This here e.p. (or mini album I suppose as it's 40-odd minutes long) is a great piece in the Jim O'Rourke discography. It takes in both his John Fahey-esque acoustic stuff and his loptop experimentalism, with smatterings of his jazzy americana thrown in too. I'd even go out on a limb and say, to me at least, this is a more essential piece than his more recent "Visitor" album.Here's a brief summary of essentials from his discography, with comments ... for newcomers:
"Happy Days" (Revenant Records 1997) - another drone, acoustic, experimental treat
"Eureka" (Drag City 1999) - contains his cover of Ivor Cutlers "Women of the World", and the O'Rourke greats "Ghost Ship in a Storm" & "Through The Night Softly"
"Halfway to a Threeway" ep (Drag City 1999) - long e.p. containing some of his best acoustic songs
"I'm Happy and I'm Singing and a 1, 2, 3, 4" (Mego 2001) - perhaps his best laptop glitch-tronica output, avant-garde but brilliant!
"Insignificance" (Drag City 2001) - his "straightest" album. All restrained arrangements (but still clever!) dark, bittersweet lyrics with some rougher guitars thrown in too.
Happy Trails
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