It had never occured to me that those three Jim O'Rourke albums were named after Nic Roeg films - the more you know! TWLITF is one of the finest Low albums, definitely in my top three (and I love all of them). At the moment, every single time I pick up a guitar I automatically play Sunflower. - a glorious song. The album was as you say a tremendous step forward for the band, musically, lyrically and emotionally; there's a great episode of the podcast Life of the Record in which Alan and Mimi talk about the making of it. Thanks again for another brilliant video, I really appreciate your honesty and bravery in talking about your own life's ups and downs and how the music you listened to related to it. Cheers!
There's a wonderful interview with O'Rourke, touching on everything from prog rock to films to Stewart Lee, at he following link... toneglow.substack.com/p/014-jim-orourke A very interesting guy indeed. Features some great anecdotes (the Fahey one is pure gold) and a great window on his musician/non-musician approach to art. I came across this the same time as I found the transcript of that Low podcast you mentioned, and enjoyed them both immensely. Very wary of oversharing, but I think it's only right to acknowledge the circumstances that inform some of the musical choices for this series. 2001 was a low...some of it down to unfortunate circumstances, some of it me f**king up big-style. A bad year, but a necessary one, in a lot of ways...a real catalyst for change. Cheers, D
When I saw the overwhelming green-ness of the thumbnail, I thought "is he doing the 3rd Weezer record?" which, despite being their last listenable platter, does not seem very "you". For me, 2001 was the year I started to listen to contemporary music again, though usually informed by music video channels (had to be aware of the pop charts to know what people were asking for), and the only album that really stuck with me to this day is I Get Wet by Andrew W.K. I'm a sucker for bombast AND four on the floor beats, so smashing those together is right up my alley. And, of course, I now have some more homework, since you made this album sound so interesting!
I think this years top one for me was Rival Schools ‘United By Fate’. It’s a fuzzy one. I think I was working a lot while trying to get my band further along (pretty much single-handed…). Other highlights: Clouddead ‘Clouddead’, Propaghandhi ‘Todays Empires, Tomorrows Ashes’, Fugazi ‘The Argument’, Hot Water Music ‘A Flight And A Crash’, Rival Schools ‘United By Fate’, RFTC ‘Group Sounds’, Small Brown Bike ‘Dead Reckoning’, Stapleton ‘On The Enjoyment Of Unpleasant Places’, GBV ‘Isolation Drills’! Tomahawk - s/t, Mogwai ‘Rock Action’. I was at work when the news came in about the twin towers and beyond. My sister rang me and said she was watching it live in the marketing dept of the head office of the bank we both worked for. Within seconds I was watching it as well. Felt like the end of the world. Still could be. Sobering and shocking in equal measure. No thank you. Another top video. Thanks, D!
A very tragic year for me that year. My dad crashed with a plane shortly after 9/11…. Your album choice checks all my boxes or my choice hardly differs. The Jim O Rourke album is/was fab and it is time for me to revisit such albums🌟
Sorry to hear that, Erwin. Some years just seem to store up all the bad things, and then let them loose all at once. 2001 was a bit like that, and 2013 was just as bad, now I come to think of it. "Insignificance" is a record that I just end up reaching for all the time...a "constant companion" record. Always hear something new every time I play it! Cheers, D
Yeah, if you were putting together a relief package, a handful of Low albums to represent the best of what they were about, then Things We Lost would be one of them, without question. Cheers, D
I continue to love this series. Thank you. No mention of “Is this It?” Or “White Blood Cells”? Maybe both those bands got a bit “too famous” but in 2001 those were both incredible to me. The sheer audacity of the White Stripes to have one guitar and drums and to sound as massive and manic and scatterbrained as they did. I saw them live a few times in 2001 and wow, they were amazing. Songs stuffed inside other songs, open homage of the blues that rekindled what was exciting and wild about the blues. Also, Murray Street was freaking great and ushered in a new version of Sonic Youth that made so many amazing songs. It was as if they distilled all the experimental sounds and brought them into their full control.
Cheers Andrew. Those were things in the "listened to, never bought" category at that time. We did have a song around then that had a "fun" section we'd throw odd snatches into when playing it live. The two-chord intro/chorus section of "Last Nite" was one of those...always drew confused looks whenever we dropped a few bars in! D
Tough year for you, the rawness still visible in the video all these years later. Even global tragedies like 9/11 and Covid cannot diminish that most personal pain. For me, 2001 came down to a choice between discovering an artist quite late and another with their debut album. And it got me thinking about how I discover artists and how it has changed over the years. Different eras. Nick Cave’s No more shall we part was a work colleague lending me a CD - try this. Elbow’s Asleep in the back was pretty much the midpoint of a 20ish year period of buying Q magazine when there was a free CD taped to the cover. This particular CD contained Newborn, an almost 8 minute long track in the vein of Genesis, Pink Floyd and others in the 70’s when I was cutting my musical teeth. I bought the CD within days. I lasted the more than usual 2-3 albums with Elbow but I played the album this week and it’s been a while. Tracks occasionally come up when CarPlay is on Shuffle. To this day Red and Scattered black & whites are amongst my favourite Elbow tracks. Red could be #1. So Elbow sneaks it, on the nostalgia for Q magazine.
Hi Darren! It's definitely The Argument for me but The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads by Lift To Experience comes pretty close. I remember listening to the first Tenacious D album a lot, the music is great but the comedy interludes quickly became tiring. I'm struggling to think of other contemporary releases that I liked. There was a music shop just around the corner from where I worked, and around this time they got a load of fairly obscure 70s stuff that they sold cheaply. I ended up getting a pile of Peter Hammill, Van der Graaf Generator, Magma, and Klaus Schulze CDs so that was mostly what I listened to in 2001.
Hi. Yeah, The Argument was a biggie...but I completely forgot LTE. I was doing some low-key fanzine stuff to try and keep me sane around then, and I actually interviewed Josh after their Norwich show this year. Nice guy, very patient, rubbish questions, and I've totally blanked it! Doh. Like a fair bit of that particular strand of prog, I must admit...particularly the Magma/Zuul stuff. Cheers, D PS: Thanks for the CD BTW...busy week with editing and travel (away from home right now), so it's queued up for a proper play when I get back next week.
Stephen Malkmus had a solo record came out this year. My dad and I would trade music and this was a record I gave him to listen to that he absolutely loved. I miss this so very much in the years he's been gone and find a few things that I have a strong connection with him hard to listen to even after a decade. Post 9/11 saw the release of Hope Sandoval's album Bavarian Fruitbread. The tone just suited the time for me and as things starting to go wrong so very wrong before they would eventually start to go right again for me. Probably my pick for hte eyar becasue it was rarely out of the disc player in the shop or car after I acquired this.
I think I only caught up with solo Malkmus circa the Jicks, so I should really go back and investigate that one. Not sure how I overlooked it back in the day, to be honest. I lost a close relative in 2013...an uncle, only a few years older than me, so much more of an older brother type figure to me (I'm the oldest of three, so no "actual" older brother/sister). There are a handful of songs, most of them fairly cheesy 80s pop numbers, songs I always associate with him, that can absolutely crush me, to this day...so yeah, I totally get you there. Music just has that direct line to the past that can transport you without warning. Cheers, D
Useless to try and guess really but I thought you'd maybe mention Hood this year. Probably since you like Bark Psychosis so much. Guess I was mostly listening to GBV, Bjork and White Stripes in 2001 FWIW Buffalo Springfield.
2001, what a shit year!!! I clearly remember eating some perfect grilled sardines when the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center. Since this year the world has changed for the worse. there is only one record that reflects this confusion - Drukqs for Aphex Twin. The Glow Pt. 2 by Microphones is close. Since 2004, I've been wanting to hear Jim O'Rourke's records. Now the opportunity presents itself again. thanks for your video.
The only other "songs" album from O'Rourke in the last 20 years is "Simple Songs" (2014?) which is a good follow-up to the Roeg trilogy. Most of his recent stuff is very much on the experimental side of things, so tread carefully if that's not your bag. Cheers, D
Sooooo, love this pariod of O'Rouke, particularly 'Eureka', but not discovered til a couple of years later. 'The Arguement' is probably my least liked Fugazi release, it just feels less 'pure' than what came before, but haven't listened to it for a decade at least so maybe I need to go back? Later in 2001 I was newly qualifying in my feild of expertise (cue uproarious laughter) but earlier in the year I was communting miles to a particular placement that I hated and during those long, long train and bus rides 'Things We Lost In The Fire' (along with the earlier released 'Lift Yr Skinny Fists...') was a costant companion. So suited the mood and the grasping for a hope that things would eventually get better. Converge's 'Jane Doe' came out in 2001 but I wouldn't get into this kinda harsh, screamed metalcore insanity for another perhaps 2 years (which is a shame - might have done me some cathartic good). Major omission alert (klaxon, klaxon); no love for 'Asleep At The Back'? I know Elbow have seemed to lose their way somewhat in recent years but those first 2,3 albums with their sombre yet hopeful tones swooped over by Guy Garvey's soaring, bear-man falsetto still mean a lot (for various reasons). I only have to listened to that bass-y, slinkiy, funky 'Any day now' riff and I'm back there, feeling the joy and the sorrow in equal parts. Here's to better times Darren, cheers! :-)
Incidentally I missed 9/11 in real time as I think I was on yet another commute at the time, earphones in situ. If I recall I think I was in denial about the extent of the horror until some time later and just ignored it all (ahh, sweet dissociation...). GYBE's 'Rockets fall on Rocket Falls' anyone?
Kozelek? Can I leave RHP's 'Rollercoaster' or 'April' or 'Admiral Fell Promises' by SKM completely behind? Well no, but they now sit in an uncomfortable wider context...
Hey Mark. Garvey's a nice guy, good taste, but Elbow have always left me a bit cold. I found good portion of the UK alt/indie stuff a bit uninspiring at the turn of the millennium, so no slight on them, more of a wider listening thing for me. The PhD thing was a disaster...I'd been shunted off into a basement room and left to it, and then my supervisor left (pretty much overnight) for a much better paid job. Couldn't get anyone to take over my supervision, I had zero staff support, and a very short window (due to bursary/grant arrangements) to decide whether or not to jump ship. Ran out of options, basically. Did affect my career progression longer term, but at that point, I ran out of road, and had to write it off. One of those "what if" moments, looking back. Cheers, D
It had never occured to me that those three Jim O'Rourke albums were named after Nic Roeg films - the more you know!
TWLITF is one of the finest Low albums, definitely in my top three (and I love all of them). At the moment, every single time I pick up a guitar I automatically play Sunflower. - a glorious song. The album was as you say a tremendous step forward for the band, musically, lyrically and emotionally; there's a great episode of the podcast Life of the Record in which Alan and Mimi talk about the making of it.
Thanks again for another brilliant video, I really appreciate your honesty and bravery in talking about your own life's ups and downs and how the music you listened to related to it.
Cheers!
There's a wonderful interview with O'Rourke, touching on everything from prog rock to films to Stewart Lee, at he following link...
toneglow.substack.com/p/014-jim-orourke
A very interesting guy indeed. Features some great anecdotes (the Fahey one is pure gold) and a great window on his musician/non-musician approach to art. I came across this the same time as I found the transcript of that Low podcast you mentioned, and enjoyed them both immensely.
Very wary of oversharing, but I think it's only right to acknowledge the circumstances that inform some of the musical choices for this series. 2001 was a low...some of it down to unfortunate circumstances, some of it me f**king up big-style. A bad year, but a necessary one, in a lot of ways...a real catalyst for change.
Cheers, D
When I saw the overwhelming green-ness of the thumbnail, I thought "is he doing the 3rd Weezer record?" which, despite being their last listenable platter, does not seem very "you".
For me, 2001 was the year I started to listen to contemporary music again, though usually informed by music video channels (had to be aware of the pop charts to know what people were asking for), and the only album that really stuck with me to this day is I Get Wet by Andrew W.K.
I'm a sucker for bombast AND four on the floor beats, so smashing those together is right up my alley.
And, of course, I now have some more homework, since you made this album sound so interesting!
I think this years top one for me was Rival Schools ‘United By Fate’. It’s a fuzzy one. I think I was working a lot while trying to get my band further along (pretty much single-handed…).
Other highlights: Clouddead ‘Clouddead’, Propaghandhi ‘Todays Empires, Tomorrows Ashes’, Fugazi ‘The Argument’, Hot Water Music ‘A Flight And A Crash’, Rival Schools ‘United By Fate’, RFTC ‘Group Sounds’, Small Brown Bike ‘Dead Reckoning’, Stapleton ‘On The Enjoyment Of Unpleasant Places’, GBV ‘Isolation Drills’! Tomahawk - s/t, Mogwai ‘Rock Action’.
I was at work when the news came in about the twin towers and beyond. My sister rang me and said she was watching it live in the marketing dept of the head office of the bank we both worked for. Within seconds I was watching it as well. Felt like the end of the world. Still could be. Sobering and shocking in equal measure. No thank you.
Another top video. Thanks, D!
A very tragic year for me that year. My dad crashed with a plane shortly after 9/11….
Your album choice checks all my boxes or my choice hardly differs. The Jim O Rourke album is/was fab and it is time for me to revisit such albums🌟
Sorry to hear that, Erwin. Some years just seem to store up all the bad things, and then let them loose all at once. 2001 was a bit like that, and 2013 was just as bad, now I come to think of it.
"Insignificance" is a record that I just end up reaching for all the time...a "constant companion" record. Always hear something new every time I play it! Cheers, D
🙏
Thanks for introducing me to this album. First track in and already sold!!
Cheers! Always encouraged to hear these videos are putting people in touch with music they might not have encountered before. D
Glad Low got a mention here, that is an incredible album. "In Metal" is one of my favorite Low songs for sure.
Yeah, if you were putting together a relief package, a handful of Low albums to represent the best of what they were about, then Things We Lost would be one of them, without question. Cheers, D
I continue to love this series. Thank you.
No mention of “Is this It?” Or “White Blood Cells”? Maybe both those bands got a bit “too famous” but in 2001 those were both incredible to me. The sheer audacity of the White Stripes to have one guitar and drums and to sound as massive and manic and scatterbrained as they did. I saw them live a few times in 2001 and wow, they were amazing. Songs stuffed inside other songs, open homage of the blues that rekindled what was exciting and wild about the blues.
Also, Murray Street was freaking great and ushered in a new version of Sonic Youth that made so many amazing songs. It was as if they distilled all the experimental sounds and brought them into their full control.
Cheers Andrew. Those were things in the "listened to, never bought" category at that time. We did have a song around then that had a "fun" section we'd throw odd snatches into when playing it live. The two-chord intro/chorus section of "Last Nite" was one of those...always drew confused looks whenever we dropped a few bars in! D
Strokes and White Stripes were on my list for 2001 too
Tough year for you, the rawness still visible in the video all these years later. Even global tragedies like 9/11 and Covid cannot diminish that most personal pain.
For me, 2001 came down to a choice between discovering an artist quite late and another with their debut album. And it got me thinking about how I discover artists and how it has changed over the years. Different eras.
Nick Cave’s No more shall we part was a work colleague lending me a CD - try this.
Elbow’s Asleep in the back was pretty much the midpoint of a 20ish year period of buying Q magazine when there was a free CD taped to the cover.
This particular CD contained Newborn, an almost 8 minute long track in the vein of Genesis, Pink Floyd and others in the 70’s when I was cutting my musical teeth. I bought the CD within days.
I lasted the more than usual 2-3 albums with Elbow but I played the album this week and it’s been a while. Tracks occasionally come up when CarPlay is on Shuffle.
To this day Red and Scattered black & whites are amongst my favourite Elbow tracks. Red could be #1.
So Elbow sneaks it, on the nostalgia for Q magazine.
Hi Craig, although I was never a prolific Q reader I completely aree with you in regards to the Elbow album 🙂
Hi Darren! It's definitely The Argument for me but The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads by Lift To Experience comes pretty close. I remember listening to the first Tenacious D album a lot, the music is great but the comedy interludes quickly became tiring.
I'm struggling to think of other contemporary releases that I liked. There was a music shop just around the corner from where I worked, and around this time they got a load of fairly obscure 70s stuff that they sold cheaply. I ended up getting a pile of Peter Hammill, Van der Graaf Generator, Magma, and Klaus Schulze CDs so that was mostly what I listened to in 2001.
Hi. Yeah, The Argument was a biggie...but I completely forgot LTE. I was doing some low-key fanzine stuff to try and keep me sane around then, and I actually interviewed Josh after their Norwich show this year. Nice guy, very patient, rubbish questions, and I've totally blanked it! Doh.
Like a fair bit of that particular strand of prog, I must admit...particularly the Magma/Zuul stuff. Cheers, D
PS: Thanks for the CD BTW...busy week with editing and travel (away from home right now), so it's queued up for a proper play when I get back next week.
Stephen Malkmus had a solo record came out this year. My dad and I would trade music and this was a record I gave him to listen to that he absolutely loved. I miss this so very much in the years he's been gone and find a few things that I have a strong connection with him hard to listen to even after a decade.
Post 9/11 saw the release of Hope Sandoval's album Bavarian Fruitbread. The tone just suited the time for me and as things starting to go wrong so very wrong before they would eventually start to go right again for me. Probably my pick for hte eyar becasue it was rarely out of the disc player in the shop or car after I acquired this.
I think I only caught up with solo Malkmus circa the Jicks, so I should really go back and investigate that one. Not sure how I overlooked it back in the day, to be honest.
I lost a close relative in 2013...an uncle, only a few years older than me, so much more of an older brother type figure to me (I'm the oldest of three, so no "actual" older brother/sister). There are a handful of songs, most of them fairly cheesy 80s pop numbers, songs I always associate with him, that can absolutely crush me, to this day...so yeah, I totally get you there. Music just has that direct line to the past that can transport you without warning. Cheers, D
Useless to try and guess really but I thought you'd maybe mention Hood this year. Probably since you like Bark Psychosis so much. Guess I was mostly listening to GBV, Bjork and White Stripes in 2001 FWIW Buffalo Springfield.
No Hood this time out. Never say never, though! Cheers, D
2001, what a shit year!!! I clearly remember eating some perfect grilled sardines when the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center. Since this year the world has changed for the worse. there is only one record that reflects this confusion - Drukqs for Aphex Twin. The Glow Pt. 2 by Microphones is close. Since 2004, I've been wanting to hear Jim O'Rourke's records. Now the opportunity presents itself again. thanks for your video.
The only other "songs" album from O'Rourke in the last 20 years is "Simple Songs" (2014?) which is a good follow-up to the Roeg trilogy. Most of his recent stuff is very much on the experimental side of things, so tread carefully if that's not your bag. Cheers, D
Sooooo, love this pariod of O'Rouke, particularly 'Eureka', but not discovered til a couple of years later. 'The Arguement' is probably my least liked Fugazi release, it just feels less 'pure' than what came before, but haven't listened to it for a decade at least so maybe I need to go back? Later in 2001 I was newly qualifying in my feild of expertise (cue uproarious laughter) but earlier in the year I was communting miles to a particular placement that I hated and during those long, long train and bus rides 'Things We Lost In The Fire' (along with the earlier released 'Lift Yr Skinny Fists...') was a costant companion. So suited the mood and the grasping for a hope that things would eventually get better. Converge's 'Jane Doe' came out in 2001 but I wouldn't get into this kinda harsh, screamed metalcore insanity for another perhaps 2 years (which is a shame - might have done me some cathartic good). Major omission alert (klaxon, klaxon); no love for 'Asleep At The Back'? I know Elbow have seemed to lose their way somewhat in recent years but those first 2,3 albums with their sombre yet hopeful tones swooped over by Guy Garvey's soaring, bear-man falsetto still mean a lot (for various reasons). I only have to listened to that bass-y, slinkiy, funky 'Any day now' riff and I'm back there, feeling the joy and the sorrow in equal parts. Here's to better times Darren, cheers! :-)
Incidentally I missed 9/11 in real time as I think I was on yet another commute at the time, earphones in situ. If I recall I think I was in denial about the extent of the horror until some time later and just ignored it all (ahh, sweet dissociation...). GYBE's 'Rockets fall on Rocket Falls' anyone?
Kozelek? Can I leave RHP's 'Rollercoaster' or 'April' or 'Admiral Fell Promises' by SKM completely behind? Well no, but they now sit in an uncomfortable wider context...
Hey Mark. Garvey's a nice guy, good taste, but Elbow have always left me a bit cold. I found good portion of the UK alt/indie stuff a bit uninspiring at the turn of the millennium, so no slight on them, more of a wider listening thing for me.
The PhD thing was a disaster...I'd been shunted off into a basement room and left to it, and then my supervisor left (pretty much overnight) for a much better paid job. Couldn't get anyone to take over my supervision, I had zero staff support, and a very short window (due to bursary/grant arrangements) to decide whether or not to jump ship. Ran out of options, basically. Did affect my career progression longer term, but at that point, I ran out of road, and had to write it off. One of those "what if" moments, looking back. Cheers, D
Yay me first!