Audika Records
Audika Records is an American record label directed by Steve Knutson, formerly of Tommy Boy. Audika has released two Arthur Russell records.
Picture of Bunny Rabbit
LP version. "In 1986 Arthur Russell was diagnosed with HIV, that same year he released his career-defining masterpiece World of Echo, the first and only solo album issued during his lifetime. Arthur had found his voice and a fresh direction with a set of new, transformative material, unlike anything he or anyone else had previously released. His illness ensured that the artistic growth and sense of exploration encapsulated in World of Echo would be tragically curtailed. Within six short years Ar…
Instrumentals
Remastered double LP with 12 page booklet including liner notes by Tim Lawrence, Ernie Brooks and Arthur Russell. All material previously released on the Audika CD compilation First Thought Best Thought (2006). Before disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur Russell wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western…
Iowa Dream
Double LP version. "Over the past decade, the visionary musician Arthur Russell has entered something close to the mainstream. Sampled and referenced by contemporary musicians, his papers now open to visitors at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in New York, and his name synonymous with a certain strain of tenderness, Russell is as widely known as he's ever been. Thanks to Russell's partner Tom Lee and to Steve Knutson of Audika Records, who have forged several records from Russell's…
Dirty Songs Play Dirty Songs
Directed and produced by David Toop, Dirty Songs Play Dirty Songs reacts against our poisonous present, inspired anti-nostalgically by similarly reactive records and live performances from the 20th century: Soft Machine and Pink Floyd 1967-68, The MC5’s Kick Out the Jams, The Stooges, Sun Ra’s Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy and The Heat Is On by The Isley Brothers. Dirty Songs Play Dirty Songs is the musical offshoot of a project conceived by artist Maxime Rossi, originating in (among other thi…
World of Echo
2019 Repress. Remastered reissue of the late, great Arthur Russell's peerless, definitive opus 'World of Echo'. Buy on sight!** The seminal 'World Of Echo' was originally released on vinyl in 1986 on Upside Records and has been an essential but hard to find collectors item ever since. Audika now finally gift the world this new vinyl pressing - freshly remastered from the recording sessions, including beatless versions of disco classics like Lola's 'Wax the Van', 'Treehouse' and 'Let's go swimmin…
Love is Overtaking Me
"Compiled from over eight hours of material, Love Is Overtaking Me reaches back further to Russell's first compositions from the early `70s, the most rare and, at the same time, arguably the most accessible part comprising 21 demos and home recordings of unreleased pop, folk and country songs selected by Audika's Steve Knutson, Ernie Brooks and Russell's companion, Tom Lee. A number of the songs feature prominently in the film Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell."
"Four years ago, Aud…
Tower Of Meaning
*in restock* "Arthur's epic minimalist orchestral composition conducted by the late Julius Eastman. Stunningly beautiful, mercurial, and moving. The transcendental, ephemeral soundscape originally intended for theatrical performance. First released in 1983 on Chatham Square. The Audika release replicates the original artwork with remastered audio." 'Almost medievally pure music in which tone combinations of two or three notes tuned to modal/raga scales are played by various instrumental groups.…
Calling Out Of Context
"The compilation that started the renaissance. In 2002 Audika Records entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with the estate of Arthur Russell to compile and issue previously unreleased and out of print material from Arthur's vast archive. This first album Calling Out of Context, features 12 previously unreleased tracks of Buddhist Bubblegum Alt Disco Pop recorded during Arthur's prime years 1985-90."
"Four years ago, Audika Records began releasing the exceptionally varied, long sought-af…
Corn
It has been seven years since Audika last issued an album of Arthur Russell material. The wait ends this summer with Corn, nine tracks Russell recorded in 1982 and 1983. In collaboration with Russell’s partner Tom Lee, Audika’s Steve Knutson compiled Corn from Arthur’s original, completed 1/4” tape masters. Russell himself compiled this material on three separate test pressings—labeled El Dinosaur, Indian Ocean, and Untitled, respectively — in 1985. Russell fans know something of the Corn sound …
First Thought Best
Before Disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur Russell wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving Iowa to study Indian classical composition with Ali Akbar Khan in Northern California and ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. In that brief period Arthur met and worked with several musicians and poets that would guide his work throughout the remainder of the decade: Allen Ginsburg, Christian Wolff, Jackson MacLow, Rhys Chatham, Ph…
Springfield
Seven track mid-length CD, all tracks previously unreleased. Includes a new DFA remix. Before Homer (Simpson) there was Arthur Russell and his vision of a utilitarian and common social oasis. There appears to be in every state of the union a Springfield -- be it county, city or street. Arthur imagined that his music could be universally accepted in each and every one of them. Springfield is one of the last compositions Arthur Russell wrote in his all too short lifetime. Arthur recorded over four…