gastr del sol appreciation thread
 

Amazing.

Hit and miss.
I enjoy them alot, anyway. Is That a Rifle is an amazing song - for that matter, Crookt, Crackt, and Fly is a great album (as is Serpentine Similar).

Yeah, they're pretty awesome....I've always liked Gastr better than Jim's solo stuff myself.

i dont own anything but ive loved everything ive heard.

love serpentine similar

I second that. They're all good, I'm not sure which is my favourite - either Camoufleur or Upgrade & Afterlife.

I'm going through my once-a-year gastr loving stage.

After careful consideration, I've decided that "mirror repair" is my favorite work by them (coincedentally recorded by albini). The second song, that 9 minute one with the piano and the weird electronics is just amazing.

But, as far as a long player goes and a future "classic album" (since mirror is just an ep), "UPGRADE AND AFTERLIFE". My god. That album is almost nothing but acoustic guitar (with minor electronic accompanyments, drums in one song, some piano, and that weird noise part in the third track) but... it sounds exactly what you'd think a sad, lonely Kentucky afternoon would sound like. The fact that it's David Grubbs (from the intense and underrated Bastro) and Jim O'Rourke doing this stuff makes it all the more tantalizing to you, the sonic youth fan.

I'm just now dwelving into O'Rourke's solo shit (I'd heard a few releases before but I mean I'm checking out everything at this point), and while I prefer Gastr, some of this shit is GENIUS. Wow. Jim! This guy was IN sonic youth?! Haha. "I'm Happy and I'm Singing" is just unbelievable. Truely an inspiration to me, some of the best music I've ever heard.

But yeah.. GASTR DEL SOL!

For a long time my fav. band next to SY in the mid to late 90's... then David and Jim broke up... the post gastr david grubbs stuff to me isn't nearly as good, and most of Jim's post gastr recording i think were really good... Upgrade & Afterlife is my fav. album by them from start to finish and a wonderful cover of John Fahey...

First time I ever heard them was seeign them live around 1995ish they performed as a duo on acoustic guitars, then played in an ensemble of TOny Conrad's where they performed a the lengthy piece "Ten Years on an Infinite Plane" it was my first introduction to experiencing experimental and minimalist music live, up to that point i was very into indie rock and it was quite hard to digest! but enjoyable, thus begun my long winding road with this type of music.

i love serpentine similar

Upgrade & Afterlife is im my top 5 all time favorites. Our Exquisite Replica Of "Eternity" is pure genious. Jim O'Rourke stuff is amazing, as well David's solo/related stuff. Gastr del sol should be on the top list of "underrated" musicians, to bad i can figure out why people don't talk to much about them!? They have beautiful pop parts, subtle avantgarde/noise overturnes. Thay are amazing!

People probably dont' mention them much because they can't pronounce their name perhaps, heheh.

Truely excellent; I would also say "upgrade and afterlife" is in my top 5 or 10 albums ever.. I love Grubbs, Bastro was amazing.. Jim O'Rourke, constantly proving he is one of the most amazing musical geniuses of our time.

Sure, why not bump it?

I've decided:

1. Upgrade/Afterlife
2. Mirror Repair EP
3. Crookt, Crackt, and Fly
4. Serpentine Similiar
5. Camofleur

Though they're all excellent..

goddamn, so many gastr threads, so once again, 'upgrade and afterlife', which im listening to RIGHT FUCKIN NOW, is easily a contender for top alblum of the 90's, with 'loveless', 'spiderland', 'enter the 36 chambers', whatever, it is absolutley some of the most intricate and beautiful sounds ever put to tape. mr o'rourke, with all his great records and collabs and production jobs and accolades, has still not topped the brilliance of his first band. gastr del sol 4EVA BOIIII!!!!!

love them, great stuff, i love how they are halfway between perfect singer/songwriter and total out there songwriting. just amazing, all their songs start like they could go anywhere for as long as they wanted.

add fennessz, carlos giffoni, oren ambarchi, stephen o'malley, aphex twin, and madlib, then i second that claim.

and eye and merzbow

i wouldn't say that giffoni is a genius, sure, arrogance is pretty swell (although you can plainly see the influence of c.c.c.c.) but most of his stuff is spotty at best. welcome home is unlistenable self indulgence.

all i have is mirror repair.

watev, lets keep this about gastr del sol, shall we?

no.

[blank] is funny.

I've heard Camoufleur, Upgrade & Afterlife, and Serpentine Similar. All fucking excellent. I would say Camoufleur is my favourite, and I'm surprised it's bottom of yr list atsonicpark. They are all awesome though, so it's no big deal. Everyneurotic's comment is spot on...their songs seem like they could go absolutely anywhere.

I love some of their lyrics as well.

Definitely need to get the rest of their albums.

Like what I've heard of Bastro, too!

Gastr Del Sol always inspires me to play more acoustic guitar.

mirror repair, front to back is amazing.

i finally got U&A
amazing. really awesome. i already have camafleur and crooked... but this album is something else. i love this band! i think i should check out bastro

I love Camoufleur the most but they're all great. Jim's solo output is also amazing as is his work with Loose Fur. Easily one of the most diverse and talented artists of the day.

serpentine similar is my favorite gastr record at the moment.

that was interesting cuz they were one of my favorite bands too. i personally was more into david grubbs than o'rourke. i tend to find david grubb's albums much better than jim's solos. loved halfway to threeway, but i always found o'rourke's stuff all over the place, meaning not really cohesive as an overall sound. every song sounded very different, i never got a sense of "o'rourke" or felt he had a particular sound or style. i think that's why i like grubb's albums much more. the way grubb's uses poetry in his lyrics are incredible itself. i loved rickets & scurvy, the thicket, and the spectrum between the most. i definitely have a feel for what grubbs is doing and each album has a sound or something that keeps it together in some sort of fashion/system. but, that's just me. i'm sure people preferred grant hart over bob just the same.

my favorite gastr del sol has to be crookt. i really liked john mcentire's work on this album. it was also my first gastr del sol album i bought.

Just wanted to mention that David Grubb's solo shit is very awesome indeed.

Who plays the drums on "Serpentine similar". This track with the awesome drums makes me regret there aren't that many drums parts on gastr records, but hey....
wow
yesssss!

You should check out the new david grubbs solo disc, my man. It's his most gastr-like work since not doing gastr any more.

never listened to gastr del sol to be honest..

i always assumed it was McEntire...i should check my copy.


GdS are a great band, but i am a bit surprised there is no mention of the 20 Songs Less 7"...the second side (w/ the field recording of the kids on the playground swings) is utterly great.

i saw these cats play once (same tour as w/ TC, but got there too late to catch Conrad sawing his way through the violin behind a scrim)...good show.

i love eureka though. is it anything similar?

I have listened to the lastest Grubbs effort and i thought it was nice. Very gastr , yes, less rocky than the last couple of records. I like most of his work anyway unless it becomes pretentious as his thing with Avey Tare for instance but all his regular releases are awesome.

yes i do assume it's Mc entire but it doesn't say on Discogs so i thought i would ask... If someone wants to answer the question, i'm talking about the drums on Serpentine.

oh no not at all, listening to Gastr is way more demanding (i find)

need hard copies of the gastr album. still listening to mp3 only, I hate that hahaha

thief

I thik you missed my question the last days...is that your label? greed recordings? greedrex?

yes but try to PM any questions related to it. I ain't trying to advertize within threads. It's just people give blogs URL and what not so yeah. But the answer is yes of course and to answer yr earlier question . Greed Recordings > Greed Recs >> Greedrex. It's my password on all things i do that need a password . he he