Артур Рассел: Жизнь и музыка вне времени

American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician

Composer
producer was an American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician from Iowa, whose work spanned a disparate range of styles. After studying contemporary composition and Indian classical music in California, Russell relocated to New York City in the mid 1970s, where he became involved with both Lower Manhattan's avant garde community and the city's burgeoning disco scene. His eclectic music was often marked by adventurous production choices and his distinctive voice. The only full length studio albums Russell issued under his name were the orchestral recording Tower of Meaning (1983) and vocal LP World of Echo (1986); he also released the disco LP 24→24 Music (1981) under his Dinosaur L alias. Over the last two decades of his life, he amassed a large collection of unreleased and unfinished recordings, in part due to his perfectionist working tendencies. He died from AIDS related illnesses in 1992, still in relative obscurity and poverty. Several posthumous compilations of his music were released, including The World of Arthur Russell (2004) and Calling Out of Context (2004). The documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell was released in 2008.

Russell was born and raised in Oskaloosa, Iowa; his father was a former naval officer who eventually served as mayor of the small city. As a child and adolescent, he studied the cello and piano and began to compose his own music. When he was 18 he moved to San Francisco, where he lived in a Buddhist commune led by Neville G. Pemchekov Warwick. After earning his high school equivalency, he studied North Indian classical music at the Ali Akbar College of Music and Western composition part time at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He met Allen Ginsberg, with whom he began to work, accompanying him on the cello as a soloist or in groups while Ginsberg sang or read his poetry.

As a young adult, Russell led a seemingly heterosexual lifestyle; at least two of these relationships (with Muriel Fujii in San Francisco and later Sydney Murray in New York) have been substantiated. Lee, who became a schoolteacher and continued to reside in the couple's rent controlled East Village apartment until February 2011, is the executor of Russell's estate. Their relationship is detailed at length in Matt Wolf's Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell.

Though never achieving great success during his lifetime, Russell has been acknowledged as an important influence on a variety of musical developments and artists in recent years. In 2004, Stylus described him as "criminally overlooked for far too long" and "a genius—never to be recognized in his own time, but to be enjoyed by generations to come." PopMatters noted "the contributions Russell made to the disparate genres of dance, disco, dub, and experimental music" and wrote that "his absolute fearlessness in lending his own unique style to even the most unlikely sound combinations is peerless." Vice noted that he "never settled on one genre of music [ ] He made winsome country and hypersexual disco and delicate art pop," while drifting through the downtown rock and classical scenes of New York. Bandcamp Daily credited him with "spanning and shaping sounds as far afield as disco, minimalism, avant garde, new wave, and folk pop." Pitchfork called Russell "a changeling artist whose only parallel might be Miles Davis, constantly placing his individual sound in new contexts, constantly searching." Artists who have cited Russell as an influence include Dev Hynes, The Lemon Twigs and James Murphy. James Blake named his club night and record label after Russell's provisionally titled album "1 800 Dinosaur". Planningtorock covered Russell's song "Janine" on their album W in 2011, and former Everything But The Girl singer Tracey Thorn covered "Get Around to It" on her 2007 solo album Out of the Woods. A tribute EP, Four Songs by Arthur Russell, curated by Jens Lekman, was released in 2007 through Rough Trade Records. In 2014 the HIV/AIDS focused Red Hot Organization released a tribute triple LP compilation, Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell, included artists Jose Gonzalez, Robyn, Hot Chip, Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart among others. In 2015 Red Hot presented Red Hot + Arthur Russell Live featuring musicians and songs from the tribute at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House for two nights. In 2016, rapper Kanye West released a track titled "30 Hours" which prominently samples Russell's "Answers Me." In 2018, American musician and composer Peter Broderick released the compilation album Peter Broderick & Friends Play Arthur Russell containing cover versions of songs written by Russell. Filmmaker Matt Wolf completed a feature length documentary on Russell called Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2008. Tim Lawrence, an author and academic at the University of East London, has written a biography of Russell, titled Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, published in 2009.

Dinosaur: "Kiss Me Again" (1978). Sire Records. Vocals by Myriam Valle. Produced by Arthur Russell & Nicky Siano. Loose Joints: "Is It All Over My Face" (1980). West End Records. Produced by Arthur Russell & Steve D'Aquisto. Loose Joints: "Pop Your Funk" (1980). West End Records. Produced by Arthur Russell & Steve D'Aquisto. Dinosaur L: "Go Bang" / "Clean on Your Bean #1" (1982). Sleeping Bag Records. Vocals by Lola Blank, Arthur Russell, and Julius Eastman. Loose Joints: "Tell You (Today)" (1983). 4th and Broadway. Vocals by Joyce Bowden. Produced by Killer Whale (Russell) & Steve D'Aquisto. Clandestine feat. Ned Sublette: "Radio Rhythm (S I G N A L S M A R T)" (1984). Sleeping Bag Records. Vocals by Ned Subtlette. Produced by Killer Whale and Ned Sublette. Felix: "Tiger Stripes" / "You Can't Hold Me Down" (1984). Sleeping Bag Records. Vocals by Maxine Bell. Produced by Killer Whale & Nicky Siano. Indian Ocean: "School Bell/Treehouse" (1986). Sleeping Bag Records (US) / 4th and Broadway (UK). Produced by Arthur Russell & Peter Zummo. Arthur Russell: "Let's Go Swimming" (1986). Logarythm (US) / Rough Trade (UK). Produced by Arthur Russell & Mark Freedman. Edited by Killer Whale. Lola (Lola Blank): "Wax the Van" (1987). Jump Street Records. Vocals by Lola Blank. Produced by Bob and Lola Blank. Lola (Lola Blank): "I Need More" (1988). Vinylmania. Vocals by Lola Blank. Produced by Bob and Lola Blank. Arthur Russell: "Springfield" (2006). Audika Records. Includes a remix by The DFA.

Sounds of JHS 126 Brooklyn: "Chill Pill" (1984). Sleeping Bag Records. "Under Water Mix" by Killer Whale. Bonzo Goes to Washington (Bootsy Collins and Jerry Harrison): "Five Minutes" (1984). Sleeping Bag Records. "R R R Radio" and "B B B Bombing" mixes "chopped and channeled" by Arthur Russell.