Thurston Moore – 12 String Meditations For Jack Rose (Vin Du Select Qualitite)
Thurston Moore’s recent recent solo recordings and non-Sonic Youth collaborations range from the free jazz-inspired bareknuckled electric scraping and shredding of his records with Bill Nace, Paul Flaherty , and Chris Corsano; to the completely blown out white-noise hissing of a broken Fender pickup over detached minimal art compositions with wife Kim Gordon and Yoko Ono at her most fluxus; as well as recent sets as the frontman for a unit playing covers of early 80’s American hardcore bands. I saw Thurston Moore play a free outdoor show last year in Austin, unsure of what to expect, quietly hoping for a set by Northampton Wools (Thurston and Bill Nace). Instead, dressed in a long olive drab mod parka, Thurston Moore strummed a twelve string guitar freely in an open tuning that resembled some of the acoustic guitar themes from his 2007 Trees Outside of The Academy LP. But he didn’t play any songs from it–the set was all new material that combined the discordant, off-tuned riffing that Sonic Youth is known for with the rich sound of the canon of American primitive guitar playing. Some songs were instrumental meditations, on others Thurston read poems off a stand that fluttered in the wind–most of the lyrics were about friends and lovers. The songs notably resembled more than anyone else the guitar playing of the late Jack Rose. I declared that Thurston had gone and eaten the ghost of the former Richmonder and Pelt guitar player, who was a friend of his.
Thurston Moore – 12 String Meditations For Jack Rose (Vin Du Select Qualitite)
Thurston Moore’s recent recent solo recordings and non-Sonic Youth collaborations range from the free jazz-inspired bareknuckled electric scraping and shredding of his records with Bill Nace, Paul Flaherty , and Chris Corsano; to the completely blown out white-noise hissing of a broken Fender pickup over detached minimal art compositions with wife Kim Gordon and Yoko Ono at her most fluxus; as well as recent sets as the frontman for a unit playing covers of early 80’s American hardcore bands. I saw Thurston Moore play a free outdoor show last year in Austin, unsure of what to expect, quietly hoping for a set by Northampton Wools (Thurston and Bill Nace). Instead, dressed in a long olive drab mod parka, Thurston Moore strummed a twelve string guitar freely in an open tuning that resembled some of the acoustic guitar themes from his 2007 Trees Outside of The Academy LP. But he didn’t play any songs from it–the set was all new material that combined the discordant, off-tuned riffing that Sonic Youth is known for with the rich sound of the canon of American primitive guitar playing. Some songs were instrumental meditations, on others Thurston read poems off a stand that fluttered in the wind–most of the lyrics were about friends and lovers. The songs notably resembled more than anyone else the guitar playing of the late Jack Rose. I declared that Thurston had gone and eaten the ghost of the former Richmonder and Pelt guitar player, who was a friend of his.
However, the resemblance between Thurston Moore’s twelve-string meditations and Jack Rose’s expert playing of John Fahey/Robbie Basho style was in fact homage, and not ghost-eating as I first declared. This record, part of VDSQ’s series of solo acoustic recordings, is Thurston Moore’s tribute to Jack Rose: solo acoustic guitar–no poetry or electric squeal of stomped Rat pedals, just open tuned jams riding the out-of-tune waves that would sound exactly like Sonic Youth if they were played on a beat up Jazzmaster. The acoustic discordance is off for a minute, until a rich earthy harmony comes to the surface, where the ghost of Jack Rose swirls for a moment before sinking back in to the lost-in-the-Diamond Sea territory.
For the most part the record is dark, and sort of wanders around without finding a particular theme. It is still a thoughtful, if not melancholy, elegy for the late Rose. None of the guitar playing on this record finds much of the twang or flat-footed stomp of Jack Rose’s exploration of pre-war blues and the folk sounds of Southwest Virginia, but imitation of old-time Appalachian music is not the point of this record. It is very much a Thurston Moore record, hinting at his appreciation of Jack Rose’s music or whatever experience they shared together, as guitar players whose realms overlapped.
Each of the ten cuts on this record are names of beer, from Belgian beers Poperings Hommel and De Konnick, to the Pennsylvania brewery Yuengling’s Lord Chesterfield. The latter bookends the record, the first and last track both taking their name from this brand, which is omnipresent in Jack Rose’s final residence, Philadelphia. Many of Jack Rose’s eulogies reference his taste for beer, including Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny contributing a track called “Drinkin With Jack” to the Honest Strings: A Tribute To The Life And Work Of Jack Rose compilation. I’d like to believe that there was a time when Jack Rose and Thurston Moore sucked down some heady Belgian beer and jammed free on some odd tunings, crossing their two backgrounds, so I guess the record did what it intended to do. If you liked the acoustic guitar playing on the aforementioned Trees Outside of the Academy record, I think this will serve you rightly, as well as providing a sort of teaser for Thurston’s followup LP, Demolished Thoughts, which comes out later this month.
