INTERESTING
RESULTS
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INTERESTING |
Interesting Results
MUSIC BY A COMMITTEE OF ONE – OR,
"I FEEL LIKE I'M A-FIXIN' TO DIY"
various artists
Ltd Ed (500) CD released Monday 15 Nov 2004
Designed by Sonic Arts Network (UK)
BUY at http://www.sonicartsnetwork.org
CURATED BY IRWIN CHUSID
TRACKLIST
01. Ariel Pink "Alisa" ***
02. Peter Grudzien "Nothing"
03. Lucia Pamela "Hap-Hap-Happy Heart"
04. Harry Merry "Hoyendish Ambrosial"
05. Chris Butler "Juice" ***
06. Petra Haden "Armenia (City in the Sky)" ***
07. 'Shooby' Taylor, The Human Horn "Indiana" ***
08. Bob Vido "Boo-Bah-Bah"
09. B.J. Snowden "Drug Free"
10. Y. Bhekhirst "Hot in the Airport"
11. Eric Alexandrakis "Hooligan Hotline"
12. R. Stevie Moore "Where Do I Come From?" (1980)
Sonic Arts Network is pleased to announce the release of "Interesting Results," the latest in its acclaimed series of individually curated CD publications. The project was compiled and annotated by author and producer Irwin Chusid. "Interesting Results" celebrates the individual. Do-It-Yourself has always been with us. Before assembly lines, clocks and shoes were made by artisans, one at a time. Ambitious amateur musicians have made and released records independently since the advent of 78 rpm discs. However, in the 1970s, with the emergence of the consumer cassette revolution, DIY became a philosophical phenomenon. Since that decade, as technology developed and the cost of studio gear plummeted, the playing field for recording artists has levelled. What once entailed a lengthy, complex and expensive process can now be done on the quick and cheap, and, often, in solitude. This doesn't mean all bedsitter recordings will get heard -- but they exist. We just have to find them -- and find time to listen.
The CD-publication features exclusive tracks from Peter Grudzien, "Shooby" Taylor 'The Human Horn', Lucia Pamela, B.J. Snowden, R. Stevie Moore, Ariel Pink and other extraordinary artists. In keeping with the DIY aesthetic of the publication the booklet includes special 'cut out and assemble' figures of the artists as well as detailed track notes by the curator.
12. R. STEVIE MOORE
"WHERE DO I COME FROM?" (13:39)
(R. Stevie Moore; © Spunky Monkey Music/ASCAP)R. Stevie Moore: All vocals, instruments and production
Jon Child: Engineering of some parts at Clack Studios, NYC
Recorded in Nashville, New York City, and Montclair, New Jersey, 1980
From album XVII (self-released, 1980)R. Stevie Moore (b. Robert Steven Moore, Nashville
TN, January 1952) is often called the Godfather of
Home Taping. He's an extremely influential first-gen
DIY'er, who caught the bedroom recording bug around
1968 and is still at it almost 40 years later. His reper-
toire has been collected on about 20 albums commer-
cially released on perhaps 15 different labels in four
countries, and individual tracks have appeared on
another 50 various-artist compilations. Despite such
widespread circulation, fortune and fame have eluded
Moore, though he's been dogged by notoreity and cult
figurehood.Stevie has a classy Nashville pedigree – his dad Bob
played bass with Elvis for ten years (and just about
everyone else in town for several decades). But RSM
rejected offers of session nepotism and fled north in
1978, settling in Montclair, New Jersey. There his
legacy became bountiful, as he produced tapes number-
ing in the hundreds, usually on chronically malfunc-
tioning equipment.Stevie uses an interesting process of 'building' songs
by layers. He might start with a drum track that was
improvised, yet structured in patterns. A mistake could
be repeated, making it seem intentional. Moore then
adds bass, guitar, keys, vox, and/or EFX, not knowing
in advance what the final product will sound like until
he gets there. If he makes additional mistakes in the
layering process, he works with flaws (the "happy
accident" theory) so they become integral parts of the
structure, adding a unique character to his work.
"Interesting Results" is available now from Sonic Arts Network for £15 or, for greater value, we recommend becoming a member of Sonic Arts Network and receiving this publication and the next two in the series over the next 12 months.
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"Interesting Results. Music By a Committee of One - or, "I Feel Like I'm A-Fixin' to DIY"" CD + libro Sonic Arts Network * 12t - 58:17 That's a nice and funny release by Sonic Arts Network, a British organisation specialized in limited monographic editions in book-format usually very serious and cultured (i.e. the recent "The Agents of Impurity" with contributions by Antonin Artaud, Vito Acconci, Asa Chang & Junray, Ergo Phizmiz etc.). Moreover every issue is entrusted to a single editor, outstanding luminary of the considered matter. In this case of "Interesting Results", a volcanic set of samples of not only amateurish odd fellows, fascinated by DIY, the duty is taken up by the clever Irwin Chusid, director of Raymond Scott Archives and responsible for fascinating projects on the matter of minima marginalia (the extraordinary "The Langley Schools Music Project", best-seller in the sales of Amazon.com, the essay "Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music" and respective CD's, the brand new book dedicated to the mischievous art of Jim Flora on Fantagraphics). Accompanied by very detailed and salacious note, as well as special 'cut out and assemble' figures of the artists, the contributions come by authors and musicians from the 'twilight zone', that is to say from a (mental) border line where self-amusement, at the best, autism, paranoia and omnipotence frenzy, often far beyond a non-return point, are at work. Besides the already well-known Lucia Pamela, Peter Grudzien, "Shooby" Taylor The Human Horn, B.J. Snowden, Ariel Pink and some wayward high-class outsider (the ex Tiny Huey and The Waitresses Chris Butler, Petra Haden, the doyen R. Stevie Moore, Erik Alexandrakis), the appearances of Harry Merry, Bob Vido e Y. Bhekhirst are particularly eccentric and enlightening. And while the first two induce tenderness due to their chronic incapacity to line up two intelligible words in succession and a spastic instrumental clumsiness à la Shaggs, the third one is even disquieting for his reclusive Jandek attitude expressing itself through a lyric monomania consisting in the obsessive reiteration of the song title (Hot in the Airport, in this case). (Vote: 9) Nicola Catalano |
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