White, Jim: All Hits - Memories (Vinyl LP)

Jim White is an Australian percussionist, active since 1980 with an incredible array of artists and bands, though he is probably best known as the drummer of Dirty Three. He currently collaborates with Marissa Anderson, George Xylouris (as Xylouris White) and a number of others.

This is long overdue. I mean, looooooonnnnnng overdue. A solo album by Jim.

The trap kit - so straightforward, so mysterious. What’s inside those things? Air and light - from which century? Which continent? Which planet? Depending on how and when you hit them it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath, particles of Saturn’s atmosphere, the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Cymbals can override/cancel everything out - wipe your memory clear or make the memory clearer. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most - the full body - and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP.

Jim oversees it all, surveys from the lost place we’re in, the void - the drumless song. We trust. We trust, Jim. His big green eyes search for the right tool (mallet, brush, etc), eyes that search you like you’re a song he wants to join, wants to see if he can add to or understand.

Before humans, drums were playing - these drums. Genesis was a solo drum piece. After humans, these drums, this album. Someone - the last man - is out in a spaceship at the edge of space. He plays a single chord on a synth to set time free from its bind and then lets go. This album sets time free, lets it frolic, lets it graze, lets it remember.

This is a record of thoughts, memories, surgery. A deft surgical operation you may not even realize is happening as it’s happening but you’re back on your feet when it’s over. Memories refreshed. Did you really even listen to it?

- Bill Callahan, November 2023.

1. Curtains
   
2. Percussion Build
   
3. Marketplace
   
4. Soft Material
   
5. St. Francis Place Set Up
   
6. Uncoverup
   
7. Walking the Block
   
8. Jully
   
9. Long Assemblage
   
10. Names Make the Name
    
11. No/Know Now
    
12. Stationary Figure
    
13. Here Comes