned Hand of the Man in Saratoga Springs. The show begins at 8 p.m.
I’ve never really been into Sonic Youth, but I recognize that they’re one of the more influential bands of the past 20 years or so, which is why I hope to see Thurston Moore tomorrow night. A similar mindset prompted me to go see Lee Ranaldo, guitarist for Sonic Youth, perform with visual artist Leah Singer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a couple of years ago. Ranaldo played guitar, recited poetry and made other weird sounds while Singer manipulated two 16mm analytical film projectors; a parade of photographic images, many of them of the natural world (rocks, water, etc.), accompanied Ranaldo’s performance. It was weird and not especially musical, and although I’m glad I saw it, I still don’t know whether I especially liked any of it. My friend Jack said it made his nerves all jangly. After the show ended, we went to the Taproom at Brown’s Brewing Co. to calm down.
June is almost over, but it’s not too late to take advantage of a special deal offered by local music label Collar City Records that runs through the end of the month. I stumbled across the deal while procrastinating the other day, and it’s a good one: four new CDs, by four of the Capital Region’s finest musicians, for a mere $20. The CDs are: “Kentucky,” the solo album by Matthew Loiacono of the Kamikaze Hearts, “Reshaping a Dream” by Ike Snopes of Small Axe, “Listen Quick (‘cause I don’t know much)” by Princess Mabel and “We are Giants Now” by Ben Karis-Nix. I’ve heard songs by all of these musicians and bands — “We are Giants Now” is one of my favorite songs on 97.7’s local music compilation — and I jumped at the deal. You can find Collar City Records (which is run by Loiacono) here.
