World of Echo reissue.

Woebot

Well-known member
The CD extra tracks are a bit weak, but the DVD is brilliant. Two films by Phil Niblock. The one I've seen has an extreme close-up of Russell playing the cello, a suite of songs from World of Echo. You see only close-ups of his mouth, holds, the camera tracks down to his neck and the cello's, holds, then down the frets. Michael Snow style, one seamless take.

Retrospectively its fascinating because it achieves everything the recent cult of Russell is striving too, trying to build up an ultra-intimate all-consumingly total portrait of him, yet which makes the subject even more mysterious. Kind of like examining the dead Einstein's hair follicles for clues as to his genius. Shroud of Turin style.

Stubbs' liner notes are excellent, but why does this music still attract the "dub" tag?
 

mms

sometimes
why does it attract the dub tag?
Probably cos its comparitivley the closest form to what he does technically, plus he uses the same gear to get there, ie an echoplex to what some of the dubbers did.
Also a number of the tracks on the lp are "versions" of his more discoey things. The originals probably fit the dub tag alot more readily than the stuff on world of echo though, they are built for dancing, they are formed songs by bands and they use dubbing techniques, something like 'lets go swimming' sounds closer to what teo macero did tho doesn't it, and that kinda fed into the latin rascals mantronix and freestyle.
 
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Woebot

Well-known member
mms said:
Probably cos its comparitivley the closest form to what he does technically, plus he uses the same gear to get there, ie an echoplex to what some of the dubbers did. Also a number of the tracks on the lp are "versions" of his more discoey things.
Well there's three good reasons! I suppose I'm a little resistant to the idea. After all, 'Nirvana Unplugged' isn't 'Nirvana in Dub' now is it? When you see the DVD you realise how much of the effect of his sound was conjured live.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
it's also a reissue of a proper release, which calling out of context wasn't so it's more or less the way he wanted it to be, thus a bit more focused, which is what i'm guessing jess is getting at by saying it's more "pure".
 
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mms

sometimes
WOEBOT said:
Well there's three good reasons! I suppose I'm a little resistant to the idea. After all, 'Nirvana Unplugged' isn't 'Nirvana in Dub' now is it? When you see the DVD you realise how much of the effect of his sound was conjured live.


sure but some dubbers produced on the fly too.
and also the central element is the echo isn't it?
 

xero

was minusone
someone on another board (djhistory) asked whether it was just coincidence that A.R. Kane's 'i' sounds a little like calling out of context and did they hear the tapes of russell's unreleased stuff as they were on the same label - he got no response - does anyone here have the inside story?
 

Jay Vee

Member
minusone said:
someone on another board (djhistory) asked whether it was just coincidence that A.R. Kane's 'i' sounds a little like calling out of context and did they hear the tapes of russell's unreleased stuff as they were on the same label - he got no response - does anyone here have the inside story?



What on "i" in particular sounds like "COOC"?
If I recall, Alex & Rudi of A. R . Kane were pretty deliberate in listening to as little outside music as possible when working on their stuff. I was corresponding with Alex via email a few years back and I once asked if it was true they never listened to pop music. He said no, it wasn't true. It was just a stance at the time but they really loved pop and listened to it all the time except for during the writing/recording process.. Though it's possible they may have heard the Russell stuff, they never cited it, and only Simon R. (in "Blissed Out" , I think) really made the connection between the similarities in their music.

Simon (hello? U there?) - you interviewed them for the Melody Maker. Did they ever mention Russell?
 

blissblogger

Well-known member
Russell and ARKane

no, they never mentioned Russell as i recall

stuff they did mention: electric Miles, Cocteau Twins, ECM (particular fans of Azimuth, the group with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler)

i don't remember comparing AR K or Russell although there's definitely points of comparison

by the time of i they were obviously listening to pop (they did a single called 'pop'), current and old stuff -- there's a track on it that's like their take on U2 (really good too), a track that's Motown inspired, a ska track

i can almost claim to have made 'Let's Go Swimming' single of the week in Melody Maker. Almost. it was second in the list. shamefully i put "Ask" by The Smiths as SOTW. very nearly their weakest single ever. i was a diehard Moz fan in those days though. Still a good week for Rough Trade, that one.
 

Jay Vee

Member
blissblogger said:
i don't remember comparing AR K or Russell although there's definitely points of comparison

Sorry. I'm working off v. foggy memory today.
:eek:

Something about "World Of Echo"/"69"/oceanic aspects of both in "Blissed Out" is what made me think you had compared the two.
 

jwd

Well-known member
that's funny, 'cos when i played my mate james the 10-minute version of "let's go swimming", he turned to me and said "oh, now we know where a.r.kane stole all their ideas for 'i' from." if anything, "calling out of context" is a bit closer to "new clear child" (the much-underrated 3rd a.r.k album)
 

dubplatestyle

Well-known member
i compared <i>calling out of context</i> to ar kane and the junior boys in a review i wrote back in march (?). i didn't think i was the first one, but maybe i was! there does seem to be a link ("mod" beats + heavy echo/reverb/texture + falsetto?)
 

dubplatestyle

Well-known member
also, big up jon for repping <i>new clear child</i> (ha ha i think i listen to it most! though i could listen to him sing the dictionary...)
 

jwd

Well-known member
hey jess
yeah i bought "new clear child" when it came out (cue record clerk fascists, "why are you listening to that shit", they were busy wacking off to the wedding present, whatever) and thought it was a little 'wet' at first. glad i gave it some time. but yes, the vocals in particular, ayuli and russell were quite close in timbre, delivery, intonation...
(jess what did you make of the sufi records? did you follow alex's post-ark stuff? and how weird (good weird) was it to hear his voice on the new wire tapper?)
(i still remember ian penman's vicious review of "new clear" in the wire which he later recanted on his blog... that was a long time coming)
(sorry to derail "world of echo" thread, as you were)
just saw the dvd footage for the first time. i could stare at a film of arthur gazing at his shoes for hours, it's just lovely to see him PLAY, yunno? i like the simplicity of the gesture too, it's perfectly niblock.
 

Jay Vee

Member
Yeah, apology here also for continuing on the AR Kane tangent but I have to agree on how great New Clear Child is. "Snow White's World" is particularly majestic. The one time I saw them perform was in Hoboken, NJ in support of this album and they did an amazing job of getting the synth/sample textures in those songs down with just their guitars + feedback. Really great.

Alex's post-ARK stuff is a bit boxy productionwise yet still worth a listen. i'd be willing to compile and trade a Best Of for anyone interested if you write me offlist.

The first Sufi album still sounds lovely. Some creamy sub bass on that.
 

dubplatestyle

Well-known member
i never did hear the sufi record(s). i suppose that means i should get myself to slsk. (shhh shit i shouldn't have said that with matt around.)

i finally heard <i>new clear child</i> in the summer of 2003 ($1 in a record sale), and listened to nothing else when i was going to bed for about six weeks.
 
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