Thurston Moore/Wally Shoup/Toshi Makihara: Hurricane Floyd

On the evening Moore convened with altoist Wally Shoup and drummer Toshi Makihara at the Old Cambridge Boston Church, Hurricane Floyd lapped at the doors and windows, subsequently lending its name to the recording. And perhaps, if not for gusting winds and rain on their heads, it must have been difficult for the audience to tell whether they were inside or outside at times. The album consists of three rather similar-sounding group improvisations and one non sequitur solo spot for Moore and his acoustic guitar. The group stuff tends to kick off with lots of quiet staccato bursts surrounded by plenty of silence and then build, in keeping with the noise scene’s overly familiar rise-and-fall-of-civilization, night-day-night routine. Only Shoup’s ragged blues essay at the start of the third group improv, “Retribution, of Sorts,” breaks the monotony.

Originally Published January 1, 2001