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
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 …
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…
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…