He recorded two all-time Disco classics and innumerable songs sitting somewhere between Pop and Avantgarde. Film maker Matt Wolf takes you on a 70-minute ride through the fascinating world of Arthur Russell. Now showing at the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival on 23rd October!
The documentary ‘Wild Combination’ is a film that is marked by the absence of its star. Russell died of AIDS in April 1992. Wolf delves into the memories of some of Russell’s closest friends and associates to create a multi-faceted portrait of what the musical maverick was like.
Hooked on music, Russell frequented New York clubland to get inspiration. A regular at David Mancuso’s proto house party The Loft, Nicky Siano’s Gallery and Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, Russell rubbed shoulders with the most influential DJs in town. ‘Wild Combination’ features rare archive footage from The Loft, a nice treat for Disco fanatics.
The Film will be shown in Ireland during the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival from 23-26 October 2008. ‘Wild Combination’ is scheduled to run on the opening night of the festival. For more information on the festival which also features Detroit legend Juan Atkins, Berlin DubTechno pioneer Moritz von Oswald and veteran Industrial act Nurse With Wound, please see the DEAF site.
Watch The ‘Wild Combination’ Trailer Here
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell Trailer
‘Wild Combination’ gives you a glimpse into the New York play pens frequented by the man who wrote and recorded Dinosaur L’s ‘Go Bang’ - A record that features in the all-time Top 100 playlists of The Loft and The Paradise Garage. Russell also wrote the Loose Joints’ ‘Is It All Over My Face?’ and ‘Tell You Today’ as well as the sought after and much underrated ‘Kiss Me Again’ by Dinosaur (no ‘L’!).
Russell was also musical director of the famous improv arts place The Kitchen, counted Beat Poet Allan Ginsberg to his close friends and mingled easily in underground and more established arts circles. Outside his Disco-inspired work, Russell drew on Classical and Avantgarde music to fuel his dream of a fresh kind of Pop music.
Wolf draws on 13 scenesters, family members and friends of Russell’s to tell you their side of the story. The result is an impressionist view of Russell’s life, the picture of Russell is almost real enough to touch yet fleeting and gone within a blink.
Arthur’s partner Tom Lee paints a vivid picture of Russell and the way he worked on his music. A notorious perfectionist, Russell kitted out the flat they shared to enable him to record stuff at home without interference. It’s amazing to see the ramshackle environment in which Russell created some truly amazing music. (Nerd alert: Check out the Yamaha DX7 synth that features prominently in Russell’s studio set up!).
Few songs were ever finished to Russell’s ears. Lee still has tons of reel-to-reel tapes of songs in various stages of production that were never released. He also has an incredible mental catalogue of what Russell recorded.
It’s the little asides that make for a fascinating story. Lee recalls that when the Walkman, Sony’s portable cassette player, came out in 1979, Russell began listening to his work-in-progress on a Walkman while out jogging across Manhattan. He’d hit the Staten Island Ferry, cruising past the Statue of Liberty to muse over his latest compositions in peace.
His friends and associates in the music scene agree that Russell held an absolute belief that he was going to have a huge Pop hit. They also describe Russell’s perfectionism as one of the factors that kept him from having the commercial success he deserved.
Ernie Brooks, formerly bass player with The Modern Lovers, was an established musician when he met Russell who had just arrived in New York. To Brooks’ ears, Russell was totally unique. Check out the footage of a longhaired Russell singing and playing some ace folky tunes.
He apparently also was moody and likely to change his mind on a whim without regard for the consequences. Brooks has tales about Russell stopping the band’s van on the way to a gig to wander off, leaving his bandmates to continue to the venue on their own.
Will Socolov, Russell’s business partner at record label Sleeping Bag Records, recalls Russell fretting over songs long after they were released. He has a story about the two of them delivering a promo copy of ‘Go Bang’ to DJ David Mancuso at the Loft - While the dancefloor went bonkers, Russell muttered darkly that the record was ruined because the re-mix DJ, Francois Kevorkian, had got the drums all wrong.
There’s two sides to every story, but ‘Wild Combination’ comes across as fairly balanced. Some of the characters here might embellish the past somewhat, but the overall picture seems realistic.
‘Wild Combination’ loosely sticks to a chronological timeline from Russell’s childhood in rural, small town Idaho to his last days in bustling Manhattan. It’s not a strictly linear film, however, more of an atmospheric loop that you can dip in and out of. I actually watched it twice, back to back in the first sitting. There is a high amount of detail here that opened itself to me gradually. I get something new out of ‘Wild Combination’ every time I watch it.
‘Wild Combination’ premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February of this year. The London Premiere takes place at the ICA on 26th September 2008. The film will remain on show at the ICA until 2nd October.
A compliation CD containing previously unreleased recordings by Russell as featured in the film will be available from 27th October. The album will be called ‘Love Is Overtaking Me’ and will be released on UK indie label Rough Trade.
‘Wild Comination’ plus additional archive footage of Arthur Russell performances is due out on DVD from 3rd November 2008.
