HALFWAY TO A THREEWAY (1999)

NINE YEARS AFTER THE RELEASE OF THIS RECORD IT HAD REACHED A CULT STATUS IN WHICH IT COULD BE TRUSTED TO RAISE A SMILE AT ITS MENTION IN LYRICS BY THE WRY ELECTRO POPSTER MAX TUNDRA:

I found the girl on eBay
She was bidding on "Halfway To A Threeway"
I wrote the words "a grain of sand" upon a grain of rice
She baked a pie of very shy laboratory mice

AND WITH GOOD REASON BECAUSE .5->3-WAY IS A GREAT LITTLE USE OF THE EXTENDED PLAY FORMAT AND I AM GOING TO MAKE A BOLD CLAIM HERE AND SAY AS EPS GO THIS IS PROBABLY UP THERE WITH SLATES AND ADMONISHING THE BISHOPS AND WATERY DOMESTIC AND IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE OUT IN THE COUNTRY.

THIS IS FROM JIM'S SMALL RANGE OF 'RELEASES THAT UNCUT MAGAZINE COULD TUG OFF TO', BRINGING GENTLE FOLK AND EXPLORATORY AMERICANA TO THE FOREFRONT WITH NO TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION. 

THE LYRICS ARE SMART AND CUTTING, SOME MIGHT SAY MEAN, BUT THEY DO AT LEAST TRY AND DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN TURN THESE INTO EMPTY SENTIMENTS OF THE KIND JIM DOESN'T REALLY CARE FOR. THE MUSIC DOES THE SENTIMENTAL LIFTING, TO BE FAIR.

I LIKE ALL FOUR SONGS HERE AND I WOULD SAY TO ANYONE LOOKING TO GET INTO JIM TO START HERE. THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE IT WOULD GET YOU LISTENING TO HAPPY DAYS OR LONG NIGHT OR FENN O'BERG, BUT PLAY THE PERCENTAGES AND REAP THE REWARDS.

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

LE PIANO ENGLOUTI (2020)

ON THIS RECORD JIM GETS A CO-CREDIT BUT IS KEEN TO PLAY DOWN HIS ROLE IN MAKING THE WORK OF A HERO (AND THE WIFE OF A HERO) COME TO LIFE:

Brunhild Ferrari was kind to me even back then.

That’s so nice.

Yeah I don’t understand. She was always really nice to me. I mean I never got to know Mr. Ferrari much at all—I only really met him once or twice—but she was always kind to me. Still is.

You had that album with her from this year.

It’s from a couple years ago but it was released this year, yeah.

Had you two ever worked on music together before?

No, it was really just a concert. It’s really just a live show. Basically, it was pieces of hers—tape—with a person improvising. Like a lot of pieces Luc made, it was basically that. She was playing the tape and I was improvising. So really it was as simple as that. I never actually worked with her, I just did the shows with her.

Can you share how she was looking out for you?

She would make sure I was OK. I really had so little French and—maybe it's changed—but if you’re in Paris with no French, you're going to be ignored real quick (laughter). 

I CAN CONFIRM: I HAVE TRAVELLED THROUGHOUT FRANCE EXTENSIVELY OVER THE LAST DECADE AND THE ONLY PLACE MY DEPRESSING MONOGLOTTALISM HAS GIVEN ME TROUBLE IS PARIS. 

THE SOUND OF THE RECORD IS AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS - PRE-RECORDED PIANO IS ENGULFED BY WAVES OF SOUND TAKEN FROM FIELD RECORDINGS OF THE SEA AND WEATHER AND MIXED WITH DRONING ELECTRONICS AND FIZZING SYNTH NOISES. EFFECTS SWEEP IN AND OUT, BAKING THE WHOLE SOUND TOGETHER: A PIANO INSIDE THE OCEAN, OR A TORNADO TAKING PLACE INSIDE THE LAPTOP.

I LIKE IT AND IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A MERE LIVE SET GUSSIED UP.
 

TIMA FORMOSA (2010)

AN EARLY MEETING OF THE AMBARCHI / HAINO / O'ROURKE TRIO FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER NOT LONG AFTER O'ROURKE DECAMPED TO JAPAN FULL-TIME. I THINK, FROM SOMETHING ELSE I READ, O'ROURKE DIDN'T REALLY DO A LOT BETWEEN 2005 (HIS TIME WITH SONIC YOUTH AND WILCO) AND 2008. YOU CAN SORT OF SEE A BIT OF A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO BROAD ERAS (THOUGH THERE ARE MANY PHASES WITHIN EACH, OR SUB-NARRATIVES, OR WHATEVER). 

THE MAIN ONE IS THAT I THINK A LOT OF THE EGO SEEMS TO GO OUT OF JIM'S MUSIC. HE BURIES HIMSELF IN COLLABORATIONS AND MAKES MUSIC THAT IS LESS DEMONSTRATIVE, REJECTING THE POP GESTURES OF THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.

ANYWAY WHILST I AM GENERALLY A FAN OF THIS TRIO THIS ONE DOESN'T HIT ANY SPOT. IT IS MOSTLY COMPRISED OF INTROVERTED SYNTH DRONES OVERLAPPING. NO ONE GETS TOO HEAVY UNTIL THE BACK QUARTER OF THE RECORD WHEN THERE ARE MORE PULSING INDUSTRIAL MOMENTS AND HAINO TURNS FROM FLOWERY GHOST INTO WAILING BANSHEE. 

GENERALLY THESE RECORDS SEEM TO LIVE AND DIE MORE ON WHETHER HAINO IS IN THE MOOD TO BRING THE FIRE. O'ROURKE AND AMBARCHI PLAY AS HIS BACKING BAND DESPITE THE DEMOCRATIC CREDIT SYSTEM. ANYWAY, IT ISN'T BAD, BUT GIVEN THAT THEY HAVE SIZZLED ON A COUPLE OF RECORDS THEY'VE A BAR SET THAT THIS DOESN'T EVEN REMOTELY GET CLOSE TO JUMPING.

INVITO AL CIELO (1998)

CONNOR LOCKIE OF THE BLOG SPECTRUM CULTURE REVISITED THIS ALBUM BY SONIC YOUTH AND JIM O'ROURKE, RELEASED AS PART OF THEIR SYR EXPERIMENTAL SERIES, JUST LAST YEAR. IN A SYMPATHETIC AND POSITIVE REVIEW HE SAID THIS:

When things are loud, they’re very loud; when they’re slow and dissonant, it’s like a funeral dirge. Improv purists might turn their noses up at the idea of pop musicians treading this ground, but Sonic Youth show that they have a deep understanding of both camps, such that they end up straddling the fine line that connects the two.

IMPROV PURISTS CAN ALL GO TO HELL AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED AND IT IS PRETTY CLEAR BY ANY YARDSTICK THAT ALL OF THE GROUP (BUT ESPECIALLY LEE AND THURSTON) ARE TIME-SERVED CARD-CARRYING MEMBERS OF THE NO WAVE WEIRDO MOVEMENT, HOWEVER LONG THEY HAVE SPENT IN 'POP MUSIC' LATTERLY.

 

MAYBE I'M JUST SCARRED BY THOSE DISKAHOLICS RECORDS AND THE MELBOURNE RECORD BY JIM AND THE SONIC YOUTH MEN BUT I CAN'T HANDLE IMPROV RECORDS BY THIS LOT ANYMORE. IT ISN'T OFFENSIVE OR ANYWHERE NEAR AS BAD AS DISKAHOLICS, AND I MUST STRESS AGAIN I RESPECT THE UNDERPINNINGS OF THIS, BUT IT JUST GETS ON MY LAST NERVE.

THE BEST BITS OF THE RECORD ON FINAL 30 MINUTE JAM 'RADIO-AMATOROJ' SOUNDS A BIT LIKE THE DYING FEEDBACK BITS IN 1988 CLOSING JAM ELIMINATOR JR FROM DAYDREAM NATION. IT'S JUST THAT IN THAT SONG IT WAS A BRIDGING METHOD BETWEEN SECTIONS: HERE IT IS THE ENTIRE THING IN AND OF ITSELF. 

THIS DOESN'T GET TO DUD DEPTHS BUT I AM NOT RECOMMENDING IT.

SPHYX (1994)

THIS WAS AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY TO ME UNTIL JIM SAID IN THAT EXCELLENT TONE GLOW PIECE THAT HE PLAYED ON IT. LET US REWIND:

Obviously I don’t do a lot of interviews, but I've always been kind of shocked by how nobody ever asks me about the years I was part of Organum. To me It seems like one of the most amazing things that anyone could ever say—“Yeah, I was in Organum.” (laughter). But no one ever asks about that stuff. Maybe it's not as big a deal as it seems to me, or it doesn't have the cachet it used to. But I mean, David was in the fucking Scratch Orchestra.

I did wanna ask you about Organum, you were on Sphyx.

I’m actually on a lot of them, it’s just that there aren’t credits. I was on like ten of them. Sphyx was kind of the result of Eddie introducing me to write with David Jackman. We recorded that in this studio in this area of London, it was really kind of brutal. But it’s down in the south of London and it’s that studio the band Skullflower recorded in. Do you know the band Skullflower?

WELL I WON'T BE FINDING OUT WHICH TEN JUST FOR THE SAKE OF COMPLETENESS, THOUGH I MAY COVER MORE ORGANUM IF IT ORGANUMICALLY (HEHEHE) COMES TO MY ATTENTION IN FUTURE WEEKS.

ALSO ISN'T SKULLFLOWER GUY A NAZI GUY NOW? ISN'T THAT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED? THIS WORLD MOVES TOO FAST TO EVEN KEEP TRACK OF WHO IS A NAZI OR GRABBED SOME TITS WITHOUT CONSENT.

EDIT: LINK TO SKULLFLOWER HYPOTHESIS, I HAVE NO COMMENT.

SO AN ORGANUM IS, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, A KIND OF MEDIEVAL POLYPHONY (REMEMBER A LOT OF WRITTEN MUSIC USED TO BE IN UNISON UNTIL VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE INTRODUCED COUNTERPOINT, ETC.) AND I SUPPOSE THAT NAME IS KIND OF APPROPRIATE HERE - ALTHOUGH THIS IS A KIND OF MEDIEVAL-ISH SOUNDING COMPUTER MUSIC.

I HAVE TO SAY I REALLY LIKE THIS. I KNOW IT ISN'T JIM'S MUSIC PER SE AND I GUESS I CAN'T GIVE IT CERTIFIED: GOOD FOR THE MUSIC OF JIM O'ROURKE, BUT IT IS CERTIFIED: GOOD. IT IS FULLY OF ITSELF; A WHOLE PIECE, COLLIDING SUBTLE COMPUTER MANIPULATION WITH LIVE DRONES AND IMPROVISATIONS. YOU CAN SEE HOW THIS WAS A FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE FOR JIM AS SOME OF HIS LATER RECORDS DO SEEM TO REFLECT VARIOUS LESSONS LEARNED HERE.

FUCK IT: CERTIFIED GOOD

TEA TIME FOR THOSE DETERMINED TO COMPLETELY EXHAUST EVERY BIT OF THIS BODY THEY'VE BEEN GIVEN (2015)

THE AMBARCHI/HAINO/O'ROURKE TRIO IS BACK AGAIN AS A CLASSIC POWER TRIO (EXCEPT HAINO SOMETIMES PLAYS FLUTE) FOR THEIR ANNUAL MEETING OF MINDS, THIS TIME ON AMBARCHI'S HOME TURF IN AUSTRALIA.

THIS RELEASE IS ABSOLUTELY KILLER. HAINO PLAYS SKYSCRAPER GUITAR, SCREAMING SHEETS OF PLEASURENOISE OVER A RHYTHM SECTION WHO FIRST TRUDGE AROUND DOOMISHLY AND THEN OPEN UP TOWARD SOMETHING POLITELY FUNKY AND COSMIC. HAINO'S VOCALS ADD A LOT TO THIS TOO, EVEN IF I CAN'T TELL A WORD OF WHAT HE'S GHOSTLY WAILING ABOUT.

SIDE A PEAKS GLORIOUSLY AND REPRESENTS THE TRIO'S FINEST WORK TO DATE (FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THIS BLOG). SIDE B IS A LITTLE MORE OBTUSE BUT THEY GET TO THE GOOD STUFF. TOP BASS WORK FROM JIM HERE.

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

TO MAGNETIZE MONEY AND CATCH A ROVING EYE (2019)

CERTAINLY THE LONGEST JIM RELEASE THUS FAR, TRUMPING LONG NIGHT'S 2HRS 37 BY OVER 90 MORE MINUTES, AND SPREAD OVER 4 DISCS (4 FILES, SORRY), TO MAGNETIZE MONEY MIGHT NATURALLY BEG COMPARISON WITH SOMETHING LIKE WILLIAM BASINSKI'S DISINTEGRATION LOOPS BUT ARGUABLY MORE HAPPENS IN TERMS OF SHIFTS AND MODULATIONS ON THIS RELEASE IN THE FIRST 10 MINUTES THAN DOES ACROSS 5 HOURS OF BASINSKI'S LOOPS.

THE SHEER LENGTH GIVES A LOT OF SPACE FOR IDEAS TO BREATHE AND FOR ENTIRE NEW MOVEMENTS TO BE PROSODICALLY BORN OUT OF THE DECAYING MATTER OF OLD ONES. EACH DISC DOES HAVE A DIFFERENT FEEL BUT THEY'RE ALL IN THE SAME APPROXIMATE WHEELHOUSE OF BROODING, DISQUIETING, DRONING, OMINOUS, GURGLING, AMNIOTIC, ETC.

WHAT I DO LIKE ABOUT IT IS THE WAY THAT SOME SOURCE SOUNDS FEEL UNTRANSFORMED AND NOT QUITE BAKED INTO THE WHOLE SOUND - VOICES FLOATING UP AND OUT OF THE MIX, AND SOMETIMES A SYNTH SOUNDS QUITE OBVIOUSLY LIKE A SYNTH. MUSIC WHERE THE HAND OF ITS MAKER APPEALS TO ME AND SOMETIMES THAT IS LOST IN STUDIO PROJECTS. 

BIT LONG FOR ME TO SAY CERTIFIED: GOOD BUT I IMAGINE FOR SOME PEOPLE THIS WILL BE A REAL HEAD-TURNER.

SECURE ON THE LOOSE RIM (1991)

PROGRESS REPORT: OF THE ASSEMBLED AND KNOWN DISCOGRAPHY OF JIM O'ROURKE I ESTIMATE WE ARE ABOUT ONE THIRD OF THE WAY THROUGH IT IF WE DISCOUNT SINGLES AND STUFF WHERE HE WAS MOSTLY A PERFORMER (STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT I'LL DO ABOUT THE WILCO RELEASES) THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE SOME OF THOSE TO FILL OUT THE SENSE OF JOURNEY.

OF COURSE THERE ARE THINGS THAT CROP UP SUCH AS HEARING O'ROURKE PLAYED ON DAVID JACKMAN'S ORGANUM RELEASES, OR THE EARLY PERFORMANCE GROUP THE ELVIS MESSIAHS. BUT THERE ARE ALSO THINGS IN THE MAIN DISCOGRAPHY THAT I CAN'T FIND JUST NOW, SO MAYBE IT WILL ALL EVEN OUT AND ROLL TO A NATURAL STOP.

SECURE TAKES US TO JIM'S COLLEGE DAYS IN 1990 AND THE CONDENSING OF TWO PERFORMANCES GIVEN IN THE JANUARY OF THAT NEW DECADE. IT'S KEYBOARD/DRONE/AMBIENT WITH A SLIGHTLY DILAPIDATED FEEL BECAUSE OF THE TRANSFER FROM CASSETTE TO DIGITAL AUDIO. I DIG IT THOUGH: SOMETHING ABOUT AMBIENT (WE WILL UNPACK THIS ONE DAY, I SWEAR) MUSIC DONE LIVE AND THEN ALSO ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL TRANSFER IS RIGHT UP MY ALLEY.

CLOSING TRACK SOMETIMES HAS A NICELY BROODING AND DISTORTED FEEL AND ROUNDS OFF A SATISFYING ALBUM (THOUGH LISTED ON DISCOGS AS A COMPILATION?) WELL. TEMPTED TO GO CERTIFIED: GOOD ON THIS. IT MIGHT NOT BE JIM'S MOST CONSIDERED OR MATURE WORK, BUT IF YOU ENJOY IT ALL THEN SURELY THAT'S THE POINT?

CERTIFIED: GOOD

STEAMROOM 47 (2020)

I READ A VERY INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH JIM O'ROURKE YESTERDAY IN THE MUSIC NEWSLETTER TONE GLOW. THERE WAS QUITE A LOT OF MATERIAL TO LEAN ON SO I SHAN'T USE IT ALL NOW. PERHAPS IT WILL REFRAME SOME THINGS IN THE FUTURE, AND HAS CLARIFIED A FEW SUSPICIONS OF THE PAST.

HAD I HEARD STEAMROOM 47 PRIOR TO READING IT I'D HAVE BEEN POSITIVE ABOUT IT ALL THE SAME: IT'S PROBABLY MY FAVOURITE STEAMROOM SO FAR THAT WASN'T OUT AS SOMETHING ELSE ALREADY. IT PRESENTS FRACTURED PIANO PLAYING INTERMESHING WITH ELECTRONICS. THE PLAYING ITSELF IS STRANGE AND ODDLY BRITTLE - LIKE A FUMBLING ATTEMPT TO DEVELOP A BAROQUE MELODY THAT COLLAPSES (BUT INTERESTINGLY) AND RISES AND FALLS. IT IS INTERESTING STUFF.

THE INTERVIEW PROVIDES SOME INSIGHT ON HOW THIS PARTICULAR RELEASE WAS MADE. REMEMBER WHEN I SUGGESTED A LONG TIME AGO THAT PROCESS AND HOW THE SOUND WAS MADE FEELS OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE RATHER THAN THE END PRODUCT OR HOW IT MIGHT MAKE YOU FEEL? WELL:

Well there's this whole area of research, this grouping of disciplines called MIR—music information retrieval.

I'm not familiar with it.

The results of that are those things on your phone where you can ask, “What’s that song?” and figure out what it is.

Oh, apps like SoundHound?

Yeah, so basically that world of research is called MIR. Which is a combination of other disciplines like FFT (Fast Fourier transform) analysis and delta signals and all that shit. As a sort of adjunct to my near-lifelong obsession with Roland Kayn and the idea of music based on cybernetics, I was researching various things about MIR over the past couple years—not because I'm interested in it as a technology, but because of the parts of technology that make it up.

What that album is, and the name’s sort of a clue—I’m surprised no one’s caught on, it’s not that obscure. But basically I made an FFT analysis of—

Glenn Gould?

Yeah, Glenn Gould! So I did an FFT analysis of all the Goldberg Variations. But what I did was, for each particular variation, based on the simple ideas of—and they were simple because I was just doing tests—how many modulations and blah blah blah. When you're doing FFT analysis, it's basically like a time domain analysis. Depending on the sample rate you're working at, you’re cutting up music into slices of time, almost like plastic overlays. It’s kind of like when you see those things when you make slices of the brain and you’re putting see-through, plastic pieces on top of each other for each slice.

So with the Fourier transform, you're taking time slices and you're reading the energy levels of the frequencies as sine waves—sinusoidal—for each slice. Then to recreate it, these slices and the sine waves and particular amplitudes are recreated in the same time domain. But what I was doing was changing the time domain as well as resynthesizing it—not with sine waves, but with a wave table of a hundred and fifty different wave forms that were dependent upon both the frequency and the amplitude in regards to something particular about that Goldberg variation.

So I was recreating those performances of the Goldberg Variations with this kind of skewered, nutso, FFT resynthesis. And then what I did (laughs) was once I resynthesized those—which is that kind of crazy, squelchy, noisy part—I ran that through a program which tries to read musical material out of the audio. And that made a new score that was played on the

SO THE PIECE ENDS UP BEING THIS TWICE REMOVED GOLDBERG VARIATION THAT PERHAPS TRUMPS THE IDEA OF ALGORITHMS WRITING OUR FUTURE MASTERPIECES BY DOING THE THING HUMANS DO BEST AND TWISTING IT AWAY FROM OBVIOUS LEVELS OF INTENT.  

THE THING IS THOUGH IT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD. AS STATED - I AM NOT A PROCESS GUY. I LIKE EXPRESSION AND RESULT. FORTUNATELY JIM'S GOALS AND MINE ALIGN HERE FOR AN EASY CERTIFIED: GOOD!

BAD TIMING (1997)

WE HAVE MENTIONED IN THE COURSE OF THIS BLOG, ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS, THE WORD 'AMERICANA' WITHOUT REALLY INTERROGATING THE CONCEPT (INDEED THERE ARE A BUNCH OF WORDS I COULD STAND TO GO DEEPER IN ON AND I PLAN TO) IN DEPTH.

AMERICANA ON THE BASIC LEVEL SUGGESTS 'THINGS TO DO WITH AMERICA' BUT WHEN YOU STRIP AWAY ALL THE CRASS FLAG-WAVING MILITARY AND DEEP MEDIA STUFF THAT AMERICA PROJECTS TO THE WORLD YOU ARE ACTUALLY LEFT WITH A RIOT OF DIFFERENCE; OF GENERATIONS EMBEDDED AND OF THE SWEEP OF MIGRATION; OF DIFFERENT CLIMATES, GEOGRAPHIES, AND TOPOLOGIES; OF RADICALLY DIFFERENT CULTURAL TRADITIONS; BOTH COLONISERS AND COLONISED.

NOT TO MENTION THAT WHEN YOU BRING IT TO SPECIFIC MUSICAL FORMS YOU GET REALLY INTELLIGENT AND INSIGHTFUL PEOPLE LIKE ALAN LOMAX WHO CAN TAKE SOMETHING THAT SEEMS HYPER-PARTICULAR IE. A BLUES FORM ONLY IN A SMALL VALLEY IN MISSISSIPPI, A TYPE OF GOSPEL SONG ONLY ON THAT VIRGINIAN MOUNTAIN AND SHOW HOW IT EVOLVES FROM ONE COUNTRY'S PEOPLE AND THEIR JOURNEY TO THE NEW WORLD. HOW EVERYTHING IS PRONE TO SHIFT AND CHANGE AND UPROOTING AND BEING SOMEWHERE ELSE. MAYBE CULTURE IS SIMPLY WHAT SURVIVES OF US.

CULTURAL EXPRESSION CAN BE BOTH AUTHENTIC (A TRUE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONHOOD) AND COMPLETELY FALSE (BORROWED, NOT ORIGINATING THROUGH A STRICT PATRIMONIAL COURSE) IN ONE FELL SWOOP: I THINK THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING PROVIDING YOU TAKE THE COARSENING EFFECTS OF MONEY AND SOCIAL STATUS AWAY FROM THINGS. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS ARGUMENTS ABOUT CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ONLY GO SO FAR WITH ME. NOT TO SAY THERE AREN'T RACISTS AND CYNICS IN THE WORLD. FAR FROM IT!

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BAD TIMING BY JIM O'ROURKE? WELL, A LOT, IN THAT IT IS A RECORD THAT CLEARLY BRINGS TO BEAR JIM'S BURGEONING OBSESSION WITH THE AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR STYLINGS AND THE WORK OF JOHN FAHEY. IT IS MUSIC THAT BEARS THE HALLMARKS OF THE AMERICAN PAST; ACUTELY STUDDED WITH A SENSE OF TRADITIONS IN AMERICAN FOLK AND BLUES, THE JOURNEY OF CONTINENTS, WHILE JIM IS THIS ALOOF ACADEMIC GUY WHO HAS SPENT 8 YEARS MAKING MUSIC FOR WESTERN INTELLIGENTSIA.

IS THIS JUST AN EXERCISE OR IS IT AUTHENTIC? WELL, IT IS BOTH. AND FURTHERMORE IT IS SUCCESSFUL. IT RENDERS A CONVINCING PORTRAIT OF THE LEGACY OF FAHEY AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN CLASSICAL MUSIC. AND IT ALSO FEELS *FELT*. LIKE HE CARES. LIKE THIS IS NOT A CLINICAL EXERCISE. THAT THERE IS SOME ATTEMPT TO GRAB THE LISTENER BY THEIR EMOTIONAL SENSES.

BAD TIMING IS A VERY GOOD RECORD AND FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JIM SOLO UP TO 1997 ON THIS BLOG, HIS BEST RECORD TO DATE. YOU CAN'T CALL IT A VOLTE-FACE IF YOU THINK ABOUT HOW THIS OBSESSION HAD BEEN COMING OUT IN WORKS LIKE HAPPY DAYS AND UPGRADE & AFTERLIFE. MY FAVOURITE TRACK IS THE TITLE TRACK BUT THERE ISN'T A BAD ONE HERE. 

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

STEAMROOM 19 (2015)

A RECORD SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE VARIOUS INTERSECTIONS OF TAPE MUSIC, DRONE, AMBIENT, MUSIQUE CONCRETE, AND SOUND ART. ONE TRACK OVER 42 MINUTES THAT GOES THROUGH SEVERAL IDENTIFIABLE SECTIONS, EACH UNIFIED BY SHARPENED METALLIC TONES AND AN UNMISTAKABLE ATMOSPHERE AKIN TO WHEN A FRIDGE HUMS ANNOYINGLY.

THERE IS A SENSE OF AN ACTIVE HAND THROUGHOUT AS WE HEAR INTERLOCUTIONS FROM UNIDENTIFIABLE PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS (LIKE STONES GRINDING TOGETHER) AND THE SUBTLE RAISING AND DECAYING OF ATTACK AND VOLUME THAT COMES FROM THE ANCIENT ART OF 'KNOB-TWIDDLING'. 

ULTIMATELY THIS FEELS BEST AS SOUND ART IN THE BACKGROUND OF AN INSTALLATION RATHER THAN AS MUSIC, IN WHICH IT DOESN'T YIELD ENOUGH OF ANYTHING TO BE REMARKABLE.

ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE - LOVE BURT BACHARACH (2010)

JIM O'ROURKE PRODUCES, ARRANGES, MIXES, AND BRINGS TOGETHER THE PLAYERS AND SINGERS FOR A SINCERE BATCH OF COVERS OF BURT BACHARACH'S CLASSIC HITS? I HAD NO IDEA THAT THIS EXISTED 1 WEEK AGO AND IT WAS ONLY UNTIL THE LAST TRACK LEFT MY EARS WITHOUT A WHIT OF PISS-TAKING, "DECONSTRUCTION", OR REINTERPRETATION THAT I BELIEVED IT AT ALL.

O'ROURKE, WILCO/LOOSE FUR DRUMMER GLENN KOTCHE, BASSIST TOSHIAKI SUDOH, AND PIANIST KYOKO KURODA OF THE AKIRA SAKATA TRIO LAY DOWN THE FOUNDATION A LITTLE HEAVIER THAN THE ORIGINALS, BUT IT DOES HELP TO REMEMBER THAT BACHARACH'S ORIGINALS WERE OFTEN GOSSAMER THINGS THAT CAUGHT THE BREEZE. 

GUEST VOCALISTS SUCH AS THURSTON MOORE, YOSHIMI P-WE, AND DONNA TAYLOR TURN UP TO CONTINUE THE SINCERE VIBES. EVERYONE SOUNDS LIGHT AND FUN AND IT REALLY MAKES THIS A TENDER AND INTERESTING LISTEN.

IT'S AN INSIGHT INTO A PATH NOT TAKEN BY JIM. HE CAN ARRANGE COMPLEX LOVE SONGS FOR THE RADIO: HERE IS MORE PROOF. HE CAN DO THIS IF HE WANTS TO. AND HE LIKES THIS STUFF: YOU DON'T JUST DO AN ALBUM LIKE THIS AS A THEORETICAL EXERCISE.

A SOLID COUNTER MIGHT BE 'WHY NOT JUST LISTEN TO THE ORIGINALS?' AND I SAY WE CAN DO BOTH. THIS RECORDING GELS DISPARATE BACHARACH CUTS (MOSTLY WELL-KNOWN, BUT A COUPLE OF OBSCURE GEMS TOO) AND COHERES THEM TO THE RIGOUR OF ONE ALBUM.

AN EASY CERTIFIED: GOOD HERE.

IN, DEMONS, IN! (2019)

A COLLABORATION WITH ELECTRONICS GURU CARL-MICHAEL VON HAUSSWOLFF SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED MUCH SOONER THAN 2019: PERHAPS THEIR PREDILECTIONS FOR BROODING DRONE MUSIC THAT SUBVERTS AND TWISTS THE RECORDING DEVICE IN ITS MANUFACTURE MEAN THEY'RE TOO SIMILAR, IN SOME WAYS? 

THIS IS A DRONE RECORD THAT HAS A REAL DEPTH AND FEELING OF PRESSURE IN THE MIX. RIGHT NOW IT IS REALLY HUMID: THOUGH IT APPEARS COLD. THIS MUSIC SIMULATES THAT FEELING SOMEHOW - ON THE SURFACE ONE THING, BUT FROM DEEP WITHIN THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE THERE IS SOME OPPRESSION, SOME CAPACITY TO CHANGE.

IT'S JUST A LITTLE LIMITED EDITION RECORD ON SOME OBSCURE LABEL BUT I THINK THIS IS UP THERE WITH ANY DRONE COLLABORATION JIM HAS DONE SINCE THE START OF THIS BLOG. IT REALLY REMINDS ME OF YELLOW SWANS, WHO I PERSONALLY THINK WERE AHEAD OF THEIR PEERS IN THIS APPROXIMATE AREA OF MUSIC. THE FULLNESS AND CONVINCING SENSE OF MOTION AND TRANSITION IN THIS RECORD REALLY APPEALS.

GONNA GO CERTIFIED: GOOD. IT PROBABLY WON'T BE ONE OF HIS TOP TEN LIFETIME RECORDS BUT A VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE.

WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION (2006)

IF YOU ARE ON THIS ENTRY LOOKING FOR THE 2002 ADULT FILM STARRING BELLADONNA, THE POLITICAL THEORY BOOK BY ALFONZO RACHEL, THE HABANERO-LACED HOT SAUCE, OR THE RECORD BY DUNGEON MEAT THEN I AM VERY SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU. HOWEVER, MAYBE YOU LIKE COMPLETELY TUNELESS MUSIC TO FUCK TO, OWN THE LIBS TO, TO DOUSE ON YOUR FOOD, OR JUST SIMPLY TO LISTEN TO? IF SO, STICK AROUND.

FORTY MORE MINUTES ALONGSIDE MATS GUSTAFSSON AND THURSTON MOORE, DISKAHOLICS ROUND OUT THE SOLID CASE FOR THEM BEING THE WORST BAND THAT EVER LIVED. THREE ALBUMS OUT OF THREE OF ROTE AVANT IMPROVISATION THAT GOES NOWHERE AT ALL, SUCCESSFULLY EXPLORING NO MOOD, BREAKING NO GROUND, AND ONLY REALLY ANNOYING ANYONE WHO LISTENS.

JIM PLAYS SYNTH AND WHILE THIS BLOG IS ABOUT HIS WORK AND I'VE GENERALLY BEEN KIND, HE HAS TO SHOULDER SOME OF THE BLAME HERE WITH HIS SHITTY TONES AND ANTI-SOCIAL CREAKING AND BUZZING. YOU'RE IMPRESSING NO ONE MATE. GO AND HAVE A WORD WITH YOURSELF.

I HATE THIS AND I HATE DISKAHOLICS. DUD.

HAGYOU (2008)

YOSHIMI (SHE OF THE BATTLE WITH THE PINK ROBOTS IN THE FLAMING LIPS ALBUM TITLE) IS ARGUABLY ONE OF THE SICKEST DRUMMERS AND BEST EXPERIMENTAL MUSICIANS OF MY LIFETIME SO COMING TOGETHER WITH JIM AND VENERABLE SAXOPHONIST AKIRA SAKATA WILL BRING *THE HEAT* SURELY!

I AM NOT SURE WHAT THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IS HERE BUT SAKATA BLOWS A MEAN HORN - NOT PARTICULARLY ABSTRACT OR WEIRD STUFF, EITHER - IT'S JUST THE BACKING OF REVERBED KEYS AND SQUELCHY ELECTRONIC NOISES PUTS YOU IN A VERY LIGHTLY EXPERIMENTAL MODE. IT'S ACTUALLY PLEASANT. IT HAS A SUNDAY AFTERNOON FEEL TO IT. OCCASIONALLY SAKATA SINGS PLAINTIVELY.

THIS RECORD IS A NICE SURPRISE. IT LIVES NEARER TO TRADITIONAL FORMS OF JAZZ THAN I WAS EXPECTING, THOUGH THE STUFF JIM AND YOSHIMI ARE DOING AROUND THE EDGES IS DIFFERENT AND COOL AND MAKES FOR A LISTENING EXPERIENCE I'VE NOT HAD BEFORE. MAYBE IF YOU LIKE MATANA ROBERTS YOU COULD GIVE THIS A BASH.

MIZO NO NAI UMI (2005) aka STEAMROOM 11

RECORDED IN 1990 AND THEN LEFT IN A BOX FOR 13 YEARS, UNTOUCHED, UNLOVED, FORGOTTEN. AND THEN RECOVERED, REVIVED, AND RELOVED. PERFORMED LIVE. AND THEN INCLUDED IN THE WHITNEY BIENNIAL. AND ALL INCLUDED HERE.

THE LIVE VERSION AND THE STUDIO VERSION ARE MOSTLY SIMILAR, WITH SOME INSTRUMENTATION ADDED TO THE LIVE VERSION THAT IS MOSTLY UNOBSTRUSTIVE AND ALLOWS THE ORIGINAL BEATIFIC DRONES TO COME THROUGH. THIS IS DRONE MUSIC FOR A NEAR EARTH COLONY, A NEW START, A LABORATORY ON VENUS. IT SHIMMERS AND RADIATES A CALM ENERGY. 

THE STEAMROOM RELEASE ADDS A TRACK RECORDED AT THE SAME TIME AND INCLUDED ON A COMPILATION ALONGSIDE PIECES BY RALF WEHOWSKY AND TONY CONRAD, WHICH DOUBTLESS MADE JIM PLEASED. IT IS OF A SIMILAR PIECE AS MIZO NO NAI UMI, THOUGH MORE UNSETTLED. 

A SOLID RELEASE FOR DRONE FANS.

ONLY WANTING TO MELT BEAUTIFULLY AWAY IS IT A LACK OF CONTENTMENT THAT STIRS AFFECTION FOR THOSE THINGS SAID TO BE AS YET UNSEEN (2011)

ANOTHER COLLABORATION WITH AMBARCHI AND HAINO (THERE ARE A FEW OF THESE, AT LEAST SIX BY MY ESTIMATES) BUT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE LAST ONE REVIEWED. THAT ONE SAW THE THREE STUTTER INTO ACID-FRIED SOLAR-POWERED EARTH-BATTERING ROCK, WHICH AT TIMES WAS TROUSER-FLAPPINGLY TRANSCENDENT. 

THIS RECORD IS A MORE RESTRAINED AFFAIR. JIM PLAYS THE 12-STRING ACOUSTIC, AMBARCHI STAYS BEHIND THE TRAPS, WHILE HAINO SINGS PLAINTIVELY AND SWITCHES BETWEEN AN ARSENAL OF INSTRUMENTS INCLUDING THE KANTELE/PSALTERY. LOOK:

RECORDED LIVE AT ROPPONGI ARTVENUE SUPERDELUXE (RIP), MELT... FINDS ALL THREE IN DECENT FORM. I THINK THEY'RE NATURAL COLLABORATORS AND ONE THING THAT IMPRESSES ME ABOUT AMBARCHI IS HIS RESTRAINT AND GIVING OF SPACE. HE'S LIKE THE CENTRAL MIDFIELDER YOU DON'T SEE IN A FOOTBALL GAME, DOING ALL THE DIRTY WORK AND LETTING OTHERS TAKE THE SPOILS.

SOUND-WISE THE RECORD DEVOLVES FROM A PLEASANT OPENING OF FOLK-INSPIRED CHANTING AND PLAYING INTO A FAIR OLD MESS OF NOISE. HAINO DOWNS THE KANTELE AND PLAYS A SYNTH WITH A LITTLE MALICE. ONCE YOU COME OUT OF THE OTHER SIDE, DEEP INTO SIDE B THEY RETURN TO EARTH WITH A GENTLE THUD. 

JUST DYING FOR THESE THREE TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER AND DELIVER FOR A FULL-LENGTH RECORD. IT CAN BE DONE! IT MUST BE DONE!

LONG NIGHT (2008) aka STEAMROOM 27

RECORDED IN 1990 AND RELEASED JUST AFTER THE HEIGHT OF JIM-MANIA, LONG NIGHT PRESENTS NEARLY THREE HOURS OF O'ROURKE'S TAPE-Y DRONE-Y AMBIENT-Y SYNTH-Y MUSIC OVER THE COURSE OF TWO VERY LONG TRACKS. 

 
LET'S SEE WHAT SOMEONE ON DISCOGS SAID ABOUT THIS:

Long Night by Jim O'Rourke is a record that demands deep listening. There is a great number of wave phenomena and sound filtering, to be able to catch it all will require concentration akin to the effort of meditation. It is a record about sound morphology, escape velocity and personal abstraction. While drones have an apparent simplicity at face value, complexity is the true characteristic of this work and Jim O’Rourke puts to the test the famous lesson by La Monte Young, that sounds are interesting in and of it selves and they should be played for a long time. Long Night will be a great listening if you're by yourself, but it will be even better if you share it with someone. It will develop a solemn ambience, an unawkward silence of resonating contemplation – a true demonstration of intimacy and communing. Someone will always ask "what's this we're hearing?", and you know you've just presented them with something grand and new.

THIS PRESENTS A SERIOUS STATEMENT ABOUT THE MUSIC AND IT WOULD BE UNFAIR TO DISMISS IT OUT OF HAND. I LISTENED TO IT ALONE, IN FULL, AT A GOOD VOLUME. I ATTEMPTED TO ENGAGE WITH IT ON THE *REAL* AND LIKE EVERY SINGLE RECORD HERE I HAVE TRIED TO LIKE IT (FUNDAMENTALLY THIS BLOG SHOWS I AM RIGHT ABOUT O'ROURKE, HE IS  A TALENT, AND MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN HE IS GIVEN CREDIT FOR).

 

IT'S NOT LIKE I WANT THE TIME BACK OR ANYTHING. IT'S JUST THAT 'DEEP LISTENING' AND CONCENTRATION DIDN'T SEEM TO REWARD ME ANY EXTRA. THE RECORD IS FINE - DROP THE NEEDLE ANYWHERE AN A RICH DRONE WILL PLAY, AND OCCASIONALLY THERE WILL BE SOMETHING SUBTLY MELODIC HAPPENING AGAINST IT. SKIP 15 MINUTES AND YOU WILL NOTICE CHANGES THAT YOU DIDN'T NOTICE HAPPENING IN REAL TIME. IT IS CONSIDERED AND ALL...I JUST DON'T CARE VERY MUCH FOR IT.

SINCERELY IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU LIKE THE SOUND OF 2HRS 37 OF CONTEMPLATIVE AMBIENT DRONE FOR A VICODIN NIGHT OF THE SOUL, LONG NIGHT BY JIM O'ROURKE IS FOR YOU.

TERMINAL PHARMACY (1995)

As any fan knows, there are many sides to the often shadowy Jim O'Rourke, and one of those involves a true love for the abstract. But while this has led to more than a few fascinating pieces over the years, there are those that are definitely not for O'Rourke newbies — high among them 1995 head-scratcher Terminal Pharmacy.
    - Exclaim Guide to Jim O'Rourke

The two suites of Terminal Pharmacy (Tzadik, 1995) are among his most radical compositions: Cede, for trombone, clarinet, bass and samples, is a daring half-hour collage of barely audible chords, orchestras, accordion and noises "found" (Cage, Stockhausen, Coltrane, Mnemonists, Negativland)...
    - Piero Scaruffi Guide to Jim O'Rourke

    
GOING INTO THIS I WAS AFRAID. JIM'S HAD A FEW MOMENTS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO LISTEN TO AND SOME THINGS I WAS GLAD WHEN THEY WERE OVER, BUT TERMINAL PHARMACY SEEMS TO HAVE RILED THE MOST PEOPLE UP OVER THE YEARS.

WHILST THERE IS ONE TRACK OF A VERY DAUNTING LENGTH AND A SHORTER MODERN CLASSICAL PIECE BROKEN UP BY A MINUTE OF SILENCE (ON A CD, PERHAPS TRYING A BIT TOO HARD) I CAN SEE NO REASON TO DISLIKE THESE ANY MORE THAN A RECORD YOU DISLIKE NORMALLY - AND I DON'T DISLIKE IT!

THE OPENER 'CEDE' PROBABLY NEEDS MORE THAN A PARAGRAPH TO REALLY BREAK INTO IT, BUT IT IS A LONG PIECE OF DRONING MUSIQUE CONCRETE PUNCTUATED BY SILENCE. AFTER A FEW MOVEMENTS THAT SET A MATURE AND AUSTERE SOUND, THERE IS A BRIEF INTERLOCUTION OF A CAR STARTING UP. PEOPLE LAUGH AND WRITE MEAN THINGS, BUT OFTEN FAIL TO NOTICE THE STIRRING BEAUTY THAT EMERGES LATER IN THE PIECE AND SUSTAINS FOR MOST OF THE REMAINDER.

OF ALL HIS MUSIQUE CONCRETE-TYPE PIECES THUS FAR I LIKE 'CEDE' THE MOST. MUSIQUE CONCRETE WILL NEVER BE MY GO-TO FOR A FUN TIME, BUT I FEEL LIKE O'ROURKE HAS BROUGHT ME A LITTLE CLOSER TO IT.

THE CLOSER AND TITLE TRACK SEEMS TO GET SHORT SHRIFT TOO BUT IT'S A NICE SMALL ENSEMBLE PIECE THAT REMINDS ME OF CHARLES IVES; SLOW LONG BOWED SOUNDS WITH THE OCCASIONAL PRICKLE FROM HARSHLY-ATTACHED REED INSTRUMENT. 

I CAN'T CALL THIS CERTIFIED: GOOD IN THE BEST OF FAITH. THIS IS NOWHERE NEAR JIM'S NADIR, OR EVEN A DIFFICULT RECORD ON THE WHOLE. IT IS COMPLEX AND REQUIRES ATTENTION TO GET THE BEST OUT OF IT. TRY IT.

STEAMROOM 31 (2017)

THREE LONG PIECES FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL FILMIC WORKS OF MAKINO TAKASHI (GENERATOR (2011), STILL IN COSMOS (2009), AND THE SEASONS (2008)). CINEMATICALLY THESE ARE WORKS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN BRAKHAGE, JONAS MEKAS, AND BILL VIOLA - MEDITATIVE, ABSTRACT, DIFFICULT TO APPLY SINGLE READINGS TO.

AND YET SOMETHING ABOUT TAKASHI'S IMAGE MAKING CLOSES DOWN MANY AVENUES OF MUSIC THAT CAN POSSIBLY EXIST ALONGSIDE IT. O'ROURKE'S PIECE FOR GENERATOR IS AN EFFECTIVE DRONE PIECE PAIRED WITH THE IMAGE. ALONE - IT IS FINE.

O'ROURKE IS ACCOMPANIED BY CHRIS CORSANO AND DARIN GRAY (THE SAME LINE UP AS OSOREZAN). NO ONE PLAYS TOO DEMONSTRABLY - THIS IS MUSIC DESIGNED TO CONJURE UP GREAT MYSTERIES BY WAY OF INDUSTRIAL PULSING AND THRUMMING.

 

I'D BEGUN TO THINK THAT O'ROURKE'S LIKELIEST VOCATION AFTER POP WOULD BE TO MAKE CINEMATIC SOUND, AS HE HAS THE MASTERY OF BOTH THE ATMOSPHERIC AND THE COUNTERPOINT ASPECTS. 'THE SEASONS' IS A LONG PIECE, SLIGHTLY MORE AGGRESSIVE IN PARTS, THAT CYCLES THROUGH A NUMBER OF MOODS. AGAIN THIS ALL WORKS PERFECTLY WELL WITH THE IMAGES IN THE FILM, BUT NOT SO MUCH OUTSIDE OF IT. WHICH IS FINE. SOUND FOR FILM IS COMPLIMENTARY.

HAPPY DAYS (1996) aka STEAMROOM 23

IT STARTS PATIENTLY. A SINGLE ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYING A SIMPLE MELODY FOR NEARLY 4 MINUTES. THEN ANOTHER GUITAR COMES IN (OR MAYBE THE SAME ONE, AND THE FIRST ONE IS A LOOP) AND PLAYS SOMETHING SLIGHTLY AGAINST THAT MELODY. 

THIS OCCURS A FEW MORE TIMES AND WE NOTICE THERE IS A STEADY AND PATIENT BUILD OF UNDERLYING TONES: ELECTRONIC, ACOUSTIC, BOWED GUITAR? I AM NOT SURE. WHAT IS KEY TO NOTE IS THAT IT ALL FEELS HIGHLY ORCHESTRATED RATHER THAN EMERGENT AND IMPROVISED. 

AND THEN AFTER ABOUT TEN MINUTES THE GUITAR SEEMS TO MORPH INWARDLY INTO THE DRONE, THE SOLID MELTING INTO AIR, REPLACED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE RAGA-ISH DRONE OF COMPUTER WAVES. THIS IS ALL UNHURRIED BUT NOT BECALMED. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WAVES HAS SEVERAL RHYTHMS THAT CREATE PHASING PATTERNS, GIVING A SENSE OF MOMENTUM RATHER THAN IDLE DRIFT.

SEVERAL ON DISCOGS AND IN O'ROURKE'S OWN BANDCAMP NOTE HAVE MENTIONED THIS SOUNDING LIKE JOHN FAHEY MEETS TONY CONRAD. I AM UNFAMILIAR WITH CONRAD'S WORK, BUT IF THE CONRAD BIT SOUNDS LIKE CONRAD AS MUCH AS THE FAHEY BIT SOUNDS LIKE FAHEY, THEN I GUESS THAT IS TRUE.

IT DOESN'T QUITE CONVEY THE EMOTIONAL SENSIBILITY THOUGH, NOR THE QUALITY. I LIKE THIS A LOT MORE THAN I EXPECTED TO. IT IS SUCCESSFUL DEEPER LISTENING, WRESTING EXPRESSIVENESS FROM APPARENT ABSTRACTION. THE STEAMROOM 23 COVER IS PERFECT, A HELICOPTER IN THE BLUE YONDER, A DREAM AND A MACHINE COLLIDING, A REVERIE AND THE MEANS BY WHICH TO END THE REVERIE IN ONE MOMENT.

CERTIFIED: GOOD

RULES OF REDUCTION (1993)

WHILST THIS WILL NEVER BE THE MOST FAMOUS, MOST POPULAR, MOST INTERESTING, MOST ENJOYABLE, OR MOST DISCUSSED JIM O'ROURKE RELEASE, THERE IS A REASONABLE ARGUMENT TO SUGGEST IT COULD BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT.

METAMKINE HAD BECOME FRANCE'S LEADING RELEASER OF MUSIQUE CONCRETE AND IN ITS FIRST DECADE PUT OUT RELEASES BY WALTER RUTTMANN (LONG DEAD, BUT A DIRECTOR OF TREMENDOUS IMPORT), RALF WEHOWSKY (WHO ONCE STATED THAT THE PROBLEM WITH MUSIC WAS HUMAN MEMORY: THAT WE CANNOT REMEMBER REPETITIONS BEYOND A CERTAIN LENGTH), ELIANE RADIGUE, MICHEL CHION (A FILM SOUND THEORIST OF SOME REPUTE), LUC FERRARI (JIM'S IDOL; REMEMBER HIS BAND BRISE-GLACE? THAT WAS A FERRARI PIECE) - AND NOW, LITTLE JAMES HENRY O'ROURKE FROM THE NICE SUBURBS BETWEEN O'HARE INTERNATIONAL AND WRIGLEY FIELD.

THIS MEANS THAT FROM 4/5 YEARS AGO OF DOING GROT-ROCK AND PREPARED GUITAR IN HIS BEDROOM O'ROURKE HAS NOW JOINED THE CREAM OF THE EUROPEAN AVANT-GARDE. THIS MAY ONLY BE ONE OF THOSE CURSEDLY STUPID 3" CDS (GREAT IF YOUR TRAY HAS A SPINDLE, FUCKED IF YOU DON'T) BUT WHAT IT REPRESENTS IS HUGE. I AM SURPRISED HE DIDN'T JUST MOVE TO PARIS OR MUNICH AND REAP THE REWARDS OF "MUSIC-THOUGHT".

ANYWAY RULES OF REDUCTION IS A SOLID PIECE OF MUSIQUE CONCRETE SLASH TAPE MUSIC. I CAN TELL WHAT A LOT OF THE SOUNDS ARE AND THEY DON'T SEEM PARTICULARLY 'TRANSFORMED' (ART IS, AS THE FORMALISTS SUGGESTED, TRANSFORMATION OF MATERIAL) BUT IT DOES PAINT AN INTERESTING SOUNDWORLD TO LIVE IN FOR 17 MINUTES. I DON'T KNOW HOW IT STACKS UP TO FERRARI AND WEHOWSKY, AND I DOUBT I HAVE THE EARS OR THE LEARNING TO CREDIBLY EXPLAIN SHOULD I CHOOSE TO EXPLORE. STILL, IT'S DECENT STUFF.

ACOUSTICS (1994)

FABLED AXEMAN HENRY KAISER RETURNS TO JIM'S SIDE ALONG WITH ACCLAIMED VIOLIN PLAYER MARI KIMURA AND ALTO PLAYER JOHN OSWALD TO PUT TOGETHER A HEAD-EXPANDING HOUR OF ACOUSTIC JAMS. THE COVER TELLS US THIS MUCH:

THIS RECORD IS FREE IMPROVISATION AT ITS SMUG WORST. BEFORE I EVEN GET INTO THE RECORD ITSELF I HAVE TO POST UP THE LINER NOTES IN FULL. I AM ALL FOR A BIT OF KNOWING HUMOUR BUT THIS GOES RIGHT PAST THAT AND INTO A REALM BEYOND.

THIS IS UNLISTENABLE AND INTOLERABLE. THE PRESENTNESS OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS SEEMS TO LEND AN ADDED DIMENSION TO OBNOXIOUSNESS THAT THE PERCEIVED DETACHMENT OF SYNTHS (EMULATING ACOUSTIC SOUNDS) OR COMPUTERS (NON-ORGANIC NEW SOUNDS) CANNOT. IT'S LIKE SOMEONE IS BEING AN ASSHOLE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. AND HERE IT'S FOUR GAPING ASSHOLES FOR ONE HOUR (THAT FEELS LIKE 3!)

IT FEELS LIKE A PARODIC FREE EXPLORATION GROUP THAT FRASIER CRANE WOULD TAKE HIS DAD ALONG TO SEE, ONLY I AM THE MARTY CRANE HERE AND EVERYONE ELSE GETS THE JOKE BUT ME. MUSIC LIKE THIS PARALYSES MY OWN SENSE OF INTELLIGENCE BECAUSE I START TO DOUBLE- AND TRIPLE-THINK MYSELF. THIS IS AWFUL, MY KNEE JERKS. BUT SOME PEOPLE REALLY DEVOTE THEIR LIFE TO THIS CRAFT, I COUNTER. BUT IT STINKKKKKKKKKKKS, I YELL, TRYING TO REASSERT THE PRIMACY OF MY GUT.

THIS SHOULD BE SHOT OUT OF A CANNON. DUD.

THE SUPREME INDIFFERENCE LIVE (2020)

THOUGH ACTUALLY RECORDED IN NEW YORK IN 2003 WHEN JIM WAS RUNNING WITH THE SONIC YOUTHS AND VARIOUS AVANT SUPERSTARS. HERE JIM WORKS WITH KIM GORDON AND ALAN LICHT WITH A DOUBLE DRUM LINE-UP OF TIM BARNES AND CHRIS CORSANO. 

THERE'S A FINE LINE BETWEEN SKILLED HORSEPLAY AND ACTUAL FUCKING AROUND AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'M GOOD ENOUGH TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCE. WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A LIVE CONCERT THAT MESHES THAT KIM GORDON SPOKEN WORD THING WITH THE SCRAPINGS AND KLANGINGS OF A 'NO WAVE' TYPE GIG. 

ULTIMATELY IT SOUNDS LIKE AN EARLY SONIC YOUTH SONG, THE KIND THAT LEE WOULD HAVE MADE, ALL HEADY BEAT POETRY AND TECTONIC GUITARS AND TRIBAL DRUMMING. THERE ARE SOME WELL-EXPLORED MOODS AND IT DOESN'T STICK AROUND TO BECOME A MASSIVE CHORE LIKE MELBOURNE DIRECT.

COMPLETELY INESSENTIAL BUT ENTIRELY OKAY.

STEAMROOM 42 (2018)

A BROODING DRONE RECORD THAT VEERS MORE TOWARD SOUND ART AND ATMOSPHERICS (IE. DEMANDING YOUR EAR) RATHER THAN AMBIENT (CONSTRUCTED IGNORABILITY, ON SOME LEVEL). 38 MINUTES OF DENSE WOODS, STEAM RISING IN THE FEW CLEARINGS, HUMIDITY SOAKING YOU.

I AM SURE JIM HAS A HIGHER PURPOSE FOR THIS MUSIC BUT I THINK IT WOULD SOUND GREAT IN A FILM OR A BIG EXHIBITION ABOUT MEDIEVAL JAPAN OR DINOSAURS. IT CONJURES UP QUITE THE SOUND WORLD AND FEELS MORE OVERLY RELATED TO 'IMAGE' THAN SOME OF THE MORE INSCRUTABLE PIECES OFFERED UP IN THE DRONE MODE.

CAMOUFLEUR (1998)

IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT MY SELECTION METHODOLOGY HERE THEN I DON'T HAVE ONE. I AM TRYING TO JUMP AROUND IN TIME, NOT GET TOO FOCUSED IN ONE SUB-GENRE OR AREA OF O'ROURKE'S PRACTICE, AND PAINT THE PICTURE IN A WIDE-RANGING MANNER.

I AM ALSO AWARE THAT O'ROURKE HAS ABOUT 15 OR SO RECORDS THAT ARE MUCH MORE FAMOUS THAN THE REST AND I AM TRYING TO STRATEGICALLY DROP THEM ACROSS THE WRITING OF THIS BLOG. HOWEVER, THE LAST FEW POSTS HAVE HAD A NARROW FOCUS ON "JIM MAKING FUCKING ANNOYING RECORDS WITH THURSTON MOORE AND HIS PALS" SO I THOUGHT I'D GO BACK TO A RECORD THAT PROVOKED MY INTEREST IN WRITING THIS BLOG IN THE FIRST PLACE.

THERE'S PROBABLY A WORTHY 33 1/3 CONTINUUM SERIES BOOK AND ACADEMIC THESIS IN CAMOUFLEUR, THE FIFTH AND FINAL ALBUM BY GASTR DEL SOL. IT SOUNDS AT ONCE FAMILIAR AND NEW, WHICH IS A WHEEZY CLICHE THAT I'VE HEARD APPLIED TO A LOT OF MUSIC, BUT I DO ACTUALLY THINK THAT.

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN. THE OPENER 'THE SEASONS REVERSE' HAS A FEEL IN THE REALM OF PROPER TROPICALIA GENRE PIECE. BUT THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIX, IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SONIC ELEMENTS THAT IS PULLING IT AWAY FROM THAT. IT'S NOT OCCLUDING THE SONGWRITING: IT'S AN ELECTRONIC SOUND BUZZED IN FROM ANOTHER WORLD, A WHIRRING PIECE OF INHUMAN PERCUSSION STUTTERING ALONG.

IN MY HEAD IT GOES THAT GRUBBS IS TRYING TO WRITE REASONABLY NORMAL SONGS AND O'ROURKE IS TRYING TO PULL THEM APART. WHAT WE'RE LEFT WITH IS THIS, AND THAT IS ALSO WHY THEY SPLIT. IT'S PROBABLY NOT ACTUALLY LIKE THAT, BUT IT FEELS LIKE IT COULD BE TRUE.

A COUPLE OF THE TUNES ACTUALLY SOUND LIKE GENUINE AMERICANA AND NOT IN THE ALT-COUNTRY SENSE, BUT REAL MUSIC HEWN FROM THE SALT OF THE EARTH OF THE NEW CONTINENT. THIS MIGHT BE AN ACADEMIC EXERCISE IN SOME RESPECT, BUT LISTEN TO 'BLACK HORSE' AND TELL ME IT SOUNDS INSINCERE, EVEN WHEN COMPUTER/MIDI NOISES CHIME IN WITH THE ACOUSTIC GUITARS. IT IS ACTUALLY *BEAUTIFUL* WITHOUT ANY UNDERPINNING COMMENT.

IT'S A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL RECORD ON EVERY TRACK. HOWEVER, FOR ME, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF TRACKS THAT ARE APPROXIMATELY SIMILAR THAT GO EVEN FURTHER. I DON'T KNOW IF THESE ARE GRUBBS TRACKS OR O'ROURKE OR EVEN ANYTHING TO DO WITH MARKUS 'OVAL' POPP WHO TURNS UP TO HELP OUT HERE, BUT THEY RATE AS HIGH AS ANYTHING IN THE O'ROURKE CATALOGUE THUS FAR.

 

THOSE TRACKS - 'BLUES SUBTITLED NO SENSE OF WONDER' AND 'EACH DREAM IS AN EXAMPLE' - DO SOMETHING BOTH 'SMART' AND MOVING. I CAN'T QUITE PLACE MY FINGER ON IT. THE FORMER IS THE SONG CLOSEST TO MY FEELING OF CONFUSION ON WAKING AS I CAN THINK; A MESS OF GLOSSOLALIA, WORDS SLIPPING IN AND OUT OF MEANING; A NEW FORM OF BALLADEERING FOR THE 00S NOT REALISED BY THE MANY. 

IT'S A RARE RECORD IN THAT IT IS GREAT AND ALSO A LITTLE BIT UNDERRATED: I THINK MUSIC IN 2020 IS PRETTY FAR FROM A RECORD LIKE THIS THAT IS SIMULTANEOUSLY ARCH AND SINCERE. FOR ME THIS ISN'T JUST CERTIFIED GOOD BUT UP THERE WITH SPIDERLAND AND JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA AND MY FAVOURITE THINGS AND EASTER EVERYWHERE.

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

CHINA IS NEAR (2005)

THE SAGA OF ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES AND ITS OWNER BARRY HOGAN IS QUITE THE INDIE ROCK TALE OF HUBRIS BUT LET'S FACE IT: IT GOT A LOT OF PEOPLE PAID AND SOME HUGE EXPOSURE FOR MUSICIANS THAT COULD HAVE EASILY JUST RUN AROUND IN MASTURBATORY CIRCLES IN WHATEVER CITY THEY'RE FROM (PROBABLY NEW YORK BUT LET'S NOT BE TOO REDUCTIVE).

ONE SUCH EXAMPLE IS NEW YORK (*COUGH*) DUO WHITE OUT, WHOSE APPROACH TO 'INCENDIARY NEW MUSIC' SURELY REQUIRED THE PATRONAGE OF HOGAN AND HIS SLIGHTLY DUPLICITOUS ACCOUNTANCY TECHNIQUE.

GOING IN I WAS A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS: OFF THE RUN OF SEVERAL BAD-TO-ABYSMAL THURSTON MOORE-RELATED RELEASES, ANY TRACEABLE PATH TO MR. MOORE IS A RED FLAG. WHITE OUT'S EARLY RELEASES COME ON MOORE'S ECSTATIC PEACE LABEL AND WILLIAM WINANT FEATURES ON A SONIC YOUTH IMPROV RECORD, SO WE'RE WADING IN MUCKY WATERS TO START WITH.

MUSICALLY THE LANDSCAPE FALLS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN AVANT JAZZ AND THE OCCASIONALLY AUSTERE SONIC TEXTURES THAT MIGHT HAVE COME OUT OF A GERMAN HOCHSCHULE FUR MUSIK IN THE 1960S. THERE ARE PORTIONS OF NEGATIVE SPACE, WHERE PREGNANT MOMENTS BETWEEN PROVOCATIVE SOUNDS SEEM TO AMPLIFY IN YOUR BRAIN. IT CERTAINLY ISN'T ILL-CONSIDERED OR ROTE FREE EXPLORATION. ONE MIGHT EVEN SUGGEST SOME LEVEL OF DESIGN CONSCIOUSNESS.

HOWEVER I MUST LISTEN WITH REASONABLE AMOUNTS OF PREJUDICE AND REPORT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR AND THIS IS JUST NOT DOING ANYTHING FOR ME. IT'S COOL THAT WINANT AND WHITE OUT'S DRUMMER HAVE SOME SLIGHTLY LOBOTOMISED TAPPING AND CLANKING, AND THE TEXTURES AND TONES WRESTLED OUT OF O'ROURKE AND WHITE OUT'S MUSICIAN ARE IDIOSYNCRATIC. BUT IT'S JUST A DIFFICULT LISTEN - A SERIOUS UNDERTAKING, AND NOT A DUD - AND ONE I WILL STRUGGLE TO RISE TO AGAIN NOW I KNOW WHAT LIES AHEAD.

DISKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS TRIO (2001)

FAIR TO SAY THE ONE OF THE TWO 2006 RELEASES BY DISKAHOLICS DID NOT FLOAT MY BOAT (THE OTHER, WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION, AHAHHA, IS AS-YET-UNREVIEWED).

I JABBED THIS OFF FIRST TIME I HEARD IT. IT MAKES THE LIVE IN JAPAN DISC FEEL LIKE OUT TO LUNCH OR SOMETHING; JUST THREE GUYS IN ATONAL WANKATHON HEAVEN. I'M NO PHILISTINE: I THINK I UNDERSTAND THE *NEED* FOR FREE JAZZ AND ITS PLACE BOTH AS MUSIC AND VITAL COMMENTARY. I JUST DON'T PARTICULARLY LIKE IT ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S DONE IN AN OBNOXIOUS WAY LIKE THIS. 

GUSTAFSSON REALLY DOMINATES THIS ONE. IF CHUNKY SAX BLAPPING AND UNSTRUCTURED GUITAR NOISE DOES IT FOR YOU THEN DO CHECK THIS OUT. THEY'RE ALL PROS AT WHAT THEY DO: WHAT THEY DO IS NOT FOR ME.

I DO THINK MATS, THURSTON, AND JIM SHOULD BE BANNED FROM WORKING TOGETHER. I EVEN CONSIDER JIM LEAST GUILTY HERE. DUD.

REMOVE THE NEED (1993) aka STEAMROOM 22

HEY DON'T YOU MEAN REMOVE THE NEED 1989, THE EARLY RECORD OF PREPARED GUITAR MADE AROUND THE SAME TIME AS THE JIM'LL ROCK CERTIFIED-GOOD RELEASE SOME KIND OF PAGAN? 

NO, HEATHEN READER. THIS IS A DIFFERENT RECORD RELEASED FOUR YEARS LATER CALLED REMOVE THE NEED, ALSO FEATURING PIECES PERFORMED EXCLUSIVELY ON PREPARED GUITAR.

NOW YOU HAVE BEEN SCHOOLED MY CHILD LET US LOOK INTO THIS RECORDING, THE 1993 RELEASE OF REMOVE THE NEED.

 

IF YOU LIKED THOSE EARLY PREPARED GUITAR PIECES - AND I KNOW I DID - THEN YOU'RE IN FOR A TREAT HERE. A BLOG I HAVE LINKED TO A COUPLE OF TIMES HAD THIS TO SAY:

like Some Kind of Pagan, this features live solo guitar except this time longer tracks of dronier music. it’s got some interesting parts but feels a bit aimless at times where Pagan does not. 

I DISAGREE WITH THIS ASSESSMENT. YES THERE IS A 30 MINUTE TRACK IN THERE BUT ON THE WHOLE THERE'S A SENSE OF A CLEAR JOURNEY IN ALL THE TRACKS, AND I THINK THE METHOD IS REVEALED A LITTLE MORE. AT TIMES IT FEELS LIKE THE TEXTURES OF A GUITAR WHERE EARLIER PREPARED GUITAR MATERIAL FELT LIKE THE LAST THING O'ROURKE WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE THE AXE SOUND LIKE AN AXE.

 

THE STEAMROOM 22 RELEASE APPENDS TWO TRACKS FROM OTHER JIM RELEASES:

- SIX STRINGS '87 WAS RELEASED ON A LIMITED 12" IN 2004, THOUGH THE PIECE WAS RECORDED IN 1987. THE SONG FROM THE B-SIDE (SIX OSCILLATORS) IS NOT HERE.

- SOME KIND OF WAS JIM'S HALF OF A SPLIT NON-COLLABORATIVE RECORD WITH ITALIAN DUO MY CAT IS AN ALIEN. AGAIN, THE PIECE WAS RECORDED IN THE LATE 1980S.

THIS WAS A GENERALLY FINE RELEASE. JIM'S PREPARED GUITAR MATERIAL MAY NOT BE THE MOST ORIGINAL IN HIS BACK CATALOGUE, IN THRALL AS IT MAY BE TO THE MID-CENTURY MUSIC THINKERS, BUT IT DOES YIELD HIGH RETURNS.

SHINJUKU GROWL (2010)

IN MY EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD OF FREE JAZZ THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY TWO APPROACHES THAT HAVE ATTEMPTED TO WREST CONTROL OF THE SUB-GENRE:

1. A CHAOTIC AND SPONTANEOUS EXPLOSION OF SOUND WHERE ALL THE INSTRUMENTS SOUND APPROXIMATELY AS YOU'D EXPECT BUT THE NOTES AND INTERPLAY IS ALL HAPHAZARD: FREE IN THE SENSE OF UNRESTRAINED. THINK ALBERT AYLER'S SPIRITUAL UNITY, JOHN COLTRANE'S LATER WORKS, ETC.

2. A MORE MEASURED AND INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE IN WHICH INSTRUMENTS ARE 'EXPLORED' IN TERMS OF ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITY: SCRAPING STRINGS, PLAYING THE BODY OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS, USING FEEDBACK, BOWING CYMBALS, ETC. 

WHAT SHINJUKU GROWL PRESENTS IS MORE THE FORMER, WITH SOME ELEMENTS OF THE LATTER.

 

O'ROURKE PLAYS GUITAR ON THIS BUT IS REALLY A SIDEMAN TO MATS GUSTAFSSON'S HONKING SAX FURY ALONG WITH TWO STORIED ACCOMPLICES ON BASS AND DRUMS. AFTER A FEW MINUTES OF SCRATCHING IN THE DIRT MAKING UNORTHODOX (AND YET, ENTIRELY UNIMPRESSIVE AND UTTERLY RUN OF THE MILL) SOUNDS, THE ENSEMBLE LAYS INTO THE MUSIC WITH A CONVINCING FURY. AT POINTS IT FEELS AS IF THE DRUMMER IS ATTEMPTING TO HAMMER HIS KIT INTO THE FLOOR WHILE GUSTAFSSON'S LUNGS NEARLY COME OUT OF THE END OF HIS SAX.

SHINJUKU GROWL, RECORDED LIVE IN TOKYO, FOR PEOPLE WHO NEVER REALLY GOT ON BOARD WITH THE POST-PETER BROTZMANN SCHOOL OF EUROPEAN FREE JAZZ SUCH AS MYSELF, IS A TITANIC CHORE TO LISTEN TO. IF YOU LIKE JOHN ZORN AND OTHER RESTLESS NASAL SOUNDS SUCH AS CAR ALARMS AND METAL GIRDERS BEING BENT THEN THIS ONE IS FOR YOU. 

I JUST FEEL THAT ON THE WHOLE THE AXIS OF PEOPLE BROUGHT TOGETHER ON SOME OF THE SYR RECORDS SUCH AS O'ROURKE, THURSTON MOORE, AND MATS GUSTAFSSON, WAS ULTIMATELY A TOTAL MISTAKE. 

DUD.