Thurston Moore: Demolished Thoughts

Label: Matador

Here's how you know Beck's a great producer: A few minutes into Thurston Moore's gorgeous new "solo" album, you've forgotten that he twiddled knobs on Demolished Thoughts. Despite the violence in its title, Demolished Thoughts is the mellow work of an (obvious) expert and veteran, a set of long acoustic jams with Moore's thoughtful vocals and key contributions from Sound Fix fave Samara Lubelski (violin) and Mary Lattimore (harp). "Orchard Street" is the kind of song that could in some reductive way sum up Moore's career as our generation's premier inside-outside rock artist: an NYC-centric title delivering a sweet melody that, over time, turns to caterwauling. That's a relative term on this album though; while Moore continues to turn out blistering electric guitar workouts (and whatever else he feels like) on tapes and small-run LPs, Demolished Thoughts is probably his prettiest recorded work (and he has had a fair bit). Songs like "Illuminine" and "Mina Loy" (hey, look her up!) show the full range of his skill and experience: melody, strong singing and composition skating along the avant-garde.