BAD TIMING (1997)

WE HAVE MENTIONED IN THE COURSE OF THIS BLOG, ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS, THE WORD 'AMERICANA' WITHOUT REALLY INTERROGATING THE CONCEPT (INDEED THERE ARE A BUNCH OF WORDS I COULD STAND TO GO DEEPER IN ON AND I PLAN TO) IN DEPTH.

AMERICANA ON THE BASIC LEVEL SUGGESTS 'THINGS TO DO WITH AMERICA' BUT WHEN YOU STRIP AWAY ALL THE CRASS FLAG-WAVING MILITARY AND DEEP MEDIA STUFF THAT AMERICA PROJECTS TO THE WORLD YOU ARE ACTUALLY LEFT WITH A RIOT OF DIFFERENCE; OF GENERATIONS EMBEDDED AND OF THE SWEEP OF MIGRATION; OF DIFFERENT CLIMATES, GEOGRAPHIES, AND TOPOLOGIES; OF RADICALLY DIFFERENT CULTURAL TRADITIONS; BOTH COLONISERS AND COLONISED.

NOT TO MENTION THAT WHEN YOU BRING IT TO SPECIFIC MUSICAL FORMS YOU GET REALLY INTELLIGENT AND INSIGHTFUL PEOPLE LIKE ALAN LOMAX WHO CAN TAKE SOMETHING THAT SEEMS HYPER-PARTICULAR IE. A BLUES FORM ONLY IN A SMALL VALLEY IN MISSISSIPPI, A TYPE OF GOSPEL SONG ONLY ON THAT VIRGINIAN MOUNTAIN AND SHOW HOW IT EVOLVES FROM ONE COUNTRY'S PEOPLE AND THEIR JOURNEY TO THE NEW WORLD. HOW EVERYTHING IS PRONE TO SHIFT AND CHANGE AND UPROOTING AND BEING SOMEWHERE ELSE. MAYBE CULTURE IS SIMPLY WHAT SURVIVES OF US.

CULTURAL EXPRESSION CAN BE BOTH AUTHENTIC (A TRUE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONHOOD) AND COMPLETELY FALSE (BORROWED, NOT ORIGINATING THROUGH A STRICT PATRIMONIAL COURSE) IN ONE FELL SWOOP: I THINK THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING PROVIDING YOU TAKE THE COARSENING EFFECTS OF MONEY AND SOCIAL STATUS AWAY FROM THINGS. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS ARGUMENTS ABOUT CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ONLY GO SO FAR WITH ME. NOT TO SAY THERE AREN'T RACISTS AND CYNICS IN THE WORLD. FAR FROM IT!

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BAD TIMING BY JIM O'ROURKE? WELL, A LOT, IN THAT IT IS A RECORD THAT CLEARLY BRINGS TO BEAR JIM'S BURGEONING OBSESSION WITH THE AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR STYLINGS AND THE WORK OF JOHN FAHEY. IT IS MUSIC THAT BEARS THE HALLMARKS OF THE AMERICAN PAST; ACUTELY STUDDED WITH A SENSE OF TRADITIONS IN AMERICAN FOLK AND BLUES, THE JOURNEY OF CONTINENTS, WHILE JIM IS THIS ALOOF ACADEMIC GUY WHO HAS SPENT 8 YEARS MAKING MUSIC FOR WESTERN INTELLIGENTSIA.

IS THIS JUST AN EXERCISE OR IS IT AUTHENTIC? WELL, IT IS BOTH. AND FURTHERMORE IT IS SUCCESSFUL. IT RENDERS A CONVINCING PORTRAIT OF THE LEGACY OF FAHEY AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN CLASSICAL MUSIC. AND IT ALSO FEELS *FELT*. LIKE HE CARES. LIKE THIS IS NOT A CLINICAL EXERCISE. THAT THERE IS SOME ATTEMPT TO GRAB THE LISTENER BY THEIR EMOTIONAL SENSES.

BAD TIMING IS A VERY GOOD RECORD AND FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JIM SOLO UP TO 1997 ON THIS BLOG, HIS BEST RECORD TO DATE. YOU CAN'T CALL IT A VOLTE-FACE IF YOU THINK ABOUT HOW THIS OBSESSION HAD BEEN COMING OUT IN WORKS LIKE HAPPY DAYS AND UPGRADE & AFTERLIFE. MY FAVOURITE TRACK IS THE TITLE TRACK BUT THERE ISN'T A BAD ONE HERE. 

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

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

ACOUSTICS (1994)

FABLED AXEMAN HENRY KAISER RETURNS TO JIM'S SIDE ALONG WITH ACCLAIMED VIOLIN PLAYER MARI KIMURA AND ALTO PLAYER JOHN OSWALD TO PUT TOGETHER A HEAD-EXPANDING HOUR OF ACOUSTIC JAMS. THE COVER TELLS US THIS MUCH:

THIS RECORD IS FREE IMPROVISATION AT ITS SMUG WORST. BEFORE I EVEN GET INTO THE RECORD ITSELF I HAVE TO POST UP THE LINER NOTES IN FULL. I AM ALL FOR A BIT OF KNOWING HUMOUR BUT THIS GOES RIGHT PAST THAT AND INTO A REALM BEYOND.

THIS IS UNLISTENABLE AND INTOLERABLE. THE PRESENTNESS OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS SEEMS TO LEND AN ADDED DIMENSION TO OBNOXIOUSNESS THAT THE PERCEIVED DETACHMENT OF SYNTHS (EMULATING ACOUSTIC SOUNDS) OR COMPUTERS (NON-ORGANIC NEW SOUNDS) CANNOT. IT'S LIKE SOMEONE IS BEING AN ASSHOLE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. AND HERE IT'S FOUR GAPING ASSHOLES FOR ONE HOUR (THAT FEELS LIKE 3!)

IT FEELS LIKE A PARODIC FREE EXPLORATION GROUP THAT FRASIER CRANE WOULD TAKE HIS DAD ALONG TO SEE, ONLY I AM THE MARTY CRANE HERE AND EVERYONE ELSE GETS THE JOKE BUT ME. MUSIC LIKE THIS PARALYSES MY OWN SENSE OF INTELLIGENCE BECAUSE I START TO DOUBLE- AND TRIPLE-THINK MYSELF. THIS IS AWFUL, MY KNEE JERKS. BUT SOME PEOPLE REALLY DEVOTE THEIR LIFE TO THIS CRAFT, I COUNTER. BUT IT STINKKKKKKKKKKKS, I YELL, TRYING TO REASSERT THE PRIMACY OF MY GUT.

THIS SHOULD BE SHOT OUT OF A CANNON. DUD.

REMOVE THE NEED (1993) aka STEAMROOM 22

HEY DON'T YOU MEAN REMOVE THE NEED 1989, THE EARLY RECORD OF PREPARED GUITAR MADE AROUND THE SAME TIME AS THE JIM'LL ROCK CERTIFIED-GOOD RELEASE SOME KIND OF PAGAN? 

NO, HEATHEN READER. THIS IS A DIFFERENT RECORD RELEASED FOUR YEARS LATER CALLED REMOVE THE NEED, ALSO FEATURING PIECES PERFORMED EXCLUSIVELY ON PREPARED GUITAR.

NOW YOU HAVE BEEN SCHOOLED MY CHILD LET US LOOK INTO THIS RECORDING, THE 1993 RELEASE OF REMOVE THE NEED.

 

IF YOU LIKED THOSE EARLY PREPARED GUITAR PIECES - AND I KNOW I DID - THEN YOU'RE IN FOR A TREAT HERE. A BLOG I HAVE LINKED TO A COUPLE OF TIMES HAD THIS TO SAY:

like Some Kind of Pagan, this features live solo guitar except this time longer tracks of dronier music. it’s got some interesting parts but feels a bit aimless at times where Pagan does not. 

I DISAGREE WITH THIS ASSESSMENT. YES THERE IS A 30 MINUTE TRACK IN THERE BUT ON THE WHOLE THERE'S A SENSE OF A CLEAR JOURNEY IN ALL THE TRACKS, AND I THINK THE METHOD IS REVEALED A LITTLE MORE. AT TIMES IT FEELS LIKE THE TEXTURES OF A GUITAR WHERE EARLIER PREPARED GUITAR MATERIAL FELT LIKE THE LAST THING O'ROURKE WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE THE AXE SOUND LIKE AN AXE.

 

THE STEAMROOM 22 RELEASE APPENDS TWO TRACKS FROM OTHER JIM RELEASES:

- SIX STRINGS '87 WAS RELEASED ON A LIMITED 12" IN 2004, THOUGH THE PIECE WAS RECORDED IN 1987. THE SONG FROM THE B-SIDE (SIX OSCILLATORS) IS NOT HERE.

- SOME KIND OF WAS JIM'S HALF OF A SPLIT NON-COLLABORATIVE RECORD WITH ITALIAN DUO MY CAT IS AN ALIEN. AGAIN, THE PIECE WAS RECORDED IN THE LATE 1980S.

THIS WAS A GENERALLY FINE RELEASE. JIM'S PREPARED GUITAR MATERIAL MAY NOT BE THE MOST ORIGINAL IN HIS BACK CATALOGUE, IN THRALL AS IT MAY BE TO THE MID-CENTURY MUSIC THINKERS, BUT IT DOES YIELD HIGH RETURNS.

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.

MELBOURNE DIRECT (2006)

IN WHICH THE STRONGEST CASE FOR KIM GORDON AS A MODERATING INFLUENCE ON SONIC YOUTH IS MADE: THIS RECORD, CREDITED TO THURSTON, LEE, AND STEVE OF SONIC YOUTH AS WELL AS JIM, GIVES 80 MINUTES OF FLOOR-SPACE TO THOSE BITS OF SONIC YOUTH GIGS THAT COME BETWEEN THE TALKING AND THE START OF THE RECOGNISABLE BITS OF SONGS.

IN SHORT IT IS 80 MINUTES OF PERCUSSIVE TAPPING ON ELECTRIC GUITARS HOOKED UP TO A SMALL ARMADA OF FX UNITS, CREATING ATMOSPHERIC BILLOWS OF SOUNDS AND UNFORMED EXPLORATORY MOMENTS. THERE ISN'T ANYTHING APPROACH A POP SONG HERE, AND STEVE SHELLEY'S CONTRIBUTIONS RARELY EVEN COULD BE FILED AS 'BEAT-KEEPING'. 

HUGE RESPECT FOR ALL OF THESE GUYS (MY LAPTOP LOCKSCREEN EVEN FEATURES RANALDO FROM THE INSET IMAGE OF THE ASCENSION BY GLENN BRANCA) BUT THIS LAPSES INTO TOSS AFTER NOT VERY LONG. HAD IT BEEN EDITED DOWN A LITTLE AND PERHAPS GONE THROUGH SOME DYNAMICS, MAYBE EVEN DARED TO PLAY WITH MELODY AND RHYTHM A LITTLE, I COULD HAVE SAID IT WAS A GOOD EXPERIMENT. 

BUT IT'S NOT. IT IS BASICALLY WANKING WITHOUT TECHNIQUE. OK OK THERE IS SOME TECHNIQUE AND SKILL IN COAGULATING 4 PLAYERS INTO THIS SOUND AND NOT HAVING ONE BECOME OVERLY-DOMINANT, AND IT IS NOT LIKE THIS RECORD IS CHARMLESS (THE LAST 8 MINUTES PICK UP!).

BUT I THINK I AM GOING 'DUD' FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 2006 AND THE SECOND TIME WITH THURSTON MOORE. COME TO THINK OF IT JIM'S 2006 RECORD WITH CHRIS CORSANO KINDA SUCKED TOO. NO WONDER HE TOOK SOME TIME OFF MUSIC SHORTLY AFTER.

DUD.

IN BERN (1999)

A LIVE COLLABORATION BETWEEN EXPERIMENTAL GUITARIST LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS AND JIM, TAKING PLACE IN 1997 AT A SWISS MUSEUM IN THE CITY OF BERN. HERE IT MIGHT BE WISE TO TALK ABOUT THE EUROPEAN MAINLAND (IE. NOT BRITAIN, NOT IRELAND) AND ITS STRONG PATRONAGE OF THE MUSICAL ARTS THAT MAKE THINGS LIKE THIS - A PERFORMANCE, A RECORDING - BETWEEN TWO FAMOUS SHIPS IN THE NIGHT POSSIBLE. I LOVE IT, EVEN IF I DON'T LOVE THE RESULTS EVERY SINGLE TIME. LIKE, IT TAKES A STRONG VISION TO GET SOMETHING LIKE THAT FEAR TO FALL RECORD OR THIS TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. RESPECT IT.

I DON'T WANT TO APPLY TOO MUCH NARRATIVE OR OUTSIDE KNOWLEDGE (APART FROM THAT GAINED DURING THE COURSE OF THE BLOG) BUT IN 1999 JIM HAS JUST LEFT GASTR DEL SOL (IT EVEN SAYS THIS ON THE ALBUM COVER) AND IS VERY MUCH ENAMOURED BY THE AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR SOUND - MELODIC RIVERS THAT MOVE IN A LINEAR FASHION RATHER THAN OBVIOUS 'SONG STRUCTURES' (THOUGH THOSE ARE ON THEIR WAY). THERE'S ALSO A VERY 'STUDIED' EDGE TO WHAT JIM SEEMS TO BE UP TO AROUND THIS TIME. HE EVEN DRESSES LIKE AN ARCH MUSIC PROFESSOR.

THE RECORD - FOUR TRACKS OVER 48 MINUTES - IS QUITE A REVERENT PIECE. MELODY-FIRST, WITH EACH PLAYER MAKING LITTLE INCURSIONS OR EXCURSIONS - A LITTLE PERCUSSIVE TAPPING, A LITTLE JAZZY FLOURISH, BACKING OFF, STEPPING UP, LETTING THE OTHER TAKE OVER. AT TIMES IT IS A LITTLE JOHN FAHEY, BUT AT OTHER TIMES IT FEELS LIKE FLEETWOOD MAC AT THEIR SPACIOUS 60S BEST.

THE RECORD LEADS WHERE PEOPLE LIKE CAM DEAS AND JAMES BLACKSHAW WOULD FOLLOW. IT BRINGS A LITTLE PIECE OF AN UNDULATING JOURNEY THROUGH NOWHERE AMERICA TO A MEDIEVAL SWISS CITY. SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE IT IS ALL IN ONE KEY AND AT ONE DYNAMIC LEVEL, BUT MAYBE THAT ALLOWS THE PERFORMANCE TO HAVE A PARTICULAR TYPE OF TRANSFORMATIVE CAPABILITY.

GONNA GO CERTIFIED: GOOD ON THIS. I CAN'T REALLY SAY THERE'S ANYTHING BAD ABOUT IT ALL.

HARD OFF (2017)

DELIVERY HEALTH IS THE NAME OF AN EARLIER COLLABORATION BETWEEN JIM, ITALIAN KEYBOARD WIZ GIOVANNI DI DOMENICO, AND JAPANESE PERCUSSIONIST TATSUHISA YAMAMOTO: HERE THEY DECIDE THAT IS THE NAME OF THEIR BAND DEVOTED TO ATMOSPHERIC GURGLES AND OPENING UP SPACES BETWEEN NOTES TO LET SHIT REALLY BREEEEEAAATHHHHHE.

I QUITE LIKED ARCO, THE 2015 COLLABORATION BETWEEN DI DOMENICO AND O'ROURKE: IT ORBITED THE PLANET OF GRASPABLE MELODY WITHOUT QUITE LANDING. THEY SEEM LIKE A GOOD FIT AS THIS KIND OF DOES THE SAME THING AND OCCASIONALLY LETS DOWN THE LANDING GEAR BEFORE THINKING 'OOH NO, ACTUALLY'. THAT MIGHT SOUND FRUSTRATING BUT THE ATMOSPHERES AND GENTLE TICKLING OF KEYS AND STRATEGIC PERCUSSION IS SOOTHING AND WELL BALANCED.

STANDARD FORM ON A LOT OF JIM'S RECORDS, I AM FINDING, IS 40 MINS OF MUSIC SPLIT INTO ONE OR TWO TRACKS. THAT'S PERFECT FOR THIS KIND OF EXPLORATORY DRIFTING. SIDE A IS A LITTLE BETTER THAN SIDE B, WHICH IS A LITTLE MORE UNSETTLED AND ANTIC AND PICKS UP TO MAKE FOR QUITE AN EXPLOSIVE CRESCENDO. BUT ON THE WHOLE I THINK THIS IS A GREAT LITTLE SET FOR THOSE WHO LIKE "AMBIENT" AS ACTUAL HUMAN INTERPLAY BETWEEN PERFORMERS.

CERTIFIED: GOOD.

IT TAKES TIME TO DO NOTHING (1990)

ANOTHER EARLY CASSETTE RELEASE FROM JIM WITH THE SAME CAVEAT THAT CAME WITH SOME KIND OF PAGAN - THIS IS ALL PREPARED GUITAR WITH NO EFFECTS EXCEPT THE USE OF REVERB. HE IS GOOD TO MAKE THIS SEEMINGLY PEDANTIC POINT, AS FROM A GUITAR PLAYER'S PERSPECTIVE SOME OF THE SOUNDS HE GETS HERE ARE EXCELLENT.

 

MANY PEOPLE WON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE PROVENANCE OF SOUNDS: SIMPLY IF IT SOUNDS GOOD OR FEELS GOOD, THEN THAT'S SUCCESS. I GET THE FEELING THAT THE ORIGIN OF SOUNDS AND THEN THE PROCESS BY WHICH THEY ARE MANIPULATED ARE INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO O'ROURKE. I EVEN HEARD ONCE THAT O'ROURKE COULD IDENTIFY HOW ANY GIVEN SOUND WAS MADE. WISH I COULD VERIFY THAT.

THIS COMMENCES WITH SOME SUPERB WIDESCREEN DRONES BUT BEGINS TO FOLLOW A SLIGHTLY DARKER AND MORE UNSETTLING PATH AS IT DEVELOPS. BY THE MIDDLE OF SIDE B THE FEEL IS LIKE WANDERING IN A DARKENED INDUSTRIAL UNIT AT NIGHT WITH OCCASIONAL ORIENTAL-SOUNDING INTERLUDES REBOUNDING OFF THE THINGS OCCLUDING HIS PREPARED GUITAR STRINGS. 

PRETTY GOOD STUFF ON THE WHOLE.

MURRAY STREET (2002)

JIM JOINED SONIC YOUTH IN THE LATE 1990S, MOSTLY AS A TOURING BASS GUITARIST AS KIM HAD BEGUN TO FIND HER SKRONKY VOICE AS A GUITAR PLAYER. I SAW THA YOUTH ON THEIR 2002 TOUR AND WONDERED WHO THIS FIFTH GUY WAS EVEN THOUGH I HAD A COPY OF INSIGNIFICANCE AND WAS FAMILIAR WITH HIS GENERAL THING. DOES THAT HAPPEN ANYMORE? NOT KNOWING WHAT THE PERSON YOU OWN MUSIC BY EVEN LOOKS LIKE?

 

 

SY HAD BEEN GOING THROUGH A BIT OF A PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE PATCH IN THE 90S BUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR SYR SERIES ALLOWED THEM TO BIFURCATE THE WILD AVANT IDEAS FROM THE ROCK RECORD IDEAS. IT'S A GOOD THING TO DO IF YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, AND FIND AN AUDIENCE WILLING TO REMEMBER TO OVERLOOK EVERY OTHER RECORD.

 

ANYWAY I CAN'T HONESTLY TELL YOU WHAT O'ROURKE BRINGS TO SONIC YOUTH AS AN INDIVIDUAL. HE'S A MEMBER OF THE BAND AND DOING HIS BEST TO JOIN IN. THE PART OF THE RECORD THAT SOUNDS MOST DECISIVELY LIKE HIS WORK IS THE EXTENDED GUITAR PASSAGE THAT CLOSES 'RAIN ON TIN': IT SLOWLY MORPHS FROM THREE GUITARS INTERLOCKING TO SOMETHING AKIN TO THREE PEOPLE TAPPING ON THE SIDE OF MELODIC SEPTIC TANKS. 

 

 

MURRAY STREET IS A WARM RECORD OF AN AUTUMNAL SONIC YOUTH: THE CLOSED TUNINGS AND PUNCHY DRUMMING IS THERE, BUT IT'S MOSTLY OVERLAID WITH TWINKLY LOW MID-TEMPO PLAYING WITH LITTLE DISCORDANCE OR MID-SONG BREAKS FOR NOISE. THEY DO OCCASIONALLY GO FOR HELL - AVANT-SAX DUO BORBETOMAGUS TURN UP ON ONE SONG - BUT THE GENERAL VIBE IS GENTLY DOWNBEAT POST 9/11 MELANCHOLY. PLEASINGLY CONCISE TOO.

 

I'D GIVE IT CERTIFIED: GOOD BUT I HONESTLY DON'T SEE HOW YOU CAN CALL IT A JIM O'ROURKE RECORD. 

YONA-KIT LP (1995)

YONA-KIT TRANSPORTS JIM AND TWO OF HIS TRUSTED COLLABORATORS OF THE TIME (THYMME JONES OF CHEER-ACCIDENT AND DARIN GRAY OF LOTS OF BANDS) INTO A BAND SITUATION WITH FELLOW CULT ARTIST AND EX-ZENI GEVA FRONTMAN KAZUYUKI KISHINO WHO YOU MIGHT KNOW AS KK NULL. THEY ALSO HAD A COOL LOGO.

JIM WOULD HAVE RECORDED THE FIRST US MAPLE RECORD AROUND THIS TIME AND I GUESS AS A SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON THEY'RE NOT A MILLION MILES APART. IT'S UNUSUAL BY THE STANDARDS OF BIG ROCK OF 1994/5 BUT NOT ESPECIALLY WEIRD BY VAGUELY MATHY/UNDERGROUND STUFF. IN FACT THEY SOUND MORE LIKE THE PROTO-US MAPLE BAND SHORTY, ONLY WITH MAYBE A LITTLE LESS CHARISMA AND MORE ATMOSPHERE.

THEY DIDN'T ALL LIVE NEAR EACH OTHER AND WROTE BY MAIL AND IT KIND OF SHOWS. MOST TUNES ARE JUST VAMPS AROUND ONE SPINDLY AND SINEWY RIFF. GETS A BIT DISCORDANT AND ESTRANGED THEN SOMETIMES VEERS INTO PLEASANTNESS BUT KEEPS ROCKIN' THROUGHOUT. THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN MORE FUN LIVE. ONE OF MELT BANANA SHOUTS INSCRUTABLY. ALBINI BEHIND THE DESK.  IF THAT'S YOUR AESTHETIC THEN HERE'S ONE FOR YOU.

INSIGNIFICANCE (2001)

THE RECORDS OF JIM O'ROURKE UNLIKE THE RECORDS OF SAY MICHAEL JACKSON OR BLACK FLAG OR ROY ORBISON DO NOT REALLY LEND THEMSELVES TO A WIDER CULTURAL MEMORY. THEY'RE PRODUCTS OF AN ARTIST OUTSIDE OF ANY ZEITGEIST. AND AS SUCH THERE ARE NO CONSUMER PRODUCTS TO ATTACH TO HIS WORK, NO COOL DESIGNS, NO DANCES, NO FILMED MOMENTS THAT EXIST IN WIDER SOCIAL CONTEXTS AND MEMORIES.

INSIGNIFICANCE DOES AT LEAST HAVE SOME MEMORY FOR ME. I BOUGHT IT THE YEAR IT WAS RELEASED (2001) FROM A GUY IN THE FACTORY I WAS TEMPING IN. HE SOLD THE RELEASES OF THE DAY BY DOWNLOADING THEM AND BURNING THEM OFF. NOT ALL OF US HAD THE INTERNET THEN SO £3 FOR CDS THAT WOULD COST £15 IN ANDY'S RIP-OFF-BASTARD RECORDS. 

I REMEMBER WHEN HE HANDED OVER THIS HE SAID "OH, I LISTENED TO THAT ON THE WAY IN. IT'S REALLY SHIT." I WAS 18 AND CRUSHED IN THE FACE OF THIS BURLY FORKLIFT OPERATOR.

ANYWAY I LIKED IT A LOT. MY FRIEND DAVID (MENTIONED IN THE REVIEW OF JIM.COMPUTER.HOTEL) WAS VERY SURPRISED BY THIS RECORD AS IT SEEMED TO BE A COMPLETE VOLTE-FACE FROM THE CLINICAL LAPTOP PONDERINGS HE HAD SEEN A FEW MONTHS PRIOR. THIS IS ROCK AND ROLL. IS THIS A DIFFERENT JIM O'ROURKE, HE WONDERED?

I STILL LIKE IT A LOT. THE TWO ELECTRIC ROCK SONGS HAVE GREAT RIFFS AND JIM'S VOICE IS JUST RIGHT, A WARM LOW-SUNG TENOR, DRIPPING WITH SARCASM (WELL HE WOULDN'T WANT TO DO ROCK THAT WAS *SINCERE* WOULD HE?). THESE SONGS HAVE LITTLE LEFTWARD LURCHES BUT ALL WITHIN THE REALMS OF SONG AND SONGLINESS. 

BUT REALLY IT'S THE OTHER 5 SONGS THAT ARE WORTH THE PRICE OF ENTRY; THESE WARM VAGUELY VAN DYKE PARKS/JACK NITZSCHE THINGS LACED WITH FUNNY (AND A BIT CRUEL!) LINES AND MORDANT BEAUTY. 

 

THIS COMES, AS YOU WILL SEE, TOWARD THE END OF A RUN WITH DRAG CITY WHERE JIM MAKES SOME NICE AND VAGUELY NORMAL MUSIC. THE EFFECT OF THIS RECORD IN CONTRAST WITH HIS INSTRUMENTAL AND DETACHED MUSIC FOR 'APPRECIATION' IS DEVASTATING WHEN YOU COMPREHEND HOW WELL HE'S MASTERED THE SYNTAX OF EACH. THE EFFECT IS AKIN TO USAIN BOLT TURNING UP IN THE OLYMPIC JAVELIN AND COMING SECOND. 

CERTIFIED: GOOD

LIVE IN JAPAN VOL. 1 (2006)

I ALREADY WROTE ABOUT THIS ON LOADS OF LOAD SO HERE IS THE ONLY CROSSPOST BETWEEN THAT BLOG AND THIS.

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS TERRITORY FOR LOAD RECORDS HERE AS THIS IS A BONAFIDE RELEASE BY A BUNCH OF DUDES WHO WERE ALREADY CELEBRITIES IN MUSIC AT THIS POINT. I CAN'T QUITE EXPLAIN WHY BUT THIS SORT OF TURNS LOAD INTO A BIG INDIE EVEN THOUGH THIS RECORD IS POINTEDLY AGAINST ALL THAT SORT OF EVENT RELEASE SHIT BY BEING A SPONTANEOUS GRAB OF SOUND FROM A SHOW.

DISKAHOLICS ARE SONIC YOUTHIST THURSTON MOORE, SAXOPHONIST MATS GUSTAFFSON, AND GENERAL MUSIC GUY JIM O'ROURKE. AND IF YOU'RE THINKING "THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE LINE-UP FROM A SONIC YOUTH SYR SERIES RECORD" THEN YOU'D BE NEARLY RIGHT AND ALSO NOT FAR OFF SOUND WISE. IT'S IMPROV EXPERIMENTAL NOISE WHERE BARELY ANY OF THE INSTRUMENTS SOUND LIKE THE EXPECTED TONE/TIMBRE/OUTPUT OF THAT PARTICULAR INSTRUMENT.

LIVE IN JAPAN JUST STUTTERS ALONG NOT REALLY EXPLORING ANY MOOD. IT'S AN INTRO WAITING TO GET TO AN ACTUAL JAM. IT IS NEGATIVE SPACE IN MUSIC INCARNATE. THERE ARE MORE OFFENSIVE RECORDS THAN THIS - IT IS ACTUALLY QUITE RESERVED - BUT CHRIST THE IDEA OF SPENDING MONEY ON THIS SEEMS ABSURD IN 2020. MAYBE WE HAVEN'T LOST AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT WE HAD.

 

GENUINE DUD OF A RECORD.

SOME KIND OF PAGAN (1989)

PERHAPS THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE LOGICAL STARTING POINT WHAT WITH IT BEING JIM'S FIRST ACTUAL RECORD BUT THE TAGS ARE THERE TO YOUR RIGHT, NAVIGATE THEM AND IMPOSE YOUR OWN LOGIC ON THIS PROJECT. I DOUBT I'LL BE ABLE TO.

SOME KIND OF PAGAN PRESENTS ITSELF ON THE LABEL AS SOLO GUITAR AND I SUPPOSE IN A WAY THAT IS TRUE BUT ALSO THERE APPEAR TO BE SOME SUBTLE INTERVENTIONS AND ACCOMPANIMENTS FROM PERCUSSION BUT NO! IT IS GUITAR. JUST GUITAR. LONELY, DARK, INDUSTRIAL-SOUNDING GUITAR (INDUSTRIAL AS IN ACTUAL FACTORIES RATHER THAN IDK MINISTRY).

I LIKE THIS. MAYBE IT IS THE SUNBAKED QUALITY TAPE UNEARTHINGS GIVE IT BUT THERE'S A ROBERT TURMAN-ESQUE FEEL HERE, MAYBE EVEN A LITTLE BIT OF FRENCH ARTIST BRUME TOO. A LITTLE DOOR OPENING TO AN UNDERGROUND PORTAL WHERE THE RULES ARE SUBTLY DIFFERENT.

IT COULD BE CONSIDERED TRIPPY BUT RATHER THAN PSYCHEDELIC, WHICH SEEMS TO ME TO CONNOTE AN ALTERED STATE, THIS IS LIKE A RECORD OF INTENSE SOBER CONCENTRATION. ONE THAT LEAVES YOU EXHAUSTED AFTERWARD, BUT GLAD YOU DID IT.

EITHER WAY THIS ONE GETS A CERTIFIED: GOOD.

PS. I FOUND THIS ARTICLE WHILE WRITING THIS, WHICH GIVES A GOOD ENTRYWAY INTO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF JIM'S DISCOGRAPHY. WHAT IS ODD IS THAT THIS PERSON COULD BE ME INASMUCH AS I THINK A LOT OF WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE RECORDS AND ALSO HATES STEELY DAN. WEIRD.

TOMORROW KNOWS WHERE YOU LIVE (1991)

A COLLABORATION WITH THE SIMILARLY PROLIFIC AVANT GUITARIST HENRY KAISER (IN FACT KAISER MIGHT EVEN HAVE A LARGER DISCOG THAN OUR SUBJECT HIMSELF) ON A CANADIAN JAZZ LABEL IN 1991 FEELS AS GOOD A PLACE AS ANY TO START THIS PROJECT. PLUS HANK KAISER LOOKS LIKE A RIGHT CARD.

  

 

IT'S A LIGHTLY INFURIATING RECORD INSOFAR AS THERE'S VERY LITTLE MUSICAL DISCORDANCY (IE. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NOTES, THE COLLISION OF SOUNDS) BUT MAXIMAL GRAMMATICAL DISRUPTION - THAT IS TO SAY THEY START PLAYING AND STOP, THEY CRAM NOTES IN AT RANDOM, THEY IGNORE BARS AND TEMPI TO PLAY CONSONANT MUSIC FREELY. 

WE CAN PARSE THIS RECORD BY LOOKING AT THE CREDITS ON OFFER. ONE TRACK IS CREDITED TO O'ROURKE ALONE AND IT IS A REASONABLY ARID BUT HAUNTED TAPE PIECE SUGGESTIVE OF THE AFTERMATH OF A GRUESOME BATTLE. MEANWHILE THE ONE TRACK CREDITED SOLELY TO KAISER IS MORE OF THE GUITAR FRIPPERY REDOLENT OF A PLEASANT DEREK BAILEY (BUT NOT AS GOOD).

NEAR THE END OF THE RECORD WE SEE A COUPLE OF TRACKS WHERE THEIR STYLES START TO GEL - HAUNTED ATMOSPHERE AND SOME GUITAR HYSTERICS, MOST NOTABLY ON CLOSING TANTRUM 'THE PALACE OF MEMORY' - BUT IT IS A BIT LATE TO SAVE THE RECORD FROM BEING A CHORE.