Directions in Music - Directions in Music

I'm not sure how I came across this one, but Directions in Music was a one-off album from three guys in the Chicago post-rock crowd, done in 1996. They got together just long enough to make an album of eight instrumental, untitled tracks. Imagine a post-rock impromptu jam session after hours at the Grand Ole Opry, and you'd be close...and perhaps disappointed. Much of the album sounded like a less interesting version of Gastr del Sol's Camofleur, or early Tortoise, which makes sense given the people involved. Overall, a nonchalant pass.

Here's Directions in Music


Compare that with Gastr Del Sol's "Black Horse"

Bark Psychosis - ///Codename: Dustsucker

An interesting post-rock album, perfect for background or headphones, that is remarkable for being almost entirely unmemorable, despite some very agreeable music. Hard to describe, but worth checking out.

A longer review: Dusted

(Bark Psychosis - ///Codename: Dustsucker)

Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor

If there are more interesting albums that have come out this year, I haven't heard them. As intended, this is not available for download. The link takes you to Drag City, where you can have this delivered to your doorstep for $16 or $12 (LP/CD). AMG hasn't reviewed it, so I have excerpted another review.


O’Rourke wrote all the music, performed all of the instrumental parts, and recorded The Visitor in his home studio in Tokyo—and the finished product is a mile wide and several miles deep. Drums, bass, guitars (electric and acoustic), piano, organ, clarinet, banjo, and more steer one montage into the next, via slow transition or direct segue (important side note: according to O’Rourke, there are over 200 tracks on this record).

If your first reaction to the notion of an all-instrumental "pop" album is confusion, you have every right to be apprehensive. Prior experiments by lesser artists have produced results that usually splattered on the "dreadful" and "self-indulgent" parts of the spectrum. But O’Rourke is not a lesser artist: his awareness of minute details and the trump card known as "form" are in perfect balance, and it is because of this that The Visitor becomes more intriguing with every listen. Although it may be indexed as one continuous track, this album harbors variety in spades.

If you aren’t sold on this record yet, I would like to make a bold statement: you should buy it solely because Jim O’Rourke engineered it. The Visitor is sonically divine, a fact that should come as no surprise to fans of earlier O’Rourke recordings. Each individual instrument is allowed to breathe, and each layer provides the right support for every other one. If there must be one recent album to serve as an example of how glorious recorded instruments can be, The Visitor gets my vote.

--Jeremy Podgursky, NewMusicBox

(Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor)