Jim O'Rourke

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.