CAMOUFLEUR (1998)

IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT MY SELECTION METHODOLOGY HERE THEN I DON'T HAVE ONE. I AM TRYING TO JUMP AROUND IN TIME, NOT GET TOO FOCUSED IN ONE SUB-GENRE OR AREA OF O'ROURKE'S PRACTICE, AND PAINT THE PICTURE IN A WIDE-RANGING MANNER.

I AM ALSO AWARE THAT O'ROURKE HAS ABOUT 15 OR SO RECORDS THAT ARE MUCH MORE FAMOUS THAN THE REST AND I AM TRYING TO STRATEGICALLY DROP THEM ACROSS THE WRITING OF THIS BLOG. HOWEVER, THE LAST FEW POSTS HAVE HAD A NARROW FOCUS ON "JIM MAKING FUCKING ANNOYING RECORDS WITH THURSTON MOORE AND HIS PALS" SO I THOUGHT I'D GO BACK TO A RECORD THAT PROVOKED MY INTEREST IN WRITING THIS BLOG IN THE FIRST PLACE.

THERE'S PROBABLY A WORTHY 33 1/3 CONTINUUM SERIES BOOK AND ACADEMIC THESIS IN CAMOUFLEUR, THE FIFTH AND FINAL ALBUM BY GASTR DEL SOL. IT SOUNDS AT ONCE FAMILIAR AND NEW, WHICH IS A WHEEZY CLICHE THAT I'VE HEARD APPLIED TO A LOT OF MUSIC, BUT I DO ACTUALLY THINK THAT.

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN. THE OPENER 'THE SEASONS REVERSE' HAS A FEEL IN THE REALM OF PROPER TROPICALIA GENRE PIECE. BUT THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIX, IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SONIC ELEMENTS THAT IS PULLING IT AWAY FROM THAT. IT'S NOT OCCLUDING THE SONGWRITING: IT'S AN ELECTRONIC SOUND BUZZED IN FROM ANOTHER WORLD, A WHIRRING PIECE OF INHUMAN PERCUSSION STUTTERING ALONG.

IN MY HEAD IT GOES THAT GRUBBS IS TRYING TO WRITE REASONABLY NORMAL SONGS AND O'ROURKE IS TRYING TO PULL THEM APART. WHAT WE'RE LEFT WITH IS THIS, AND THAT IS ALSO WHY THEY SPLIT. IT'S PROBABLY NOT ACTUALLY LIKE THAT, BUT IT FEELS LIKE IT COULD BE TRUE.

A COUPLE OF THE TUNES ACTUALLY SOUND LIKE GENUINE AMERICANA AND NOT IN THE ALT-COUNTRY SENSE, BUT REAL MUSIC HEWN FROM THE SALT OF THE EARTH OF THE NEW CONTINENT. THIS MIGHT BE AN ACADEMIC EXERCISE IN SOME RESPECT, BUT LISTEN TO 'BLACK HORSE' AND TELL ME IT SOUNDS INSINCERE, EVEN WHEN COMPUTER/MIDI NOISES CHIME IN WITH THE ACOUSTIC GUITARS. IT IS ACTUALLY *BEAUTIFUL* WITHOUT ANY UNDERPINNING COMMENT.

IT'S A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL RECORD ON EVERY TRACK. HOWEVER, FOR ME, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF TRACKS THAT ARE APPROXIMATELY SIMILAR THAT GO EVEN FURTHER. I DON'T KNOW IF THESE ARE GRUBBS TRACKS OR O'ROURKE OR EVEN ANYTHING TO DO WITH MARKUS 'OVAL' POPP WHO TURNS UP TO HELP OUT HERE, BUT THEY RATE AS HIGH AS ANYTHING IN THE O'ROURKE CATALOGUE THUS FAR.

 

THOSE TRACKS - 'BLUES SUBTITLED NO SENSE OF WONDER' AND 'EACH DREAM IS AN EXAMPLE' - DO SOMETHING BOTH 'SMART' AND MOVING. I CAN'T QUITE PLACE MY FINGER ON IT. THE FORMER IS THE SONG CLOSEST TO MY FEELING OF CONFUSION ON WAKING AS I CAN THINK; A MESS OF GLOSSOLALIA, WORDS SLIPPING IN AND OUT OF MEANING; A NEW FORM OF BALLADEERING FOR THE 00S NOT REALISED BY THE MANY. 

IT'S A RARE RECORD IN THAT IT IS GREAT AND ALSO A LITTLE BIT UNDERRATED: I THINK MUSIC IN 2020 IS PRETTY FAR FROM A RECORD LIKE THIS THAT IS SIMULTANEOUSLY ARCH AND SINCERE. FOR ME THIS ISN'T JUST CERTIFIED GOOD BUT UP THERE WITH SPIDERLAND AND JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA AND MY FAVOURITE THINGS AND EASTER EVERYWHERE.

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.