Jim o'rourke

[mark <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got hold of the Jim O'Rourke CD "I'm happy and I'm singing and 1,2,3,4"
yesterday. Not quite sure if its full on ".microsound" but it certainly uses
a lot of oval like tricks on the second track. I believe that it was
generated
by o'rourke applying computer processing to recorded acoustic material.

The first track ("I'm happy") is a stunning piece - very similar in style to
early american minimalism but focused more on the music than the technique.
As far as I can tell it is made from snippits culled from recorded real
instruments looped and processed against each other.

The second piece ("and I'm singing") is more overtly processed and full of
the glitch work that
defines a lot of microsound work - the source material appears to be a
pleasant
guitar based piece which O'Rouke presumably recorded himself - the
processing
ranges from severe and almost industrial to gentle loop based effects.

The last piece ("and 1,2,3,4") starts off with slow and stately string
sounds - which
are increasingly effected to generate intense feedback type sounds and
digitial
artefacts. The track seems to be contiualy ending becoming more and more
electronic over time.

The whole cd has an energy that sets it above a lot of this type of work -
it has those moments of total beauty (oval manages these well too) that just
seem to take your breath away. There is also a wilfulness here that adds
a lot to the work.

I think that this is a really important piece of work  and a must have for
your cd collection.

Hope people don't mind the fact I've been posting reviews of late - I'm not
really
a great one for reviewing cd's but  Dust theories and the O'Rourke CD I've
just wanted to shout about....

cheers

mark