Kim Gordon’s Stunning Second Act Is Only Getting Wilder

Y ou might think you know Kim Gordon . After all, she’s been a rock legend for more than four decades now, since rising out of the New York punk underground in the band Sonic Youth . She became a feminist icon with her fearsome charisma and art-school sensibility, helping to inspire the Nineties riot-grrrl revolution. She’s got a legend to uphold, laurels she could rest on. But listen to her amazing new Play Me and the question can’t be avoided: What if Kim Gordon is just getting started? After Sonic Youth broke up in 2011, Gordon focused on her early vocation of visual art while playing in the experimental noise duo Body/Head . But she took a bold leap in 2016, teaming up with L.A. producer Justin Raisen. It was an unexpected collaboration that raised eyebrows, since he’s best known for working with pop artists like Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira. But his approach turned out to be the ideal match for her total-trash aesthetic. “I didn’t have a desire to make a solo record,” Gordon says. “I did guitar-bass music for so long. I had no plans on doing anything other than Body/Head and making art when I moved back to L.A. It was Justin — he talked me into a solo record.” But to her surprise, she enjoyed it. “It was kind of a happy accident that he’s a good collaborator. He just keeps the engine going.” Their chemistry blew up on the superb 2024 album The Collective , her most startling — and fun — project in years. It was unmistakably a rock album, flashy and aggressive and bombastic, yet it all unfolded over trap beats, including one originally intended for Playboi Carti . Even longtime fans were shook right down to their dirty boots. Play Me , out this month, hits even harder, leaning on the electro-distorted rhythms and her power-sneer voice. It’s full of savagely funny satire about modern American culture. “There’s a lot of humor in it,” she says. “A lot that’s pissed off.” In the title tune, she recites the names of mood-themed Spotify playlists, from “rich popular gi...