When he died of complications from AIDS in 1992, the scarily talented, dauntingly prolific musician (cellist, composer, electronic music pioneer) Arthur Russell was little known outside the music and art worlds of New York, where he’d lived and worked since moving there in the 1970s. His peers and collaborators included Phillip Glass and David Byrne, while his endless need for new musical language led to everything from his being musical director of experimental art space The Kitchen, to creating cult-favorite disco tracks (like “Kiss Me Again,” by his group Dinosaur) and early House music classics – “Is it All Over My Face?” by his Loose Joints project, is a building block of House. The re-discovery and re-issue of his work that started a decade after his death have led to a bustling cottage industry and the amassment of new fans around the globe.
The Red Hot Organization, founded in 1989 to raise awareness and funds in the battle against AIDS, released the tribute collection Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell late last year. Jose Gonzalez, Robyn, Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart, and Hot Chip are among the artists who participated. (It’s only one of the many amazing Red Hot all-star projects organized around either a genre or an artist. There’s also a Red Hot + Bach.) Red Hot have teamed with music bible Wax Poetics to give away free tickets to the May 29 and May 30 New York concert performances of Master Mix that will include Sam Amidon, Cults, Lonnie Holley, Devonté Hynes, Redding Hunter, Little Scream, Thao Nguyen (Thao & The Get Down Stay Down), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and Rubblebucket.
Also well worth checking out is Wild Combination, director Matt Wolf’s exhaustively researched, moving documentary on Russell and his music.
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