Thurston Moore releases a new album, walks around the East Village

Thurston Moore has a new record (The Best Day) out today (Pitchfork says that it has "a distinctly Sonic Youth-ian discord."). You can check out the track "Speak to the Wild" above" …

Meanwhile, in New York magazine, Moore does the interview while shopping at Mast, walking on Avenue A and sitting in Tompkins Square Park. He reminiscences, but nothing too dramatic.

We walk by the Pyramid Club, one of the few holdouts from those days. “There was a nighttime collaboration between us and the drag queens who ruled that place,” he remembers. “They thought we were perfectly absurd. They would introduce the bands—the Swans, Sonic Youth—and make fun of us.”

A 'chug n’ shred burner' for the afternoon

So while we wait for the record from Thurston Moore's new band, Chelsea Light Moving ... you can check out the second track at the Matador Records blog, Matablog ... The track is "Groovy & Linda." (The MP3 is here.)

Thurston describes the song this way:

Not to be confused with the 1968 coffee house folk song by Tom Parrott (recorded for Smithsonian Folkways), this chug n’ shred burner is a psycho reflection of late 60s NYC East Village hippie idealism slayed and splayed in an Avenue B tenement boiler room.

Meanwhile, here's the unofficial official video for the band's first track "Burroughs," released a few weeks ago...

Thurston Moore curating music for BMW Guggenheim Lab's opening-night party

Work continues over at the BMW Guggenheim Lab on First Street ...

Meanwhile, the Guggenheimers are gearing up for the opening-night reception on Aug. 2, which you're invited to only if you received an invitation. (Yeah, we didn't get one either.)

Here's part of the invite someone who was invited shared with us...

Peter Lawson-Johnston, Honorary Chairman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
William L. Mack, Chairman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Jennifer Blei Stockman, President, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation

Harald Krüger, Member of the Board of Management, BMW AG

The BMW Guggenheim Lab Team

request the pleasure of your company for an opening reception of the BMW Guggenheim Lab.

An evening of music curated by Thurston Moore, long-lost footage from TV Party (1978–1982) presented by Glenn O'Brien, and summer fare by Roberta’s.

Street-smart attire.

Space is limited. RSVP essential by XXXXXXX

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile urban laboratory that will launch in New York City on August 3, 2011, before traveling to Berlin and Asia in a six-year initiative that will explore innovative ideas and designs for city life.

We're not sure if Thurston Moore will actually be there, or if he's just sending along some mix tapes or MP3s or what not for the bash...

Oh, and it opens to the rest of you schlubs on Aug. 3.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Guggenheim wants our rat-infested First Street lot

Residents pitching in to help refurbish First Street garden

Designs for urban life apparently don't include trees

Continuing to question the BMW Guggenheim Lab's benefits to the local community

Thurston Moore and memories of 315 Bowery

La Blogothèque has this new feature on Thurston Moore, who talks about how he first came to New York as a teen... and a few other takes on his time at CBGB... the video includes a good deal of his latest solo material as well.

And from the written intro to the video by Derrick Belcham:

In the bathroom of 315 Bowery, in New York City’s East Village, a picture of a picture of a rock club hangs. The original was taken some time after the club closed last decade, an impression of a time when it had already lost modern relevance, reproduced so that even the faded memory it captured would be lost in a dimly lit hall of mirrors.

Outside of the bathroom, an attendant of John Varvatos tells me that the store policy is to not allow photography of the store. I tell him that it isn’t the store I’m taking photos of. The chagrin of my own borrowed nostalgia is forgotten in the shadow of his callowness. He becomes heated and directs me to an area by the door. Here, a farcical museum has been erected. Stickers and gig posters are gathered here, organized for optimum viewing behind a pane of glass, under-lit to provide an efficient area to gift wrap Italian-sewn men’s jeans.

End note

And Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label is releasing a new record from the Notekillers.