Red Krayola

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Red Krayola
The Red Krayola in concert at Somerset House, London, in July 2008
The Red Krayola in concert at Somerset House , London, in July 2008
General information
origin Houston , Texas , United States
Genre (s) Psychedelic rock , avant-garde
founding 1966
Website myspace.com/theredkrayola
Founding members
Mayo Thompson
Steve Cunningham
Frederick Barthelme
Current occupation
Mayo Thompson

Red Krayola (formerly The Red Crayola , now The Red Krayola ) is a psychedelic - / avant - rock band from Houston , Texas. The band was founded in 1966 by singer, guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson . They are one of the longest active indie rock bands. Her experimental style anticipated the punk and no-wave music of the 1980s in New York City.

history

The group was founded in 1966, the first line-up included Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme (brother of the writer Donald Barthelme ) and Steve Cunningham . The three founding members studied art at the University of St. Thomas (Texas) . The trio began performing live and mostly played cover versions , but they also filled their appearances with experimental jams . The group quickly gained a small fan base within the hippie scene, which called itself The Familiar Ugly . Lelan Rogers, brother of Kenny Rogers and owner of the record label International Artists , saw the band performing in a mall and enabled her to record their debut album. In addition to the band members, Roky Erickson was involved in the recordings , who recorded the harmonica and organ passages for two songs . The Familiar Uglies can also be heard on the album , from whom the interludes between the individual songs, called “Free-Form Freak Out”, originate. The album failed to meet the label's commercial expectations and it initially refused to release the next album. Drummer Barthelme left Red Krayola and was replaced by Tommy Smith. The album God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It , recorded in this line-up, was released in 1968 by International Artists . Sales were very bad and Red Krayola split up a little later.

Thompson pursued his solo career in the following years. In the 1970s, Thompson moved to London and collaborated with Art & Language and Pere Ubu . In 1976 the album Corrected Slogans , recorded together with Art & Language , appeared on which u. a. early versions of tracks like “Keep All Your Friends” and “The Mistakes of Trotsky”, which were released for the 1981 album Kangoroo! were re-recorded. In 1979 the fourth album Soldier Talk was released , the spelling of the band name had to be changed to "Red Crayola" due to legal issues. Kangaroo followed in 1981 ! , which appeared under the name "The Red Krayola with Art & Language" and on which well-known experimental musicians such as Allen Ravenstine ( synthesizer ), Gina Birch and Epic Soundtracks participated. The album dealt with communism in the former USSR with songs like A Portrait of VI Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock or The Mistakes of Trotsky . Ravenstine and Art & Language were also involved in the 1983 album Black Snakes . After its publication, Thompson devoted himself more to work as a music producer . After he moved to Düsseldorf , he recorded the album Malefactor, Ade , which was released in 1989, with an accompanying band around the German musicians Rüdiger Carl . In the 1990s he moved back to Chicago in the United States . In Drag City , the 12 "single released Three Songs on a trip to the United States (1993) with five live recordings as well as Red Krayola (1994) Hazel (1996) and Finger Painting (1999) three more studio albums on which he with Jim O'Rourke , John McEntire and Tortoise worked together. To mark the 40th anniversary of the band, Thompson released the album Introduction in 2006 , Sighs Trapped by Liars in 2007 and the remix album Fingerpointing in 2008 . In 2010 the last album to date, Five American Portraits, was released under the band name The Red Krayola with Art & Language.

In the spring of 2012, Red Krayola took an active part in the three-month exhibition run of the 2012 Whitney Biennial .

style

The band's approach was initially to counter the British Invasion with something new and unique. Red Krayola developed his form of experimental rock music, which was not based on rhythm and blues , jazz or classical music , as was the case with other experimental groups like The 13th Floor Elevators or The Electric Prunes . The 1967 debut album Parable of Arable Land was shaped by Thompson's guitar playing, which was characterized less by rhythm and more by textures and is considered a pioneer for post-punk . The second album God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It was more song-oriented and consisted of short, catchy pieces that were orchestrated exclusively with guitar, bass and vocals. Later, the music approached post-punk and no wave . With the publications of the 1990s, Thompson succeeded in presenting his musical ideas in a contemporary musical sound through the participation of young avant-garde musicians such as Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire or David Pajo ( Slint ).

Discography

  • Parable of Arable Land (1967)
  • God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It (1968)
  • Corrected Slogans , Art & Language and the Red Crayola (1976)
  • Soldier Talk (1979)
  • Kangaroo? (1981)
  • Black Snakes (1983)
  • Malefactor, Ade (1989)
  • Three Songs on a Trip to the United States (1993)
  • Red Krayola (1994)
  • Hazel (1996)
  • Finger painting (1999)
  • Introduction (2006)
  • Sighs Trapped By Liars (2007)
  • Fingerpointing (2008)
  • Five American Portraits (2010)

literature

  • Steve Taylor: A to X of Alternative Music . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8264-8217-4 , pp. 209 f .
  • Gerard F. Tierney: Red Krayola . In: Peter Buckley (Ed.): The Rough Guide to Rock . Rough Guides, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0 , pp. 854 f .
  • Nigel Williamson: The Rough Guide to the Best Music You've Never Heard . Rough Guides, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84836-003-7 , pp. 218 f .

Web links

Commons : Red Krayola  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Nigel Williamson: The Rough Guide to the Best Music You've Never Heard . Rough Guides, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84836-003-7 , pp. 218 .
  2. ^ A b c Steve Taylor: A to X of Alternative Music . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8264-8217-4 , pp. 209 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Nigel Williamson: The Rough Guide to the Best Music You've Never Heard . Rough Guides, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84836-003-7 , pp. 219 .
  4. ^ A b c Gerard F. Tierney: Red Krayola . In: Peter Buckley (Ed.): The Rough Guide to Rock . Rough Guides, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0 , pp. 855 .
  5. ↑ Sacha Verna: “Aesthetic Self-Reflection” The New York “Whitney Biennial” examines American contemporary art on DLF24 on March 4, 2012, accessed on August 16, 2017.