I WONDER IF YOU NOTICED "I'M SORRY" IS SUCH A LOVELY SOUND IT KEEPS THINGS FROM GETTING WORSE (2016)

A THREE-WAY DANCE BETWEEN TOP TIER IMPROVISATIONAL TALENT AND NOW I LOOK DEEPER INTO IT IT SEEMS LIKE THIS TRIUMVIRATE GET TOGETHER PRETTY MUCH EVERY YEAR TO BASH SOMETHING OUT SO THAT'S SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO ISN'T IT?

KEIJI HAINO SCRATCHES AT A BAGLAMA (A TURKISH VARIANT OF THE GUITAR/BOUZOUKI FAMILY) AND IS BACKED BY OREN AMBARCHI ON THE TRAPS AND JIM PLAYING A BROODING BASS. FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES I AM VAGUELY PUZZLED AND IT ISN'T HAPPENING: THERE IS NO MAGIC. IT IS JUST AN ANIMAL LOOKING FOR A HOME.

THEN IT JUST WEIRDLY COHERES AS SOME ELECTRONIC STUTTERING COMES IN. FOR A FEW MINUTES THEY'RE REALLY COOKING WITH THE SAME KIND OF ASTRAL MAGIC OF ANY GREAT BAND AT THEIR BEST (IT REMINDED ME OF THE SUMMIT MEETING BETWEEN LSD MARCH AND BARDO POND ACTUALLY).

O'ROURKE AND AMBARCHI, FROM WHAT I CAN TELL (AND THEY MIGHT TELL YOU OTHERWISE), SEEM TO BE HAPPY TO FOLLOW HAINO'S LEAD AND PROVIDE ADROIT AND APPROPRIATE BACKING. TRACK TWO (ALL THE SONGS HAVE LONG TITLES THAT I CANNOT BE BOTHERED TO REPLICATE) FOLLOWS THE SAME PATTERN - SOME INSCRUTABLE AND NOT INTERESTING EVOLUTION AND THEN *WHAMMMO* THE SPARKS START FLYING. IT'S FREE ROCK THAT ACTUALLY FVKKKN ROCKS!

I TELL YOU IF THEY CAN SEE THEIR WAY CLEAR TO EDITING THE DULL BITS DOWN AND GETTING TO THE BIT WHERE THEY'RE MOMENTARILY THE GREATEST AND MOST EXCITING ROCK BAND OF THE DECADE I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO THESE COLLABORATIVE RECORDS SO MUCH MORE. TRACK THREE GETS TO IT A BIT QUICKER AND SUSTAINS IT FOR LONGER, WHILE THE FINAL PIECE GETS STRAIGHT TO IT.

THIS WAS SO CLOSE TO A CERTIFIED: GOOD.

IT'S HARD FOR ME TO SAY I'M SORRY (2016)

REMEMBER MUSIC JOURNALISM? I MISS IT.

THIS IMAGE HEADS AN ARTICLE TITLED...WELL, YOU CAN SEE...THAT WAS ON THE NOW DEFUNCT ONLINE OUTLET STYLUS (WHICH WAS KIND OF LIKE PITCHFORK THOUGH OCCASIONALLY CRUELLER AND LOWER IN INFLUENCE). LET ME POST UP THE MAIN CLAIMS OF THIS ARTICLE.

here’s the rub: with the occasional exception, very little of this music is any good. And what little is worth the listener’s time is nearly always compromised by the specter of O’Rourke himself.

AS WE WILL SEE THE WRITER HAS MET O'ROURKE AND DIDN'T LIKE HIM *AT ALL*.

I must confess at this point of yet another disclaimer: I met this “titan” of a man at a party when I was in college in 1995 or so while he was on tour with Gastro Del Sol and Tortoise. Though not exactly a fan, I was fairly excited about the possibility of meeting him, given his emerging Post Rock God status at the time. Those attending the party were instead treated to an insufferable, boorish know-it-all who commandeered the stereo and wouldn’t shut the fuck up. In effect, Jim O’Rourke was everything you would expect him to be and pray to God he wasn’t.

BUT ULTIMATELY THE WRITER DOES FIND DIGS THAT AREN'T ROOTED IN A POOR CHANCE ENCOUNTER.

Despite having left the invention of his music to others, O’Rourke has worked hard to vary his shtick, splicing and combining styles with great command and understanding, a la Bad Timing. But his technique has never been in question.

OOF.

...for all we learned in the second half of the 20th Century about form, context and content [...] we discovered something about pop music that Gerry and the Pacemakers could have told us in 1959: pop music ain’t that complicated, at least not aesthetically. It speaks and will always speak a simple teenage truth, a truth of naïve sincerity and yearning. Jim O’Rourke: he doesn’t get that. He can’t.

YIKES.

...not a single one of the records he recorded with Faust, Fahey, or the Red Krayola—massive figures in the history of underground contemporary music—even qualifies as listenable, much less among their best.

THERE'S MORE IF YOU WANT TO READ THE PIECE. IT'S A GOOD BIT OF INVECTIVE. I SUPPOSE IT OFFERS THE INCREDULOUS COUNTERWEIGHT TO THIS PROJECT; THE BELIEF THAT MAYBE THIS GUY IS JUST A HUGE PHONEY WHO JOGS IN AFTER THE BIG BANG AND NERDS IT UP.

I'M NOT GOING TO DECIDE WHETHER WEINER IS RIGHT OR NOT HERE AND NOW. BUT I MIGHT RETURN TO THE PIECE TIME AND AGAIN TO BOUNCE OFF, BECAUSE IT DOES REPRESENT A WELLSPRING OF OPINION THAT ISN'T FLORID ARTSPEAK.

THAT PIECE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS RECORD BUT I WANTED TO THROW IT IN THERE TO BOLSTER FUTURE CONVERSATION. THIS RECORD - A COLLABORATION WITH AUSTRIAN GUITAR/LAPTOP WHIZ FENNESZ - IS REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND WELL DONE. I LIKE IT A LOT. 

FENNESZ OFTEN WHIPS UP THESE THICKETS OF SOUND AND EMOTION WHILE O'ROURKE CAN BE STEELY AND DISTANT - I THINK THEY TEMPER EACH OTHER'S WORST INSTINCTS HERE AND CREATE SOMETHING OF THEIR BEST SELVES. IT IS CONCISE AND FOCUSED AND HAS A VERY AMIABLE DRIFTING QUALITY. LISTENING IN A SUMMER BREEZE IS RECOMMENDED.

I WONDER WHAT MATTHEW WEINER OF 2020 THINKS OF THIS.

CERTIFIED: GOOD