Posts Tagged ‘Godspeed You Black Emperor’

  
Monday, September 14th, 2009

CD Review: Jim O’Rourke, “The Visitor”

by Dw. Dunphy

VisitorJim O’Rourke is either a master provocateur or just plain infuriating; it all depends on how you feel about his career as a whole. If you liked his experimental acoustic music with David Grubbs as Gastr Del Sol, you might not have been thrilled with his table-top noise compositions. If you enjoyed his indie-pop albums like Insignificance and Eureka, you might not have appreciated his tenure with Sonic Youth. If you liked his output overall, his hiatus while being Wilco’s go-to producer might have ticked you off. It’s fair to say that you can never be sure what you’ll get from O’Rourke.

When word came down that he was finally recording another album (even though he has been fairly prolific in his side jobs for the intervening eight years, so he has never actually gone away) the immediate impression among the indie-ites was that it would be song-based. They were right (sort of), because his latest, The Visitor, is in fact one song and only one song, lasting near forty minutes. It is not abstract collage or fringe at all; in fact, it’s quite accessible. It’s also completely instrumental. Give with one hand, take with the other.

The Visitor, aside from being one consistent track, acts as a companion piece to his Bad Timing album, also acoustic-rooted and instrumental yet four tracks in length. The flow of the music is that of O’Rourke’s guitar moving into crystalline passages, then getting punctuation from other instruments, then falling back into the guitar. These shifts provide the sense of songs within the piece, but make no mistake about it — this is a single musical statement. Producer O’Rourke gets the best of musician O’Rourke as, around the 19-minute mark, he plays with the piano parts, cutting them digitally to create a staccato, stuttering effect. Laid underneath is a brief electric guitar run, in and out, almost subliminally. Then at 23 minutes in, things subside back into organ wash, acoustic guitar, and it’s on to the next “feel.” (more…)

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Friday, June 5th, 2009

The Friday Mixtape: 6/5/09

by Dw. Dunphy

Let’s go outside. No, let’s go waaaaay outside!

Erik Sanko – The Perfect Flaw from Past Imperfect, Present Tense (2001)
Eyesinweasel – There She Goes Again from Wrinkled Thoughts (2000)
Gastr del Sol – Rebecca Sylvester from Upgrade & Afterlife (1996)
Godspeed You Black Emperor – Moya from Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada (1999)
Man or Astro-man? – 9 Volt from Experiment Zero (1996)
Melvins – Youth of America from Electroretard (2001)
Of Montreal – Forecast Fascist Future from The Sunlandic Twins (2005)
Palace Brothers – You Will Miss Me When I Burn from Days in the Wake (1994)
Papa M – Over Jordan from Whatever, Mortal (2001)
Rachel’s – Lloyd’s Register from The Sea and the Bells (1996)
Sunny Day Real Estate – In Circles from Diary (1994)
The For Carnation – Moonbeams from The For Carnation (2000)
Tomahawk – Mayday from Mit Gas (2003)
Tortoise – Glass Museum from Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)
Trans Am – American Kooter from Trans Am (1996)
Velocity Girl – I Can’t Stop Smiling from Simpatico (1994)

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Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Dw. Dunphy On… The New Indie Stereotypes

by Dw. Dunphy

I posted an unsympathetic, knee-jerk response to a review on an indie-rock site, not to the review but to the band and the name of their album. The band is Rabbit Is A Sphere and the album is titled Hope Is a Cinder That Blinks Quietly Until You Die. I was taken to task for criticizing the band and the album, and rightly so, because I hadn’t actually heard it. Guilty as charged. I still haven’t heard it, mind you, and I should seek it out. Nonetheless, I have been chafing at this latest eccentricity found in the Indie Rock community of trying to create the most eye-crossingly confused group name and the longest album title possible. The current champion of the latter category is Marnie Stern who’s recent release has received very good reviews and glowing praise for her guitar prowess. The album:This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That.

‘Scuze me while I suck on my oxygen mask.

The original intent of Indie Rock, or so I had been led to believe, was to be somehow set aside from the stereotypes of rock, and the only way to achieve that separation was to oppose them head-on; rock star flamboyance, manicured self-image and backstory, songs that defy the simplistic, lunkheaded boy-meets-girl and let’s get drunk ‘n party fare all had to be confronted. Because labels had a tendency to shy away from bands who didn’t play the game, it was necessary to do it D.I.Y. (do it yourself, for the abbreviation-challenged) and so, through a type of attrition, musical dominant traits evolved for the Indie Rocker. These traits are now as stereotypical as the traits they ran from.

Hasn’t done me much good though. I’ve been quietly releasing music for awhile now and, yeah, maybe I self consciously avoid falling into these new/old habits, but I still shop for my clothes at Target and hold down a day job. So come with me on a journey to remake myself into the next hot Indie Rock phenomenon, hopefully hot enough to sell out to a major label and, afterward, explain myself to or chastise my fanbase for never having gotten “me” at all. Fun times! Let’s go!

(more…)

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