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.

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.

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.