NY times article
letter to the arts & leisure editor at the times:
I was surprised to read that Adam Shatz had both professed fandom and disdain at musician Jim O'Rourke (5/19/02 Arts and Leisure Section's "Playing With Rock, Er, 'Rock'") for his so called "cheerful misanthropy" as exhibited on O'Rourke's recent release, and really must say it's unfair to sum him up as part of a pack of "sour white men" like David Foster Wallace, Neil LaBute and Todd Solondz without proper perspective of everything the man has done, and not even allowing him to explain his take on lyric-writing.
Lyrically, some of O'Rourke's "puerile malice" (not to mention his "kinky" graphics) can easily be traced to his adoration for another musical/cultural oddity, the Frogs, a pair of brothers from Wisconsin who, through the 1980s and 90s released albums of pristene, perfectly arranged pop music with bizarre lyrics. Like O'Rourke (who has professed much love for the Frogs in interviews, even reissuing their first LP on his own label) they too exhibited a masterful reign over a very eclectic array of musical styles, and I believe that he and many of his fans totally indentify this band as a very high example of what pop and rock music can project at its most perverse.
It seems fruitless in describing, as Shatz did, O'Rourke's lyrical put-downs as lacking in the depth and meaning of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan; clearly O'Rourke loves music so much that he is willing to allow other influences (meaningful to him) seep into his work, influences that haven't been so overtrodden through the years. To Jim O'Rourke, the worlds of top 40 pop, 70s rock, 20th Century Classical, experimental electronic music, folk and noise all coexist in one happy sandbox for him to apply parts of to his music at his leisure. I felt Shatz only really took a magnifying glass to a very small part of the picture in terms of defining what the "artistic statement" must be based on a few recent releases.
It seems to me like some of the best artistic statements have been made by those who left everyone scratching their heads.
Brian Turner
WFMU Radio
Jersey City, NJ
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letter to the arts & leisure editor at the times:
I was surprised to read that Adam Shatz had both professed fandom and disdain at musician Jim O'Rourke (5/19/02 Arts and Leisure Section's "Playing With Rock, Er, 'Rock'") for his so called "cheerful misanthropy" as exhibited on O'Rourke's recent release, and really must say it's unfair to sum him up as part of a pack of "sour white men" like David Foster Wallace, Neil LaBute and Todd Solondz without proper perspective of everything the man has done, and not even allowing him to explain his take on lyric-writing. Lyrically, some of O'Rourke's "puerile malice" (not to mention his "kinky" graphics) can easily be traced to his adoration for another musical/cultural oddity, the Frogs, a pair of brothers from Wisconsin who, through the 1980s and 90s released albums of pristene, perfectly arranged pop music with bizarre lyrics. Like O'Rourke (who has professed much love for the Frogs in interviews, even reissuing their first LP on his own label) they too exhibited a masterful reign over a very eclectic array of musical styles, and I believe that he and many of his fans totally indentify this band as a very high example of what pop and rock music can project at its most perverse.
It seems fruitless in describing, as Shatz did, O'Rourke's lyrical put-downs as lacking in the depth and meaning of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan; clearly O'Rourke loves music so much that he is willing to allow other influences (meaningful to him) seep into his work, influences that haven't been so overtrodden through the years. To Jim O'Rourke, the worlds of top 40 pop, 70s rock, 20th Century Classical, experimental electronic music, folk and noise all coexist in one happy sandbox for him to apply parts of to his music at his leisure. I felt Shatz only really took a magnifying glass to a very small part of the picture in terms of defining what the "artistic statement" must be based on a few recent releases.
It seems to me like some of the best artistic statements have been made by those who left everyone scratching their heads.
Brian Turner
WFMU Radio
Jersey City, NJ
- bill 5-22-2002 12:22 am