Happy Birthday Ned Sublette!

Celebrating the birthday of singer/songwriter & music historian Ned Sublette with a discussion of Cuban music and more.

Get a copy of Ned Sublette's book Cuba and It's Music via Chicago Review Press right here.

Midweek Mixdown: Optimo's JD Twitch spins Arthur Russell

Back in May, JD Twitch played a set of his favourite Arthur Russell tracks at the Barbican in London... have a listen below. 

Here's the scoop from JD Twitch...

"On May 25th 2024, to accompany the launch of his Arthur Russell book "Travels Over Feeling" Richard King put together an event at London's Barbican celebrating Arthur's life with an all star musical cast recreating and reimagining his music.

"I was thrilled to be invited to play a DJ set in the foyer afterwards. I have been an Arthur Russell devotee for 30 years and decided to play an all Arthur Russell DJ set*. The atmosphere was very special with lots of love transmitting back and forth from the DJ booth to the dancefloor. I really felt a freedom to slowly build it up playing so many of my favourite AR tracks and it was one of my very favourite DJ gis of 2024 so far." 

Have a listen to the set right here. 

That time the Talking Heads played NYC's The Kitchen in 1976

The first band that The Kitchen's musical director Arthur Russell booked was David Byrne and Tina Weymouth's new group.

One For The Weekend: Indian Ocean

The Arthur Russell & Walter Gibbons collaborative 12" School Bell/Treehouse has just been reissued by Get On Down.

Unissued Arthur Russell recordings appear on new Peter Zummo album

Trombonist Peter Zummo's Frame Loop album – out March 2 on Foom – features Arthur Russell on amplified cello.

Here's the scoop...
A few years ago​,​ ​American composer and trombonist ​PETER ZUMMO discovered a ​1984 ​recording ​of unreleased material from his ​Six Songs​ suite in his archive. Six Songs was the basis for LATERAL PASS​ (Foom 2014), his award winning score for modern-dance choreographer Trisha Brown’s work of the same name. Material taken from Six Songs can also be heard on ​his seminal ZUMMO WITH AN X (Loris Bend, 1985/Optimo 2012).

The work is now being released as a new LP, FRAME LOOP. Recorded live and ​in single takes, it features​ a stellar line-up of longtime ZUMMO collaborators:​ ARTHUR RUSSELL on amplified cello, BILL RUYLE on marimba, ​and ​MUSTAFA AHMED on congas. ZUMMO ​plays trombone and euphonium.

​ZUMMO describes ​the recording as ‘a​n ​exercise in spontaneous arrangement’. ​He ​mainly ​​hews close to the ​score, ​while from time to time introducing canonic lines ​and variations. ARTHUR RUSSELL, using his signature amplified cello sound, alternates between ​solos and rhythm playing​. BILL RUYLE ​vamps on the notation, while MUSTAFA AHMED’s improvised percussi​on​ ​drives the forward momentum.​ Sometimes the music takes its time ​traversing a sonic landscape; at other points, it ​jumps from one section to another​​. Players'​ decisions ​push and pull the downbeat​; rounds ​emerge, then disappear​. Listen to Song II: Right; Off The Beat below.

Listen to the sample sources for Kanye West's The Life Of Pablo

Nina Simone, Googoosh, Section 25, Junie Morrison, Arthur Russell & Father's Children all make an appearance.