Customer Reviews

Insignifcance

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wanted to like this album, I really did. I am a huge fan of avant-garde outfit Gastr Del Sol (of which O'Rourke was one half) and my expectations were high. Charmed by Mimiyo Tomozawa's cover art I slipped the cd into my stereo to discover ... what I can only describe as almost commercial pop rock. I kid you not friends. Gone are Gastr's wonderful soundscapes and fascinating tape effects. Instead we have 4/4 signature pop rock coupled with O'Rourke's downbeat vocals. Now don't get me wrong: the lyrics are just as witty as ever and there are some nice snatches of melody here and there (particularly in the standout track of the album, 'Get a Room'). Perhaps my expectations are too high. After all, Gastr is no more and O'Rourke has a right to develop as an artist in any way he chooses - pop sensibilities were clearly signalled in the last Gastr album 'Camofleur' (which is a fine album by the way). Pop has a place and if you want pop then this will do just fine, but my chief reaction to the album is a feeling of disappointment. An artist of O'Rourke's calibre is surely capable of more.

I purchased this album without really knowing what I was buying. I got it because it came up in the "people who purchased this item also purchased..." page when I bought the Loose Fur album, which also features O'Rourke.

I absolutely love it. I've now listened to Sonic Youth and Loose Fur and have decided that O'Rourke is at his best when he's solo. I bought this CD not really knowing much about Jim O'Rourke, but now I'm a big fan.

If it's true about stereophonical Kelly Jones bizarrely claiming Dylan's vitriolic 'Positively 4th Street' as his all-time favourite song (bizarre in-part because it's minor Dylan) then he should whooping with childish glee at Jim's wide array of barbed lyrical put-downs on 'Insignificance', O'Rourke's second 'straight' solo album. "listening to you reminds me of a motor's endless drone/and how the deaf are so damn lucky" from 'Memory Lame', "I've travelled round the world/why am I talking to you", from another.

That the album is being touted as a "southern-fried rock album" is confusing. It's Jim's rock album in the same way that Lifes Rich Pageant was REM's rock album; both labelled by their opening tracks. Only three songs rock and even then the lyrics are delivered in that familiar sardonic, unfazed manner, with the tunes themselves morphing restlessly into beatific rural melodies. The title track even appears like some High Llamas before it quickly tires of the comparison and shifts into something more exciting. The tag with this album is not the rock as such but the employment of a live band (Jeff Tweedy wouldn't really arrive on any album with "RAWK!" emblazoned on his shirt collar). Jim wanted the album fresher, more immediate. His previous album, the densely arranged cycling 'Eureka', sounded like the result of several months alone, cocooned in a studio. But even though 'Insignificance' is sparser, more simplistic, it's still exquisitely crafted. There are no loose jams....

And it's the craft that makes this album a wonder to behold. Those ever shifting melodies, the effortless jumps from 'Cold Blooded Old Times' stylie two chord Velvet rock to brass inflected pastoral folk, the multitude of ideas on each song, each greedily cast aside for the next. These are the things Mr Jones should be paying greater attention to. The short length of the album may irk but it's all the more astonishing for the ground covered. The Stereophonics, after all their tedious and long-winded years of song, are still fumbling with the needle at the end of side one.

Nevertheless if these taut superlative thirty-odd minutes still leave you blissfully unaware of the perverse charms of Jim O'Rourke then you only need to look in baffled wonder at the brightly coloured sleeve. It features an octopus 'entertaining' a Japanese man-baby.

This is undoubtedly O'rourke's best album that is credited to him alone(as he seems to have a hand in everything released these days). The quirky beats, catchy chords, and lyrical wizardry lends to this album a quality that is present but not fully realized in the earlier Euereka. What was missing in his earlier work is included here.
The first three songs are orchestrated very similarly. O'rourke seemed to pick a rhythmic theme for each one and then layer upon pianos, xylaphones, sporadic drum beats and soothing lyrics. The blatantly redundant rhythms anchor the music in rock, but the other elements help provide the signature quirkiness and brilliance that is synonomous with the artist. The piano keys pound away on Insignificance chopstick like while O'Rourke languidly lets lyrics spill into each other, and then makes the chorus bridge-like.
I shant go on, but this is a gem, good music is being made and this is evidence of it

The hefy sum of which I speak is of course your own rational mind (or what you thought was your own before you gave Mr. O'Rourke a listen). Be prepared to bathe in the splendor of what Jim O'Rourke has created for an infinite amount of time because the beauty of this music will engulf your mind. Every post-O'Rourke thought will belong to both Jim and yourself, so abandon all hope of privacy.--Of course I'm joking, but this is truly wonderful music. While I don't particularly enjoy his noise related recordings, everything else the man associates himself with is pure ecstasy. So in closing, give Jim a chance (and also your mind).

There are some of you out there just like me, I know, and it's alright that you don't admit it. You may not be buying this album because of say...the circle that Jim O'Rourke runs around with...Wilco's new whatever's number 17 right now on amazon (about as "underground" as pearl jam or backstreet boys...go look.)and then theres all those japs with their stupid loungue-psychedelic-noise syrup trying to act like they rock and all watching kiddie cartoons.
Despite all that, the sound clips sound nice don't they? It's hopeful--letting nothing matter, isn't it? So let me say I was surprised at how little it got on my nerves. So maybe it's not worth 15 bux, but it's worth owning--esp. in our disposable rock society (there used to be hundreds of good rock bands...I swear)
glubaks right.
AY! remember High Fidelity? "I just want something on in the background that I can tune out."

Jim O'Rourke's profile is high these days since his involvement in two of the year's most anticipated releases, Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and Sonic Youth's "Murray Street". But the man in the stripy pants has trumped the alternative rock icons - his own CD "Insignificance" is by far the best of the three albums.

This is music rooted in the early 70's in the nicest possible way. A mix of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar muscle, Todd Rundgren piano-based pop, Joni Mitchell acoustic delicacy and Steely Dan melodic sophistication. And then, mid-song, he's likely to fall into a weird rhythmic lock-step.

It's fascinating stuff and catchy as hell. A great album.

I was really surprised by this album. I had never listened to O'Rourke or Gastr Del Sol- though I have been trying, for they are difficult to obtain around here.
The songs are amazing; I think of them all day. O'Rourke's artful pop drills into your head. Each song has something I can't put my finger on- I think it's the way he sings it coupled with his cynical lyrics. It seems like he was trying to create the opposite of the standard love song pop album. His lyrics are extremely pessimistic but have such a nice feel to them with his poignant, humble voice. You won't want these seven songs to end. This is one of the best recordings of 2001- And I've listened to a LOT of music in 2001.

Jim O'rourke is a brilliant musician, and for proof of this, you need look no further than his previous cds and his work as producer for Stereolab. What made Eureka and Halfway to a Threeway so memorable for me, though, is absent on this latest cd: the avant garde touch that infused without overpowering smartly crafted songs. On Insignificance, O'rourke seems to be mining his 70s influences to good effect, but the songs lack that special mad touch that elevated prior works. It's a solid disc, for sure, but I expected a little more beautiful weirdness than it delivers.

First let me say that "Eureka" and "Insignificance" have the coolest cover art of the past several years. Mimiyo Tomozawa has a hilarious sense of humor with her art. You should see the inside pictures as well as the covers. If anyone knows of a website that contains her work, please email me.

Okay, now to the review. After finally hearing Jim O'Rourke's album "Eureka" I decided that I had to get some of his other albums. Just as I had expected, this album is incredible. It has a different aura than "Eureka," yet if you put them both in the cd player together and hit shuffle, it would still make perfect since. I'm very intrigued by how Jim writes his songs.

The first song, "All Downhill From Here," starts off as a typical alternative rock song with semi-fuzzed out guitar and then turns into a signature Jim O'Rourke beauty. "Therefore, I Am" continues with the electric guitar theme that is not so present on "Eureka." It sort of reminds me of driving home from work on a Friday in the summer with the windows down. You're happy that you don't have to go back to that horrible place until Monday and the world is yours for a short period. Just feel good rock really.

A moment that I really enjoy is when Jim picks up the acoustic again on "Good Times" and gives us that lovely side of folk that he's so great at. My favorite here has to be "Get A Room." At first I thought it was a remake of that Edie Brickell song "What I Am" from the early 90's. If you don't believe me, listen to the first five seconds of the song. It's so much better, though. I apologize if that was a bad comparison. It's just a beautiful song. It's the type of song I've really come to enjoy from O'Rourke. By the way, is that a Rhode's I hear in the song? Oh yeah, many thanks to Jim for bringing out the pedal steel on the last song "Life Goes Off." Nothing gets me more than the sound of a good steel guitar in a song.

The thing that's funny to me about this album that I didn't really feel on "Eureka" is that sometimes, only occasionally, Jim's voice reminds me of Jack Black's from Tenacious D. That's not to compare the two by any means, but it's sorta true and funny. Not the whole album, but just occasionally.

In the end, I strongly recommend this album. It's a lot of fun and very precious at times. If you enjoy any of O'Rourke's work, this will be no exception. Now, onward with my journey to explore other albums by Jim O'Rourke. Hopefully, again, I'll be able to type another great review of some of his other work.