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

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.

WHEN IN VANITAS (1994)

RELEASED BY BRISE-GLACE ON THE LEGENDARY NOISE-ROCK PROVOCATION UNIT SKIN GRAFT, THIS RECORD SEES JIM AS PART OF A GROUP OF CHICAGO SCENE TITANS FROM GROUPS LIKE THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS, CHEER ACCIDENT, AND VARIOUS SIDEMEN OF ALAN LICHT AND LOREN MAZZACANE.

WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW IS THAT JIM WAS ALSO THE EDITOR ON THIS AND HE DID IT ALL BY HAND, TAKING A RAZOR BLADE TO TAPE. THAT WAS KIND OF HOW IT WAS DONE PRE-COMPUTERS BUT IN 2020 THAT DOES SEEM LIKE QUITE THE FEAT, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING SOME OF THE SECTIONS HAVE QUITE FLUID JOINS. THE BAND ARE MUSICIANS, JIM IS TRYING TO MAKE THEM INTO FAUST.

BUT THAT IS LESS IMPORTANT NEXT TO OUR OLD CANARD OF PLEASURE AND I SUPPOSE BRISE-GLACE DELIVER A LITTLE OF THAT. THEY'RE A BAND THAT 'DECONSTRUCTION' WILL TYPICALLY BECOME INCORRECTLY APPLIED TO: WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS O'ROURKE AND FRIENDS CREATING ANEW BY TAKING THE BASICS OF AN AUGMENTED ROCK BAND AND TWEAKING IT IN THE MIX AND EDIT. ROCK HAS NOT BEEN 'DECONSTRUCTED' AT ALL. WE JUST HAVE A ROCK RECORD THAT HAS BEEN LOBOTOMISED, BLURRED, SMEARED, AFFECTED.

 

IT MIGHT HELP US APPRECIATE THIS MORE IF THE BASIC TRACKS THAT O'ROURKE WAS TWEAKING WERE A BIT MORE INTERESTING. THIS ISN'T A BAD RECORD BY ANY STRETCH BUT I CAN'T REALLY FIGURE OUT WHO IT IS FOR AT ALL. NOISE ROCK FANS WOULD SURELY BE DISAPPOINTED, BUT O'ROURKE'S PRESENCE ONLY GOES SO FAR.