Oval and Jim O'Rourke
A musical polygamist, Chicago multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke inhabits at least two worlds, relentlessly and prolifically poking at the boundaries of modern folk and avant-garde noise. Blessed with a graceful finger-picking style that peeks over John Fahey's shoulder and takes off from there, his guitar work with Gastr del Sol and Brise-Glace, as a solo guitarist, and as a producer (Smog, Fahey's 1990s work) swims in Americana, even while it punctures folk's preconceptions with the odd display of dissonance. The purity of raw noise is his other great love, embracing an ethereal skronk that's resulted in records both blissful (1993's feedback experiment Remove the Need) and deadly boring (last year's droning Happy Days, not to mention collaborative and remix work with Tortoise and Sonic Youth that's equally hit-and-miss). He's as fond of shortwave static as acoustic melodies; smashing the two against one another, he calls it art. Often, he's right.
It's easy to see, then, why he's attracted to Oval, a trio of German ambient electronicists who transform dreamy, Eno-esque soundscapes into grittier, more foreboding stuff; their albums Systemisch and Dok are as jarring as they are soothing. What they'll come up with onstage together is an open question, especially since O'Rourke rarely performs live. However, his remix job on Oval's "Do While" shows a sensitivity to their anti-ambient game plan; figure on O'Rourke using the opportunity to create yet another genre to play around in.
-- Mark Athitakis
Oval and Jim O'Rourke perform Monday, June 1, at 8 p.m. at the Justice League, 628 Divisadero (at Hayes). Electric Company opens. Tickets are $7; call 440-0409.
