INVITO AL CIELO (1998)

CONNOR LOCKIE OF THE BLOG SPECTRUM CULTURE REVISITED THIS ALBUM BY SONIC YOUTH AND JIM O'ROURKE, RELEASED AS PART OF THEIR SYR EXPERIMENTAL SERIES, JUST LAST YEAR. IN A SYMPATHETIC AND POSITIVE REVIEW HE SAID THIS:

When things are loud, they’re very loud; when they’re slow and dissonant, it’s like a funeral dirge. Improv purists might turn their noses up at the idea of pop musicians treading this ground, but Sonic Youth show that they have a deep understanding of both camps, such that they end up straddling the fine line that connects the two.

IMPROV PURISTS CAN ALL GO TO HELL AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED AND IT IS PRETTY CLEAR BY ANY YARDSTICK THAT ALL OF THE GROUP (BUT ESPECIALLY LEE AND THURSTON) ARE TIME-SERVED CARD-CARRYING MEMBERS OF THE NO WAVE WEIRDO MOVEMENT, HOWEVER LONG THEY HAVE SPENT IN 'POP MUSIC' LATTERLY.

 

MAYBE I'M JUST SCARRED BY THOSE DISKAHOLICS RECORDS AND THE MELBOURNE RECORD BY JIM AND THE SONIC YOUTH MEN BUT I CAN'T HANDLE IMPROV RECORDS BY THIS LOT ANYMORE. IT ISN'T OFFENSIVE OR ANYWHERE NEAR AS BAD AS DISKAHOLICS, AND I MUST STRESS AGAIN I RESPECT THE UNDERPINNINGS OF THIS, BUT IT JUST GETS ON MY LAST NERVE.

THE BEST BITS OF THE RECORD ON FINAL 30 MINUTE JAM 'RADIO-AMATOROJ' SOUNDS A BIT LIKE THE DYING FEEDBACK BITS IN 1988 CLOSING JAM ELIMINATOR JR FROM DAYDREAM NATION. IT'S JUST THAT IN THAT SONG IT WAS A BRIDGING METHOD BETWEEN SECTIONS: HERE IT IS THE ENTIRE THING IN AND OF ITSELF. 

THIS DOESN'T GET TO DUD DEPTHS BUT I AM NOT RECOMMENDING IT.

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. 

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.