Upset The Rhythm presents…
Mississippi
Records on tour: 'A Cosmic and Earthly
History of Recorded Music according to Mississippi Records' (A film &
talk presentation)
Including live performances from…
MARISA
ANDERSON
LORI
GOLDSTON
DRAGGING
AN OX THROUGH WATER
Monday 15 September
Café OTO, 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL
A once in a blue moon showcase that
features a brand new live film/talk/slide show presentation by Eric Isaacson
(Mississippi Records label boss and store owner) plus three live acts, all of
whom have released records on the Mississippi Record label. Marisa plays
emotive acoustic and electric whirlwinds, Lori wanders across borders with her
atmospheric cello playing and DAOTW gloriously ruptures songs rooted in folk
and country traditions.
Mississippi Records is modern day record
phenomena, where there is never a dull moment and run with the care and passion
that it is hard to suppress. Based in Portland, Oregon, USA it is a very local
shop and a very outernational record label that has released unheralded lost
classic's from all over the globe, collections of Harry Smith's anthologies as
well as Alan Lomax's recordings, some truly amazing compilations that wear the
compilers tastes loud and proud as well as some punky and quick off the shelf
undercover albums that sell out pretty much as soon as they are made. Eric
Isaacson who helped set up and runs a lot of the Mississippi Records labels and
shop activities is also a wonderful, playful and sincere guide through the
highs and lows of music history with a keen eye on the marvellous outsider
types. For this tour he will introduce a brand new show film/talk presentation
and his fellow travellers are three musicians with super strong ties to the
label, all on the bill and performing.
'A Cosmic and Earthly History of Recorded Music
according to Mississippi Records' is Eric
Isaacson's new concoction, a combination of film, slide show, lecture and
soundscape. It instinctively and idiosyncratically illustrates a entire history
of recorded music (focusing on Eric's patch, North America!), from the birth of
the first star in the universe all the way to the dark ages of the 1980's. The ultimate
intention of this travelling exhibition is to give the audience a sense of
wonder; that anything is possible and art is worth doing. Tonally, the
presentation navigates into the outer reaches, bypassing academic stuffiness in
favour of entertainment value and immediacy. All materials will be from
Mississippi Records vast and seldom seen archive of film, music and art.
This whirlwind 90 minute sound and visual
representation will attempt to sum up as many important points in the evolution
of recorded music that can be done in such a short amount of time. Subjects hit
upon include:
* The cosmic patterns that resemble music
generated by stars being born and dying.
* The musical patterns in the natural world
that work on the same principals as music.
* The untold early history of recording
technology. Including tales of Archeoacoustic technology that allows us to hear
recordings from 2,000 years or more ago, cat pianos, the phonautogram
which reproduces sounds from dust and much more.
* The rise of the blues, rock and roll, and
other revolutionary American music forms and their subsequent destruction by
the powers that be.
* 45 minutes of incredibly vibrant archival
footage of some some the greatest musicians on Earth (as well as some
novelties) including Bo Diddley, Rosetta Tharpe, The Collins Kids, Gary Davis,
and the Staple Singers.
MARISA
ANDERSON is a composer, guitarist and
multi-instrumentalist from Portland, Oregon who works both solo and in
beautiful tandem. Inspired by Delta blues, West African guitar, country and
western radio from the 60′s and 70′s, gospel, noise, rhythms, cycles, mortality, and praise. Featuring
an impressive 12 improvisations for guitar and lap steel Marisa has released
two albums on Mississippi. In the past two years, Anderson’s music has landed
her slots with artists including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Devil Makes 3
and Sharon Van Etten.
LORI
GOLDSTON is a cellist, based in Seattle, with an
emotional and magic touch. Classically trained and rigorously de-trained,
possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit, Lori Goldston is a cellist,
composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher . Her voice as a cellist,
amplified or acoustic is full, textured, committed and original. She wanders recklessly
across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography, performing
in clubs, cafes, galleries, arenas, concert halls, sheds, ceremonies,
barbecues, and sanctuaries. Collaborations famously include being thrown in the
dark end with Nirvana and enjoying the songs of David Byrne and Cat Power. Lori
also co-founded Black Cat Orchestra and has been key to Earth live shows. She
has received commissions to do live scores for several silent films.
DRAGGING
AN OX THROUGH WATER is a solo project from Brian
Mumform, performing songs rooted in folk and country traditions, though
ruptured, complicated, and complimented with broken textures of feedback,
drones, tape hiss, and homemade oscillators. Chance elements and candlelight
sensitive instruments destabilize customary electro-amplified-tightness &
introduce improvisation to the recitation of these songs. Brian also plays in Sun Foot, Jackie-O
Motherfucker, Deep Fried Boogie Band, & Jewelry Rash. He runs a small
cassette & CDR label called Musical Impressions. Brian has collaborated
with TJO, Chris Johanson, John Wiese, Makino Takashi, John Butcher, Gino
Robair, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Vic Chesnutt,
Pete Swanson, and many others.
