November is a good time to be a Sonic Youth fan, since onetime Lower East Side fixtures Kim Gordon (now based in Los Angeles) and Thurston Moore (now based in London) are coming ’round Williamsburg to make some noise.
If you’ve been meaning to check out National Sawdust, Williamsburg’s ambitious new avant-garde venue, this is a fine time to do it: Hot on the heels of her first solo song, Gordon, the artist/writer/musician/icon, is playing there with Body/Head, her moody collaboration with fellow guitarist Bill Nace. Tickets ($20) for the Nov. 12 show are available here.
On Nov. 23, Thurston is also appearing as part of a duo, teaming up with fellow downtown legend John Zorn to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Rough Trade.
Yep, it’s been four decades since London drama teacher Geoff Travis opened the first Rough Trade in the Ladbroke Grove district of London. The vinyl shop, which at first specialized in reggae and garage rock, quickly spawned a record label that put out the likes of The Smiths and Public Image Ltd. As other indies-turned-chains like Tower Records have tanked (except for in Japan, where it gloriously lives on), Rough Trade continues to grow, having opened a Williamsburg store three short years ago.
Moore has been a fixture at London’s Rough Trade store ever since moving there, and paid a visit to the Brooklyn outpost when his lyrics collection, Stereo Sanctity, came out in last year. Zorn, of course, sticks closer to his East Village stomping grounds, where his venue and creative caldron The Stone is located.
These 40th anniversary festivities will double as a book party to celebrate the publication of a compendium of Musics, a ’70s magazine that chronicled the British experimental music and art scene. Zorn was a contributor to the zine, and Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Library put out the book. Tickets go on sale today, Nov. 2, at noon.