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