Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke is one of the most important characters in music today in many different aspects. His wide-ranging musical career comprises producing records for mope rockers Smog, guitar player John Fahey, and art rockers U.S. Maple, remixing tunes for the Japanese noise legend Merzbow, in addition to his solo career and working with bands like Gastr del Sol, Tortoise and Sonic Youth. He is first of all known for his guitar work, but has also been active on the improv scene with for example Mats Gustafsson, playing various instruments
Jim O'Rourke is one of the most important characters in music today in many different aspects. His wide-ranging musical career comprises producing records for mope rockers Smog, guitar player John Fahey, and art rockers U.S. Maple, remixing tunes for the Japanese noise legend Merzbow, in addition to his solo career and working with bands like Gastr del Sol, Tortoise and Sonic Youth. He is first of all known for his guitar work, but has also been active on the improv scene with for example Mats Gustafsson, playing various instruments
Member of: Bonjintan
And That's The Story Of Jazz...
And that's the story of jazz... Get it? Well, maybe you had to be there when legendary saxophonist Akira Sakata, guitarist Jim O'Rourke and bombast rhythm crew of percussionist Chris Corsano and double bassist Darin Gray (aka Chikamorachi) jumped in the van for a Japanese tour. This two CD set documents their 2008 jaunt -- not the first and far from last -- in blistering detail. Shades of Last Exit, Coltrane's Live in Seattle and even Kousokuya appear here but this quartet has nailed its own uni…
Shinjuku Growl
Smalltown Superjazzz is very proud to present two new albums by The Thing. And this time it is The Thing with guitars! And none others than two of the best guitar players in the improv world today; Otomo Yoshihide and Jim O`Rourke. Both albums are recorded live at Pit Inn in Tokyo, Japan. Shinkjuku Growl with Jim O`Rourke was recorded the 4th of February 2008 and Shinkuju Crawl with Otomo Yoshihide was recorded the 2nd of October 2007 (and was also recorded by Jim O`Rourke). These two live docum…
Old News #6
Beloved experimental soundsmith Jim O'Rourke is at it again, having just announced his umpteenth release of the year. Back in the spring, the Japan-based artist revealed he would be starting up his Old News series of releases that mined the "analogue synth and tape works (both studio and live) from the depths of Jim O'Rourke's archive." Though volume five was issued just this past June, O'Rourke has issued volume six by the end of this summer. . A new 70+ minute electronic piece split over four …
Plastic Palace People Vol. 2
The departure from Volume 1 starts here! Found sounds, field recordings and and more, echoing to you from way back in 1992. Straight out of Achen! Second in this on-going series of collaborative works recorded in the early 90’s by christoph heemann & jim o’rourke, later conceptually aligned with the mythos of noel scott “walker” engel ... contrasting vol. 1’s “synth freakout” bluster entirely, this is instead a single, extended musique concrète piece (heavily reminiscent of luc ferrari’s later…
In A Flash Everything Comes Together As One
March 2011 release: phenomenal new power trio moves from a group that easily rivals Fushitsusha or Seijaku in intensity of attack. Here Haino is mostly featured on guitar and vocals with occasional forays into lapsteel (!) and air synth while O’Rourke plays bass and Ambarchi plays drums. This is some of the most squealing iconoclastic psychedelic rock of Haino’s career and his guitar playing is back at a Double Live/Hendrixoid peak, with endlessly overloaded single note guitar solos wres…
Indeed
Awesome record, exactly as good as you’d expect it to be (Keith Fullerton Withman) "While Oren Ambarchi and Jim O’Rourke have collaborated in a number of forms, from remixes to their acclaimed trio with Keiji Haino, Indeed is their first duo album. One long electro-acoustic exploration (presented here as two side-long pieces), what Ambarchi and O’Rourke proffer up here is also melodic and approachable, bringing to mind the warm post-minimalism of composers like Alvin Curran, David Behrman and L…
Old News #5
First instalment in this new o series providing a long overdue and much needed vinyl-only glimpse into Jim O'rourke's electronic/synth music archive* 'Old News No.5' introduces a "nearly regular series of vinyl albums documenting analog synth and tape works (both studio and live) from the depths of Jim O'Rourke's archive, spanning a near quarter of a century in the field." Side A 'Pedal & Pedal' features 15 minutes recorded at Super Deluxe, Tokyo, 2010. It unfurls a series of tender pasto…
Plastic Palace People Vol. 1
Jim O'Rourke and Christoph Heeman have been collaborating since 1991; that's before MP3s, before witch house, and before the release of Arachnophobia. Hell, that's back when also-ran comedian Michael Keaton was still Batman. The two musicians have now seen sense to offer up a collection of rare, unreleased recordings from their probably massive archives and this Scott Walker-referencing disc is the result. Those familiar with Heeman's work, or O'Rourke's more experimental side will no doubt be u…
Insignificance
Insignificance, Jim O'Rourke's third solo album for Drag City, reaffirms that he is not only a fine composer, arranger, and producer, but a gifted, creative songwriter as well. As with Eureka and the Halfway to a Threeway EP, O'Rourke continues to find as many possibilities in singing and songwriting as he does experimenting with pure sound. However, this time O'Rourke adds a few twists to the formula he pioneered on those two efforts.
He sings on each of Insignificance's tracks, his frail voice…
Eureka
1999 album, release, repressed 2009. "With his new LP Jim is doing for himself what he's more than generously done for other so-called musical talents. Everybody wants a little pop in their lives and Jim O'Rourke is no exception. There is no way to listen to Eureka without hearing the eccentricity, the progressive musical textures, the utter lack of anything like pop music, but at the same time it's magnificent in scale, pleasant to listen to, catchy and even reminiscent of other records …
Bad Timing
Make no mistake, Bad Timing is not a pop album by any standards. But it is a musing on popular standards and uses much of the same instrumentation that many of our country's most popular records have. Yes, Bad Timing is a theme record, Jim O'Rourke's pop opera, just waiting for someone to come along and play with it. Based on Fahey-esque 6-string acoustic guitar foundations, each of the three pieces expand to include other musical elements. Piano, organ, electric guitar, brass, strings --…
6 Oscillators \'87 / Guitar \'88
Lucky find, long out of print: No Fun Productions present an unearthed pairing of archive recordings from avant-garde polymath Jim O' Rourke, who's at his most ferocious on these recordings. From a title like '6 Oscillators '87' you figure the piece could go one of two ways: warm, disciplined Eliane Radigue-type drone or flailing chaos. Jim goes for the latter option, rattling through a host of pitch modulations and noise assaults, working his way through a sophisticated noise composition that a…
Bloomington, Indiana... Autumn
Recently reworked and remastered, this LP was recorded in the 1990s, uniting Lee Ranaldo and Jim O'Rourke (before the Sonic Youth years spent together, of course) with German tape music specialist (and H.N.A.S. member) Christoph Heemann. 'Bloomington, Indiana' is based upon a Lee Ranaldo spoken-word reading, and was originally recorded in the Netherlands during 1994. It features O'Rourke and Heemann manipulating Ranaldo's reading via magnetic tape, creating a morphing new soundscape from the SY …
Tima formosa
'Black Truffle presents a stunning document of the debut meeting of international trio Oren AMBARCHI, Jim O'Rourke and Keiji HAINO. Recorded live at the Playhouse, Kitakyushu, Japan in January 2009, Tima Formosa retains a mysteriously alien atmosphere throughout its three lengthy explorations with AMBARCHI's mesmerizing textures and signature, deep guitar tones beautifully merging with O'Rourke's Tudor-esque piano-feedback interjections. HAINO provides the icing on the cake via his melancholic,…
The Visitor
Breathing in, breathing out. Tide comes in, tide goes out. The sun rises and it also sets: beginnings and endings. These are the first impressions given by The Visitor: a build-up and break-down. One seamless, 38-minute piece of music that completely engages its listeners. An extremely thoughtful piece that even a year later, still retains all of the qualities it had upon first listen. This record made me realize the full potential music can have when someone who actually gives a damn does somet…
Senso
Senso is a live recording from two shows at the heralded and, sadly shut, Tonic club in NYC December 18, 2004. It was a lovely evening when O'Rourke and Moore, both of whom had played with White Out, but never together, would set the controls for the heart of the universe. Each set was its own distinct drama and captured the four players in a unified mind meld bringing the audience with them on a spirit-high journey.
Drunken Little Mass
White Out is a sound terrorist collective of two, arising from the freedom-charged excitement of the NYC improv community. Drunken Little Mass marks the summit meeting between the combustible duo of multi-instrumentalist Lin Culbertson (analog synthesizers, autoharp, flute, and treated voice) and Tom Surgal (drums, gongs and infinite percussion), and free agent/renaissance maestro Jim O'Rourke (Powerbook and guitar). The contents of this album are totally improvised, recorded in one take, with n…
I\'m Happy, And I\'m Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4
Recorded 1997-1999 in NY, Osaka, Tokyo, Toronto and Malmö. Originally released on Mego in 2001. Of course, Jim O'Rourke needs no introduction being well known as a performer, producer and all round top chap, as well membership of various pop and rock combos for more than two decades. ÔIm Happy, and I'm Singing, and a 1, 2, 3, 4' was called by many common folk Jim's laptop record or his powerbook album. We prefer the simple term computer when referring to the instrument used for the creation of t…
Two Nice Catholic Boys
...Catholic Boys" Together they unravel slow motion ghost blues across three extended pieces that evolve from the elder's martian style to the thundering, feedback splattered lead grooves of that whippersnapper. The spontaneous melodies shift from devastating, country road intimacy to hypnotic overamped rock. It's ferocious, epic, & an utter beauty.
Despite the water supply
Over the last 20 years, besides his own music, Jim O'Rourke has worked with the Merce Cunningham Dance company, Takehisa Kosugi, Derek Bailey, and Tony Conrad amongst many others. He has produced albums for Beth Orton, Stereolab, John Fahey, Brigitte Fontaine, Faust, and Wilco and more. Between 1999 and 2005 he was a member of Sonic Youth. He has also scored films for directors Werner Herzog, Olivier Assayas, Shinji Aoyama, and Koji Wakamatsu and more. O'Rourke's own films were part of the 2004 …