ARCO (2015)

IN WHICH JIM COLLABORATES WITH GIOVANNI DI DOMENICO AKA THE PERSON WITH THE WORST BIOGRAPHY ON DISCOGS.

 

 

DESPITE BEING A WAFFLER AND A BIT OF A PSEUD MYSELF I HAVE THIS REAL AVERSION TO ARTSPEAK. WHAT DO I MEAN?

 

ARCO is born out of two necessities, strongly interrelated: 1) creating a sonic space where the concept of waiting (patience?) can turn into form, and 2) doing this together with Jim O’Rourke, a musician who finds in form and its use his true greatness; The structure of the composition is quite simple: it is based on a cell of four repeated notes (the “DNA” of the piece), forming a melodic/harmonic texture which slowly freezes into suspended, levitating chords, in which the passing of time itself becomes a sort of harmonic extension, and in which the strings and the splendidly rich sonic palette of the electronics fuse into the true essence of Form. 

1. THOSE THINGS AREN'T NECESSITIES 2. WAITING (DURATIONAL NON-PARTICIPATION) CAN NEVER BECOME 'FORM' 3. IT'S BASED ON A LOOP, FUNDAMENTALLY, IT IS IMPROVISING AND GENERATING OVER A LOOP, JUST SAY THAT. 4. THE NOTES ADDED MAKES THE THING HARMONICALLY RICHER 5. IT IS DONE ELECTRO-ACOUSTICALLY IE. SOME PLAY ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS AND JIM BURBLES HIS LAPTOP.

ARTSPEAK MAKES ME INCREDULOUS IN FRONT OF WORK THAT I WOULD HOPE, IN MY SINCEREST HEART, WOULD MAKE ME NAIVE AND CREDULOUS AGAIN. 

THIS IS A GOOD BIT OF IMPROVISING OVER A LOOP BETWEEN STRING PLAYERS AND ELECTRONICS. IT IS SLOW AND SPACIOUS AND GRACEFUL AND IT ISN'T CHALLENGING (I MEAN DISCORDANT) TO LISTEN TO. AT POINTS ARCO THREATENS TO BECOME STRAIGHTFORWARDLY EMOTIONAL, BUT HANGS BACK FROM IT, LIKE A TEACHER ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL WITH A CLASS THEY ACTUALLY LIKED SPENDING TIME WITH.

IF DIE SCHNACTEL (THE LABEL WHO RELEASED THIS) WOULD LIKE ME TO WRITE THEIR RELEASES THEN GET IN TOUCH.

SHUTTING DOWN HERE (2020)

SHUTTING DOWN HERE WAS REVIEWED ON PITCHFORK TODAY SO LET US QUICKLY SEE WHAT IS BENEATH THE HOOD OF THE 8.0 SCORE IT WAS AWARDED.

His album is almost memoiristic, even though it eschews the literal for the heady crafts of recording and arrangement.

NOW I AM A 37 YEAR OLD MAN AND JABBING PITCHFORK IN THE RIBS IS A GAME BEST PLAYED BY YOUNGER AND MORE BITTER PEOPLE THAN I (AND I STILL CONSIDER MYSELF YOUNG AND A LITTLE BITTER) BUT I DO NOT THINK THAT BEING "LITERAL" (THAT IS TO SAY, MEMOIRISTIC IN AN OVERT, HERE IS MY LIFE KIND OF WAY) AND BEING CEREBRAL ABOUT RECORDING AND ARRANGEMENT NEED BE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

 

WHAT MR. FELSENTHAL IS GRABBING AT IS THAT O'ROURKE IS WRITING A RECORD THAT REFLECTS THE VARIOUS PASSAGES OF STUDY AND APPRECIATION HE HAS ACCUMULATED OVER HIS 30+ YEARS IN THE BIZ; A REFLECTION ON HIS ORIGINS AND SUCH.

THIS RESULTS IN A MIX OF TAPE-Y SOUNDS OVERLAPPING WITH ELECTRONIC SOUNDS AND SOME ORGANIC BITS OF PIANO AND STRING. I THINK WE USED TO CALL THIS APPROACH 'ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC' OR 'ACOUSMATIC'. 

IT IS QUITE CEREBRAL AND THAT'S GENERALLY WHAT I EXPECT THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT. MY EXPERIENCES WITH JIM ARE SIMPLY NOT TO EXPECT THE INDUSTRY STANDARDS FOR NAKED AND HONEST EXPRESSION, EVEN WHEN HE VEERS INTO STYLES THAT APPEAR TO CORRESPOND WITH IT. 

 

IF THIS IS A MEMOIR, IT'S A MEMOIR OF BEING EXCITED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF LESS DIRECT FORMS OF EXPRESSION; MOTIVATED BY ALIENATION, PERHAPS? SOMEONE ON BANDCAMP SAYS HE HEARS 'QUOTES FROM MORTON FELDMAN' IN IT: I WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING, I AM JUST ONE MAN AND ONE BLOG.

IT'S A PRETTY SOLID RECORD AND GETS BETTER AS IT TRUNDLES ALONG AS HIS CLINICAL ATMOSPHERES AND TEXTURES MEET THE GUT ON STRING LULL OF A VIOLIN.