Broadway Spectacular Record Two Kiss Me Again Vinyl
Arthur Russell changed my life: 11 artists pick their favourite Arthur Russell records of all fourth dimension
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Anton Spice
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December 21, 2014
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We asked 11 artists to looks back on the influence and legacy of avant garde cellist and downtown disco sensation Arthur Russell.
Where do you lot begin with Arthur Russell? One of the most universally respected figures in surreptitious music, Russell embodied the spirit of invention, trip the light fantastic and racket that defined New York city in the '80s. As a cellist he lent his services to friends and collaborators on bitter sweet popular tracks and avant garde improvisations at The Kitchen for releases which are simply now existence revisited for the beginning time. Nether his own name Russell saw merely iii albums released in his lifetime, Tower Of Meaning, a ready of instrumentals, and his definitive (nether-)statement World Of Echo. A collection of recordings nether the name Another Thought surfaced two years subsequently his death, but these amount to merely a fraction of the music he produced during his tragically short life.
On the dancefloor over at the Loft and and so with Larry Levan's blessings at the Paradise Garage, Russell the producer was all nigh the groove. Hits like 'Get Bang #5!' and 'It Is All Over My Face?' were jangling, serpentine hush-hush disco cuts that wriggled between the genre'southward culture of extended mixes and the genesis of business firm music to comprise his avant garde orchestrations, an uncompromising post punk attitude and the pes loose hedonism and sexual politics of downtown NYC.
Unlike our contempo features on the legacy of Kraftwerk and Sun Ra, Arthur Russell's discography at first seems relatively modest. Certainly the impact of a small number of releases out-counterbalance the physical mass of the records he released. However, starting time counting the collaborations, aliases, production credits and fifty-fifty the odd piece of unreleased cloth forth side releases under his own name and you brainstorm to go a full and varied picture of this versatile and utterly unique creative person.
This is exactly the task we set eleven musicians, DJs, producers and artists in selecting their favourite Arthur Russell record, in a yr which has seen Audika Records reissue both World Of Echo and Love Is Overtaking Me, as well as the release of the long awaited Arthur Russell tribute album Primary Mix: Cherry-red Hot + Arthur Russell. Equally expected their selections vary greatly, as does the depth with which they share their thoughts. In the spirit of Arthur Russell himself, each approach is very much its own, revealing but how influential this incredible creative person has been on a staggering range of musicians.
JD Twitch
1 one-half of Glaswegian DJ duo and party outfit Optimo, Keith McIvor aka JD Twitch has offered his own to the growing catechism of Arthur Russell remixes and recently toured with Peter Zummo sextet, where they would cover Russell'south 'Is It All Over My Face?' as a baking encore.
Arthur Russell
Some other Idea
(Point Music, 1994)
Listen / Buy
Most Arthur Russell fans are likely to wax most lyrically over his Globe Of Echo album, which I also dearest, simply the album that has had the greatest impact on me is Some other Idea. I read a review of it in some long forgotten fanzine in 1994 that evangelised about it to such an extent that I knew it was something I had to hear. I eventually tracked a copy downwardly the adjacent yr and it was a revelation. For the previous five or six years I had been and so immersed in playing and searching out trip the light fantastic records that I don't think I listened to a single album the whole way through during that period.
When 'Some other Thought' arrived I couldn't finish listening and I haven't stopped listening ever since. The lyrics seemed to speak straight to me. I was a piffling lost around this time, not entirely certain where I wanted my life to become and this music saved me. It was quite unlike anything I had ever heard and besides every bit making me want to rails down everything else that he always made (which I did), it made me want to rediscover music that had some sort of "otherness" to information technology. While I continued and indeed continue to explore the realms of house and techno, I started to realise I wanted to see if it was possible to contain a far wider (and wilder) range of sounds into a dj set and nonetheless accept a dancefloor react to it. Thus the seed of the idea for the club night that was to become Optimo was sewn. Thanks, Arthur!
One of the well-nigh astonishing things about this album is that information technology is a compilation of various Arthur songs that had never been released before, yet information technology feels like 1 of the near complete, perfectly sequenced albums I know. No filler. Cypher in the wrong place. The perfect length of time. It contains several tracks now widely regarded equally Arthur Russell classics only for me, every unmarried song on it is an all time classic. I realise I haven't really described the magical music it contains simply Arthur created such a unique musical universe that words really can never practice it justice. All I can say is that I accept never encountered anyone who I accept played the entire album to who didn't have some sort of strong reaction to it.
Steve Knutson (Audika Records)
Steve Knutson is the human being behind Audika Records, the characterization charged with making Russell's work available once again. This year alone they've reissued World Of Echo and Love Is Overtaking Me, reproducing the originals in facsimile editions, with the former charting at number two in our rundown of the year's top reissues.
Indian Ocean
'School Bell/Treehouse'
(Sleeping Bag, 1986)
Heed / Buy
Walter Gibbons told me nigh Arthur while he was mixing the song and presented me with a copy when it was released. He said Arthur was a genius, and a little foreign, but that he had made 'Go Bang', and I loved that record. To say that 'Schoolbell/Tree House' changed my life is an understatement, it was the commencement of my obsession to hear every note Arthur fabricated. The intimacy of the voice and cello was like hearing pure consciousness, and combined with the descending keyboard (Arthur was an amazing and incredibly funky keyboard player), Peter Zummo's trombone Bop lines, the interstellar hi-hat integrated with Mustafa Ahmed'southward conga, and what sounded at showtime like a distorted amplified eraser on a balloon for role of the rhythm rail, information technology was dissimilar anything I had heard earlier. This was music I had been waiting my unabridged life to hear. The lyrics, where did the come from? 'I'm a hundred, and I'm going to school'. Was this Business firm music made by The Jetson's in 1963? The record was recorded in 1986 but remains completely timeless. It could be released twenty years from now and even so exist ahead of its time.
Chez Damier
Chicago-born, Detroit-continued, but Chez Damier's muse came from the New York disco underground, hearing the likes of Frankie Knuckles play mind-blowing Arthur Russell cuts similar 'Go Bang', 'Is Information technology All Over My Confront' and 'Wax The Van'. The human behind influential house labels Prescription and KMS, Damier explains below how the lyrics "I wanna see my friends all at once" have stayed with him.
Dinosaur L
Go Bang #5! / Clean On Your Bean #ane
(Sleeping Bag Records)
Listen / Purchase
Chez Damier on Arthur Russell past The Vinyl Manufactory on Mixcloud
Morgan Geist
One-half of Metro Area and Environ dominate, Morgan Geist's start disco purchases were Loose Joints records and as he discovered more Russell projects he became increasingly attuned to the fragile, in some respects Buddhist, essence that ties together Russell'south diverse musical world.
Loose Joints
Is It All Over My Face up
(West Finish, 1980)
Listen / Buy
Past sheer luck, Arthur Russell's pinkish-sleeved Westward Finish 12"due south were among my start purchases when I began devouring disco. I had but graduated from college, and at the time had no idea who he was. A few years afterward, I would detect myself sitting in the midst of Arthur'due south old effects pedals on the floor of Daniel Wang's Alphabet City studio/apartment. (Danny was in a human relationship with Steven Hall, a friend and collaborator of Arthur's, which explains the pedals.) And when I finally moved to Brooklyn from New Jersey, my new housemate introduced me to an album of shimmering cello called World Of Echo.
I associate each of these AR "discoveries" with vibrant, vinyl-related memories. I tin smell the grit of the Boston tape store where I found 'Is It All Over My Face' for a dollar; I tin can encounter Danny kneeling in forepart of the turntables in his apartment, occasionally scooting over to pic a rogue cockroach off my leg; and I remember my housemate (Dan Selzer, a.k.a. New York Endless) pulling World Of Repeat out of its tan cardboard mailer in our living room. For a few years, it felt as if there was merely a small group of my generation (too young, or at least too suburban, for the Garage) who could discern Arthur's frail thread running through seemingly unrelated projects.
Soon enough, however, everyone was either talking or writing almost Arthur Russell. New AR compilations seemed to be coming out each week. I remember feeling vaguely disappointed; indeed, Arthur'south music seemed so sensitive and direct, then intimate, that it felt like a violation to have as well many people enlightened of it (or, even worse, pretending to exist experts on the subject area). I, of course, was no more deserving of Arthur'due south music than anyone else, yet I still felt keenly possessive about it. When Steve Knutsen of Audika Records left the original 24->24 Music cassette with me to transfer into digital format, I carried it home in my hands like it was a infant bird and promptly sent photos of information technology to all my music friends.
When I was asked to choose my favorite tape for this feature, the selfsame desire to prove some imagined, special connection to Arthur's music returned. Pathetically, I began trying to recall the rarest bits of his music that I had heard. Simply that only lasted a infinitesimal or two before it hit me: my favorite Arthur Russell record is, by far, his nearly obvious and pop collaboration with Steve D'Acquisto and Larry Levan (and mayhap François Kevorkian), 'Is Information technology All Over My Confront?' by Loose Joints. It was one of those start Due west End purchases up in Boston, years ago, and I knew deep down no rare nugget of compiled and reissued Russell could ever move me in the aforementioned fashion. Certainly, there was some potent competition: 'Kiss Me Over again' sounds as New York City as saturated B-roll footage of a Checker cab looks; 'Tell Yous Today' makes me want to cry simply considering information technology's and so confusingly emotive; and 'Allow's Go Swimming' inspires me to surrender command in most situations. But you never forget your first honey, to say null of the best dollar you lot've ever spent.
Listen to Morgan Geist and Steve Knutson on RMBA radio, discussing the legacy and influence of Arthur Russell below:
Peter Zummo
Experimental musician, trombonist and Arthur Russell's friend and confidant, Peter Zummo was an integral fellow member of the downtown scene and his soft, pulsing trombone is heard on a number of collaborations, not least on 'Buss Me Over again', under Russell'due south Dinosaur moniker. Still touring, previously unreleased work is beginning to run across the calorie-free of day once more, with his LP Lateral Pass reissued by Foom this year, while Optimo oversaw the reissue of the epic Russell/Zummmo piece Zummo With An X in 2012.
Felix
Tiger Stripes
(Sleeping Pocketbook, 1984)
Listen / Buy
I chose, from vinyl produced during Arthur'due south lifetime, a vii" promo copy titled Felix on Sleeping Bag Records.
Side A, 'Tiger Stripes', is a crazy editing chore with lots of disparate elements. The opening beats give little sense of what fundamental information technology volition be in.
Side B, 'You Tin't Concord Me Down', is drum auto and conga, rhythm guitar, keyboard, female refrain and lead vocal, and male chant on "bad little kitten – pounce on y'all." There's no real bass. I like it not only for the fashion it sounds but too that it shows that you don't have to follow the rules.
Pantha du Prince
High german built-in producer Hendrik Weber may not take any direct links to Russell's piece of work, merely rather exhibits a similar tendency to stray to the edges of the genres he works in. Embracing liminal spaces with a similarly individual artful that has seen Weber interact with The Bell Laboratory on a record he intends to be listened to in ane piece – a complete experience that is reflected in his choice below.
Arthur Russell
World Of Echo
(Upside Records, 1986)
Listen / Buy
This record is a monument for me, it is a warm identify, I experience at home. A source for energy. Contemplative cello and vox echoes sonic landscapes total of centre. I can listen to it over and once again it never looses the magic of the first moment, it is music that volition final forever, like nothingness. Pure, fourth dimension stands nevertheless. A divine beauty.
Roger Sanchez
Similar many of his '90s firm counterparts, Roger S took inspiration from '70s – '80s heroes like Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and of course Arthur Russell. Bowled over past the Paradise Garage, Sanchez went on to ascertain the Strictly Rhythm sound with his sublime The Hush-hush Solution Luv Dancin' record, borrowing vocals from Loose Joints 'Is It All Over My Face'.
Dinosaur L
Become Bang #5! / Clean On Your Bean #ane
(Sleeping Bag Records)
Heed / Buy
My first truthful connection and experience with the genius of Arthur Russell was through a good friend of mine who was a member of the Paradise Garage at the fourth dimension and invited me down on ane Friday to cheque out an exceptional DJ who was the resident in that location: Larry Levan. The Paradise Garage was THE nightclub of New York. The sound system was custom designed by Richard Long, who was famed to create the best systems ever heard. The bass was unbelievable and the midrange and hi end was the crispest I had always heard. As we were making our way to the floor I heard this unbelievable track mix in laced with congas and percussion. And so the vocal chant exploded "Baaaaannnnnngggg!!" and the unabridged crowd absolutely lost it! The bass kicked in and I lost information technology also. I remember hearing a female song chanting "Go blindside-a-bang bang- get bang –go!" and couldn't stop repeating it.
The next mean solar day I went to the about exclusive record shop in the city: Vinylmania. All of New York's most highly rated DJs shopped for their record fix in that location, including Larry Levan. I asked the store attendant – Manny Lehman, who was a DJ himself ( he would later on become a highly respected major record label A&R ) if he had the song I had heard at The Garage that went "Baaaannngg". He pulled out a vinyl on the wall rack and showed it to me. I remember it was a white label with red print and the name Dinosaur 50Become Blindside in bold print and a picayune Koala logo representing Sleeping Purse records. He wiped the record and played information technology and it was every bit if I had been transported back to the Garage!
When I got information technology home I read the credits and learned for the first fourth dimension who Arthur Russell was. Eventually, as I moved into production, I began to sample sounds from him and have always been influenced by his grooves and percussions.
Ólöf Arnalds
Icelandic singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds toured with múm for five years before releasing three solo albums and a cord of singles including a collaboration with Björk who describes Ólöf'south voice as "somewhere between a child and an old adult female". Her 2012 EP Ólöf Sings opens with a comprehend of i of her favourite Arthur Russell tracks – 'Close My Optics'.
Arthur Russell
Love Is Overtaking Me
(Audika Records, 2008)
Heed / Buy
The Love Is Overtaking Me compilation came out around the fourth dimension when I had released my beginning record world wide and had started to tour and play in America and was very popular among the musicians of my generation. I chose to embrace i of Arthur's songs, 'Close My Eyes', on one of my B-sides, considering I was and so in dear with that song and it fitted well with my way of performing, which then was unremarkably alone with an accoustic guitar.
Later, especially through Skúli Sverrisson, my closest collaborator, who has played me a lot of Arthur´s work, I got to know how geniously inventive, open and gratis spirited Russell´s work was. I admire how wide his musical vocabulary is and how fearless he seems to take been towards venturing into different worlds of sound, yet at the same time maintaining an aesthetic or essence that is singular only to him. His singing vocalization somehow always pulls the strings in my heart that are the nigh fragile, and in my mind his vox as a composer is undeniably historically slap-up.
Bass Clef
Another whose piece of work is hard to ascertain succinctly without resorting to journalist autograph like 'genre-bending' or 'unique', Bass Clef has also toured with Zummo recently and had the pleasure of playing many unreleased Arthur Russell compositions, one of which he discusses below. Past day he's a producer, label caput and modular synth vitrify with releases on PAN, Public Information and Peverlist'southward Punch Drunk too as his ain imprint Magic + Dreams.
Arthur Russell
Singing Tractors
(Unreleased)
I've called the Singing Tractors, which was recorded several times but never released, really it was a band, which included Arthur amongst others and played a special kind of 'open composition': partly scored and partly improvised, with these amazing spiralling melodies that merely couch deep into your brain and heart.
I recently got to play some of the Singing Tractors material whilst on tour with Russell collaborators Peter Zummo, Ernie Brooks and Neb Ruyle, every night I wouldn't be able to sleep with these melodies just going round and circular in my mind.
Vision Fortune
Music press describe this London-based trio as a drone ring that lean towards noise rock, psych and kraut merely Vision Fortune aren't fond of the tags. In the way that it'south difficult to pivot downwardly Arthur Russell and his seemingly divergent projects, Vision Quest have an enigmatic quality to their sound.
Arthur Russell
World Of Echo
(Upside Records, 1986)
Listen / Buy
Nosotros are big fans of AR over at VF HQ. While many might think that Russell's best work is Globe of Repeat, I'd be inclined to argue that he actually peaked with his subsequent collaboration with a young Vin Diesel – then known every bit a young West Village-based rapper named Marker Sinclair – which is almost as good as Diesels'south admittedly stellar performance in Fast & Furious half dozen.
Photo: Valentine Hennequin
Happy Meals
Glasgow-based duo Happy Meals' latest Apéro EP made our height 100 vinyl releases of 2014. Comprised of Suzanne Rodden and Lewis Melt (of The Cosmic Dead) who are "life-partners since high school finding expression in catholic form", Arthur Russell was an early influence on Happy Meals every bit Lewis explains below.
Some other Thought
(Point Music, 1994)
Listen / Buy
I was lucky plenty to come beyond Arthur Russell as a 14 year-quondam postal service-rocker – when I heard information technology, I imagined that if there was an overarching narrative of how music progresses, this must surely exist the next step. When I followed upward my first taste of Arthur (the rail 'Another Idea') and I discovered that it was music recorded before I was even born, I was blown away by how contemporary and relevant information technology sounded to my pubescent ears. Another Idea holds a special place in my centre as a collection of recordings that seem to defy expectations no affair how you approach them; in many ways, the influences are manifestly to hear, but their tired tropes are gladly spared, allowing the music to take on a form which is uniquely Arthur.
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