Chelsea Light Moving
Chelsea Light Moving (Matador)
Reviewed by Dan Oko, Fri., March 15, 2013
Chelsea Light Moving
(Matador)Sonic Youth mourners will welcome the debut from Chelsea Light Moving, the latest from Thurston Moore. Liberation and noisy calibration still drive the on-hiatus Youth. Flexing old-school muscle, the post-punk guitar god and underrated wordsmith name-checks junky beatnik William S. Burroughs and the late poet Frank O'Hara, but never resorts to recriminations against his ex-wife. "Be a warrior – love life," he sings on the sugary opener "Heavenmental." Bassist Samara Lubelski, guitarist Keith Wood, and drum pummeler John Moloney assist the Sandy-worthy squall of "Empires of Time," while "Groovy and Linda" digs up heartbreak of another sort with the now-prophetic hymn, "Don't shoot, we are your children." Closing with the SST stomp of "Lips," summery strumming "Frank O'Hara Hit," and the smudged punk of "Communist Eyes," CLM never amounts to a full state of the union. Settle instead for a New York state of mind. (12:15am, Mohawk Outdoor)
