Kim Gordon has kept pretty busy in the last couple of post-Sonic Youth years. She’s continued to work on visual art, collaborated with in Body/Head, released her acclaimed Girl In A Band autobiography and now, with little buildup, she’s released her first single under her own name. Murdered Out was recorded with producer Justin Raisen and is built on a huge lurching drum beat courtesy of Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa and plenty of distortion and general audio chaos in an industrial/trashy garage-rock/post-punk style.

The single is out now via Matador Records.

Kim Gordon:

“Black matte spray.

When I moved back to LA I noticed more and more cars painted with black matte spray, tinted windows, blackened logos, and black wheels. This was something I had occasionally seen in the past, part of low-rider car culture. A reclaiming of a corporate symbol of American success, The Car, from an outsider’s point of view. A statement-making rejection of the shiny brand new look, the idea of a new start, the promise of power, and the freedom on the open road. Like an option on a voting ballot, “none of the above.”

“Murdered Out,” as a look, is now creeping into mainstream culture as a design trend. A coffee brand. A clothing line. A nail polish color.

Black-on-black matte is the ultimate expression in digging out, getting rid of, purging the soul. Like a black hole, the supreme inward look, a culture collapsing in on itself, the outsider as an unwilling participant as the “It” look.”