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
Long Night
Long Night, a 2 hour electronic drone work produced by Jim O'Rourke in 1990 around the time of his graduation from music school had been buried in the archives along with several other electronic music pieces Jim had created before he went about to explore other musical territories. Unearthed, remastered and now released for the first time, its ageless qualities shine as brightly as ever.
Mimidokodesuka
Originally released on CD in Japan in 2006. CD version. Released on LP & CD by Drag City on May 20, 2008. Features Jim O'Rourke on electric guitar, Darin Gray on doublebass and Chris Corsano on drums. Recorded live at the Pit Inn in Tokyo during a 2005 residency that included sets with alto sax legend Akira Sakata (recordings of which have been released separately and elsewhere).
Two Organs
the second archive release following last years great Scend LP (3P8). 2 pieces for organ composed and performed in 1991 when Jim was finishing his music studies at de Paul University in Chicago. These pieces had almost been forgotten about as Jim's musical interests soon took a change of direction. Only now released for the first time in any format this LP instantly draws the listener inside this recently imagined timelessness. Limited edition of 1000 copies in die-cut sleeve, with full-colour i…
Avanto 2006
Three-way split release featuring an extended piece each by Tony Conrad, Ralf Wehowsky, and Jim O’Rourke. Tony’s piece works a lone processed violin to glorious effect; the solo variant of his “four violins.” Ralf’s is a musique concrète piece built out of assorted instrumentation and children’s vocals (coming across like a lost international harvester/älgarnas trädgard out-take in spots...) jim’s is an awesome side-length-plus rumination of drone-sound (harkening back to his “disengage” era) in…
Halfway to a Threeway
1999 EP release, repressed 2009. "It seems like it was only a few months ago that Jim O'Rourke changed everything with the release of the incredible Eureka. And by George, it was only a few months ago. Well never mind -- here he is again with a little more of the same: pop music, but credibly different this time, of course. The pop stylings of Jim O'Rourke will never seem familiar to any of us (that's not his style, silly) but his combination of folk, classic rock, (smooth jazz) and the i…
Disengage
Original first pressing (1992), recorded with a firm eye on the experimental end of the spectrum, this 2CD set will delight anyone with even a solitary Hafler Trio/Tod Dockstader/Luc Ferrari/Morton Feldman etc. release embedded in their collection, unfurling as it does with the grace of a stretching cat, whilst examining themes which could readily have become overly claustrophobic. An ebbing crucible of electro-acoustic fragments (all obscured through skilful treatments), AM radio, field recordi…
Happy days
Back in stock. Released: 1997.Jim O'Rourke is a rarity: a genuine bridge between the avant-garde and the underground. From his production work (Smog, Wilco, Faust) to his own freewheeling excursions as a solo performer and member of outfits like Gastr del Sol and Sonic Youth, his work continues to bring the out there in here. Happy Days pits a lone guitar against a phalanx of hurdy-gurdies, a decided shift away from the composer's electronic-based work. A roiling hornet's next of activity that F…
Mizu no nai umi
Music recorded in 1990. forgotten about and rediscovered in a box in 2003. live version recorded in 2003 at Roulette, NYC with the addition of Tim Barnes on crotales and Karen Waltuch on Viola. In 2003 i discovered a box of tapes I had thought I had erased, and had long forgot about. the tapes were all from between 1986-1991 , and as i listened back to them, I could clearly hear why i didn't like them at that time. But, youthful obsessions can sometimes be like tying your shoelaces together. Fo…
North six
North Six is a mind-bogglingly great trio recording from two adepts and an up-and-coming interventionist. Definitively old-school noise in inclination, the performers repeatedly set bombs and deviant devices of their own making against each other, stoking a great astral spat. A wild plume of electric-fire smoke invades the performance space as Ranaldo's guitar is repeatedly speared by silver darts of electronics. This tactic only serves to illuminate those moments where the six-string suddenly s…