Arthur Russell
An Iowa-born cellist and songwriter who worked in New York's downtown scenes, from minimalist composition to disco, under a dozen names, and who left more than a thousand recordings.
- Origin
- Oskaloosa, Iowa; New York City
- Years active
- 1951-1992
- Genres
- avant-garde, mutant disco, art pop, minimalist, folk
- Labels
- Sire, West End, Sleeping Bag, Rough Trade, Point Music, Audika
- Also known as
- Dinosaur, Dinosaur L, Loose Joints, Indian Ocean, Killer Whale, Charles Arthur Russell Jr.
Iowa to the Kitchen
Charles Arthur Russell Jr. was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa on May 21, 1951 and died in New York on April 4, 1992, aged 40, of an AIDS-related illness. His father, a former naval officer, became mayor of Oskaloosa. At 18 Russell moved to San Francisco, lived in a Buddhist commune and studied North Indian classical music at the Ali Akbar College of Music. In 1973 he moved to New York, enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music and took classes at Columbia.
In 1974 and 1975 he was musical director of The Kitchen, the downtown performance space, where he booked the Modern Lovers and Talking Heads. He played cello and sang in a band called The Flying Hearts, recorded by John Hammond, and made sessions with Allen Ginsberg in 1977 that were later released as Ballad of the Lights. In 1976 he discovered disco at Nicky Siano's Gallery.
Under every name
He recorded as Dinosaur and Dinosaur L, Loose Joints, Indian Ocean, Killer Whale and others. Kiss Me Again on Sire, as Dinosaur L, was a club hit in 1977 by Wikipedia's account, though other sources say 1978. In 1980 Loose Joints put out Is It All Over My Face, Pop Your Funk and Tell You Today on West End; Larry Levan's remix made Is It All Over My Face a hit, and Russell saw virtually no royalties. In 1981 he co-founded Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov, and in 1983 made Tower of Meaning on Philip Glass's label Chatham Square. In 1985 Socolov rejected an album called Corn and Russell left the label.
In 1986 he released the 12-inch Let's Go Swimming and the album World of Echo, on Upside in the US and on Rough Trade in the UK in March 1987, and was diagnosed HIV-positive soon after. The Arts Desk's extract from Tim Lawrence's biography says dance 12-inch singles outsold his non-dance releases. Another Thought, on Glass's Point Music, was the first posthumous album, and the estate label Audika began excavating the archive in 2004 with Calling Out of Context and a World of Echo remaster, followed by First Thought Best Thought in 2006, Love Is Overtaking Me in 2008, Corn in 2016 and more after that.
The archive
Russell left roughly 1,500 to 1,600 reel-to-reel tapes along with cassettes. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts acquired the collection in 2016, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music mounted an exhibition, Do What I Want, in 2017. His partner Tom Lee runs the estate. Philip Glass said Russell saw earlier than most that the walls between concert, popular and avant-garde music were unnecessary; Allen Ginsberg called the work Buddhist bubblegum; and Kyle Gann wrote that Russell simply vanished into his own music.
Matt Wolf's 2008 documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell and Tim Lawrence's 2009 book Hold On to Your Dreams are the standard accounts. Dev Hynes, James Murphy and the Lemon Twigs have cited him, and James Blake named his label after a planned Russell album, 1-800-Dinosaur.
Records
- World of Echo 1986 · Upside (US); Rough Trade (UK)
Voice and cello soaked in echo, the only album Russell issued under his own name in his lifetime and the closest thing to a signature work.
- Another Thought 1994 · archival · Point Music
The first posthumous Russell album, on Philip Glass's label, assembled after the Rough Trade label stopped operating.
Songs
- Let's Go Swimming World of Echo · 1986
Russell's nearest thing to a straight dance record under his own name, closing World of Echo and also issued as a 12-inch in 1986.
- Answers Me World of Echo · 1986
A two-minute World of Echo track that Kanye West sampled for 30 Hours in 2016, introducing Russell to hip-hop listeners.
- This Is How We Walk on the Moon Another Thought · 1994
A rhythmic song first heard on Another Thought, with an earlier 7:12 version on Corn and a title later borrowed for a tribute record.
Where to go next
Official
- Arthur Russell on Bandcamp: Corn The estate's Bandcamp.
- Sketches for World of Echo Liner notes on the 1984 and 1985 concerts.
Reference
- Arthur Russell (musician) The fullest overview of the aliases and discography.
- World of Echo Tracklist with times and a roundup of reviews.
- Hold On to Your Dreams The standard biography, by Tim Lawrence.
Discography and data
- Bandcamp Daily: the Arthur Russell catalog A release-by-release guide.
Writing and criticism
- KEXP: Being Isn't Certain A critical essay on World of Echo.
- Stereogum: Echo in Eternity Career overview and legacy.
Interviews
- Red Bull Music Academy Daily: the archiving of Arthur Russell The NYPL curator and Tom Lee on the tapes.
- Loud and Quiet: Growing Echo Tom Lee on the estate.
Live performance archives
- setlist.fm: Arthur Russell The few documented shows, 1975 to 1987.
Sources
- Arthur Russell (musician), Wikipedia
- World of Echo, Wikipedia
- 30 Hours, Wikipedia
- A comprehensive guide to the Arthur Russell catalog, Bandcamp Daily (2017-10-23)
- Being Isn't Certain: Arthur Russell's World of Echo at 35, KEXP (2021-06-22)
- Echo in Eternity: the indelible mark of Arthur Russell, Stereogum
- Growing Echo: Arthur Russell, Loud and Quiet
- The Archiving of Arthur Russell, Red Bull Music Academy Daily (2017-05)
- Hold On to Your Dreams (extract), The Arts Desk