Jim O'Rourke

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??

I did.

I gave Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a listen today for the first time in years and his mix work on that is just excellent.
― akm, Wednesday, October 30, 2019 7:59 PM

a ghost is born has its moments as well.

some nice footage of Jim in this (he was a musical consultant on the film)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_xo2R-ozqA

Now that I think about it, this must've been when I saw Jack Black in a small video game store in the financial district in December 2002. They shot this on Staten Island iirc.

The rehearsals from 5m23s - 9m02s were shot at Echo Canyon (51 Murray St, Tribeca) formerly Sonic Youth's studio from 1996-2006. Jim lived there for a few years, probably during the filming of that movie.

I found this *free* Bandcamp compilation today, it features a 19-minute JOR track: https://schwebung.bandcamp.com/album/scale

The album he recorded for/with Cynthia Dall is a bit of a mystery to me but I keep coming back to it. Lovely to hear Jim singing on Holland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGrxW6gkyzI

That is her former boyfriend Bill Callahan on vox there.

He also sings on "Grey & Castles" from that record.

And she sings on a ton of his (Bill's) songs from that period: "Renee Died", "Wine Stained Lips", "Prince Alone In The Studio" & (my favorite) "Lize":

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

I totally assumed it was Big Jim. What a beautiful song.

Was wondering if anyone bid for this in the recent Cafe Oto auction:

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/auction/covid-19-fundraiser-auction/jimorourkesingleeditionalbum/

Once Upon A Time In Yamanashi

I've never heard of Cynthia Dall, to my dismay. Gorgeous song. Where do I start with her music? Bill's vocals are perfect for 'Holland'.

Yeah she was completely unknown to me, too. Chinaski's post made me check out the debut and I fell in love with it immediately, such an wonderful/idiosyncratic album. The follow up from 2002 is also great but I'd recommend starting with the former.

She seems to have been (I was so saddened to find out that she'd died in 2012) a wonderful person, too. There's some words from her on the reissue of the debut and a nice obituary on Drag City's website.

Chinaski's post made me check out the debut and I fell in love with it immediately, such an wonderful/idiosyncratic album

Thanks, sounds like we spun the same record this morning! :) I've played the untitled debut twice and am loving it already. Idiosyncratic is the word, it's very unique in terms of sound. I also, sadly, learned she's no longer with us. Will hit up the follow-up later today.

Not this morning but I've been listening to it a lot in the past two weeks :)

Hooray for the Cynthia Dall love. Unless there's something in the vaults, it seems she produced relatively little recorded music. Stonkingly high hit-rate though.

There was a short thread when she passed: cynthia dall

The Tone Glow Newsletter announced an upcoming interview with Jim.

oh nice tone glow is excellent

Holy cow, IMO the Tone Glow interview did not disappoint!
https://toneglow.substack.com/p/014-jim-orourke

yeah that's a really fascinating interview

This is a great interview - thanks for the heads up.

top reading cheers

Oh, so *that's* why I saw so many cut-out ECM LPs! (But this was the early '90s for me)

This is great stuff.

I suspect Jim's upcoming Mego-release will be in posted here soon, as it's a new series.

Blimey, that list of 25 at the bottom has quite the rabbit hole potential. (I would love to know a bit more about how he lives and funds his life now he's not producing.)

Just idly wondering: who are the people who have the time/tenacity to stick with Jim through the Steamroom series? I've barely dipped my toe in that particular pond.

The fugue one which gets mentioned (and which was impressive enough musically, nevermind that process of AI reverse-engineering Glenn Gould which he reveals in the interview!) was the first one in quite a while that grabbed my attention, but even that one I have yet to fully dive into.

Great interview! That "Steamroom 47" is gorgeous stuff.

Yeah, his explanation of the process behind Steamroom 47 is so cool. Just an astonishing interview overall. He's lived the most interesting life. I haven't heard most of the records he recommends, but I was stoked to see him shout out Mike Oldfield's Incantations, imo one of the best combinations of prog and minimalism.

Had a listen to Steamroom 47 and agree it's lovely. Though I suspect he'd find that frustrating (at people responding to the surface loveliness of it, I mean).

The David Ackles seems like a bit of an outlier in that collection of 25 but it does make sense, particularly in the context of Simple Songs.

When I’m down on myself, which is usually every five minutes, sometimes I remember that I recorded those two U.S. Maple records. And even though the fourth one is the best sounding one and the best one, I’m happy I did those first two.

Real heads know what's up

Brian Paulson earns his own respective indie-G production stripes on Acre Thrills, for sure

The interview strikes me as uh, a little too well-curated?

"When I was 4 years old, I would clock out of my factory job to begin sitting with the Art Ensemble at Mandel Hall"

But I like Jim, it was an entertaining read at any rate.

The Kahimi Karie album he references (and produces/plays on) is nice. It's very soft and breathy but you can absolutely hear his trademark sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmEqEpzZPl0

Great interview. Jim mentions Nijmegen, the city where I studied. There's an online recording of one of those gigs from 1991, named Extrapool.

Extrapool being the name of the venue. I only visited it once around 2000 or even later, for a live electronics concert (I don't remember the bill).

Great read. I want him to write a book so he can go into all the other stories he hinted at, seems like he'd be a great storyteller.