Jim O'Rourke is one of the indie rock legends, but if you haven't heard of him before - this is somebody that will make you regret your life. Not only was he a fifth member of Sonic Youth for a couple of years, he also mixed or produced albums for Faust, Stereolab, Wilco, Smog, Joanna Newsom, Fennesz, Nurse With Wound, Merzbow and Flying Saucer Attack, to name just a few. In the meantime, he won a grammy for Wilco's A Ghost Is Born, scored Werner Herzog's movies and taught iCarly how not to sing. He now lives in Tokio and is pals with with japanese artist Mimiyo Tomozawa, whose work appears on the covers of many O'Rourke albums, including brilliant, brilliant Eureka.
Although Tomozawa could still teach Joan Cornellà one or two things, I am definitely passing on finding connections between whatever-is-happening on the cover and the content of the album. And forget the bunny, because the music on Eureka is excellent: O'Rourke experiments with different musical styles, mixes simple guitar-based melodies with orchestral anthems, and elements that theoretically shouldn't go together somehow fit into place. Instrumentals, covers, own compositions - there is no real narrative here, yet everything seems smooth and coherent. This is also the first album where he introduced the vocals, and the witty, ironic lyrics are one of the highlights of the record.
Eureka is a homage to several artists - Nicolas Roeg, after whose movie it was named, Ivor Cutler and Burt Bacharach, whose songs O'Rourke covered, and Chris Burden, whose performance pieces gave the name to some tracks on the album. And although art-driven and experimental, Eureka is still a pop record - a damn good one.
The funny thing is, O'Rourke has said several times that he doesn't like this album. Well, but I do. I really, really do.
Listen to Eureka on grooveshark.
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