Loving this. The O’Rourke comparison is strong, but i actually like this guy’s voice and lyrics better, even if the music is a fair bit more pedestrian. The whole thing is excellent, but my current favorite is Margaritas At The Mall. I’ll grab the record next time I’m buying from Drag City.

Glad to hear that! Margaritas at the Mall is another favorite of mine too. And I agree with Higgs, it is "a little bit of a saddy". I feel this way especially after I learned what happened to the guy. I didn't know it when I first heard the album, but once I did, it really changed how I hear many of those songs. Lyrics like 'Dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind' just got so much heavier and sadder, and the whole mood of the album felt different. So I guess I'm one of those who can't separate art from the artist. And at the same time I realize that I don't really know what any of these people creating the art are REALLY like. But how I imagine them to be (whether or not there's any truth behind that) still somehow intertwines with the listening experience and how I feel about the music.

It's been a while since I've heard that Jim O'Rourke album, but the first thought I had when I heard All My Happiness Is Gone was that album. The Eels comparison has maybe more to do with the contrast between the music and the lyrics. The upbeat melody in songs like All My Happiness is Gone and Maybe I'm The Only One For Me, which I feel are lyrically quite sad songs, reminded me of that Eels album and songs like Going to Your Funeral Part I and My Descent Into Madness. I'm sure there's plenty of other examples and E probably wasn't the first one to do this, but I loved that Eels album when I was ~19-20 years old, so that's why it came to my mind. I am also hearing some Kurt Vile on that album.

Anyways glad you like it. I haven't liked an album this much in a long time.

Hmm...so I’m assuming he killed himself?

Yeah I thought of Vile too.

Yeah I think about a month after the album came out.

listen

Nice bunch of albums I enjoyed today, all things I’ve heard a ton of time:

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

A Tribe Called Quest - Thank You...

smog - A River Ain’t Too Much To Love

The Beatles - Revolver

Niko Case - Blacklisted

Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown

Eno/Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Throw on some DOOM, trag.

Which would you recommend?

Madvillainy (2004) by Madvillain (MF DOOM & Madlib) and Operation: Doomsday (1999) by MF DOOM himself.

What are your fav. tracks from RAM?

Basically all of them except for Touch. But cream of the crop are The Game of Love, Giorgio By Moroder, Lose Yourself To Dance, and Motherboard.

Lose Yourself is ridiculous. The phattery of the drums & bass is unreal. And I will always love Pharrell. FTH

Instant Crush has to be up there. Casablancas and Daft Punk was a match made in heaven.

Yeah I’d take a whole album or casablancas and daft punk.

I love Pharrell. He does the Curtis Mayfield falsetto so friggin’ well. And he never overproduces his vocal, it always sounds so human.

This is basically Mayonaise and the guitar part from FNM's cover of Easy.

*Neko