Jim White Announces Debut Solo Album, Shares New Song ‘Names Make the Name’

Jim White – the veteran drummer known for his work with the bands Dirty Three, Venom P. Stinger, Xylouris White, and Springtime, as well as playing for artists such as Cat Power, Mary Margaret O’Hara, PJ Harvey, Bill Callahan, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy – has announced his first-ever solo album. All Hits: Memories will be released on March 29 via Drag City, and it’s led by the single ‘Names Make the Name’. Check out Tran and Masami Tomihisa‘s video for the track below.

White engineered and produced All Hits: Memories with Guy Picciotto (Fugazi/Rites of Spring), who also co-wrote six songs on the 13-track record. “This is long overdue,” Bill Callahan wrote in a statement accompanying the announcement. “I mean, looooooonnnnnng overdue. A solo album by Jim.” He continued:

The trap kit—so straightforward, so mysterious. What’s inside those things? Air and light—from which century? Which continent? Depending on how and when you hit them, it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath… 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. 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.

All Hits: Memories Cover Artwork:

All Hits: Memories Tracklist:

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

Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis
Konstantinos Pappis is a writer, journalist, and music editor at Our Culture. His work has also appeared in Pitchfork, GIGsoup, and other publications. He currently lives in Athens, Greece.
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