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

UPGRADE AND AFTERLIFE (1996)

BECAUSE HE HAS DONE SO GODDAMN MUCH IT IS EASY TO FORGET THAT JIM O'ROURKE WAS IN GASTR DEL SOL, A BAND WHO I ONCE WROTE WERE "THE MOST OVERPRAISED BAND OF THE 1990S" (I WAS ANGRY ONCE). 

TO BE FAIR THEY WERE VERY HIGHLY-PRAISED WITH SOME OF THEIR MUSIC IN END OF YEAR LISTS FROM MAINSTREAM MAGAZINES WHEN ALL I HEARD WAS A BUNCH OF FUCKING AROUND. IT DIDN'T HELP THEY WERE CALLED POST-ROCK, A GENRE I WAS WILDLY INTO, BECAUSE I WAS REALLY INTO THE KIND OF POST-ROCK THAT WAS A BIG ATHEIST CRESCENDO. AND GASTR WERE NEVER THAT, NOT EVEN A BIT.

 

THERE'S A RANGE OF APPROACHES HERE, FROM THE AMERICAN PRIMITIVE BY WAY OF THE ACADEMY OF 'REBECCA SYLVESTER' TO THE ESOTERIC SOUND-ART LIVE FROM A DROWNED SHIP'S HULL OF 'THE SEA INCERTAIN' TO SOMEWHAT 90S POST-ROCK SOUNDING 'HELLO SPIRAL'. EACH SONG IS MUCH MORE DETACHED FROM BEING AN EXACT GENRE PIECE THOUGH.

DAVID GRUBBS, THE OTHER HALF OF GASTR, HUMANISES SOME OF THE LOFTIER ASPECTS OF THE RECORD WITH HIS BECALMED VOICE. SOME OF THE BETTER MOMENTS HERE ARE THOSE THAT SOUND LIKE COLLAPSED BALLADEERING RATHER THAN EXPLORATORY GESTURES.

THE CLOSING SONG (DRY BONES IN THE VALLEY (I SAW THE LIGHT COME SHINING 'ROUND AND 'ROUND) IS A FAIRLY STRAIGHT JOHN FAHEY / ROBBIE BASHO HOMAGE WHOSE 12 AND A HALF MINUTES ARE ENTIRELY PLEASANT. ADD THIS ONE TO YOUR NEXT MIXTAPE OF LONG SONGS THAT DEVELOP NICELY. PLAY IT ON A DRIVE TO NOWHERE.

ON THE WHOLE A MIXED BAG.