Guitarist James Sedwards may be the new one in the group, but he’d already made his own name in an assortment of U.K. bands. It was his proximity as a neighbor — and then a collaborator — that sent Moore careening back to the gloriously dissonant sounds that characterized his earlier work.

Together, they perform as Thurston Moore Band on The Best Day, Moore’s most confidently composed album in recent memory. What’s even better, the four of them nailed a set of new songs while performing live in the studio at KEXP. Here, they perform “The Best Day” from the new record.

SET LIST

• “The Best Day”

Watch Thurston Moore’s full performance on KEXP’s YouTube channel.

Copyright 2014 KEXP-FM. To see more, visit http://www.kexp.org/.

The Best Day, no matter how distant, seems to be Moore’s first real shot at addressing some of these issues. Retreating from both woodsy, mature folk (2007’s Trees Outside The Academy, 2011’s Demolished Thoughts) and the wild punk/noise bombast of last year’s Chelsea Light Moving album, The Best Day is almost calming in its familiarity, particularly as it recalls a minor-key update of SY’s well-loved late-’90s salvo A Thousand Leaves. Even-handed and steady, repetitious and assured, these eight songs encourage the listener to peer inside, where the details of his decisions lie in wait.

A two-bar calibration between Moore and guitarist James Sedwards kicks off “Speak To The Wild,” and is repeated right before the coda, almost like a test tone to bring the song’s lengthy buildup and considerate construction into the greater focus required to unpack the development of “Forevermore.” Opening up over the course of 11 minutes and change, Moore crafts The Best Day‘s longest piece around romantic, possessive lyrics shot through with Catholic imagery. Is this an arch burndown of a love song, written to exorcise his past, or a 30-year reminder that love and its dark underbelly exist on opposite sides of the same alluring plane? As “Forevermore” plows forward — anchored by longtime collaborator Steve Shelley on drums and My Bloody Valentine‘s Deb Googe on bass — keys change, melodies are copied, mutated and withdrawn, and certainty is winnowed down to what listeners can count within themselves.

Elsewhere, the post-punk rocker “Detonation” could pass for Moore’s clearest response to rumors and hearsay about his personal life; it’s couched in metaphors regarding social protest and informants that break it all up under the guise of what he calls “clandestinity.” The decaying autumnal duality of “Tape” (more closely hewing to Led Zeppelin‘s epic “The Battle Of Evermore” than anything in Sonic Youth’s past) and the ever-darkening “Vocabularies” (chugging along in a tricky time signature) make The Best Day a record of the windy season, as Moore finds new life amid the dried thorns and dead leaves. “Start a fire, stop a fight,” Moore barks in “Germs Burn,” and for the first time since his debut solo album Psychic Hearts, he’s made one to celebrate the post-harvest, pre-winter chill. The anger of similar efforts like SY’s Bad Moon Rising has been burned off in a brush pile, leaving only the sweet smoke of longer nights and colder climates. As a statement of purpose, Moore sounds ready to move forward into the next phase of his life.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Drummer Scott Verrastro—who used to book the venue—is helping organize the event on Friday. “As Chris would have preferred, we’re going to have a big ol’ rock ‘n’ roll blowout to commemorate his life,” Verrastro writes in an email.

Verrastro and Grier played Velvet Lounge dozens of times starting in 2007, Verrastro writes. They teamed up in the ensembles Thee Ultimate Vag and Kohoutek. Grier also played for four years with the experimental collective To Live And Shave In L.A., often alongside Andrew W.K. and Thurston Moore.

W.K. wrote this heartfelt statement after Grier’s death:

When I first met Chris, it was on tour with To Live and Shave In LA. I was playing keyboard in the band and all I was told was that Chris was a newspaper writer from Washington D.C. who would also be performing with us. I guess I was kind of wary and shy of him at first. I somehow thought I wouldn’t get along with him. Turned out he was one of the most sincere, earnest, and devoted musicians I would ever have the privilege of playing with. He was a deeply great guitar player—an extremely advanced and attuned musician. He was great in that unassuming way that reveals itself from the inside out—from the sound of his playing, from the way it felt to hear his sound.

In the best way, all Chris really cared about was music. Probably one of only a handful of people who really lived their life for music and was brave enough to pursue it. And he pulled it off! He was playing constantly. He made big moves and sacrificed a lot to play music as much as he possibly could, often against the odds, and often due to his sheer tenacity and undeniable ability. When people ask what it means to be a successful musician, Chris really defines it for me—to play as much music as you can and with everything you have.

Kohoutek, Max Ochs, Rat Bastard, Insect Factory and Layne Garrett are scheduled to perform at the event Friday. Verrastro says donations can be made to the Chris Grier Memorial Music Fund, which will help pay for music supplies and instruments for students in the Charles County public schools system. (“Stooges records accepted as well,” he adds.)

“If you knew Chris or were inspired by his art, please attend and share stories, laughs and memories,” Verrastro writes. “There are many.”

The Chris Grier Memorial concert takes place 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29 at Velvet Lounge. Admission $8. Donations to the memorial fund can be sent to Chris Grier Memorial Music Fund, Charles County Public Schools, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD, 20646. 

Top photo via the memorial’s Facebook event page; lower photo by Ally Schweitzer