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Preview: Thurston Moore at The Wedgewood Rooms

Preview: Thurston Moore at The Wedgewood Rooms

The Wedgewood Rooms continue their strong run of recent bookings this coming Sunday (October 20th) with Alt-rock legend and Sonic Youth founder, Thurston Moore, making a welcome appearance. Growing up around the New York punk scene of the late 70s, Moore co-founded Sonic Youth in the early eighties alongside Kim Gordon and Lee Ronaldo and over their three decade history were seen as spiritual forefathers of the alternative rock genre influencing everyone from Nirvana to Sigour Ros. In fact, another band Sonic Youth helped influence was My Bloody Valentine and their bassist Debbie Googe forms part of Moore’s band these days both in the studio and out on tour. With Sonic Youth, Moore turned on an entire generation to the value of experimentation in rock n roll – from its inspiration on a whole host of rock bands to the band’s own ‘Daydream Nation’ album being chosen by the US Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2006.

As Moore enters his seventh decade, he shows no signs of slowing down. Sunday’s show is part of the promotion of latest album ‘Spirit Counsel’ and his third full length record in 5 years. The album is more experimental and avant garde than either 2014’s solo record ‘The Best Day’ or the more ‘mainstream’ Sonic Youth offerings such as ‘Washing Machine’ or ‘Dirty’. For a start it’s three instrumental tracks total length comes in at a staggering 2 hours plus. Although a box set in its physical form, I’d suggest the songs lend themselves ideally to the digital age where you can just press play once and immerse yourself in the whole concept.

The one hour plus opener ‘Alice Moki Jayne’ offers a series of interconnected wig outs, building repeated rhythms in an almost dervlish manner which could easily take the form of a live set in itself. Whether or not we’ll get to hear ‘Galaxies’ from the record is questionable – the song is constructed of twelve musicians playing 12-string electric guitars – but whatever shape and form the set takes it will be beguiling and immersively brilliant.

Tickets are limited but you can pick yours up from The Wedge’s Box Office.


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