Jim O'Rourke

this guy is unfuckwitable

gets the chicks

i'm including "halfway to a threeway" just for the hell of it

or because it's probably in my top twenty albums of all time

make me happy

Quit apologizing for liking Jim O'Rourke. He's great.

out of the ones i've heard -- Bad Timing, Eureka, Halfway..., Insignificance, 1234 -- i would give the nod to Eureka for some of the better orchestral flourishes i've heard on record. i could really do without Bad Timing and 1234, but the middle three are essential for me, all strong songwriting etc., but the production on Eureka wins out.

but then I'm one of those people who actually likes all the stuff most people find annoying about 90s Chicago indie.

i vote 'eureka'

Man, this is tough.

tamper's really underrated, imo, but i have to go with a "i'm happy and singing" followed shortly by "halfway to a threeway". listen to roberto cacciapaglia if you're into the "i'm happy record", it's basically the same sound. arturo stalteri for the bad timing record.

o'rourke gets a lot of extra props for having the best name dropping in the biz for sure. so many good recommendations to be had by looking through his interviews.

Why won't he make a new album??? =(

Oh, and I'm listening to "Sonic Nurse" right now 'cuz of the other thread and it's really just making my evening

I've only got the first five on the list (i.e. the most recent ones), but they're all great. I'm not sure I could pick an out and out favourite, given how different Eureeka, say, is from I'm Happy...

'Insignificance' is a solid classic.

I love how dignified AMG's bio blurb sounds:

American post-classical composer Jim O'Rourke has been a key component in the increasing overlap of the American and European experimental music avant-garde, working in everything from jazz and rock to ambient and electro-acoustic and building many a bridge in between

Wow. Spooky etc. I was listening to Insignificance this morning for the first time in ages. I vote Eureka, because of Prelude...

Eureka for me too. Haven't heard all of these, though I hope to soon...

Can someone give a VERY brief precis (like a sentence) on each of the albums re; what style / genre it is?

Like...

I’m Happy and I’m Singing and a 1, 2, 3, 4 = improvised melodic electronica
Insignificance = guitars and singing, post-rock-ish but with songs
Halfway to a Threeway = as below, but less ornate
Eureka = strings, songs, lush, odd, pop
Bad Timing = strung-out guitar-led instrumentals

Francois Couture at AMG describes Scend really well. It's good and it's the only album I've heard on this list! I love Tomorrow Knows Where You Live, his collaboration with Henry Kaiser.

Couture:

First released on CD by Divided in 1992 and reissued on vinyl 11 years later by Three Poplars, Scend is a beautiful piece of field recordings, very different from Jim O'Rourke's other albums (which already display a wide variety of styles and approaches). Field recordings of various nature are combined into a loose narrative. It sounds simple, but giving sense to the construction is where the art resides, and O'Rourke nails it with impressive results. In the first half of the piece you mostly hear water sounds and bowed metal. An accordion lets out a lone winding note, answered by the passing siren of an ambulance. Traffic noise is replaced by falling water drops in the very end of the first part. This assemblage runs smoothly and seamlessly, retaining the feel of field recording throughout (i.e., if electroacoustic transformations are involved, it doesn't show). The first half could be described as cold or devoid of human presence (save for the traffic sounds) compared to the second half. It begins with a playground recording. A passing airplane buries the children's laughter, soon abruptly cut by something (crate? door?) shut close. This sudden move introduces a section of electronic sounds, startling at first considering what came before but interesting and pertinent nonetheless, adding more human presence as the hand of the composer is felt for the first time. Church bells seep in for the finale. Recommended. [The LP edition is pressed on clear vinyl.]

Eureka!

(O'Rourke has an alb. titled Remove The Ned?? Oi shame on you, Jim!)

"Why won't he make a new album??? =("

one reason (that he told me a while back) is that he got pretty frustrated with working so hard on the production when most people these days just listen to things in MP3 anyway.

he's currently living in Tokyo and much more focused on breaking into the Japanese film industry (as a filmmaker, not a musician), his Japanese is supposedly superb.

and a lot of people watch movies on DVD, or on their iphone/ipod/laptop. i find it hard to believe that he'd give up and blame it on other people's lack of appreciation sincerely. i'm sure he knows he has plenty of adoring fans with proper hi-fi's

hey, I'm just passing it on. he is still playing the occasional improv show there, in different combos with Otomo Yoshihide and Kahimi Karie usually (and he's on quite a bit of the recent Otomo soundtrack disc "Prisoner", which I have copies of for sale in the US), but I don't think he's too interested in music anymore, and that's one of the reasons, like I said.

Bad Timing. 94 the Long Way is one of my favorite pieces of music ever.

The best concert I've ever attended was O'Rourke at the Empty Bottle just before Eureka came out circa 1998. He played one song: "Women of the World." For 50 minutes. Just him, a guitar and a drum machine. The same riff, the same vocal lines, repeated over and over and over. It was the most sublime musical experience I've ever had.

I'm a huge fan and would love for him to continue with music, but I understand that sometimes you have to move on for a while.

Wow! I wish I could've been there, that sounds, well, sublime indeed.

I thought this thread was gonna descend into p-rock / p-fork snarkiness. Glad it didn't.

heh i just blubbed abt my love for Bad Timing on a ILE thread, probably still my favourite of his solo albs (esp for the ompa-pa-pa horn explosion at the end)

yeah, halfway to a threeway is prob the best 'song'-based disc he made, but I also have a fondness for Remove the Need (treated guitar) and Happy Days (hurdy gurdy noise drone). also think Jess is being v. harsh on Gastr Del Sol - I don't really see that much resemblance to Faust, more an attempt to marry indie-alt rock songwriting tropes with free improv/post-classical sound-styles/methods - no other rec sounds quite like 'Crookt, Crackt or Fly', imho

the recent Merzbow/Giffoni/O'Rourke noize summit released on No Fun sounds awesome, dude's still got it

'Get a Room' manages to be simultaneously one of the funniest and bleakest song I know.

yeah that last half of 'insignificance' is pretty dark and funny.

i was too hard on gastr up there. i still really love 'upgrade and afterlife' and 'camofleur' although it's been forever since i've listened to them, so the faust comparison was probably off the mark. still need to hear crookt, crackt, or fly.

and for the record i am not jess. should have chosen a less confusing login name!

oh im so confused...have you posted under another name on ilx?

fauxhemian -> struggin -> strgn. i mostly lurk.

I sure do love "Halfway to a Threeway." It even has the best cover art!

"Halfway to a threeway" & "Bad Timing" are total classic, as is the newest collaboration with Merzbow & Carlos Giffoni "Electric Dress" - a live dismantling of analog synths. I still find the sampling of "Expecting to fly" by Neil Young profoundly touching on "Return of Fenn O' Berg".

Also, the while it is a group effort, the brise-glace album to the thread. Holy fuck. What an album that one is.... If you haven't heard it, track it down. Pummeling rock band with O'Rourke on guitar, recorded by Albini and then cut up, reedited and mixed down by O'Rourke.

Bad Timing >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else I've heard by him. The guitar-playing is PHENOMENAL, and it doesn't even get boring, even though the songs are all like ten minutes long!

There was a period in maybe 2002 or 2003 when I listened to either Bad Timing or Dylan's Nashville Skyline every morning as I roamed about my crap apartment in Eugene making coffee and breakfast and what have you. Whenever it occurs to me now to play Bad Timing in the early AM I get this nice nostalgic "This is gonna be a good day!" feeling, even though those years in Eugene were just like the worst years of my life easy.

So, then, Bad Timing.

the ompa-pa-pa horn explosion at the end

This always reminds me of John Fahey's Old Fashioned Love record, which also busts out the horns toward the end, though not mid-song like on Bad Timing. I know he was into Fahey, but does anyone know if this thing on Bad Timing was inspired by that thing specifically?

The jazz band absolutely comes in mid-song on the title track of Old Fashioned Love, don't know if Happy Trails is a copy tho. I want to stick up for Gastr del Sol too, probably prefer those records to most of the solo O'Rourke that I've heard.

I always tend to like his duo recordings the best. I've always felt that Jim just shines in a duo setting, maybe better than any other player I can think of. 'Slow Motion' with Müller. 'New Kind of Water' with Null. (I attended that 1992 show at Lounge Ax where the live portion was recorded.) 'Third Straight Day Made Public' with Prevost. that Kaiser disc that Sundar mentioned. even his hated 'Indicate' record with Hampson. These were some of the most thrilling records of the 90s for me. And hey, if Gastr counts as a duo them too for 'Upgrade and Afterlife' alone, which totally ruled.

This thread just cost me £7 on Brise-Glace.

Yeah. That is a good disc too.

but of the *solo* stuff that comprises the poll ... i'm actually sorta ignorant of large chunks of it. I heard all the early Extreme label stuff back when it came out, and then 'Bad Timing' (great) and the Tzadik disc, and that's about it. always more to discover with him.

oh wait, shit, and 'Happy Days' of course, I have that one. Might even vote for that!

brise-glace is fantastic, i still listen to that pretty often (on cd, sold the vinyl like an idiot - apparently skin graft had a warehouse find of the lp a few weeks ago but they're all gone).

the two Müller/O'Rourke duos are excellent. so are the Prévost, Null, Kaiser. two favorites were O'Rourke/Mats Gustafsson's Xylophonen Virtuosen(2000) - lots of fun, that one - and the O'Rourke/Loren MazzaCane-Connors In Bern on Hat Noir, which gets a bad rap but i like it. Müller/O'Rourke/Voice Crack is another great one. ahead of its time.

Brise-Glace seemed a lot less impressive after hearing the This Heat and Luc Ferrari. still sounds good, just not all that original in its execution.

who hates Indicate?

Terminal Pharmacy is a dud. Jim's big, formal 'i am a composer. take me seriously' statement, and it fell flat. heavyhanded and way too serious. even the experimental guitar albums - Tamper, Remove the Need, Disengage - are leavened with some humor.

what's Use?

how is The Ground Above Below Our Heads? i know Jim all but disowned his recorded debut. but if i really like his concrète pieces, a la Scend, is it worth a listen?

voting for... Bad Timing, i think. yeah.

I know he was into Fahey, but does anyone know if this thing on Bad Timing was inspired by that thing specifically?

For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a Charles Ives homage, although I don't remember how or where I read that.

jim always referred to b-g as being an homage to this heat, sometimes even as a "cover band," so originality isn't really the point.

Well then I must hear Brise-Glace, and soon.

who hates Indicate?

Jim, apparently! I recall someone telling me that he "disowned" it.

Brise-Glace definitely a bit of a This Heat tribute. but hey, why not. don't forget to seek out the Brice-Glace track from the AC/DC tribute on Skin Graft! Jim goes wild with a razor blade and reels of AC/DC lps .. awesome.

Jim's big, formal 'i am a composer. take me seriously' statement

I remember browsing the classical section at the Tower in Chicago on Clark in the early 90s, and bumping into copies of Scend that were marked as consignment. I found that kind of funny, the mental image of Jim walking in there clutching a bunch of the CD and sort of going "These belong in your classical section."

that doesn't seem like his style. he was pretty contemptuous of people who "placed" themselves in a tradition, like george flynn and his timeline, much less a bin. heh.

well right, I know .. but they had to get there somehow right? that's why it seemed funny to me. I've never heard that disc, btw ... I always regret not picking it up that time, I don't think i've seen it since.

"scend" is really great, when i find it i'll up it for you in exchange for that paul rutherford.

Stormy - I worked at the Clark St. Tower the first year it was open and I remember Dan and Rian coming in occasionally with at least some Drag City items for consignment - I remember singles specifically, but odds are that one of them suggested to file the O'Rourke in the classical room where it sold like wildfire no doubt.

"Please Note Our Failure" is a pretty interesting exercise in plunderphonic tape editing. But it's an ep, so probably isn't worth inclusion above. The best part is the Al Green sample.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

avant jim gets no love

when is he gonna get another album like the top 4 here?

Wire Magazine just tweeted that he has a new album coming out on Drag City on August 31. Songs? Laptop experimentation? Which is it to be? That's what I'd like to know.

!

Cool!

Excellent news.

"The Visitor" it's called, but i haven't played it yet. mostly because it asks that it be played loud on speakers and i haven't been in front of my stereo long enough to make that happen.

Wire Magazine just tweeted

Ugh.

Oh, I'm not on Twitter and I don't read Wire. Someone told me about it.

Phew, escaped the net.

I guess The Visitor being a euphemism for The Man Who Fell to Earth. Sorta glad he went that route.

i thought he quit music. anyway this is intriguing news.

i guess around the time he was finishing this news stories started coming out about how it was a misunderstanding that he quit music, rumors of death greatly exaggerated, that he's been working on music the entire time, etc. makes sense since o'rourke never made a statement about it, it's just been coming from other people's mouths that he was more interested in films now and by extension not working on music anymore

Where does this 'he's quit' thing even come from? He released an album with Loren Conners just this year (Two Nice Catholic Boys). Plus he released three (!) albums last year, one of them being a double album.

Anyway, so psyched for this! I hope it's following up 'Insignificance'.

the "he quit" thing came out around the time he stopped playing with Sonic Youth, but seemed sort of like BS ... But I can understand wanting to take a break -- he had a pretty much nonstop 10 years or so there. But I'm glad there's a new record coming out! Will be interesting to see what direction he's taking.

all the other recent o'rourke output has been archival, including the connors, with the excellent touch 7" being the only exception i can think of

i have a vague memory of O'Rourke saying he hadn't made a proper solo record in so long because his conception for it would be too pricey to actually record -- don't know if this record is what he had in mind, but it would be cool if someone kicked in the cash!

I guess The Visitor being a euphemism for The Man Who Fell to Earth.

No, I think he just really, really loved the Richard Jenkins movie. I'm expecting djembe on at least half the tracks.

you think it's going to have the same cover as the prop used for the lp in the movie?

i think that joke went over jaymc's head...

Does one need a $15,000 stereo to properly appreciate his more abstract stuff (Terminal Pharmacy, etc.)?

that, or $15,000 worth of primo weed

i think that joke went over jaymc's head...

What makes you think that? Matinee thought that The Visitor was a reference to The Man Who Fell to Earth, presumably since O'Rourke's previous solo albums have all been named after Nicolas Roeg films. (Of course, it'd make more sense if it were called Castaway, since Bad Timing, Eureka, and Insignificance were all in chronological order, and Castaway follows in the Roeg filmography.)

you think it's going to have the same cover as the prop used for the lp in the movie?

Unless you mean this joke, in which case you're right, I don't know what he's talking about.

When is O'Rourke going to release "Full Body Massage"

Bowie's character (Newton) in The Man Who Fell to Earth records an LP called The Visitor. I don't see why he'd need to follow Roeg's filmography chronologically starting from Bad Timing

and, ya, my comment about the prop is just an unfunny, dorky joke. the only way i have right now to vent my excitement for the lp.

also, i'm happy to hear that drag city has a convincing way of insinuating a hi-fi into their record's listening experience. i would like to see that copy :)

Oh OK, nice. I've never seen Man Who Fell to Earth (admission of which will probably be fodder for Steve Shasta to make some kind of derisive comment). Anyway, I thought I was the one making the unfunny joke by referencing the Jenkins film.

i have a vague memory of O'Rourke saying he hadn't made a proper solo record in so long because his conception for it would be too pricey to actually record -- don't know if this record is what he had in mind, but it would be cool if someone kicked in the cash!

interesting if true. same thing happened with the second plush album

The rumor started because he moved to Tokyo and spent most of his time learning Japanese & obsessing over Kiyoshi Kurosawa and contemporary Jap cinema & expressed an interest in involving himself with film. He's always admitted that he's more passionate about movies than he is about music, though. Can't wait to hear the new release.

fed was released just in japan. hmmmm. . . .

Apparently it's one long track called The Visitor.

He also said "pretty much everyone will be disappointed"

Context for that quote (from an interview he gave last year):

this is def. “pt 4,” [after Bad Timing, Eureka and Insignificance] but it’s not going to be what people expect. pretty much everyone is going to be disappointed, and i think i avoided doing it for a while because of that. not because i care so much about it being “accepted,” but i couldn’t figure out how to get the right context for it. but, it’s def. connected, but it’s not linearly connected, it’s folding back, and very much with a purpose. the record i started 6 years ago is the next one, and makes more sense being after this one now. but it’s gonna take forever to record, if it is going to be at all possible. i’m gonna try. that is probably the one people will have been hoping for. oh well.

P4K compares it to Bad Timing

that interview is actually pretty great - thanks for the link

http://givemetakeyou.com/thevisitor.jpg

it is one long track and i guess you can file me in the "disappointed" grouping. not that i was hoping for Eureka/ Bad Timing Mk. II or what have you, but it seemed a tad...aimless?

are there vocals?

ysi

maybe more like a mirror record?

JO'R gives good interviews

Review up of the new one here: http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&p=1252&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more1252 intriguing!

That sounds very promising.

like the sound of it indeed. i am looking forward !

http://hongkonginthe60s.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/orourke-covermain.jpg

oooh i'm up for 38 minutes of Ghost ship in a storm-ness

Fuck that's an awesome cover image.

Is anyone familiar with the "Seven Stars" track he contributed to the Tiny Mix Tapes Darfur compilation?

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/FOR-SALE-Tiny-Mix-Tapes-Vol-1

Visitor sounds promising but it is also on 38 minutes long and is all instrumental.

you are the human wikipedia.

i wonder if the pieces really fell like that, or if they were arranged on the floor.

so is this any good?

Wow, loving this so far. Reminds me of Bill Frisell at times. Kind of constantly changing, so there isn't really anything to stick your hat on, but sounds gorgeous.

this is amazing

haven't we seen enough broken disco balls on LP covers?

interesting question henry s

not sure there's an answer, just musin' is all...

it sounds pretty but it's really boring

It's not boring at all. It's magnifiicent.

Don't know if it's magnificent yet, but boring: surely not!

the production feels so clean and antiseptic, lacking immediate "meat," or overt texture. it's so well-mixed that it feels too perfect, very refined-sounding. some of the instrumental pauses remind me of the concise cuts you can hear in squarepusher's more recent, acoustic-based compositions. some very nice moments, especially the motif that occurs/repeats at around 12 minutes in. there are nice, subtle pedal steel? sound-wafts. i heard an autoharp at one point. some nice cymbal-play at parts, too. the album sounds more like an exercise in composition and arrangement than it does an affecting piece of music. did he play everything on the album?

No meat?, I must be listening to the wrong album here. There are beautiful moments scattered throughout the first half, but from the 18th minute onwards, when the banjos come in, it's pure heaven. I'd be very surprised if most long term Jim O'Rourke fans aren't happy with this record. It contains all the warmth and ear for melody that he is known for.

And yes, he did play everything on the album.

And is it all real acoustic instruments too? I just love the idea of him making this unbelievably complex, orchestrated album featuring tons of instruments in a cramped apartment in Tokyo!

That's pretty much what he's done.

having listened a few times to this now, i'm surprised, after an eight year or whatever gap, how much of an o'rourke alb this actually, really sounds like, how it's a refinement/reiteration of a signature style he arrived at some time ago - that sweet droning, lyrical expressiveness that takes in fahey, ives, conrad, glass, neil young, van dyke parks etc etc while at the same time being utterly distinctive/recognisable in terms of sensibility/texture/tempo(almost always martial.) parts of this remind me - esp in terms of instrumental colour/favour - very strongly of Camofleur, which must be 10 years ago now, and obv. there are also parts that call to mind Bad Timing and Eureka, too. sometimes, through all the twists and turns of o'rourke's public work, it's been difficult to see this kind of continuity, i think - easier now he's not so insanely prolific.

and of course parts of it really are gorgeous and clever, and there's something admirable and eccentric about playing and producing it all yrself, and its dedicated to derek bailey so cool, too.

thought it'd be dronier / less composed, but no this is all one long series of turning corners through joined compositions

he's finally written his Amarok

i.e. Bad Timing was his Hergest Ridge, especially with those descending chimes on the title track

man I love Bad Timing

That comparison makes me want to hear Hergest Ridge.

there are many good reasons why Mike is not considered cool, so many silly records, but his impact as hippie-guy-who-records-album-length-symphonies-by-himself is the elephant in the room when it comes to tracing the influences of people in their 30's/40's who grew up buying prog rock. at any given moment The Visitor may sound more like Fahey / Parks / Young but when I hear these transitions & the structure of the overdubs, it is all about Hergest Ridge / Ommadawn and if anyone on this thread hasn't heard Amarok... well it's a pretty ludicrous record

I once got into a big argument with my boyfriend about an Oldfield album ("Five miles out"? is that what it's called?), him very pro, me very con.

We both agree that "Bad Timing" is one of the greatest albums of its era and we still listen to it a lot.

We never came to any agreement about Oldfield, but we do listen to "Ommadawn" and "Hergest Ridge" a fair amount.

Hmm, maybe I'll have to pick up some of those at some stage, he's a bit of a charity shop staple around here. The guy was on my two favourite Kevin Ayers records, so that's at least a couple of cool points redeemed in my book.

xpost your boyfriend is right about Five Miles Out, it is like the stiffest parody of heavy metal anywhere, you just have to laugh. and while you're laughing, you have to scream the word 'awesome'. and the Fairlight II zaps on the title track, you know Trevor Horn was completely listening & ran with that production style for 90125 & Art of Noise. Mike just had less restraint when it came to basic matters of taste

I think O'Rourke would be mortified at this turn in the conversation and we should all get back to talking about how this new album is dedicated to Derek Bailey

first listen: This is maybe the best thing he's ever done?

this is much better than Insignificance!

This is very, very lovely. I do still love some of the spiteful rock moments on Insignificance, but yeah, this might eclipse a lot of his other (acoustic / rock) stuff.

this is great, kinda smacks Bad Timing on every finger.

still looking forward to receiveing my physical copy (the Wire says mp3 is shit after all!) so i can play it properly

Anyone else notice that the very first phrase he plays on this is a direct quote from a Souled American song ('Second of All' off Around The Horn)? J0hn D will back me up on this.

This doesn't compare to Insignificance imho. His singing albums (or songs) really shouldn't be compared to stuff like Bad Timing and The Visitor because they fit in a different genre all together. The reason why I am disappointed with The Visitor is because it isn't another Insignificance or Eureka. I just don't like long acoustic instrumental pieces as much as pop/rock + him singing.

For the same reasons we shouldn't compare his experimental stuff to his singing songs. It comes down to genre preference.
If you want to compare the albums for reasons other than ranking them... then feel free to do that.

Well it's nice that the bad timing fans have something of a sequel, since he really hasn't put out that kind of music in a while either. As for me I have to wait and hope he tries his hand at pop/rock & singing again.

here's a link to a NYT article. Seems to have done its job since Amazon says 'out of stock' for The Visitor at this moment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/arts/music/06ratl.html

I'm listening to an excerpt of 'The Visitor' and I love it.

Nice interview. Funny that he's been recording this piece whilst trying not to intrude the neighbours' privacy. I don't know any Japanese people personally but that seems in tune with their general attitude. No wonder he feels at home.
The album's still a pre-order on the Drag City site, will probably change during the day. Really looking forward to hearing the CD.

the preview is here (scroll down): http://dwars.radio6.nl/

Just bought it, finding it to be pretty enchanting, and I've already fallen for the back cover "prank"...twice!

got the vinyl in the mail. nice packaging, color scheme. the piece is split up to both sides. split at a good point, i guess. the banjo/motion parts remind me of Deadwood montages or credits.

does the back of the vinyl cover also have a visual pun?

haven't seen it but i would imagine just a mirror-reverse of the front image based on his previous records.

visitor = so so so so so so so so so so so good

it certainly is. there is a short segment which reminds me of the theme from "the room" though

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=140&csid2=844&fid1=44464

Say what?

exciteddd

^^^^^

In his long and storied career, experimental art rock great Jim O'Rourke has explored the outer echelons of indie rock, electronic music, free jazz and anything in between, so it's rare for the musician to surprise us. However, he's regained our full attention with an ambitious tribute to 81-year-old lounge singer Burt Bacharach.

lol at 'outer echelons' and 'lounge singer'

not all that surprising, is it?

yeah this is only a surprise if uh...you actually haven't listened to his albums, cause if you did, you'd have heard a bacharach cover song already

yeah, that's what you get with 2nd hand blog posts, the blog post that info was culled from is less wide-eyed and dumb sounding:
http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/395056335/jim-orourke-produces-burt-bacharach-tribute-album

that's much better. anyhoo, this sounds like it'll be fun!

halfway to a threeway on vinyl is one of the best recorded albums ever

kinda wish it dug into the songbook a bit deeper, but really looking forward to the tribute!

some soundclips here: http://ototoy.jp/opus/package.php/12910

chomping at the bit to get at this one. sounds interesting to say the least

had it in the shopping cart 'til I realized it would cost ~$42...will anyone put this out over here?

Yeah, cannot afford this. But by golly, do I fucking want it. Been looking everywhere. Seems incredible. Ugh.

ysi kudosai

really like jim o'rourke but none of these soundclips sound anything beyond what I'd expect them to sound

Is ysi kudosai a code? What does it all mean?

After hearing O'Rourke say "pretty much everyone will be disappointed" with the Visitor, I expected it to be just like that awful avant-garde Jason Pierce Guitar Loops piece of shit and avoided it like the plague. Hoo boy was that ever a mistake. Because this is absolutely fucking AMAZING HEAVENLY SOOTHING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, and the PERFECT companion piece to Bad Timing.

The moral of the stoy: NEVER TRUST THE ARTISTS.

I've had The Visitor on looped repeat for the last few hours here at work and it's gorgeous.

Hey, I'm listening to it right now, too!

These days he seems like the antidote to everything that is wrong with music. Come back to America Jim!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPdNlzgkhw

'Get a Room' manages to be simultaneously one of the funniest and bleakest song I know.

I absolutely <3 this song. One of a kind.

I'm very happy to hear Mego releases a series of archival recordings by Jim (although I'd prefer cd's to vinyl), I bought the re-release of 'I'm Happy...' just for the extra tracks. If this video is a teaser of what's coming this is going to be good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oORVZwlSIgs&feature=related

on a curious note, what's going on here exactly?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIzPi4JcJ84&feature=related

http://themoviewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sean1.jpg

Eric, it's Jim on Japanese tv getting taught Enka. See this as well.

Looking forward to the archival releases, I hadn't heard! I didn't buy the "I'm happy..." reissue yet; already own the original on lp and cd.

that clip was first posted over here: Jim O'Rourke S/D and got a few comments.

I hadn't seen the other topic : )
Looking at the Mego website, I see there's another Jim lp announced (collaboration with Oren Ambarchi) for July as well, apart from that Archive-series.

speaking of ambarchi and o'rourke, anyone heard their latest album with keiji haino? i liked timo formosa but haven't been able to find the new one.

a preview of 'Old News no. 5'. 'Pedal and Pedal' reminds of Boards of Canada or something similar pastoral.

http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/jim-orourke-old-news-5-album

nice.. looks like there are two recent recordings on the album. i'm guessing that preview is the track from 2003?

http://editionsmego.com/release/OLD+NEWS+5 .. looks like vinyl only

that preview contains parts of all four tracks, and yes, there are two tracks from 2010.

Eureka just gets better and better for me...

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/jim-orourke-eureka-round-12-toms-selection/

I can picture Eureka being more enjoyable as background/record music for a music critic type person

Of course I love it, and I love Insignificance more, and they don't really gather dust for me, and Jim's still an idiot for not coming back to pop rock songs

For once I agree with CaptainLorax. This guy is such an asshole. How can someone who writes such good songs not realize how BORING the rest of his music is?

I won't go as far as saying that his other music is boring - well, I guess a lot of it is - it's just that his other music isn't pop rock masterpieces when it could be

Well, considering how high "Bad Timing" placed on this poll, seems like some people are 'ok' with his idiot/asshole/Gastr Del Sol side

For once I agree with CaptainLorax. This guy is such an asshole. How can someone who writes such good songs not realize how BORING the rest of his music is?

he's this generation's brian eno

Bad Timing is ok. The Visitor is pretty good. I like Gastr Del Sol. I'm talking about the records that are like "YOU HAVE TO PLAY THIS LOUD ON GIANT AUDIOPHILE SPEAKERS SO YOU CAN HEAR THE SUBTLE BLEEPS AND THE SOUND OF PAPER CLIPS DRAGGING THROUGH SAND"

Guess you're talking about his improv/solo stuff then? Seems like kind of a silly thing to be mad about imo. He's moved on, he's into something you're not into, these things happen. No guarantee his pop craft would be as strong now anyway since he's obv in a different headspace these days.

Also, the first two fenn o'berg records and I'm happy, I'm singing... are some of the best things he's ever put out.

How can someone not like this song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NerhUR8GE6w

Yeah that is so, so sublime

Yeah, that's a great record. Definitely not talking about that.

old news #6 announced!
http://editionsmego.com/release/OLD+NEWS+6

Interesting primer article on J'oR in this month's Wire magazine (with added wtf? @ pics of Zomby)

thanks for mentioning that Wire article, it was of great interest. Wished it was longer : ) Enjoyed the Zomby article too.

Apparently Streamline already released two cd's with material by O'Rourke and Christoph Heemann, called 'Plastic Palace People vol. 1 & 2". Right now listening to 'Shinjuku Growl' by The Thing and O'Rourke.

did anyone here this one yet? first track bij O'Rourke is fantastic.
http://www.normanrecords.com/images/covers/118/125868.jpg/

http://www.billboard.com/images/album_images/cov200/pop/cov200/drq000/q068/q06839bhi6r.jpg

yeah, love it!

The new The Thing album with O'Rourke on geetar is a beast. Really great to hear him shredding it alongside Gustafsson and co.

The Thing with O'Rourke is indeed a beast (Shinjuku Growl). But maybe even better is the one with FIRE! on Rune Grammofon (Also with Gustaffson but other drummer and bass player than The Thing). O'Rourke plays some beautiful harmonica in track 3 (album is called 'Unreleased').

Hells yeah, that's a great album. O'Rourke's been on so much great stuff of late it's hard to keep up . I appreciate a lot of it was recorded live over the past 2-3 years, it just seems to be coming out all at once. Got his record with Gustaffson and Merzbow lined up for a listen too.

If anyone out there is looking for something approaching/approximating that Insignificance steez, P.G. Six's newest/forthcoming one actually reminds me a LOT of that period of O'Rourke (along with some British folk sensibilities, naturally):

http://www.dragcity.com/products/starry-mind

Never realised that "Women Of The World..." was an Ivor Cutler song until a friend posted a video for the original on facebook today.

You just blew my mind

o_O

I'm still reeling. In a good way.

Saw him on the Eureka tour (with Pita & Fennesz!) and he opened with it: "Here's one by Ivor Cutler".

I think I learned that from a visiting Scotsman at a Holly Golightly show ca. 2002.

ha yeah, i saw o'rourke open for sonic youth in ...1998? and his entire set consisted of a 30 minute version of "women of the world". didn't know it was ivor cutler then (probably hadn't heard of the dude tbh).

that new P.G. Six album sounds very promising, thanks!

women in the world was used in a wal mart commercial recently

of **

the j'or version?

did anyone hear the 'United Red Army' cd Jim did? That's really nice stuff I think. The 'Indeed' lp on Mego with Oren Ambarchi could have been better but it's nice nonetheless.

I heard that soundtracks. Fun Bill Fay cover.
It is impossible to catalogue this guy, with all that he's involved with.

Did United Red Army the movie ever get a US release? i think it's been "saved" on my Netflix for like four years. Anyone got a line on an English-subbed DVD?

Jim O'Rourke mixtapes: http://soundgenetic.blogspot.com/2008/12/jim-orourke-mixtapes-198889.html

Unreal. Thank you very much for sharing the link!

rad - thanks!

That's fantastic, thanks!

Old News #7 announced

and a recent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFyaPx-DKJo&feature=related

he plays on the new bill wells record LEMONDALE, which was recorded a couple of years back in japan in a day. it's a really lovely record, with kama aina, tenniscoats & nikaido kazumi playing on it. i feel like if there are jim o rourke completists who buy everything he does it would probably be at the sweet end of the pile, it's v sweet-sounding & melodic

when's that video from? it's great.
does seem too bad that there aren't a whole bunch of O'Rourke records like Bad Timing, dude could've easily made a pretty satisfying career out of just exploring that kinda thing. and plus he now appears to have the appropriate beard for it.

I guess it's something recent from Japan, there are two more video's of the same concert(?).

that youtube is like my own bespoke catnip

yeah it's the pinnacle of O'Rourke Genius for me too, and the thing is it feels like there's so much like this out there/in him still..

Apparently there is a new Keiji Haino, Jim ORourke & Oren Ambarchi 2xLP called 'Imikuzushi' coming on Black Truffle!

^^^ yes, and it's AWESOME

looks like o'rourke is performing Eureka in its entirety in Japan soon: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/illbeyourmirrorjapan/news/1202021000.php

It's hard to keep up with all these releases. Mego announced another 2lp set of Fenn O'Berg, but I haven't digested 'In Stereo' or 'Live in Japan' yet.

track 1 on old news #7 is real good. hard, varied synth wankery w/gorgeous tones. why can't they put these out on cd?

will he ever again not be boring?

Anyone heard the new Fenn O'Berg 'In Hell'? His noisy stuff/collaborations have been pretty OTM the last few years. Always packaged beautifully too.

I'm pretty sure I fall in love with at least one JOR related thing every year, this dude will never be boring, Hurting, you are wrong wrong wrong.

yeah, curious about 'in hell' as well but I still haven't completely digested the two 'live in japan' releases yet.

and I never got around to 'in stereo'

I reviewed the two 'Live in Japan' releases and 'In Stereo' in Dutch (so no use to link here). They are both on Spotify. I haven't heard 'In Hell' yet since it will not be available until April. A quick review: the Kyoto tracks on both Japan releases are standouts, 'In Stereo' is not so interesting except for the first track (the last part of the track is the best thing they've done - when the guitar comes in). 'In Stereo' vasries from the live-tracks in that they also make use of piano, bass, drums and guitar, although digitally manipulated.

yeah, what I had read about 'in stereo' at the time it came out was a bit of a turnoff. I do enjoy my restrained, tasteful electronic music... but that's not what attracted me to the first two lps. at all!

I quite liked In Stereo. May have to revisit.

They have clearly made a shift from 'making fun' to 'more serious' music in the sense that it's less claustrofobic and atmospheric - not a bad thing. Gone are the short samples, the new material is more stretched out, trough-composed and comparable to what for instance Tim Hecker is doing - see for instance the use of echo on the Live in Japan lp's. I just wished they'd write more melodical stuff like that first track of 'In Stereo'. It has potential for the future that's for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs_weCEy2x8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cU0XCz7c6Y&feature=related

cool xp

Some recent (?) film music by Jim. The first one is very Visitor-ish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39cyvOYCed0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UES8ZmvSOdo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1giXFNJ4Z9g

Did he ever do anything resembling the Ring Des Nibelungen remix he promised in the liner notes of one of his early CDs? I think about that all the time...

Mirror Repair, Bad Timing, and Sonic Nurse are my fave shits with this guy on 'em.

these are nice, thanks for posting.
also -- Ring Des Nibelungen remix - whaaaa?

it was in the booklet for a release of his 'new music', either on Tzadik or Avant, errr 94 or 95?

haha, guess it would be a pretty big project. maybe he's aiming for a 2021 release date?

listened to both the visitor and bad timing over the weekend, such cool records. bad timing is the classic -- anyone else would've just made a career out of that kinda thing.

Jon iirc that's in the sleevenotes to Terminal Pharmacy on Tzadik (but I think he was joking...?)

yeah, that was the disc. I chose to believe him-- at the time, Grayfolded was fairly recent, I dunno it seemed plausible.

Long interview: "The musical maverick talks about life in Tokyo, Led Zeppelin and ATP"

Thanks for sharing!

Also:

I'm almost done with the next song record – after 12 goddamn years.

This is songs with lyrics and everything?

Lyrics and singing and rude, rude subjects. I've recorded, like, five of them already, and I just won't finish them… I don't know. Probably this year, I'll finally put it out, and then I really want to do the band show, really properly.

This is good news because I have basically been playing Insignificance to death over the last couple of weeks.

Yes that was very good to hear! Although I think he's said something similar before and it didn't materialize, but I can't wait for it.

Insignificance is one of my all-time favourite albums ever.

^just thinking about the opener makes me wiggle in my chair

Noone's stopping you from wiggling, Willem!

Therefore I Am is such a jam. I generally find this guy's "out" records boring and wish he would make more song records, so I'm glad he's doing another one.

"All Downhill From Here" reminds me of Built to Spill's "The Plan" in the best way

Man, that is an interesting interview. This guy is just so great and bizarre. The old drummer from Melt-Banana is in his band, which is great!

i don't think i really understood what he was getting at when he was talking about people who play like *this* and people who play like *that*

great interview, excited for another "song" album... i haven't kept up with a lot of his archival stuff or his japanese collabs, but i generally like everything I've heard.

That was a confusing passage. I THINK he was suggesting that the people in Japan whom he has enjoyed playing with play "in the moment" in a way that does not suggest practiced musicianly responses, but more just heavily personal ways of performing that are indicative of the player and not the particular instrument, but really I am just projecting cause it was confusing as hell. That stuff is all heavily subjective too, just seems like Jim has players he likes and those he thinks are kinda like the civil war re-enactors of the improv/jazz world, or something like that.

Ooops, xpost to people who play like "this" and "that"

Anyone who hasn't heard those last two Ambarchi/Haino/O'Rourke records should do so, they are great (though admittedly I haven't even heard the whole records, just tracks from them, but they were really good).

the dbl live set with akira sakata, darin gray and chris corsano (now is he a *this* or *that* drummer?) is great too, if you like full on free jazz blat - some of o'rourke's skronkiest gtr playing, def

Whoa, that sounds great! Is that under a "band" name or just the names of the players?

Have trouble imagining that Corsano disappoints folks too often as a rehasher of stock moves, but whatever. I would think that O'Rourke is a fan of whoever he ends up playing with these days, cause the Corsano "brand" wouldn't bring in any money or anything.

grandavis, it's this set on family vineyard (there's a fairly representative sound sample here):

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/akira-sakata-and-thats-story-jazz

particularly love his listening list this time around

Roland Kayn
Kiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars
Guernica, Jun Togawa's band
Wha-ha-ha

So 8 new albums out on Bandcamp: http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/
I'm surprised it's all digital since he wasn't too positive about digital releases. I did listen to some of it yet. They all seem drone works, at least from what I've heard until now. Some thoughts:
- 'Not Yet' (Steamroom 8) seems a more full take of 'Two Organs' and snippets of it are used for 'Mother and Who' on Old News #5.
- 'Another Slow Night' (Steamroom 4) is definately a standout.

found this one searching for 'japanese bonus track'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IsGgKM56qs

I did find a steamroom 7" of his at Academy a few weeks ago. I didn't pick it up though.

both of those loose fur records are keepers imo.
so i forget, has he done that "bad timing" performance yet?

Oh, it was this that I found by the way:

http://www.discogs.com/Jim-ORourke-Despite-The-Water-Supply/release/1398802

Was recorded in the steamroom, and is also drone from what I remember.

...and another one. That 7" is ultra-rare now so worth your money.

https://soundcloud.com/airtexture/air003-jim-orourke-low-bow

The 7" I just linked? I didn't get it. Doesn't seem extremely rare and I haven't been into drone enough to get it. Wasn't too expensive either though, and since it was a new arrival the price I assumed was current.

http://www.dragcity.com/news/786

How does Jim have the same outfit on in every picture/footage of him?

meh, was hoping this revive meant actual Jim stuff. Been rocking 'The Visitor' a bunch lately.

Was listening to Kid Creole & the Coconuts' 'Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy' earlier today and that one sardonic couplet at the end of the chorus immediately made me think of Jim: "'Cos if I was in your blood / Then you wouldn't be so ugly"

Mego announces Old News #9:
http://editionsmego.com/release/OLD-NEWS-9

No idea how anyone is expected to keep up with the output from Mego these days...

@NikoMcha Having a Spotify account helps. Although they don't have all the new releases up, like Jim's.

mego inevitably release what you just purchased but remastered & with extra tracks, the day after you purchase it.
fuck any vinyl that is not €1 in my local Plattenkiste.

I think I counted that from 2011 - 2012, counting all the reissue stuff and imprints, Mego released something like 55 vinyl records.

A new addition apparently to the Steamroom albums: http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/album/steamroom-9

no not the french horn again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3z8twRBz24

Steamroom 10 up: http://steamroom.bandcamp.com/album/steamroom-10

heard this for the first time in years today, don't care much for Insignificance, but what atmosphere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aQf5h-6a5U

The Eiko Ishibashi record O'Rourke produced is pretty happening -- very much in the Eureka vein.

"resurrection" on that album is a monster jam

yeah! the Kahimi Karie record is sounding pretty solid too, maybe a little less "O'Rourke" but very nice.

(sorry, just catching up with these)

jim o'rourke is a genius and Shame On All Of You Haters in 2001

look what you did. you made him move to japan. JAPAN!!!!!!!!!

Really like the Eiko Ishibashi thing -- production is like 70s Joni filtered through Jim.

yeah car and freezer is great, i think she's a great songwriter (tho a lot of it is improv somehow?) and he's a good producer choice, i hope some of this vibe carries thru to his promised upcoming song-based record.

Steamroom 17 just released. As well as a new trio-lp on Black Truffle and a new duo-lp with Oren Ambarchi coming up soon on Editions Mego.

https://youtu.be/tyEbxVZNXK4

Boléro

Tracklist, etc.:

http://www.dragcity.com/products/simple-songs

http://www.dragcity.com/news/2015-05-05-flac-attack-the-jim-o-rourke-flac-atalog-is-here

smh

great post. punish me jimbo

lol
They're FLAC files, baby! Lossless, bitches - know what that means? If so, please email us! Or you know what? Don't - just BELIEVE that these are the finest possible digitally-delivered representations of the O'Rourkian experience, reluctantly sanctioned by the man himself, who would prefer that you listen to his music on LP while residing in a cave sufficiently far from him that he never has to worry about seeing or hearing from you again! Don't disappoint him (further), take advantage of this uniquely exclusive experience today!

http://s22.postimg.org/jjxf15lox/jimorourkesimplesongs.jpg

oops, i put the thumb on the wrong side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhac0bWENY

good god @ that picture

i have the poster from eureka on my bedroom door

Maybe you can appreciate my fan art? I updated my fan art to make it a little more realistic looking and to also better imitate Mimiyo Tomozawa's cartoons. There's only so much that I can, and am willing to do with a mouse and photofiltre freeware though.

uhhh.. updated picture here

http://s13.postimg.org/4w8e4czav/testetest.jpg

Streamin':

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/10/404723495/first-listen-jim-orourke-simple-songs

thanks for the URL.

I hear lots of echos of "The Visitor" (which is good). Beautiful 12-string guitar parts in "Friends with Benefits".

dunno if it's my speakers but it sounds tinny as fuck.. is this the NPR stream quality. it sounds awfully trebly, sorta 'canned', 0 low end..

Sounded terrible through my laptop speakers, now listening with good headphones and it's really nice. "These Hands" especially - classic beautiful/pervy JOR.

Yes, the stream is in low quality.

Even with the low quality stream, this album is hitting me hard. One for the year-end lists, I expect.

There's also a well-considered review that just appeared on the quietus site: http://thequietus.com/articles/17843-jim-orourke-simple-songs-review

i dig your drawings once-ler, they just took me by surprise.

halfway thru first listen, sounds most like The Visitor and Eureka. wild guitar sound of Insignificance nowhere to be found. but that album was written and recorded in a week, and this took....eight years?

..."Simple Songs" places far fewer layers between Jim and the listener. O'Rourke doesn't invite you inside his home, but he does unlock the door.

Well said.

really wish i had the lyric sheet atm

no french horn ! yay!
vdp honky tonk ! yay!
no shoehorned "this one's for all you organum lovers" middle 8 in the wrong key ! yay !
jim's singing voice. erm...

even though i get a strong "i'd really love to see you tonight" vibe from "friends with benefits", while listening to this song i have alternatingly loled nervously and thought "what a pretty song", totally love the ending
the old JOR magic!

jim's singing voice. erm...
i dunno, this album seems like he's finally comfortable singing...
and yeah, even though this seems like maybe his "approachable" and friendly album, there are still plenty of nervous lols to be had!

yeah i think his singing voice is fine
i was listening to unreleased? with fire! (lol) this morning and found it remarkably good, so i decided to check out the new JOR and found it unnerving in a smooth and pleasant and familiar classically smooth JOR kind of way

1999 Peel Session

yeahhh that is pretty excellent

I like JOR as a radio format = AOR with creepy lyrical undertones (see "In The Air Tonight", "Every Breath You Take", etc.).

sounds like a good idea but they'd have to call every station THE TRIGGER :-/

103 The Trigger

"last year" = early sam prekop / vintage gentle giant

one of the most quietly mastered albums i've heard in a while, it's more quiet than the visitor. it almost sounds as if he ran it through the "telephone" or "am radio" eq curves in Audacity. you have to really turn it up, and even then, it's nicely moderate.

we've had a rental car for the last few days. some of the tracks had my dad thrumming on the steering wheel with a moderate cockiness.. there are some muscly grooves on this.

thrumming = thumb drumming?

just like, hand drumming, with the palms, the thumbs, 7/10 digits.. maybe thrumming is the wrong word. just, drumming on the steering wheel

no shoehorned "this one's for all you organum lovers" middle 8 in the wrong key ! yay !

― massaman gai, Tuesday, May 12, 2015 8:44 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what are some examples of this? just curious

^ request seconded

First listen and this album is amazing. It feels mature. Comparing it to the 70's makes sense. However, calling a sound this fresh ~dated~ would not make sense; so hopefully no one is doing that.

Simple songs will not go on any year end list though. That would require me to care enough about other modern music to make a list.

well if y'all can't imagine a better key for the bowed cymbal extravaganza in the visitor i despair !

man, that Peel Session is fucking great! holy shit @ the fast version of 'Halfway to a Threeway'! beats the EP version by a long shot for me. i wish there were more live / alternate / radio recordings of these JimO songs

Listening to Simple Songs properly for the first time and it's blowing me away, so much more expansive and huge than its runtime suggests

Jim in Uncut:

“Japan was the place where Eureka was actually most popular, and to this day there are neo-hippies running around with flowers telling me how it changed their life. I’m like, ‘Your life sucks, I can’t believe I had anything to do with it! It makes me so fucking depressed. I turned you into a hippy.’”

well, he still sounds like a prick. Eureka is a great fuckin record, dunno that he could ever top it. the production/mix of simple songs is so tidy, the music almost sounds too thin/small, if that's possible. same complaint with the visitor, there's an odd sterility to the music that makes it feel cold/off-putting. still, it's a good alternative to Phish.

Have we stopped talking about this already? I unabashedly love every second of this album. I expected it would be AOTY material for me, and it's easily that already; hard to imagine anything beating it.

Unexpected influences I hear on this album: Supertramp, Warren Zevon (the first song), and, err, does the melody of "These Hands" remind anyone else of "Freebird?"

Anyway, this is as good as Eureka.

Find it thin a bit thin myself. Maybe it will grow on me, but some key quotes from that Uncut interview kind of point towards why this one is perhaps not for me.

Was wrong, the quotes I was thinking of were in this Aquarium Drunkard interview, not Uncut: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/05/19/jim-orourke-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/

So what was the deal-breaker for you?

Anyone with the vinyl experiencing some extremely loud popping during the first couple minutes? Trying to figure out if these were pressed badly or if I just got unlucky.

Love the album anyway.

Ehh, no one deal-breaker, I just don't find it nearly as enjoyable as the earlier vocal-Jim records. But generally, all the quotes around this record have added to my feelings about it (all read AFTER hearing it, so really they confirmed a feeling, didn't set it). Stuff like the talk about spending six years making it (and what went into that 6 years) and the "I haven’t listened to it since I finished it ... I just have this image of being unhappy with it in the end." Basically it sounds overcooked and underinvested (not in time/devotion to a sound of course) to me, and those quotes kind of back up my feelings, but again it is just my take. Most folks, including a number of friends whose tastes I very much trust, are getting a completely different experience from the record. I just got tired of it pretty quickly while listening to it.

it feels so completely refined, perfected, devoid of blemishes. overly labored-over, but people seem to be digging it. i put it on at least once a day, maybe it's a better social record, to listen to with friends, etc.

i think it's track four, where jim really belts it out, the most full-bodied singing i've ever heard from him.

"Overly labored-over" was my initial read, OTM.

Finally got to listen to this on vinyl twice on a propa system. Yes, it seems very quiet but that must be intentional. If you do turn it up you can really heard some ~space~, my buddy did a waveform on it and there is no peak limiting. Dynamic range off the chain. AOTY, can't imagine anything will even penetrate its outer galaxy. It's just goddam lovely to have music this precise, warm, personal, sad, funny and executed at the very highest level. Shame on bands, really, is what it makes me think. Jim O a miracle in a universe of mediocrities, no wonder he checked out of Western Life.

Listened to Bad Timing on a leg of a long road trip traversing some bleak emptiness, it was magical.

i haven't listened to the whole thing but i think it's the sort of album that will be there when i need it, which is apparently not right at this particular time

“I’m glad people like ‘Eureka’,” he says, “but to me it’s a very sad record. I still meet people and they’re like, ‘I played it at my wedding, it’s so happy’, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God! People think it’s some happy, good-time record.’ So therefore, I failed. I don’t want people to be happy when they listen to my music."

good. i love this. jim o continues to rule my universe

Hah hah. I have literally never met anyone who merely thought "it's so happy" about Jim's lyric-based music. I mean, I don't think he is lying, it is just funny to imagine who these people are.

Loud popping on the first few minutes - yep. Mine jumps there too.

I'm trying to think of which Eureka song would make any sense at a wedding... "Please Patronize Our Sponsors"?

most of eureka would make sense at a wedding as long as you don't listen to the words

i mean, that nasty SNL sax solo on 'Through the Night Softly'? that's 2am running around with a lampshade on your head music!

love the record but listening to the digital version on cans makes me feel like i need to pop my ears

the vocals sound as if they're being broadcast on the radio, with that sort of fizzy compression. it's not that bad, but it sorta sounds odd. kinda dig the filtering he's got going on, with some of the piano on track three.

'through the night softly' was used for an Embassy Suites commercial. The early piano instrumental on Sam Prekop's first s/t album was used for a Tylenol commercial.

there's a '70s dadrock vibe on some of this that i am enjoying. maybe "dadrock" isn't the right term. like MOR rock that's only vaguely proggy but not rootsy either. like supertramp or something. mostly in the textures. o'rourke is the consummate allusive musician (all of his "pop" records seem like they are consciously evoking some bygone--and often out-of-fashion--style) so this doesn't surprise me.

the compression on this album (esp. the vocals) is weird, it often sounds like a thin low-bitrate MP3 even when I'm playing it from CD. o'rourke is a masterful sound engineer (among other things) so whatever effects are on here i'm assuming are deliberate. but there are some odd choices, almost like a rough mix, or like o'rourke was taking the piss on his own record (which also would not surprise me).

btw since all his other "pop" albums are named after (or in reference to) nic roeg films, what's this one a reference to? or has he abandoned that?

ah i just skimmed the online uncut interview. i guess a reference point was genesis. makes sense. listening to "last year" again, i guess i underestimated the progginess of this new one.

o'rourke is obviously a sunuvabitch (i have some stories i probably shouldn't mention here, but they don't differ in essence from a million other stories that have been shared here and elsewhere) but for me he's been something like guiding star for a long time (20 years!), in terms of the expansiveness (and strangeness) of his sensibilities.

weird that people get that general idea about him when he comes across as incredibly gracious and affable in that recent interview posted above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3z8twRBz24

well, yeah, like a lot of people, he contains multitudes

well yeah, i just think it's interesting that he's got that reputation in the media when it seems like every interview i've heard or read with him gives me the opposite impression. almost feels like with what he's addressing in that interview with people mistaking his unreliable-narrator voice in insignificance as being "him" or everyone assuming he's working in the film industry in japan.

not claiming to have any inside route to him as a person in general.

that interview feels really stilted. interviewer sounds oddly impatient/bored.

yeah exactly, that's what makes o'rourke seem completely unlike the cantankerous/curmudgeonly person i'd been lead to believe he was. sounds like he's being interviewed by a 15 year-old for their school newspaper and he's actually actively trying to help the clueless guy out and entertaining all these drab questions.

yeah, interview is odd, and o'rourke seems nice (if very nerdy).

Hotel Blue sounding right today, haven't played this album in months. Also, don't understand the complaints about 'out of tune' bowed cymbals on The Visitor.. everything sounds in order, functional, on the album. Still love the 12 minute mark, or maybe it's 12'30"...

"functional": exactly. it's a showreel extravaganza. not out of tune. just always imagine a better key for that passage. "better" is a subjective judgement. y'all free to love the key it's in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olXUf4dDLS4

Wow the bit he plays starting at 8:57 sounds a lot like one of my own:

https://soundcloud.com/factual-1/open

Now you just need a masked wrestler to preface your work with a personalized SWOT analysis.

fuck

does anyone live in Tokyo?

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/jim-orourke-perform-simple-songs-and-bad-timing-their-entirety

recent live show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM1RGmBQjww
sounds great, wonder if a world tour is in the works? :P
apparently he's got a solo acoustic LP coming out next year on VDSQ which is good news.

all downhill from here live!!! fuck

Thanks Tyler, that sounds great - really like the pretty droney swirly interlude about ten minutes in - very Dark Star! I miss this kind of stuff on Simple Songs.

Another slightly dispiriting interview here:
http://bombmagazine.org/article/9761825/jim-o-rourke

Whoa, acoustic album eh? Would not have thought that was coming. Nice.

Also, I am pretty sure that at this point I am not interested in hearing Jim talk about his own work. It just ... does not help.

haha yeah...
no idea what to expect about the solo acoustic thing. for some reason i kind of doubt it'll be along the lines of the solo playing on bad timing, but who knows?

he sounds like such a miserable bastard

he sounds happy :)

god this performance is amazing

Three recent collabs here: (oh this looks so tempting)

oh holy SHIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xizxQ8L78T8

i cant believe these were just sitting on youtube for 9 months before i saw them. super raunchy version of halfway to a threeway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeKCOaRPflY

Never pegged him for a Dylan fan, but JO covers Sad Eyed Lady on this new Mojo giveaway CD:

http://www.mojo4music.com/23985/mojo-celebrates-bob-dylans-blonde-on-blonde/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTDDdnKWxDc
synth patches by Jim O'Rourke

Cool retrospective review of Bad Timing by Mark Richardson: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22870-bad-timing/

This seesaw between mischievous subversion and slack-jawed beauty is the key to O’Rourke’s best music. His sense of humor is both generous and slightly dark; there’s irony in his touch, but it’s not a negating one. It’s more about being open to hearing every possibility in a given piece of music. In a 2001 interview O’Rourke was asked if Bad Timing had an element of parody. “Not a parody at all, or infatuation, it’s more like trying to reconcile what is imagined, learned, real, and imaginary.” And then he added, “Is it really that impossible to believe that something can be funny and sincere at the same time?”

UMMMM THIS IS NEW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vca6NLVKYrI

^full band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGr-BadCPHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llkXDZ4w3IM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kX4ivPin3U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AO4OPCjTuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSdB29FlILc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4hNo1vKyOM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg72sUd6w3I

Woah!

I was at that show! So great.

Lots of video from this tour on youtube, this was uploaded 10 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2c2XblYcOc

Yeah those are the only live recordings I'd heard or seen before last year when a proshot video of full band Not Sport, Marital Art and Halfway to a Threeway showed up on YouTube. Having even more full band live versions of the Roeg records is blowing my mind.

New album with Kassel Jaeger (sp?) on Mego is truly gorgeous and strange and one of my favorite things this year.

already posted this in another thread but it needs to be seen - Jim singing karaoke of "Thanks But No Thanks" by Sparks in 2000. Thurston on Casio.

22:52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_yuTYi4xpM

I never got into the Sparks but that is a very good impression with showmanship

Has to be "Halfway to a threeway". "Not Sport, Martial Art" is unfuckwithable

"Not Sport, Marital Art" is my favorite song of all time. I always thought the pun in the title was cool but confusing - so many people spell it "martial" despite the fact that every copy of the record spells it "marital." it's not a typo

but yeah i would've voted for Halfway to a Threeway - despite its length it has his best work on it. Insignificance is my favorite of the Roeg LP's - I think Eureka is massively overrated, maybe due to Women of the World.

Eureka presaged a whole era of epiphany-core ukulele and xylophone filled corporate commercials and movie trailers.

Behave - plenty of records can be accused of that, but how many people have actually heard Eureka? Anyway, it's long been my favourite (hence why I'm reacting so spikily!) but it's been overtaken by Bad Timing and Threeway in the last couple of years.

i like eureka
my favorite recent jim o'rourke is the soundtrack he did for The Creeping Garden, which i strongly recommend for the music as well as the film

yeah eureka is great, though i suppose sufjan took quite a bit from it ... i haven't heard creeping garden, I'll have to check it out!

Sufjan is definitely guilty of swiping Stereolab songs... compare "The Free Design" and the title track on Illinois. it's just ridiculous

Me either. Is it readily available?

i know it's included with the UK release of the movie, but i don't have it either
i asked (via twitter) the people who made the movie if it was going to be released separately and they just offered me that but maybe he will release a version? it's really slow and droney. the movie is about slime molds <3

you could probably email him, i think he gets back to fans p quickly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyQqRBJngkY

do you know his email? i don't!

you can reach him thru the contact on the Steamroom page

https://steamroom.bandcamp.com

helpful, thank you

some of his soundtrack stuff shows up on steamroom, so it seems possible he'd put it out there ...

hope so! i really liked it. he does whatever he wants. i admire that.

The best concert I've ever attended was O'Rourke at the Empty Bottle just before Eureka came out circa 1998. He played one song: "Women of the World." For 50 minutes. Just him, a guitar and a drum machine. The same riff, the same vocal lines, repeated over and over and over. It was the most sublime musical experience I've ever had.

I'm a huge fan and would love for him to continue with music, but I understand that sometimes you have to move on for a while.

― Bill in Chicago, Tuesday, August 7, 2007 1:16 PM (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bandcamp interview from last year

The same riff, the same vocal lines, repeated over and over and over. It was the most sublime musical experience I've ever had.

does... not... compute

Terje Rypdal-tribute with Jim contributing one track

innnnteresting.
did LL see that the Creeping Garden soundtrack she was asking about showed up on bandcamp? https://steamroom.bandcamp.com/album/steamroom-35

i bought the DVD which came with the soundtrack! It was like $16 and worth every penny! i was just talking about this movie/soundtrack with some strangers at a show and i got that sneaking feeling that they were like "will she ever stop talking about this...?" lol
i stopped! the performance i saw had a dance component and there were visual and sonic elements that reminded me of this movie.

anyway now everyone can listen to it

We caught him doing the "prelude" at the Fillmore West, in 1998. Went to see Sonic Youth on their ATL tour, first time in SF, didn't know Jim O'Rourke was opening. Just walking in, and hearing this pleasant drone going on (no vocals) in the main room (we were still out by the merch tables), "sublime" is a good word for it.

Can I just commend EvR for returning to this forum solely to update the Jim O'Rourke thread? Closest and most dedicated follower of all things O'Rourke imo, it's greatly appreciated Eric! :)

The soundtrack is great, I have to seek out the film.

You're welcome Gerard :-)

Another find, this time on iTunes: Magnetic Reconnection, a 12-minute documentary with an O´Rourke soundtrack

is there much jimbo discussion in leech's fearless?

^would also like to know this

reminds me, i rented the Wilco doc I Am Trying to Break Your Heart a few months ago on amazon, mostly to see that one brief scene of JimO hysterically screaming "Everyone always says I ruin records!!!!!!! I come into mix a record, then everyone hates it!!!!!!!!!!!" but it wasn't in there... maybe the DVD i used to have was another cut.

reminds me, i rented the Wilco doc I Am Trying to Break Your Heart a few months ago on amazon, mostly to see that one brief scene of JimO hysterically screaming "Everyone always says I ruin records!!!!!!! I come into mix a record, then everyone hates it!!!!!!!!!!!" but it wasn't in there... maybe the DVD i used to have was another cut.

This fragment is from a bonus disc (which I happen to watch more often than the actual documentary).

that's so strange because i specifically remember not having the 2 disc version & being bummed after i bought the DVD. whatever i'll just find one on eBay. totally worth it just for that brief scene of Jim screaming about how everyone hates him. ha ha ha. the movie itself is really great, though. one of my favorite music docs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOBc6au6BBg&feature=youtu.be

PBK / Jim O'Rourke: Unidentified Again [2LP]
Released May 2015. Gatefold cover.

link to picadisk website

A recent find: Calder Walk by Jim O'Rourke

new album Sleep Like It's Winter out June 6. instrumental album, 46 minutes, somewhere in between the Drag City records and the Steamroom recordings. https://www.stereogum.com/1992335/new-jim-orourke-album-sleep-like-its-winter-reportedly-out-in-june/news/

This fantastic news obv, and I've enjoyed every single one of his steamroom releases, but my heart yearns for a new (Eureka/Insignificance like) singer-songwriter album.

yeah me too. but i'd love a Bad Timing/The Visitor style thing. not even necessarily with guitars, just not as amorphous as most of the Steamroom releases.

has anyone heard anything more about 'Sleep Like It's Winter'? I emailed the Japanese label but haven't heard anything.

Still no news about the new album? It's meant to be out on Wednesday. The label website won't even load for me.

Assuming it’ll be a Steamroom-esque release if there hasn’t been any additional press. But yeah still psyched to hear it. Vinyl import only or ...?

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/PECF-1152

Pic from Tower Records in Tokyo from Twitter today:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/De-ys9HUYAAFsOq.jpg:large

You can hear a (tiny) sample here, by pressing the play button in front of the (only) song on this.

clearly the new singer-songwriter album you were rooting for!

hahaha, yeah I imagine the clip just being the intro until it all kicks off 'Insignificance'-style ;-)

A new interview with Jim talking about the album in Japanese (site has more JOR content).

heard the new one — not terribly different from the steamroom stuff, but very good!

I´d say it´s more melodical than most of the Steamroom things, but granted there are no vocals or songstructures. By far one of the most beautiful things he has done. But why not an international release (say, Touch or Mego)?

Meanwhile there a new O'Rourke remix up on Spotify of postrock outfit Tangents' new song 'Terracotta'.

wow, this full set was uploaded in february, setlist is amazing, only live performance of 'Life Goes Off' i've ever heard. his 'Fast Car' cover from this show has been up on youtube for a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWnm8tZ9kMg

00:00 - Untitled
11:46 - There's Hell in Hello, But More in Goodbye & Movie on the Way Down
16:10 - Halfway to a Threeway
20:37 - Life Goes Off
26:25 - Good Times
30:52 - Fast Car

Just heard and savored this whole thing. That droning 30+-minute "Fast Car"!

this is an amazing find, flappy. his voice is so good here, too.

I really enjoyed this. Thanks. :)

ooh looking forward to listening to this. that version of fast car is fascinating.

http://www.ele-king.net/interviews/006354/

nice interview, thanks for sharing! only wish it was longer

Yeah it's good! Did you see there was a second page?

holy crap that 'fast car' cover is great

Yeah it's good! Did you see there was a second page?

thank you!

nice p4k review https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jim-orourke-sleep-like-its-winter/

this new one goes to some pretty incredible places. it's a single 44-minute track that continuously develops in unexpected ways while still belonging to the same sound environment.
the section that starts about 21 minutes in gave me some goosebumps the first time i heard it, for example, although i may just be subconsciously and existentially craving stars of the lid deep bass

Entertaining interview:
https://www.stereogum.com/2007352/jim-orourke-interview-2018/franchises/interview/

Is the new album available on vinyl?

No, don’t think that’s planned. This was made specifically for CD, which is still the dominant format in Japan.

From that interview ^^

STEREOGUM: A lot of people don’t realize you taught the kids in Richard Linklater’s 2003 movie School Of Rock.

O’ROURKE: Yeah, I taught them how to play, I taught them the songs, because except for one scene, that’s actually them playing. So for those scenes I’d be on set to keep the music part off of Mr. Linklater’s mind, sort of on the side music-directing, you know? That was a fun experience. I was supposed to be in the movie, but there was a Sonic Youth tour during the shoots so I couldn’t go back to do it.

Yeah I did not know that! The story about him abt to give a signed cd to this boy and then refraining bcz of his own artwork :D

o'rourke seems like a weird choice to teach a bunch of kids to play classic rock

i applaud his teaching skills if he took them from 0 to whatever we see in the movie

xp idk have you seen him do karaoke of Thanks But No Thanks by Sparks

I think there's some footage of him with the kids on one of the DVD extras

Love the children's choir on Smog's Knock Knock too, which he produced.

I'm pretty sure all the kids in School of Rock were music school students?

somehow had never heard this before. pretty straightforward cover, with Insignificance style production

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM506qZEnu4

Eureka is 20 years old today. Remember being completely blown away on first listen... "Movie On The Way Down" esp.

20 years?!?!

still blows me away. can't believe it's that old.

I heard "Ghost Ship In A Storm" the other day in a shop and was amazed at how great it sounded, and also how generic it sounds today. I remember thinking when "Eureka" came out "there is no other music that sounds like this!" and either my ears have broadened or the world has adjusted to sound like "Eureka".

"Camofleur" still sounds crazy to me though

I love all his records but Halfway to a Threeway is the one I'd keep from '99... and I think the world has adjusted to sound like Eureka: marimba, xylophone, strings, piano, brushes... it's the same sound palette as Illinois or Michigan, and all the car commercials and epiphany core that followed in the mid-late 00s.

Same for me, that EP is the one from '99.

It's "Bad Timing" for me above all else. I love the story about Jim recording that album and producing John Fahey's "Womblife" the same year, and John calling Jim all upset saying "it's not fair. your album is better than mine"

Ha, I hadn't heard that! :)

His best song-based solo effort is Insignificance for me, without a shadow of a doubt.

I was so non-plussed by The Visitor that I never listened to Simple Songs :/

if you love Bad Timing you should really give The Visitor a second chance, it's basically a sequel. but I wasn't into Simple Songs at all, it was just Insignificance with less interesting songs and more obvious lyrics.

I wish he would relent and allow his music onto streaming services. Bad Timing is up on youtube in full and so many of the comments are like "I'm here because of Jeff Tweedy, why can't I find this anywhere else??" I know you can buy them on Bandcamp, I've probably paid for his Drag City records three times over, but I'm obsessed. I wish more people could hear these records, I mean as it is most of them are up on youtube in worse quality than Spotify, Apple Music, etc. and no one is getting paid, even if it's pennies.

At least all of this is up too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qim-IbmFTHo

the second track "Not Sport, Marital Art" is my favorite piece of music ever. Still so elusive and utterly thrilling after thousands of listens.

Xp to Goon
What song sounds like Ghost Ship in a Storm? I find it hard to believe that a similarly styled song can live up its standards and I worry that your idea of new, generic, Eureka-sounding music is 10x weaker but you still compare them like they are two sides of the same coin (a more approriate comparison would be a silver dollar to a dime).

God I love the title track so much. His vocal delivery throughout this album is spectacular.

Only barely pips Bad Timing for me which is so perfectly formed.

remember that japanese named after eureka that is also scored by jim o'rourke?

not sport, martial art is astounding.

what a cheeky little fucker jim o'rourke was, huh?

er japanese *movie

funny how o'rourke's album is named after a movie and then has a different movie name after it in turn.

remember that japanese named after eureka that is also scored by jim o'rourke?

Eureka

apparently Eureka was/is really popular in Japan- and JO always talks about how much he hates how it sounds!

"really popular" is probably not the best choice of words, but Otomo Yoshihide (with Kahimi Karie on vox en francais) covered it:

live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khqCYnfuZt0

record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcFeX-jnmlo

remember that japanese named after eureka that is also scored by jim o'rourke?

Eureka

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, February 28, 2019 12:42 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks, couldn't remember the name ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIrIvKKT_nk

Not sure if you're twattish or dense, but if you click the link you'll find a thread about the Shinji Aoyama film.

in all sincerity, my last posts were made in a spirit of self-deprecating. you were reading stuff into them that was not intended.

er, *self-deprecation

(the "joke" being that o'rourke's song/album was named after a film and then another film was named after it. i was joking about my not being able to remember the name, à la homer simpson struggling to remember the name of "speed" and meanwhile using the word "speed" numerous times. this has been your weekly joke explainer.)

but if you have to choose: twattish.