''No Home Record'' is the debut solo album by

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

. The album was produced by Justin Raisen after the two met in an

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, and is named after

Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman (; 6 June 19505 October 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, artist, and Film studies, film professor at the City College of New York. She is best known for films such as ''Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 108 ...

's 2015 documentary '' No Home Movie''. The album has received positive reviews.

Background

''No Home Record'' is Kim Gordon's first solo album in her 38-year music career. According to Gordon, she decided to start working on the album after meeting producer Justin Raisen in an

rental a few years prior to the album's recording. Raisen asked her to sing on a project that he had been working on, which became the basis for the song "Murdered Out". The two decided to continue working on a solo album. It was released on October 11, 2019.

Music and production

The music from the album has been called a "feast of disorienting beats" by

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writer Lars Gotrich, and includes instruments such as oboe and guitar.

's 2015 documentary film called '' No Home Movie'' inspired Gordon to name her album the same and give it sense and context.

Critical reception

''No Home Record'' was met with generally positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on 26 reviews. The album received perfect scores from Laura Snapes of ''

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'', who said that it "brilliantly weds noise textures to pop dynamics", and Joe Creely of '' The Skinny'', who called it a "superb genre-spanning solo debut" and "a real joy of an album". Danijela Bočev of ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

'' said "The album dazzles with the thrilling cocktail of styles Gordon's been through, as if changing channels on the coolest radio on earth." ''

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''s Philip Sherburne called her solo debut "thrilling" and said it was "shot through with the beautiful, unsparing noise that has always defined her art." Reviewing for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'',

Kitty Empire Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic, currently writing for ''The Observer''. Early life Empire says that she was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britai ...

found it to be "quiet a feat" for Gordon to "connect 70s No Wave with the mischievous end of contemporary digital production" on "punishing, three-dimensional soundscapes" like "AirBnB" and "American idea". In his

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-published "Consumer Guide" column,

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

also highlighted the musical accomplishment of the album and recommended it be heard on quality speakers: "The guitars credited throughout meld with the electronics that dominate in a rough but also eloquently textured construct that complements the fragility and directness of Gordon’s sometimes pained, sometimes whispery vocals." Some reviewers were more critical. El Hunt of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' called the album "uneasy and scratchy", and a "restless listen". In an otherwise positive review for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', David Browne said that "Gordon's ever elliptical" lyrics lack the candor and personal insight of her 2015 memoir ''

Girl in a Band ''Girl in a Band: A Memoir'' is a 2015 autobiography written by former Sonic Youth bass guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Kim Gordon. Publication The 288-page memoir was published on February 24, 2015 by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperC ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

*Kim Gordon - vocals, guitar, drum machine; bass on Hungry Baby" * Justin Raisen - programming, synthesizer, guitar, bass; organ on "Hungry Baby" with: *Anthony Paul Lopez - drums on "Air BnB" *Jeremiah Raisen - programming, keyboards on "Paprika Pony" *Stella Mozgawa - drums on "Murdered Out" *Jake Messina Meginsky - drums, bass, tape loops on "Don't Play It" *Shawn Everett - drum machine on "Cookie Butter" *Bosh Bruiser Rothman - drums on "Hungry Baby" and "Earthquake" ;Technical *Anthony Paul Lopez, Jake Messina Meginsky, Justin Raisen, Shawn Everett - engineer *Mike Zimmerman - art direction *Josephine Pryde - front cover photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 debut albums Matador Records albums Albums produced by Justin Raisen