We’ve known for a while that Questlove is a very thoughtful writer/cultural critic, but a Sonic Youth fan? That too! The Roots drummer sat down with Kim Gordon’s new memoir Girl in a Band and reviewed it for The New York Times.
His analysis is quite positive, if not crossing over into “extremely positive” territory. “I’m probably in the sweet spot when it comes to Kim Gordon’s memoir,” the Roots drummer admits, since he followed her career enough to put the content into context but wasn’t obsessive enough to quibble over the minor details.
Related
Questlove Talks Autobiography ‘Mo Meta Blues’
“She stays cool because she is cool, even in those rare moments when she’s not,” Quest writes, reflecting on Gordon’s handling of her divorce from Thurston Moore, which hangs over much of the book.
He also applauds its unconventional narrative: short chapters (“you might call them songs”) and collage-like structure once the narrative shifts to focusing on particular songs, one at a time.
“It’s not an especially chatty book; there aren’t long recreated conversations,” he notes of the memoir from the not-particularly-chatty musician. “But every subject is handled with careful introspection, detail and real feeling.”
If you’re looking for more takes on the Gordon book, look no further than our own podcasts; The Alt In Our Stars premiered the audiobook version of the first chapter and Must Hear Music had Gordon herself by for an interview.