LE PIANO ENGLOUTI (2020)

ON THIS RECORD JIM GETS A CO-CREDIT BUT IS KEEN TO PLAY DOWN HIS ROLE IN MAKING THE WORK OF A HERO (AND THE WIFE OF A HERO) COME TO LIFE:

Brunhild Ferrari was kind to me even back then.

That’s so nice.

Yeah I don’t understand. She was always really nice to me. I mean I never got to know Mr. Ferrari much at all—I only really met him once or twice—but she was always kind to me. Still is.

You had that album with her from this year.

It’s from a couple years ago but it was released this year, yeah.

Had you two ever worked on music together before?

No, it was really just a concert. It’s really just a live show. Basically, it was pieces of hers—tape—with a person improvising. Like a lot of pieces Luc made, it was basically that. She was playing the tape and I was improvising. So really it was as simple as that. I never actually worked with her, I just did the shows with her.

Can you share how she was looking out for you?

She would make sure I was OK. I really had so little French and—maybe it's changed—but if you’re in Paris with no French, you're going to be ignored real quick (laughter). 

I CAN CONFIRM: I HAVE TRAVELLED THROUGHOUT FRANCE EXTENSIVELY OVER THE LAST DECADE AND THE ONLY PLACE MY DEPRESSING MONOGLOTTALISM HAS GIVEN ME TROUBLE IS PARIS. 

THE SOUND OF THE RECORD IS AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS - PRE-RECORDED PIANO IS ENGULFED BY WAVES OF SOUND TAKEN FROM FIELD RECORDINGS OF THE SEA AND WEATHER AND MIXED WITH DRONING ELECTRONICS AND FIZZING SYNTH NOISES. EFFECTS SWEEP IN AND OUT, BAKING THE WHOLE SOUND TOGETHER: A PIANO INSIDE THE OCEAN, OR A TORNADO TAKING PLACE INSIDE THE LAPTOP.

I LIKE IT AND IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A MERE LIVE SET GUSSIED UP.
 

SPHYX (1994)

THIS WAS AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY TO ME UNTIL JIM SAID IN THAT EXCELLENT TONE GLOW PIECE THAT HE PLAYED ON IT. LET US REWIND:

Obviously I don’t do a lot of interviews, but I've always been kind of shocked by how nobody ever asks me about the years I was part of Organum. To me It seems like one of the most amazing things that anyone could ever say—“Yeah, I was in Organum.” (laughter). But no one ever asks about that stuff. Maybe it's not as big a deal as it seems to me, or it doesn't have the cachet it used to. But I mean, David was in the fucking Scratch Orchestra.

I did wanna ask you about Organum, you were on Sphyx.

I’m actually on a lot of them, it’s just that there aren’t credits. I was on like ten of them. Sphyx was kind of the result of Eddie introducing me to write with David Jackman. We recorded that in this studio in this area of London, it was really kind of brutal. But it’s down in the south of London and it’s that studio the band Skullflower recorded in. Do you know the band Skullflower?

WELL I WON'T BE FINDING OUT WHICH TEN JUST FOR THE SAKE OF COMPLETENESS, THOUGH I MAY COVER MORE ORGANUM IF IT ORGANUMICALLY (HEHEHE) COMES TO MY ATTENTION IN FUTURE WEEKS.

ALSO ISN'T SKULLFLOWER GUY A NAZI GUY NOW? ISN'T THAT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED? THIS WORLD MOVES TOO FAST TO EVEN KEEP TRACK OF WHO IS A NAZI OR GRABBED SOME TITS WITHOUT CONSENT.

EDIT: LINK TO SKULLFLOWER HYPOTHESIS, I HAVE NO COMMENT.

SO AN ORGANUM IS, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, A KIND OF MEDIEVAL POLYPHONY (REMEMBER A LOT OF WRITTEN MUSIC USED TO BE IN UNISON UNTIL VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE INTRODUCED COUNTERPOINT, ETC.) AND I SUPPOSE THAT NAME IS KIND OF APPROPRIATE HERE - ALTHOUGH THIS IS A KIND OF MEDIEVAL-ISH SOUNDING COMPUTER MUSIC.

I HAVE TO SAY I REALLY LIKE THIS. I KNOW IT ISN'T JIM'S MUSIC PER SE AND I GUESS I CAN'T GIVE IT CERTIFIED: GOOD FOR THE MUSIC OF JIM O'ROURKE, BUT IT IS CERTIFIED: GOOD. IT IS FULLY OF ITSELF; A WHOLE PIECE, COLLIDING SUBTLE COMPUTER MANIPULATION WITH LIVE DRONES AND IMPROVISATIONS. YOU CAN SEE HOW THIS WAS A FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE FOR JIM AS SOME OF HIS LATER RECORDS DO SEEM TO REFLECT VARIOUS LESSONS LEARNED HERE.

FUCK IT: CERTIFIED GOOD

CHINA IS NEAR (2005)

THE SAGA OF ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES AND ITS OWNER BARRY HOGAN IS QUITE THE INDIE ROCK TALE OF HUBRIS BUT LET'S FACE IT: IT GOT A LOT OF PEOPLE PAID AND SOME HUGE EXPOSURE FOR MUSICIANS THAT COULD HAVE EASILY JUST RUN AROUND IN MASTURBATORY CIRCLES IN WHATEVER CITY THEY'RE FROM (PROBABLY NEW YORK BUT LET'S NOT BE TOO REDUCTIVE).

ONE SUCH EXAMPLE IS NEW YORK (*COUGH*) DUO WHITE OUT, WHOSE APPROACH TO 'INCENDIARY NEW MUSIC' SURELY REQUIRED THE PATRONAGE OF HOGAN AND HIS SLIGHTLY DUPLICITOUS ACCOUNTANCY TECHNIQUE.

GOING IN I WAS A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS: OFF THE RUN OF SEVERAL BAD-TO-ABYSMAL THURSTON MOORE-RELATED RELEASES, ANY TRACEABLE PATH TO MR. MOORE IS A RED FLAG. WHITE OUT'S EARLY RELEASES COME ON MOORE'S ECSTATIC PEACE LABEL AND WILLIAM WINANT FEATURES ON A SONIC YOUTH IMPROV RECORD, SO WE'RE WADING IN MUCKY WATERS TO START WITH.

MUSICALLY THE LANDSCAPE FALLS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN AVANT JAZZ AND THE OCCASIONALLY AUSTERE SONIC TEXTURES THAT MIGHT HAVE COME OUT OF A GERMAN HOCHSCHULE FUR MUSIK IN THE 1960S. THERE ARE PORTIONS OF NEGATIVE SPACE, WHERE PREGNANT MOMENTS BETWEEN PROVOCATIVE SOUNDS SEEM TO AMPLIFY IN YOUR BRAIN. IT CERTAINLY ISN'T ILL-CONSIDERED OR ROTE FREE EXPLORATION. ONE MIGHT EVEN SUGGEST SOME LEVEL OF DESIGN CONSCIOUSNESS.

HOWEVER I MUST LISTEN WITH REASONABLE AMOUNTS OF PREJUDICE AND REPORT WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR AND THIS IS JUST NOT DOING ANYTHING FOR ME. IT'S COOL THAT WINANT AND WHITE OUT'S DRUMMER HAVE SOME SLIGHTLY LOBOTOMISED TAPPING AND CLANKING, AND THE TEXTURES AND TONES WRESTLED OUT OF O'ROURKE AND WHITE OUT'S MUSICIAN ARE IDIOSYNCRATIC. BUT IT'S JUST A DIFFICULT LISTEN - A SERIOUS UNDERTAKING, AND NOT A DUD - AND ONE I WILL STRUGGLE TO RISE TO AGAIN NOW I KNOW WHAT LIES AHEAD.

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.