Going bang

Matt Wolf on Wild Combination, his documentary about the world of avant-garde pioneer
and disco legend Arthur Russell

ABSTRACT AUTEUR: Russell

by MARK SLUTSKY

Some 15 years after he died in relative obscurity at the far too young age of 40, Arthur Russell’s music is being heard by more listeners than ever. A victim of AIDS, Russell occupies a place all his own in the canon of American music, as an avant-garde composer and cellist and celebrated underground disco producer. It’s taken the world a while to catch up to his particular genius, but it hasn’t come a moment too soon, and recent compilations like Soul Jazz’s The World of Arthur Russell and an ongoing series of anthologies from Audika Records have hipped musicians and fans to this fascinating, idiosyncratic talent.

Born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Russell moved to San Francisco to join a Buddhist commune; there he met Allen Ginsberg, whom he would accompany on cello. Crossing the continent in the early ’70s, Russell became involved with the art music scene in New York, becoming the musical director of art space The Kitchen and hob-nobbing with Philip Glass, David Byrne and other downtown types.

In the late ’70s, his interests wandered towards dance music, and he produced classic cuts like “Kiss Me Again,” “Go Bang” and “Is It All Over My Face?,” disco songs that married dance music with his particular sensibility, at once abstract and emotionally vulnerable. It’s that rare mixture that makes Russell’s music so special: childlike, thoughtful, always a little bit heartrending. Through the 1980s, Russell worked on both dance music and compositions that married classical and pop sensibilities—many of which only recently have seen wide release—before his early death.

In Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, director Matt Wolf revisits Russell’s life through intimate interviews with longtime boyfriend Tom Lee and Russell’s parents, archival footage and, of course, the music itself. “A friend of mine described to me this gay disco auteur who would wear farmers’ plaid shirts and ride the Staten Island ferry back and forth listening to mixes of his own cassettes, and that image really intrigued me,” Wolf says. “It sounded like the kind of thing I could get obsessed with.”

Home in the heartland

Wolf tracked down Lee—still living, he says, in “the same East Village apartment he had shared with Arthur. It was next door to Allen Ginsberg and above Richard Hell. I was really inspired by Tom when I met him. I could tell that his connection to Arthur seemed really alive and real, and it occurred to me that the film could have a strong biographical dimension and that Tom would really come across strongly on screen. He led me to all the other people that became part of the film, and it took off from there.”

PROUD PARENTS:
Chuck and Emily Russell

Wild Combination is a compelling portrait of both Russell and the downtown scene that both shaped him and that he helped shape. But one thing it also makes clear is his distinct connection to the Iowa heartland, which he would often return to, and images of which recur in his music. In fact, some of the film’s most poignant moments come in interviews with Russell’s parents, who, though as far from the New York gay avant-garde disco world as imaginable, are nonetheless immensely proud of their son and gratified by the recent critical attention (his dad even sheepishly admits to frequently Googling his son’s name).

“When I talked to them, I knew immediately within five minutes that I needed to go to Oskaloosa and shoot with them,” Wolf says. “They just were compelling, warm, open people. And his dad in particular is such a character, I could tell right away that it would be exciting to hear from him and that they could bring to life this Midwestern milieu that seems so present and active in Arthur’s music.”

The film feels like a complete portrait of the man, though it is lean as far as docs go, coming in under 90 minutes—refreshingly so. You feel like you’re getting one view of Russell rather than a textbook on the man, so much of whose art speaks for itself. “The film doesn’t strive to be definitive: it’s called a portrait, and so the goal wasn’t to give the definitive record on Arthur,” Wolf says. “It was to give an impression and a portrait that could deepen and enhance peoples’ experience of his music.”

WILD COMBINATION PLAYS AT
CINÉMA DU PARC AS PART OF FILM
POP ON SATURDAY, OCT. 4, 9 P.M. AN
AFTERPARTY WILL FOLLOW AT
ACADEMY CLUB (FULL DISCLOSURE:
I’M PLAYING SOME RECORDS AT IT)

Movies, music and more Highlights from this year’s Film Pop   by MARK SLUTSKY As a wing of the Pop Montreal festival, it’s no surprise that music is the almost-exclusive focus of Film Pop (with the exception of the Nollywood programming). Legendary independent filmmaker Jem Cohen, who’s worked with Fugazi, Godspeed and many others is a guest of honour this year, and he’ll be conducting a master class on Sunday, Oct. 5, 3p.m. at the Ukrainian Federation, which should be illuminating. SEMINAL SYNTHERS: Of the Moon There seems to be a documentary to cater to pretty much every musical taste. The Pied Piper of Hützovina, by Pavla Fleischer, is a road trip through the Ukraine with Eugene Hütz, the magnificently-moustached lead singer of Gogol Bordello. Joseph Arthur: You Are Free is a concert doc directed by Brian Johnson, featuring the Akron songster performing for a live audience in L.A. Josh Koury’s We Are Wizards explores the exciting new genre of Wizard Rock, rock music inspired by Harry Potter and his magical adventures. On a local tip, Sophie Fortier and Audrey Gauthier’s Soda Machine: The Sainte Catherines looks at the beloved Montreal punk rockers. Two docs focus not just on musicians but on the machines that inspire them—and that they’ve inspired. Hans Fjellestad’s Moog is a portrait of synth inventor extraordinaire Robert Moog and Barak Soval’s Of the Moon tells the story of Silver Apples, who made their own synthesizer out of spare parts. You’ll also get a chance to see Eileen Yaghoobian’s rock poster doc Died Young, Stayed Pretty, if you didn’t catch it at the World Film Festival and don’t miss local film collective Double Negative’s night of inspiring projections and film loops. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE WWW.POPMONTREAL.COM/FILM >> Movie Listings