MUSIC: Thurston Moore / Knitting Factory

Photo: Christine Tadler

Despite owning the Ciccone Youth "Whitey Album" and, like most fan boys of my age, bowing before the alternate-tuned sounds rock royalty Thurston Moore has been making for 30 years, I have never seen Sonic Youth or any side project in a live setting. And that's a bit sad. With Thurston Moore's latest solo offering (only his second in 13 years), "Trees Outside the Academy," landing as one of my favorite listens of 2007, I decided to rectify this lack in musical experience Tuesday night at the Knitting Factory.

It was a showcase for several bands on the Thurston-curated Ecstatic Peace label, and I was psyched that this family of bands would only enhance the evening's charm for me. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to catch the sparse build-ups of the Tall Firs and wedged myself into the crowded main room just in time to watch MV & EE, a psyche-folk outfit featuring Samara Lubelski on bass (whom Thurston also recruited for his group). Their old-tyme sounds filtered through a '60s ethos (and "esoteric guitar equipment") didn't bring me to the cosmic plane they might have hoped for, but it is certainly more out of left field compared to your average jam band and worth a listen if you are so inclined. With a lot of noisy guitars building through the songs, it's obviously more freak than folk.

After a brief foray through the Knit's other floors I returned to see Thurston on stage. The room was packed and I was in the far back reserved for folks over 6 feet in height. Though he clearly was supporting his latest effort I wondered if there would be any surprises during the set. Would J Mascis make an appearance on lead guitar? Would they cover a Crucifucks song? I was thinking too far ahead. They started with the glorious "Frozen Gtr" opener from "Trees" and continued with other stellar selections "The Shape is in a Trance" and "Wonderful Witches." Without the help of a second guitar the songs were missing some of their recorded strength, but the lovely violin playing from Lubelski (combined with Steve Shelley's masterful back beat and Thurston's slacker frontman energy) made for a great show—I just added those searing guitar leads in my head.

A brief encore with just Thurston on electric guitar and Steve Shelley on drums knocked out some songs from his first 1995 solo record, "Psychic Hearts"—a treat for longtime loyals. After pining for this moment for years it was great to see this stripped down line-up make Thurston still sound like the king. --Carl Gambrell