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.

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.

FRONTIÈRES? (1993) aka STEAMROOM 6

ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS A SPLIT WITH SYLLYK AKA ERIC LA CASA, A FRENCH FIELD RECORDIST OF SOME GREAT REPUTE, AND RE-RELEASED UNDER O'ROURKE'S STEAMROOM SERIES WHICH I NOW FIND IS NOT ALL NEW ORIGINAL MUSICS BUT SOME ARE OLD OBSCURE AND HARD TO FIND STUFF RE-PRESENTED. I HAVE GONE THROUGH ALL 50 THUS FAR AND WILL TRY AND POINT OUT WHERE OLD STUFF HAS A NEW NAME.

NO DISRESPECT TO ERIC LA CASA BUT I AM JUST REVIEWING THE JIM PORTION OF THIS RELEASE. WHAT WE HAVE HERE ON A TRACK CALLED 'SCAN' APPEARS TO BE A BRINGING TOGETHER OF SEVERAL FIELD RECORDINGS, SOME MANIPULATED MORE THAN OTHERS, TO CREATE A KIND OF AUDIO SURVEY THAT RANGES FROM NAIVE PERCUSSION TO EARTHY DRONES AND WHAT ALMOST FEEL LIKE INTERRUPTIONS (WE HEAR THE TAPE 'CLUNK' OFF INDICATING A SWITCH, PERHAPS?

THIS IS NOT THE MOST COMPELLING JIM RELEASE TO BE HONEST. THE AESTHETIC RIGOUR IS THERE BUT I NEVER FELT A COHERENCE NOR A COMMITMENT TO A LACK OF UNITY. IT JUST FEELS ARBITRARY, AND I THINK THAT THAT IS THE KEY TO UNCOMPELLING AVANT-GARDE MUSIC. I WATCHED THIS STOCKHAUSEN DOCUMENTARY YESTERDAY AND HE TALKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF AN AVANT-GARDE APPROACH TO DYNAMICS AS MUCH AS NOTES/RHYTHMS/INTERVALS/TEMPI ETC., AND HOW AN UNDYNAMIC PIECE SOUNDS FLAT AND UNYIELDING. THIS IS KIND OF THAT. IT'S WEIRD BUT IT DRIFTS AND NEVER TAKES YOUR EAR.