e a r p e a c e : audio reviews

jim o'rourke eureka (drag city)
some have described this as being very much like his last, happy days, with vocals. not far off the mark, i guess, but the more significant direction is towards a more "pop" sound. i feel like this one suggest a different perspective on the last couple of gastr del sol releases, with the idea that the "difficult" type sounds were more of david grubbs' contribution, and the emerging smooth-sounding stuff was predominantly jim's direction. i have read in a couple of interviews that he wanted gastr to do true "pop" recording, but that was not the result. more on the gastr del sol saga at another time, because i want to get back to eureka. like happy days, it has a lush feel to it, with jim flexing his formidable arranging and producing muscles. lots of pedal steel, various horns, backing vocals. there is an excellent sense of humor at work, and some of the sixties styles contained are played very straight. you could almost imagine hearing them over the speakers at your local discount mart. jim's lyrics are straightforward and convey uncomplicated meanings without being obscure. there is an earnest effort to communicate in an accessible way on this record, which is hard to remove from the context of his discography of challenging and creative takes on improvised and formidably difficult musical forms. i also wish to complement the cover, which features subversive, suggestive or even perverse use of what would be in other hands, or in other contexts, innocuous colors and images. i think the best punch line or punctuation to this work, would be to hear it over the radio, used in an unironic, popular format. how much more subversive can you get than to do good, intelligent pop music?
stephen prina push comes to love (drag city)
the most immediately reference for this disk is the red krayola, due to prina's role in the drag city incarnation of mayo thompson's long-running collective. the next referent is that this was co-produced by the david grubbs and jim o'rourke, late of gastr del sol. i am only familiar with prina due to his involvement with the red krayola, but i have seen several articles mentioning him as an artist/composer, working and teaching, i believe, at the pasadena college of the arts. there is a dominant theme involving sexual/social interactions, with the cover art featuring animal pairs. this recording seems to be an exercise in collaboration, with a variety of individuals contributing and prina, grubbs and o'rourke, in various combinations, providing the musical settings. o'rourke's settings are reminiscent of his work as an arranger/producer with such artists as untitled (cynthia dahl), and edith frost, in that they are spare and appropriate, enhancing rather from distracting. i am impelled by this work to revisit my krayola cds to sniff out the prina aspects. my impression is that it is going to take awhile to sift thru this. on first few listens, it seems slight, tho perhaps this is due to my being often distracted by other activities when it is on. i definitely recommend this to those who appreciate the aforementioned nineties the red krayola, while it might be less appreciable by those who are pursuing the chicago/gastr del sol connection, due to the lack of immediately perceptible complexity, expecially in the musical side of this. those who like a diverting lyrical experience, with some whimsy involved, and with the inclination to ponder meaning, would be well served by hearing this a few times. it is definitely in my rotation, for the present time. i have found song called "trevor" to be particularly caught in my brain pan, with it's rumination on an unwashed dog's life and catchy chorus with horns part.
moebius/conny plank/mayo thompson ludwig's law (drag city)
1983 sessions apparently rejected by moebius' label due to an inability to make head or tail of this project. for the unitiated, dieter moebius is one-half of the duo known as cluster (aka kluster), who have been responsible for a series of recordings emanating from germany since 1970 or so, sometimes included in the amorphously inclusive genre known as "kraut-rock". the late conny plank is best known for his role as a producer of "euro-disco" dance music. mayo thompson has intermittently led the tactical noise/art-rock collective the red crayola (aka the red krayola- does anyone see a pattern here?) since 1966, as well as participating in various forays as producer and label head (rough trade, in the early eighties). thompson was invited to add words and vocals to this predominantly drum machine and synth-oriented set. topics include the fate of chickens owned by a "farmer gabriel" and the effect of lack of sunlight on human intelligence. heady stuff, but i love it a lot. i must warn you that i am not in any way objective when it comes to projects involving mayo thompson, having been a pursuer of his work since i first stumbled on a used copy of the parable of arable land. nevertheless, i unreservedly recommend this one. i think it has some accessible appeal to anyone who likes to think about the music they listen to. kudos for the cover which features a clever manipulation of the duo of romulus and remus into a trio.
derek bailey playbacks (bingo)
it is gratifying to see that derek bailey has become ubiquitous at the better record stores. his releases are too many for me to keep up with, especially since they rarely seem to show up in the used bins. I guess that most people hold onto these. this one is somewhat of a followup to guitar, drums’n’bass. on that one, he played over tracks by a dj ninj. on this one, he plays over tracks supplied by a who’s-who of "post-rock" affiliated folks, including jim o’rourke and loren mazzacane connors, henry kaiser, john herndon, sasha frere-jone, bundy k. brown, etc. you can depend on a derek bailey release featuring his patented improvised guitar scrape and plunk. it sounds much better than it might read, especially when he is in his aggressive mode, and he is here. the track with casey rice approaches his collisions/collaborations with the japanese noise/improv rhythm section the ruins (highly recommended: derek and the ruins saisoro). if you haven’t heard of bailey, i would describe him as being a true original stylist, a man in his sixties who has influenced other guitar players since the late sixties. eugene chadbourne has often stated that hearing derek bailey changed his life. his description of listening to bailey play along with a drums’n’bass radio broadcast is transcendant. listening to bailey’s work does, however, require a willingness to give up rigid conventions which your local fascist hairdo rock or jazz guitar teacher may not be able to appreciate. definitely their loss.
nels cline trio ground (krown pocket)
nels cline + devin sarno edible flowers (win)
i need to thank mr. glen bergers for putting a nels cline trio cut, "cropped" from ground, on a mix tape he made for me. it has caused me to search for more of the same flavor, that flavor being very noisy avant-jazz/rock/noisy guitar over nicely elastic rhythm section. his work with mike watt, specifically on contemplating the engine room, is stellar and very impressive, in my opinion. he also plays with the geraldine fibbers. ground, also available as a triple 7 inch, is that monster i wanted. props to neptune in royal oak for ordering this one for me and getting into my eager fingers so fast (this is not an advertisement). no vocals here, just skads of smoking, intense trio dynamics with that cline guitar zagging back and forth in the netherland between intelligent rock and noisy jazz. which sounds like it could be horrible, doesn't it? this is one that lives up to the promise of those roots, not taking itself too seriously, but not underestimating the curiousity and intelligence of its audience. it gets loud, it gets a little quieter, it gets simple, sweet, fast and complex in turns. this is a keeper. destined for heavy rotation here at earpeace world hq.
the edible flowers cd, however, is a more of an improvised setting, with abstract sounds being pulled out of the guitars (i assume), mostly recorded in a live setting. i am not familiar with devin sarno, so my commentary here has more to do with my enthusiasm for nels cline. he has a nice twisty way of manipulating the sound of the guitar. If you are a fan of long-form improvised noisy guitar, this is some of the good stuff. you know, i like this stuff, tho i already seem to have accumulated quite a collection of generally similar kinds of outings. it is his short, focused warped guitar takes that have really turned my head. i find that work to be more original, because the form does defy the type of creative explosions and surprises he is so successful at. i am, however, in search of the collaboration with thurston moore pillow wand. my investigations continue, with cline marked as someone to watch.
nuno canavarro plux quba (moikai)
originally issued in 1988 in portugal, now reissued as the first release on jim o'rourke's new moikai label. i won't lay any claim to discovering this, since i was moved to pick it up by its appearance on a number of top ten lists for 1998. i will add my voice to the chorus of cheers, tho. using electronics, melodica and pre-recorded tapes, caravarro creates an idiosyncratic soundscape which charms me all the more for its disorienting effect on my co-workers. thoroughly modern-sounding, with bleeping and chirping sounds arranged in a truly peculiar mixture. i found the effect unique. i believe i'm not the only one, so have at it, folks. attaboy to jim o'rourke for this dragging this one out of the dungeons of obscurity, into, well, at least out for some better distribution.
sam prekop sam prekop (thrill jockey)
while this one is a solo recording, the musicians used are a combination of members from the sea and cake (including prekop and archer prewitt) and various associates of jim o'rourke (who produces here). i picked this one up because i thought the combination sounded promising, and there are times when i find the sea and cake somewhat interesting to listen to. so far, my opinion of this recording is that it has a fairly light touch to it, in an thoughtful and intentional way. there is some vibe connecting this with the jim o'rourke and stephen prina records reviewed above. i really like some of the guitar parts. some of the string and horn arrangements remind me of stuff on the love album forever changes, which is high praise, in my opinion. o'rourke's hand on this seems very apparent, which is another good thing going for it. i was prepared to give this a mild slam, but as i listen to it over again for confirmation of its deserving of rebuke, i am hearing a quite supple strength, a tensile value to the arrangements and composition, and a fine ongoing development in the work. i am drawn in, when i was prepared to be bored and dismissive. i look forward to hearing this one more times this coming summer.
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b.wildered
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