More on Moore
by Hoboken Now Tuesday September 25, 2007, 6:00 PM
Mike McLaughlin/The Star-LedgerA file photo of Thurston Moore performing with Sonic Youth at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park in 2004.
Speaking of
what's going on inside bars, The Jersey Journal's
Michael Venutolo-Mantovani checked out
the scene inside Maxwell's last night, where Sonic Youth's
Thurston Moore took the stage (along with drummer
Steve Shelley). Here's Mike's report.
It looked more like a block party as they filled in the small, humid back room of the legendary rock club. There were representatives from all walks of life; punk-rock kids rubbing elbows with aging hipsters, rock aficionados chatting with Wall Street yuppies, even a mom with her son. In front of the packed Maxwell's crowd, Moore kicked off the first of 13 dates sparsely spread over the next two months in support of his new effort,
Trees Outside the Academy. It's his first solo record since 1995's
Psychic Hearts.
Recorded at the Amherst, Mass., studio of
J Mascis (of grunge-guitar icons Dinosaur Jr),
Trees Outside the Academy is a divergence from the post-punk-no-wave signature that Sonic Youth has been crafting for the last two decades, and that was evident last night as Moore employed mostly acoustic guitars and a violin. It was not quite
Crazy Horse, not quite late-era
Doors - not quite anything you've ever heard.
As Moore and his band (using the moniker the Leaky Lifeboats), took the stage, Maxwell's tiny sanctuary became almost silent, waiting to hear what would come out of this amalgamation Moore had created.
At first, the room didn't seem big enough as the 6 foot 6 inch Moore looked like he would whack his head on the ceiling at any moment, but as soon as the band lolled through its opener, a droney, guitar driven tune, the space opened up and seemed to accommodate all of us just fine.
It could have been the mix of acoustic guitars with points of heavy distortion. It could have been the airy atmosphere of
Samara Lubelski's violin criss-crossing over Thurston and
Chris Brokaw's often dancing guitars.
Whatever it was, it gave the feeling of riding through a desert in a Sonic Youth world. To separate the
Trees Outside the Academy tunes from anything Sonic Youth has created would be nearly impossible as they both have Moore's indelible guitar-god stamp on them.
In fact, the Leaky Lifeboats at some points sonically resembled old Sonic Youth -- with hints of 1992's atmospheric
Dirty when Moore stepped away from the mic and let the songs sing for him. And when Moore employed his baritone voice, the band evoked a feeling of pure songcraftmanship similar to 1988's indie-rock masterwork
Daydream Nation.
The songs themselves had a life of their own as they shifted more than a NASCAR driver on too much caffeine. Choruses and verses danced around each other like boxers as the songs went from dark, foreboding and ugly to super-sweet and uplifting at the drop of a dime and the change of a chord.
Moore played what seemed like most of the new record, layering instrument upon instrument to create an overwhelming sense of fullness in the tiny back room.
After the show,
Steve Shelley - who now has been the drummer for both Sonic Youth and the Leaky Lifeboats - said that this was a chance for them to put on new hats.
"We're all just excited to do some new stuff," Shelley said. "And we're really looking forward to having a chance to try some new things out."
It seems the new things they tried came about with great success.
"I'm just excited to see them in a place like (Maxwell's). These are guys who can play shows at such bigger places but they come here and it's so much more personal," said
Kayla Bradshaw of Queens. "They were awesome."
Agreed.
http://www.nj.com:80/hobokennow/inde..._on_moore.html