Jim O'Rourke

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.

I pulled out "Insignificance" recently and still love that record, I never fucked with "The Visitor" or "Simple Songs" when they came out, but I think "The Visitor" is pretty great, "Simple Songs" didn't do much for me

My 4 yo is OBSESSED with the cover to "Insignificance"

lol that has to be tricky to explain

new o'rourke here: https://boomkat.com/products/side-a-side-b

She is in this phase where she pulls records off the shelf and is convinced she wants to listen to them based on the cover, which...we usually make through about a minute before she tells me to turn it off.

xp i might have to bite the bullet and pay for shipping, those excerpts sound great

xpost

at least you don't have to explain "halfway to a threeway" to your kid!

"Dada let's listen to the frog record!"

read that as "frogs record" which would be at least as awkward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5QhPPYMKtI

For posterity, re: the cover of Insignificance

STEREOGUM: You’ve collaborated with so many accomplished musicians — what was it like suddenly working with kids?

O’ROURKE: It wasn’t like a music job at all, it really was a film job. I mean, the fun part was getting to be on set, meeting Mr. Linklater. If you get me talking about film you can’t shut me up, so I probably was annoying, but talking to the crew, just asking them technical things and talking to them about their jobs was really fun. I generally don’t like being around kids, so that was interesting. The kid who played guitar and the kid who played keyboards, they were really nice and genuinely very talented. I liked working with those two a lot. It’s funny because the guitar player kid [Joey Gaydos, Jr.] kept asking me, “Man, I want one of your records.” And I was like, OK. So actually the last day I saw him, they were at that place where they, the last scene where they’re playing at the, what do you call it?

STEREOGUM: A battle of the bands?

O’ROURKE: Yeah, they were setting up and it was my last day before I had to go on tour, and I brought a copy of Insignificance on CD for him. And I handed it to him and then I looked at the cover and remembered the pictures inside. And I said “Hey, you know what, I’m gonna sign this or something for you and get it back to you later.” And I took it back and then I left and went on a plane and never saw the poor kid again. But oh my god, if he had opened that, the parents and the film. They would have gotten sued or something.

I generally don’t like being around kids,

this is the most jim o'rourke thing ever

that reminds me of the time my next door neighbor, a single mom w/ a 10-year-old kid, got locked out of her apartment and asked me, a guy in his early 20s, if i could watch her son for an hour while she went and got another pair of keys from the landlord. i forgot i had a copy of this cover

https://img.discogs.com/IZfwT15IWDd8vFsJmviYc7emh6g=/fit-in/594x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-694755-1150110298.jpeg.jpg

lying around on the table and this kid, whose mom was a devoted catholic, picked it up and his eyes went wide. not quite an octopus fucking a fat man but you know.

Haha that O'Rourke story is classic.

the second half of "the workplace" is absolutely sublime and i wish it went on forever

Here's a Bandcamp link to the Not Waving/Jim O'Rourke release: https://notwaving.bandcamp.com/album/side-a-side-b-diag049

I'm seeing Bastro/GastrDS tonight for the first time sans JimO.

A video clip with live footage from the latest Haino/Ambarchi/O'Rourke release:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3XLRp-cx0A

Got some gossip tonight from a mutual friend:

Since moving to Japan, Jim had not left the Japan until earlier this year! Eiko Ishibashi (his musical & ? partner) toured Europe and convinced Jim to come with her, which he did and kept it low-key.

Wow

Jim O’ROURKE – “to magnetize money and catch a roving eye”
4xCD boxset, Preorder

>> Preorder – Shipping from Nov. 5th, 2019. <<

A 4+ hours labyrinthine work, previously unreleased. Recorded at Steamroom 2017-2018.

https://www.sonoris.org/product/jim-orourke-magnetize-money-return-roving-eye/

nice

I think you could make the case, that not only is The Visitor his greatest album, it's not even close

The Master pic.twitter.com/r5tzQYvVMG

— John Kolodij (@highaurad) October 30, 2019

I gave Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a listen today for the first time in years and his mix work on that is just excellent.

There was a 38-minute free download on the Steamroom Bandcamp page the other day called "great addition to the music server collection- but not that satisfying as listening session material" but now it's gone...

Shit did anyone grab it??