In honor of the art opening/record release show hosted by …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead at Littlefield today, self-titled thought we’d revisit the Conrad Keely feature from our third issue—an extensive look at his D&D-like artwork.
Expect a streaming version of the band’s new album (Tao of the Dead, available today on Superball Music) later this week, along with a track-by-track commentary…
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By Andrew Parks
There’s a moment halfway through Wild Combination when you realize what a daunting project this Arthur Russell documentary must have been. Aside from the fact that Russell died of complications due to AIDS in 1992, the mutant-disco/avant-everything icon left behind scant original footage for a potential full-length film. Yet director Matt Wolf’s New York University education helped the 2004 film school graduate take the project into abstract, Technicolor territories that any art-house buff can appreciate. As one of self-titled’s associates put it at a New York screening, “I don’t really care about the music that much, but that was really beautiful.”
That beauty comes from the way Wolf contrasts Russell’s cornfield-wandering childhood in Oskaloosa, Iowa, with the Lower East Side breakthrough—the peak of the post-disco/punk era that gave birth to both no (and new) wave—that would eventually define him as an artist. It’s enough to leave you hopeful for an art-damaged reaction to all the apocalyptic rhetoric that’s polluted the airwaves since the stock market started plunging.
self-titled spoke to Wolf about Wild Combination via e-mail. Read more in self-titled’s third issue
[Photo by Winona Barton-Ballantine]
As they revealed in our extensive cover story Q&A, School of Seven Bells played their first show at Tonic nearly two years ago, a gig where they “experimented in front of everyone.” Thanks to the revelatory archives of YouTube, we unearthed a clip from this very show. While the Deheza Sisters still carry “Sempiternal” with their heavenly harmonies—alongside Benjamin Curtis on buzzsaw guitar and backup vocals—we can see why that whole drummer thing didn’t work out.
To set up a point of comparison, we included the same song in another drastically-different set: our OSCILLATIONS party at (Le) Poisson Rouge a couple months back …
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: Alejandra Deheza (School of Seven Bells), Madeline Davy and John Pugh of Free Blood, Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis (SVIIB)
As you might have noticed last week—when our self-titled widget switched from a bare-chested Jay Reatard to an unforeseen pairing of Free Blood and School of Seven Bells—we’ve finally unveiled our third digital issue. As always, we encourage you to view it in full-screen mode (the option is on the far right part of the toolbar) and keep your eye out for embedded links. Feel free to forward what’s inside, too …
[Photos by Winona Barton-Ballatine; live photo by Aaron Richter]
Interview by Andrew Parks
The first thing that struck us about School of Seven Bells was how undeniably alien their sound is. Familiar elements are everywhere—beats that are about to boil over; guitars that grind drums to dust; synths that glisten like the noontime sun—but they coalesce in a manner few, if any, could have predicted given the trio’s Secret Machines/On!Air!Library! pedigee.
We won’t bother trying to give such a gray, genre-less area of psychedelic-something-or-other a name. However, we did have a lengthy conversation with 2/3 of our cover co-stars at d.b.a. (Claudia Deheza was m.i.a.), one that touches upon everything from the undisputed brilliance of Robert Wyatt to the hyper-sensitivity that comes from reing the reviews of clueless critics.
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School of Seven Bells, “Connjur”
We know—as lovely as J. Bennett’s story is, you’re tired of reading about Jay Reatard and eagerly awaiting the next digital, interactive issue of self-titled. Well, we’re happy to report that the cover image above (curated by our friends at Oak) is from ST003, our third irreverent but insightful collection of exclusive stories and eye-gouging photography. As you can see, we dropped Free Blood and School of Seven Bells in the same room for the first time to discuss the ballsy 180’s both bands did after ditching their more established gigs (!!!, The Secret Machines, On! Air! Library!). Their answers may surprise you.
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