Listen: Alex Knost’s new band ‘Glitterbust’

Words by Rick Snowden

Yeah it’s dark, yeah it’s raw, but if the grunge taste is something you’ve acquired or you’re big on Sonic Youth nostalgia then you’ll dig this number. Professional freesurfer slash musician Alex Knost has just released the debut single for his latest project ‘Glitterbust’, a collaborative duet project with grunge heroine Kim Gordon. It’s a nine minute minimal guitar-orientated track, doused in hazy riffs and surrounded by the pair’s jaded harmonies. True to it’s No Wave roots there’s plenty of DIY charisma and dissonant melodies throughout, with a particularly frantic crescendo around the 5:00 mark. If you aren’t into the genre, you’ll likely be tapping out around then.

Knost is known for dabbling in experimental scenes in both surfing and the creative arts. He’s had his hand in photography, painting, board shaping, film and music. Let’s not forget the guy has one of the freshest and most intriguing approaches to riding a surfboard, being one of Vans and RVCA’s prized family members. From his pop-rock beginnings with the ‘Japanese Motors’, to the Lo-fi minimal focused ‘Tomorrow’s Tulips’ he’s compiling quite the back catalogue.

Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, (whose vocals are slightly more coherent in the track than Knost’s) is a cult icon and has a number of previous side project collaborations featuring her name with artists including Yoko Ono and Courtney Love to name a few. This is the first release since her Body/Head outfit dropped the ‘Coming Apart’ album in 2013.

Like Tomorrow’s Tulips, Glitterbust will be released through Californian label Burger Records, with the self-titled debut out March 4th in double LP and cassette formats.

If you’re a believer, pre-order the album here: