Ok . MORE Arthur Russell (But This Is Great)

that t-shirt is so classic.

Just now got the dee-luxe 2 CD xpost seminal work, 24->>24 Music, and starting to read Tim Lawrence's typically immersive Hold On to Your Dreams---Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992, which, this being TL, swoops back to preWWII origins of Russell parents, who were outwardly on the better side of Iowa-typical in postwar boom, solid, prosperous, intelligent citizens of Squaresville, but also with quite a nurturing record collection (and child-raising practices, considering: Arthur in particular being quite a handful).

But I have a couple questions: the intro is also swooping ahead to (talking about all the early Downtown coverage, incl. books, in which AR is either barely mentioned or not at all, and why that may be, how much more of an outcat he was etc. in those scenes and social maps), and with several quotes, already, from Ernie Brooks, re the Flying Hearts sessions with John Hammond, who is said to have considered Arthur to be equal to or greater than his previous outcat discovery, Bob Dylan (AKA "Hammond's Folly," in early suits talk).

So my questions are: are there any Flying Hearts tracks around, that y'all have heard, other than the one with Ginsberg on Arthur's bandcamp, and if so, what do they sound like, and where are they?? (Also wondering about the Professionals albums, although have been told that at least one of them isn't so hot.)

“What It’s Like” from Love Is Overtaking Me is credited to the Flying Hearts.

There are no other Flying Hearts tracks around though when Ernie Brooks toured with Peter Zummo's ensemble a few years back they performed another Flying Hearts song. At leaast one of the gigs was recorded but I don't think it has ever been made available.

I didn’t know that Wild Combination existed until I watched it a couple of nights ago. I knew next to nothing of Arthur beyond the music I’d heard so it was quite a revelation, to say the least. Tubi have it online for free https://tubitv.com/movies/349386/wild-combination-a-portrait-of-arthur-russell

Probably discussed upthread, but I missed until now thwt 'Wild Combination' was reissued on blu-ray in 2018 on Oscil-o-scope, looked really good and had a sparse but enjoyable commentary track from Matt Wolf added.

I think this is that same transfer, has the Oscil-o-Scope logo at the start and looks good HD quality.

xxp thanks for sharing! I have seen that but would be up for watching again

Was this posted before? https://www.ebay.com/itm/373167002625?hash=item56e27c9401:g:EH0AAOSweRpdnb8V#vi-desc-maincntr
Why you too could pretend to be Steve Knutson and burrow around in Arthur's work tapes, for the low, low price of just $15,000.00.
It's insane to think there's still stuff sitting around gathering dust waiting to be heard, you can see pics of Dinosaur's long lost follow up to kiss me again - Dumbo Dumbo.

Wild. Do Zummo or Knutson or Peter Gordon or anyone know about this?

i will ask the Peters. Wild!

asking Knutson abt this rn via mutual friend

Knutson sez:

“The eBay link is sent to me frequently by strangers and this is my generic response:
‘I am well aware of the auction.
A year and a half ago the price was 100K.

The good news is that Arthur kept everything. Every tape, notebook, press mention, receipt, harmonica, etc.
It’s all in the archive (at Lincoln Center). I have two 2TB hard drives of his entire tape archive.

After 9/11 Mark Freedman closed down his Battery Sound studio that was directly across the street from the World Trade Center. He cleared out the studio and moved his family to upstate New York.

My understanding is that his tape archive was stored in an outdoor shed for a decade plus. After his death, his family took out a storage space for his possessions but eventually stopped payment. The locker was auctioned off to a local antiques dealer and it’s now on eBay.

My spies have told that the material is in poor condition and weather beaten. The majority of the material is of Mark’s own recordings.

Whoever ends up with it will only own an artifact. They will have no commercial rights as all rights are held by the estate. If challenged, the Arthur Russell estate is already prepared legally.’”

Doubleplusgood.

Right on!

PZ says:

Hello, thank you for sending this. I wonder if one could bid on selected bits? I don't know what of mine it would be. Lateral Pass (and song IV trio) were done there, on quarter inch. Also material for Newark, the Trisha Brown piece with Donald Judd. That was all bagpipes, maybe some Fairlight synth. I can't think of anything else right now. I'll forward this to Ernie Brooks, he'll be interested.

I'm in London, playing The Standard Hotel on Sunday with quartet.

So, according to what xpost Ernie Brooks and others told AR biographer Tim Lawrence, looks like most(?) of their studio demos were for John Hammond, so maybe at least some of that still exists in the bowels of Sony-Columbia, unless there's a copy in the xpost Audika 2T drives, more likely the gig recording, I guess. But then Arthur announced he was going to Italy to join Le Orme; and take them to their contemplated next phase---he thought, but most of them rejected him, for being an outsider, not one of their crowd, and for being outsidery as hell also, maybe. Then he consoles himself via recording with---Jennifer Warnes! The right kind of pop person, who had already worked with Leonard Cohen and had a hit with "It's The Right Time of The Night," a "slushy song," as Lawrence says, but conveying that luminous blonde Cali muse incense and peppermints innocence that she plausibly believes he craved, going back to his West Coast girl-loving roots, but also trying to go forward, into thee pop mystic, that he was trying to find himself, with each part he wrote and taught to her (she didn't read music). Sure hope Audika's got that too, doesn't say if a label was involved.

Jennifer Warnes sings on "That's Us/Wild Combination", "Keeping Up" and “My Tiger My Timing”.

Thanks! That's one of the main reasons I read bios of musical adventurers, to improve my sense of long and winding discographies (is there a Hendrix book for this? David Henderson's is excellent, far as it goes, but don't think he's updated it for so estate machinations since)
From comments for several ballots, one of my Top Tens:

Arthur Russell, Live 24 to 24 Music: Live at the Kitchen

Yeah 00:00 / 01:06:53: That's it, one seamlessly interweaving banger--dunno how much is through-composed, but it's all very conversational, with 0 chatter, though some clatter, of Mustafa Ahmed's congas, Jeff Berman's drums, Rome Neal's percussion--times Larry (formerly of Desmond Child and Rouge*) Salzman's guitar, as Peter Gordon's tenor sax crackles and Peter Zummo's trombone hums and holds and (you know it) slides along(the maestro doesn't sing, plays "Pizz Cello" upfront for first 7 minutes at most, then dives to bass function)--while Julius Eastman's organ punctuates, inflects, succinctly comments (incl. exclaims) on and all of the above---and eventually, the Downtown crowd does disco, as could still happen then (spoiler)

https://arthurrussell.bandcamp.com/album/24-to-24-music-live-at-the-kitchen

on all of the above, no "and" meant, sorry, will fix.

Has anyone read the Matt Marble book Buddhist Bubblegum?

Via Coolgrove Press, Buddhist Bubblegum dives deep into the mystery of composer, performer, and producer Arthur Russell and offers an unprecedented exploration into his lifelong Vajrayana Buddhist practice. Author Matt Marble charts Russell’s spiritual path, from his early life as a Buddhist monk on a Bay Area commune to his maturing engagement with Japanese Shingon and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana traditions in Manhattan. Along the way, we learn how Russell creatively adopted traditional methods of mantra, mandala, meditation, astrology, numerology, and more. Through extensive archival research, personal interviews, and musical score analysis, Marble highlights Russell’s major works and shows how esotericism and aesthetic theory strategically guided his creative process. The writing is supplemented throughout with numerous archival images, featuring Russell’s original scores, notebooks, and photographs. Marble’s work is indebted to the Arthur Russell Estate/NYPL, Audika Records/Steve Knutson, Tom Lee, and Russell’s friends and collaborators, as well as to the pioneering work of biographers Tim Lawrence and Matt Wolf. Hailed by the New York Times as “groundbreaking work,” Buddhist Bubblegum reveals how one of America’s most visionary artists uniquely fused spiritual and musical disciplines.

Will check it out, thanks!

Finally picked up my copy today. Have a feeling it's going to be a bit beyond my depths on bost the music theory and the Buddhism fronts--it was if I remember correctly first published a decade or more ago as a PhD dissertation. But I'm still very curious.

Did you finish it, Soundslike? I haven't gotten it yet.
For completists (heh):

Some Say (Original Mix)
by Nirosta Steel, Arthur Russell, Steven Hall, Pocketknife
Wilde Calm Records is proud to present “Some Say,” a recently discovered song from the archive of Arthur Russell. The track was produced and mixed by Arthur in 1985 for a solo project of Steven Hall’s that was originally intended for release on Rough Trade Records. Legendary disco producer Bob Blank recorded and engineered the project at his Connecticut-based studio. “Some Say” features Arthur’s classic cello basslines, cracking boom bap drums and Steven’s floating vocals and synth pads. In true Arthur fashion, the song abruptly stutters, slinks and lurches halfway through for Steven to complete his Buddhist pop mantra.
credits
released June 24, 2013
Written by Steven Hall
Engineered by Bob Blank
Produced and Mixed by Arthur Russell
Drum programming and cello by Arthur Russell
Keyboard and vocal by Steven Hall
Edited by Steven Hall and Arthur Russell
Additional drum programming and editing by Skooby Laposky

Remix is better:

Some Say featuring Arthur Russell (Pocketknife Mix)

The B-side features an extended rework of “Some Say” by Pocketknife using Arthur’s BOSS Dr. Rhythm DR-55 drum machine.
credits
released June 24, 2013

Arthur's not on this 2013-released version of the Russell-Elodie Lauten "In The Light of The Miracle," but it's pleasingly AResque, starting w Lauten's vocals & the setting for same:

This new version for Wilde Calm uses Chicago house music as the starting point and features Lauten on vocals and keys, Nirosta Steel (Steven Hall) on additional vocals, Peter Zummo on trombone, and production/arranging by Pocketknife.
L.A.'s Gifted & Blessed (Gifted and Blessed, Wild Oats, Eglo) references Lauten's more well-known compositions and takes the dance floor of "Miracle 2" out into the cosmos.

Finally picked up my copy today. Have a feeling it's going to be a bit beyond my depths on bost the music theory and the Buddhism fronts--it was if I remember correctly first published a decade or more ago as a PhD dissertation. But I'm still very curious.

― Soundslike,

Yes I got it as a free download off his site years ago. I thought it was excellent.

aw yeah

"Corn", "Iowa Dream" and "World Of Echo" are all back in stock today for Bandcamp Friday.

If you are in the UK/EU "Corn" and "Love Is Overtaking Me" are available for the first time today on vinyl via our licensee Rough Trade Records.

A new album of previously unreleased World of Echo era recordings has been mastered for release sometime in 2023.

As ever thank you all for your support!

in other news Strut's Disco Not Disco compilation just got repressed, minus Steve Miller's Macho City for some reason (probably licensing)

Can't overstate the impact that had in 2000, on Russell fandom, on dance music in general. Total game changer. I already had a bunch of Russell stuff but had never heard that edit of Kiss Me Again. I played it over and over and over again.

A new album of previously unreleased World of Echo era recordings has been mastered for release sometime in 2023.

BOOM!!!

Ermahgerd

Where does that come from? Can't find it on Audika/Steve's Twitter or Facebook or the Audika website...

Nevermind, saw it on Audika's Bandcamp community page

yeah I got it as a Bandcamp update from Audika

there should be a law against reissuing any more arthur russell until the 15 min “tell you today pt 1 + 2” gets reissued

i remember reading about recording sessions for a loose joint album in the liner notes for either world of Arthur russel or calling out of context. Can we get some of that? how many songs were recorded?

loose joints

was just reading an interview with Steve D'Acquisito where he says they recorded an entire double album's worth of stuff

there was an excerpt from a track called "Let's Go Play Baseball" on a radio broadcast a while back, upthread somewhere

omg ANOTHER ONE

https://arthurrussell.bandcamp.com/album/picture-of-bunny-rabbit

God I love that lead track

This Sunday from 2-7pm celebrate the life and work of American composer, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell (1951-1992).
Join DJs Lucia Santos and Georgia Dillane as they dive into Arthur’s discography, collaborations and interviews with those who keep his music alive pic.twitter.com/EbudMFVguw

— WKCR-FM NY (@WKCRFM) May 20, 2023

So excited--got my copy of 'Picture of Bunny Rabbit' in the mail a week early, for some reason!

Only been waiting for the 'World of Echo'-era demos teased in the liner notes to WOE's Audika reissue since 2004, so could've survived another week, but I'll take it! About to listen now...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy7sB-OXoAAbFMR?format=jpg&name=large

So first thoughts (best thoughts?):

Obviously not the place anyone would *start* with Arthur's music. But for those deeply in love with 'World of Echo,' is's mostly a warm fuzzy blanket of loveliness, with some sonic wrinkles and combinations not heard from him before. Then there's one track (really a series of several fragments) that suggests yet another Arthur-invented genre unto itself he could've explored at length (and who knows, maybe did) that sounds entirely new, and not much like anything I've heard before--very glitchy, droney, kinetic but somewhat darker and more menacing than anything else he made.

Of course, I would--but I love it.

Cool beans, loose jointz---and thanks! Looking fwd even more now.

me too! and I was already looking forward to it rather a lot

ilx alum Philip Sherburne conducts a very good interview with Steve Knutson:
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/arthur-russell-picture-of-bunny-rabbit-interview/

this is incredible

it sure is

the interview or the release?

this is one of the best interviews i've ever read tbh. love Knuston so much

haven't heard the release yet even though WoE and bunny rabbits are my 2 favorite things.

will be really bummed if this turns out to be the last big audika project

i can walk to the NYPL performing arts library from my apartment in about 40 mins, been meaning to spend a day in the archive for years but haven't got around to it. always wanted to hear the 45 minute Being It that Tom Lee has talked about his obsession with.

god this is beautiful

how are these all so good??