Jim O'Rourke
About 5-6 years ago, I was introduced to a musician by the name of Jim O’Rourke by the band Sonic Youth. Not literally introduced…but introduced musically when O’Rourke ‘joined’ Sonic Youth as an official/unofficial 5th member for their (at the time) latest studio effort ‘Murray Street.’
The band...Jim is the little guy in the back...
So lets back up a bit and explain why that’s significant. First of all…Sonic Youth are probably considered the godfathers of grunge, and a bunch of other experimental musical sub genres dating back to the late 70’s early 80’s New York Punk/New Wave scene. When it comes to making beautiful ‘noise’…there aren’t many better. Now, I’m a big fan…but I can’t say that I’ve been a big fan for most of their career. Like many, I was introduced to Sonic Youth only after Nirvana told me about them. I liked their stuff…loud, chaotic noise rock, with odd sounding his and hers vocals to boot…and they saw what they were doing as ‘art’…something I did, and still do ‘understand’. But I didn’t own any of their albums…and was only really a fan of 2-3 of their more ‘radio friendly’ songs off the albums put out by DGC after punk and grunge really ‘broke’ in ‘92…but my roommate J at school was huge fan, and through him, and my maturing musical pallet, I became a bigger fan.
The bands previous effort to ‘Murray Street’ was the critical and commercial disaster NYC Ghosts & Flowers, so there was certainly a good chance that ‘Murray Street’ was going to suck…but I think I may have heard a song on the radio and thought ‘hey, that sounds pretty alright’ and went out and bought the CD that day or something like that…and the album ended up being the soundtrack to that summer. The band had seemingly ‘matured’ overnight…and become a legitimate rock and roll band, while still maintaining many of the characteristics that made them so identifiable throughout the 80’s and 90’s. But it was if they had cleaned up their act, and decided that they were indeed talented musicians, and were going to crank out good ‘tunes’ instead of just beautiful ‘noise’ for sake of making art. The next 2 albums that followed, ‘Sonic Nurse’ and ‘Rather Ripped’ were equally as impressive for their ‘reigned in’ feeling. Don’t get me wrong, they still rock out and get loud…and apparently they haven’t lost their edge live…but these 3 albums for me are examples of Sonic Youth at their best yet…they were writing songs.
So I bet you can guess why I suddenly became a ‘fan’ of one Jim O’Rourke. As the ‘do-everything-else’ 5th member of the band, O’Rourke had opened Sonic Youth to new ideas, while also bringing his ‘composer’ background as well as his own strong reputation within the world music community.
Here’s a sample from his last.fm bio.
“American indie rock and avant-garde musician, composer and producer Jim O’Rourke has been a key component in the increasing overlap of the American and European experimental music avant-garde, working in everything from jazz and rock to ambient and electro-acoustic and building many a bridge in between. A Chicago native, his work has found equal luck with experimental jazz and noise fanatics, chill room denizens, and bedroom experimentalists, and has had the resultant effect of cross-pollinating many otherwise isolated compositional communities.”
Dude is just a talented guy. And for whatever reason, I just really dig his style and the way he presents himself. He’s not a huge rock star…he’s just some unassuming guy in the back, twisting a few knobs and playing backing-backing guitar…fucking around on the drum kit…and all the while, he's single handedly saving one of rock and roll’s most important groups. If not for Jim O’Rourke…I’d wager that Sonic Youth’s career, at least critically, and outside of the cult hardcore fans, commercially, would probably be over right now. But the 2 + albums (and subsequent tours…and he still tours occasionally with the band still) he was around for sort of brought Sonic Youth back down to Earth a bit…just as it looked as if they’d gone over the edge.
That’s fucking impressive.
But what about this ‘composer’ background of his? Well…after not really paying him much mind since he and Sonic Youth amicably parted ways before the band got to work on ‘Rather Ripped’…I was re-introduced to him recently via his solo stuff thanks to the site last.fm (great site for music lovers and people who want to broaden the musical horizons…and its free I tells ya!).
And then it all totally made sense.
Dude is really, really talented.
So if you ever get a chance, and are so inclined, here are a couple of tunes to seek out…
‘Something Big’ from the album ‘Eureka’ (I may be wrong about this, but apparently this is a Burt Bacharach cover…with awesome backup singers included)
’94 the Long Way’ from the album “Bad Timing’ (14 minute epic that puts a smile on my face every time I hear it…so far…)
‘Halfway to a Threeway’ from the album “Halfway to a Threeway” (just listen to the lyrics…)
But for the sheer fact that he's given us an extra 5-10 years of enjoyment out of a rejuvinated and recovered Sonic Youth...I'll always be a fan!
The band...Jim is the little guy in the back...
So lets back up a bit and explain why that’s significant. First of all…Sonic Youth are probably considered the godfathers of grunge, and a bunch of other experimental musical sub genres dating back to the late 70’s early 80’s New York Punk/New Wave scene. When it comes to making beautiful ‘noise’…there aren’t many better. Now, I’m a big fan…but I can’t say that I’ve been a big fan for most of their career. Like many, I was introduced to Sonic Youth only after Nirvana told me about them. I liked their stuff…loud, chaotic noise rock, with odd sounding his and hers vocals to boot…and they saw what they were doing as ‘art’…something I did, and still do ‘understand’. But I didn’t own any of their albums…and was only really a fan of 2-3 of their more ‘radio friendly’ songs off the albums put out by DGC after punk and grunge really ‘broke’ in ‘92…but my roommate J at school was huge fan, and through him, and my maturing musical pallet, I became a bigger fan.
The bands previous effort to ‘Murray Street’ was the critical and commercial disaster NYC Ghosts & Flowers, so there was certainly a good chance that ‘Murray Street’ was going to suck…but I think I may have heard a song on the radio and thought ‘hey, that sounds pretty alright’ and went out and bought the CD that day or something like that…and the album ended up being the soundtrack to that summer. The band had seemingly ‘matured’ overnight…and become a legitimate rock and roll band, while still maintaining many of the characteristics that made them so identifiable throughout the 80’s and 90’s. But it was if they had cleaned up their act, and decided that they were indeed talented musicians, and were going to crank out good ‘tunes’ instead of just beautiful ‘noise’ for sake of making art. The next 2 albums that followed, ‘Sonic Nurse’ and ‘Rather Ripped’ were equally as impressive for their ‘reigned in’ feeling. Don’t get me wrong, they still rock out and get loud…and apparently they haven’t lost their edge live…but these 3 albums for me are examples of Sonic Youth at their best yet…they were writing songs.
So I bet you can guess why I suddenly became a ‘fan’ of one Jim O’Rourke. As the ‘do-everything-else’ 5th member of the band, O’Rourke had opened Sonic Youth to new ideas, while also bringing his ‘composer’ background as well as his own strong reputation within the world music community.
Here’s a sample from his last.fm bio.
“American indie rock and avant-garde musician, composer and producer Jim O’Rourke has been a key component in the increasing overlap of the American and European experimental music avant-garde, working in everything from jazz and rock to ambient and electro-acoustic and building many a bridge in between. A Chicago native, his work has found equal luck with experimental jazz and noise fanatics, chill room denizens, and bedroom experimentalists, and has had the resultant effect of cross-pollinating many otherwise isolated compositional communities.”
Dude is just a talented guy. And for whatever reason, I just really dig his style and the way he presents himself. He’s not a huge rock star…he’s just some unassuming guy in the back, twisting a few knobs and playing backing-backing guitar…fucking around on the drum kit…and all the while, he's single handedly saving one of rock and roll’s most important groups. If not for Jim O’Rourke…I’d wager that Sonic Youth’s career, at least critically, and outside of the cult hardcore fans, commercially, would probably be over right now. But the 2 + albums (and subsequent tours…and he still tours occasionally with the band still) he was around for sort of brought Sonic Youth back down to Earth a bit…just as it looked as if they’d gone over the edge.
That’s fucking impressive.
But what about this ‘composer’ background of his? Well…after not really paying him much mind since he and Sonic Youth amicably parted ways before the band got to work on ‘Rather Ripped’…I was re-introduced to him recently via his solo stuff thanks to the site last.fm (great site for music lovers and people who want to broaden the musical horizons…and its free I tells ya!).
And then it all totally made sense.
Dude is really, really talented.
So if you ever get a chance, and are so inclined, here are a couple of tunes to seek out…
‘Something Big’ from the album ‘Eureka’ (I may be wrong about this, but apparently this is a Burt Bacharach cover…with awesome backup singers included)
’94 the Long Way’ from the album “Bad Timing’ (14 minute epic that puts a smile on my face every time I hear it…so far…)
‘Halfway to a Threeway’ from the album “Halfway to a Threeway” (just listen to the lyrics…)
But for the sheer fact that he's given us an extra 5-10 years of enjoyment out of a rejuvinated and recovered Sonic Youth...I'll always be a fan!
posted by neil at 10:15 PM
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