L.A. Woman 2024: Gen X Idol Kim Gordon Rocks On

In the indie-rock world, Kim Gordon is an idol. But even as a founding member of seminal ’90s band Sonic Youth — contemporaries of Nirvana, whom they influenced profoundly — she sees herself as a “visual artist who makes music,” expressing herself through painting (she shows at New York’s 303 Gallery), fashion (the influential hip-chick brand X-Girl) and writing (she has penned two books, Girl in a Band and No Icon, and has a new tome about her late brother titled Keller, set to be published later this year).

Thankfully she’s still experimenting with sound, too, and the results are as captivating as ever. On The Collective, her new solo album out March 8, Gordon takes inventory of the mental and material bits and bobs of life — literally.

The first single, “Bye Bye,” opens the record with a breathy packing list backed by ominous electroclash beats. The video, filmed in her hometown of L.A. (she moved back from Massachusetts eight years ago), features her daughter, Coco Gordon Moore, in an arty slice-of-life clip directed by Clara Balzary (Flea’s daughter), with whom she worked on the 2021 video for the thrashing “Hungry Baby.”

Another notable track envisions Los Angeles as a “Psychedelic Orgasm.” “It’s about L.A. but also about escapism,” she says of the song. “It’s kind of this weird fantasy dream and nightmare about living here.”

Gordon’s lyrical and musical fearlessness, both with her ex-husband in Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore, and on her own, has made her an inspiration to young women and out-of-the-box bassists to this day, and though she says it was never her intention, she is a feminist figure to many, who continues to defy expectations, as a musician and artist who's been expressing her unique point of view for over four decades, and as a woman who's only getting cooler with time. 

Below, Gordon shares thoughts on her new record, out this week, and more.

Your latest release is outstanding. What was your general vision for this one and what were you trying to say with it? The first song really opens up the whole thing in an attention-grabbing way.

The music is very compelling. Sometimes I ask people, 'What should I write a song about?' My friend said, ‘Why don't make a packing list?’ And I liked the idea of taking something that’s just kind of ordinary, you know, like a to-do list or packing list and make it somehow compelling. And when I travel, I do sort of gear myself up and my brain to get things in order and just prepare, for.. it's kind of a certain moment of anxiety.

I think a lot of people can relate to that. For women, even going over what makeup to take, which is like armor sometimes. It's like, we have to think about all these things when we go out there. And it actually has metaphoric implications too, doesn't it?

People can read into it or project their own thing on it, too, yes. The video does something different. Clara Balzary, the director had this idea to do a short film with my daughter Coco, which is how the other video she did for me, "Hungry Baby," came about. Coco's in the video and I'm very happy with it. I have a cameo in it, too. 

Explain your inspiration for the song “I’m a Man.”

[It’s] the whole idea of, like, how masculinity has changed in the culture through the years and how the cowboy — Ronald Reagan-, John Wayne-type men — are gonna ride up on a horse and save you. It’s about the idea that since that doesn’t exist anymore, what is the male role?”

I sort of like to take on different points of view sometimes when writing a song so I was kind of inspired by right wingers like Josh Hawley, and seeing him break his fist in the air, saying feminism ruins man and stuff like that.

Also, I always loved the show Madmen, which was so much about that — how the modern man is lost. Even the opening graphics showing men going down the side of a skyscraper... So men's new role, along with being consumers like women, was to market to women. 

You also have a song that's sort of about L.A., where you now live. 

Yeah, I've always been inspired by the architecture in L.A., and just like driving around and looking at different forms of expression, and just kind of the weird mixtures, wagon wheels and colonial killers. I've always found that kind of fascinating. 

You're headlining the Regent Theater here in L.A. on March 27. Watching you perform is always such an experience, since the early Sonic Youth days. The way you move and the way you turn noise into something avant-garde yet relatable. You've inspired so many, especially women. 

I'm not a conventional musician. I really don't have any desire to play music the way other people play music. I’m a very physical person with a good spatial sense. It’s always a challenge to combine that with more conceptual thinking. I just kind of fell into music and the post punk thing. But I'm always really happy when young girls, or anyone young, is interested in what I'm doing musically... or [in] anything I'm doing. 

More on Gordon's new music at kimaltheagordon.com.

Photo shoot credits:
Creative Director: Ada Guerin
Photographer: Lenka Ulrichova
Hair and Makeup: Hinako Murashige/A-Frame
Touch-ups: Anthony Pazos1st
Photo Assistant: Eric Larson
Digi Tech: Sean Kiel

A version of this story first appeared in the March 2024 issue of Los Angeles magazine, on newsstands now; click here to subscribe today.