Russell, Arthur
Picture Of Bunny Rabbit (Code Only Faster: Crossing The Line From Vocal To Instrumental And Back)
Audika
***In 1986 Arthur Russell was diagnosed with HIV, that same year he released his career-defining masterpiece World of Echo, the first and only solo album issued during his lifeltime. Arthur had found his voice and a fresh direction with a set of new, transformative material, unlike anything he or anyone else had previously released. His illness ensured that the artistic growth and sense of exploration encapsulated in World of Echo would be tragically curtailed. Within six short years Arthur was gone. Arthur's final years were filled with a renewed commitment to creativity and unceasing live and recording work. He regularly performed the World of Echo material and incorporated several of its compositions in collaborations with choreographers active in New York's innovative dance community. Arthur worked closely with Diane Madden, Allison Salzinger, Stephanie Woodard, and John Bernd, usually playing his cello and effects boxes off stage as the choreographers’ pieces were performed. In 1993 Arthur posthumously received a prestigious Bessie Composer Award for his work in the dance world. Picture of Bunny Rabbit features nine previously unreleased performances from this era compiled from completed masters culled from two unique test pressings, including one, dated 9/15/85 by Arthur, provided by his mother and sister. A further four tracks were discovered in his tape archive. The track listing includes an exceptional and dramatic solo recording of “In The Light of a Miracle” and the enigmatic title instrumental “Picture of Bunny Rabbit,” written especially for a friend's pet rabbit. The bulk of the material...
CD $15.95
06/23/2023
LP $25.35
06/23/2023
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Received an 8.4 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork. Over the past decade, the visionary musician ARTHUR RUSSELL has entered something close to the mainstream. Sampled and referenced by contemporary musicians, his papers now open to visitors at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in New York, and his name synonymous with a certain strain of tenderness, Russell is as widely known as he’s ever been. Thanks to Russell’s partner Tom Lee and to Steve Knutson of Audika Records, who have forged several records from Russell’s vast archive of unfinished and unreleased work, the world now hears many versions of Arthur Russell. There’s the Iowa boy, the disco mystic, the singer-songwriter and composer, and the fierce perfectionist deep in a world of echo. While all of these elements of Russell are individually true, none alone define him. Now, after ten years of work inside the Russell library, Lee and Knutson bring us Iowa Dream, yet another bright star in Russell’s dazzling constellation. Blazing with trademark feeling, these nineteen songs are a staggering collection of Russell’s utterly distinct songwriting. Features contributions from downtown NYC musicians ERNIE BROOKS, RHYS CHATHAM, HENRY FLYNT, JON GIBSON, PETER GORDON, STEVEN HALL, JACKSON MAC LOW, LARRY SALTZMAN and DAVID VAN TIEGHEM, along with PETER BRODERICK, who makes a contemporary addition to this list: more than forty years after Russell recorded several nearly finished songs, Broderick worked diligently with Audika to complete them, and performed audio restoration and additional...
LP $33.95
11/15/2019
CD $15.50
11/15/2019
2XLP $29.75
11/15/2019
***BACK IN STOCK!!! The first in Audika's series of reissues and compilations that started the renaissance. In 2002, Audika Records entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with the estate of ARTHUR RUSSELL to compile and issue previously unreleased and out of print material from Arthur’s vast archive. This first album Calling Out Of Context, features 12 previously unreleased tracks of Buddhist Bubblegum Alt Disco Pop recorded during Arthur’s prime years 1985-90.
CD $14.75
02/24/2004
2XLP $33.85
08/10/2018
***Received an 8.4 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork. Before Disco, and before the transcendent echoes, ARTHUR RUSSELL wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed Instrumentals in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, “I was awakened, or re-awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music”. Initially intended to be performed in one 48 hour cycle, Instrumentals was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress. The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen (1975 and 1978) and Franklin St. Arts Center (1977) feature the cream of that eras downtown new music scene including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Julius Eastman, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Garrett List, Andy Paley, Bill Ruyle, Dave Van Tieghem, and Peter Zummo. Pitchfork lauded “Instrumentals” Vol. 1 as a masterpiece and one of Arthur’s “greatest achievements”. Americana touching on Copeland, Ives, and maybe even Brian Wilson. “Instrumentals” Vol. 2 is a moving, deeply pastoral work performed by the CETA Orchestra and conducted by Julius Eastman. Also included...
2XLP $34.25
02/24/2017
***ARTHUR RUSSELL's epic minimalist orchestral composition conducted by the late JULIUS EASTMAN. Stunningly beautiful, mercurial, and moving. The transcendental, ephemeral soundscape originally intended for theatrical performance. First released in 1983 on Chatam Square. The Audika release replicates the original artwork with remastered audio.
LP $19.25
04/08/2016
***It has been seven years since Audika last issued an album of ARTHUR RUSSELL material. The wait ends this summer with Corn, nine tracks Russell recorded in 1982 and 1983. In collaboration with Russell’s partner TOM LEE, Audika’s STEVE KNUTSON compiled Corn from Arthur’s original, completed 1/4” tape masters. Russell himself compiled this material on three separate test pressings—labeled El Dinosaur, Indian Ocean, and Untitled, respectively—in 1985. Russell fans know something of the Corn sound from Audika’s debut release, Calling Out of Context (2004), which included four songs from these sessions: “The Deer In The Forest Part 1,” “The Platform on the Ocean,” “Calling Out Of Context,” and “I Like You!” This new collection includes rhythmic alternate versions of “Lucky Cloud,” “Keeping Up,” “See My Brother, He’s Jumping Out (Let’s Go Swimming #2),” “This Is How We Walk on the Moon,” and “Hiding Your Present From You,” along with “Corn,” “Corn (Continued),” “They and Their Friends,” and the closing instrumental “Ocean Movie,” one of the most beautiful and curious Russell tracks ever to see the light of day. With Corn, Audika reveals yet another side of Russell’s staggeringly diverse artistry, following the avant-electrodisco of Calling Out Of Context, and its companion EP, Springfield; the orchestral works “Instrumentals” and Tower Of Meaning,” compiled and released as First Thought Best Thought; the “Buddhist Bubble Gum Pop” collected on Love Is Overtaking Me; and Russell’s definitive solo masterpiece, World Of Echo.
LP $21.95
06/09/2015
CD $15.50
06/09/2015
***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! A remastered reissue of ARTHUR RUSSELL’s most mind-bending (and boggling) psychedelic dance-raga originally released in 1986. The 12-inch and CD include all three versions of “Let’s Go Swimming”—Arthur’s own mixes of the Gulf Stream Dub and Puppy Surf Dub, plus the legendary Coastal Dub mixed with love by WALTER GIBBONS. Also included is the previously unreleased epic 11-minute keyboard funk version of “Make 1, 2” (Gem Spa Dub). CD packaged in gatefold LP-style sleeves with poster insert and cover art by Russell’s partner TOM LEE.
CD $11.25
09/27/2011
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Compiled from over eight hours of material, Love Is Overtaking Me reaches back further to ARTHUR RUSSELL’s first compositions from the early ‘70s, the most rare and, at the same time, arguably the most accessible part comprising 21 demos and home recordings of unreleased pop, folk and country songs selected by Audika’s STEVE KNUTSON, ERNIE BROOKS and Russell’s companion, TOM LEE. A number of the songs feature prominently in the film Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell.
CD $15.50
10/28/2008
2XLP $33.85
12/09/2014
***BACK IN STOCK!!! A collection of out of print instrumental and orchestral compositions, along with 45 minutes of previously unreleased material from the late ARTHUR RUSSELL. Initially intended to be performed in one 48-hour cycle, “Instrumentals” was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress. The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen and Franklin St. Arts Center include the cream of that era’s downtown new music scene including ERNIE BROOKS, RHYS CHATHAM, JON GIBSON, PETER GORDON, GARRETT LIST, ANDY PALEY, DAVE VAN TIEGHAM, and PETER ZUMMO. Included here are the previously unreleased “Instrumentals” Vol. 1 along with “Instrumentals” Vol. 2 that have been out of print for over twenty years. Originally released in 1984, sections of “Instrumentals” Vol. 2 were incorrectly mastered at half speed, and have been now corrected for this compilation. “Reach One” is one of Arthur’s earliest compositions dating back to 1973. The hypnotic soundscape was written and performed for two Fender Rhodes pianos, and is previously unreleased. One of the holy grails in Arthur’s discography, “Tower Of Meaning” is a beautiful and stunningly moving orchestral work. Conducted by the late JULIUS EASTMAN, “Tower Of Meaning” was originally released in a limited private edition of only 320 copies. “Sketch For The Face Of Helen” shares only the same title as the previously released excerpt from 1981. Inspired by his work with friend and composer Arnold Dreyblatt, this previously unreleased version was recorded with an electronic tone...
2XCD $20.50
04/04/2006
***BACK IN STOCK!!! A remastered and revised artwork edition of the extraordinary World Of Echo album from New York avant-garde cellist, songwriter, composer, and disco visionary ARTHUR RUSSELL. Originally released in 1986, the album is a deeply meditative and seductive work of awe-inspiring beauty, grace, and passion, performed with just cello, voice, and echoes. Eighteen tracks remastered from Russell’s original 1/4-inch sequenced masters, including drumless versions of his disco classics “Let’s Go Swimming,” “Tree House,” and “Wax The Van,” along with four previously unreleased songs from Sketches From World Of Echo.
CD $15.50
01/18/2005
2XLP $33.85
07/05/2019