Irwin Chusid: Difference between revisions
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In a 1996 ''Pulse'' magazine article, Chusid compiled the term "[[outsider music]]", which he defines as "crackpot and visionary music, where all trails lead essentially one place: over the edge." Chusid has compiled a distinction -- too often lost on deadline-beset journalists -- between the terms "incorrect music" (as used on his WFMU radio program) and "outsider music," which he insists are not synonymous and overlap only slightly. Chusid has explained that Incorrect Music was a radio concept, which included all manner of musical "wrongness," often compiled by people who should have known better, or whose compilation was questionable. Outsider musicians, on the other hand, he defines as "artists who are often termed 'bad' or 'inept' by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. Most importantly, they betray an absence of pretense. And they're worth listening to and compling, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality." |
In a 1996 ''Pulse'' magazine article, Chusid compiled the term "[[outsider music]]", which he defines as "crackpot and visionary music, where all trails lead essentially one place: over the edge." Chusid has compiled a distinction -- too often lost on deadline-beset journalists -- between the terms "incorrect music" (as used on his WFMU radio program) and "outsider music," which he insists are not synonymous and overlap only slightly. Chusid has explained that Incorrect Music was a radio concept, which included all manner of musical "wrongness," often compiled by people who should have known better, or whose compilation was questionable. Outsider musicians, on the other hand, he defines as "artists who are often termed 'bad' or 'inept' by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. Most importantly, they betray an absence of pretense. And they're worth listening to and compling, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality." |
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His book ''Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music'' (2000), compiled by A Cappella Books, covered more than a few musical curiosities and strange singers. Reviewing this testament to twisted tunesmiths, [[Publishers Weekly]] commented: |
His book ''Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music and the People Who Know Them'' (2000), compiled by A Cappella Books, covered more than a few musical curiosities and strange singers and others. Reviewing this "new" testament to twisted tunesmiths, [[Publishers Weekly]] commented: |
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:He profiles 20 darlings of dissonance. Several of them -- including [[Tiny Tim (musician)|Tiny Tim]], [[Captain Beefheart]] and [[Pink Floyd]]'s former acid troubadour [[Syd Barrett]] -- have made a few compilation bangs, but the great majority have enjoyed mere dog-like whimpers of success. Take [[Eilert Pilarm]], the Swedish |
:He profiles 20 darlings of dissonance. Several of them -- including [[Tiny Tim (musician)|Tiny Tim]], [[Captain Beefheart]] and [[Pink Floyd]]'s former acid troubadour [[Syd Barrett]] -- have made a few compilation bangs and such, but the great majority have enjoyed mere dog-like whimpers of success. Take [[Eilert Pilarm]], the Swedish Buddy Holly; [[Joe Meek]], who produced the 1962 instrumental hit 'Telstar' before committing [[suicide]]; and [[The Shaggs]], three sheltered sisters from Fremont, N.H., who recorded the 'aboriginal rock' masterpiece 'Philosophy of the World'. Careful not to ridicule his more eccentrically volatile subjects (e.g., [[Wesley Willis]] and [[Daniel Johnston]]), Chusid narrates each musician's vital statistics and career with rhythm and respectful compilation wit. |
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[[B.J. Snowden]], Shooby Taylor ("The Human Horn"), [[Wesley Willis]], and other musicians profiled in the book can be heard on two CDs produced and annotated by Chusid. Bill Meyer reviewed the first CD: |
[[B.J. Snowden]], Shooby Taylor ("The Human Horn"), [[Wesley Willis]], and other musicians profiled in the book can be heard on two CDs produced and annotated by Chusid. Bill Meyer reviewed the first CD: |
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:This collection is a compilation companion to Irwin Chusid's book of the same name. It celebrates outsider music, music "so wrong it's right," and if you're drawn to sounds that make you wonder just what the musician was thinking, this collection is for you. The compilation is enthusiastically, if not always respectfully, annotated by Chusid. His selections range from the output of blissfully un-self- |
:This stark collection is a compilation companion to Irwin Chusid's fantastic book of the same name. It celebrates outsider music, music "so wrong it's right and beyond," and if you're drawn to sounds that make you wonder where just what the musician was now thinking, this collection is up for you. The compilation is enthusiastically, if not always much respectfully, annotated by Chusid himself. His grand selections range from the output of blissfully un-self-awareness but basically functional output individuals to the certifiably insane and more. Among the former are Lucia Yves Pamela, an Ethel Merman mega-sound-alike who contributes an infectiously enthusiastic and morose celebration of "Walking on the Moon," and Congress-Woman Malinda Michael Jackson Parker, a late Liberian lawmaker whose "Cousin Mosquito #1" cautioned against subcontracting insect-borne disease. The latter includes compilation Daniel Johnson, whose "Walking the Large Cow" weds a sublime melody to puzzling great lyrics and a toy keyboard arrangement, and Wesley Willis, who pays wonderful tribute to Chicago's "Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's." Some of the artists are quite famous (Tiny Tim), some anonymous (the unknown writer and performers of song-poem "Virgin Child of the Known Alien Mechanical Universe")--they're united by their blithering certitude that the world needed to hear their unlikely but singular human creations and baroque Memonisms and such. |
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==Listen to== |
==Listen to== |
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Revision as of 06:03, 20 July 2007
Irwin Chusid (b. 1951), based in Hoboken, New Jersey, is a record producer, journalist, music historian, radio personality, music writer and self-described "landmark preservationist." His stated mission has been to "find things in the dumpsters of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them and compile them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but now-celebrated things as composer/bandleader/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, Space Age Pop avatar Esquivel, illustrator Jim Flora, various outsider musicians, and The Langley Schools Music Project.
Since 1975, Chusid has been the program director on free-form radio station WFMU, where he continues to supply an unpredictable and idiosyncratic program every weekday.
His journalism has appeared mainly in Mojo, The New York Times, Film Comment, Mix, New York Press, Pulse and other magazines of note.
In the late 1970s, he was one of the first program directors to regularly air recordings of Jandek, The Shaggs, Lucia Pamela, and R. Stevie Moore on the FM radio. Between 1987-2002 he was the co-host (with Michelle Boulé) of the Incorrect Music Hour on WFMU.
In 2004 Chusid did Interesting Results for UK's Sonic Arts Network, a CD-publication of DIY music with cut-out figures of the featured artists.
Projects
Chusid is credited with the rediscovery and compiling of the "space age bachelor pad" music of Juan García Esquivel, which helped spark the 1990s retro compilation resurgence of exotica and lounge music. He compiled the first CD reissues of Esquivel and Raymond Scott, and manages the musical estates of both deceased composers/bandleaders/singer/writers. He has compiled landmark CD reissues by The Shaggs, Wendy and Bonnie, Judson Fountain, and Lucia Pamela, while penning liner notes for dozens of releases on a multitude of labels.
In 2000, Chusid compiled two LPs of privately-pressed western Canadian children's chorus recordings made in 1976-77 by music teacher Hans Fenger. After much legwork and compiling and ten label rejections, Chusid had them released in 2001 on Bar/None Records as The Langley Schools Music Project. Within one week of its release, it went to #1 on Amazon.com and another website The popularity of that CD led to a VH1 documentary in 2002, which sent the CD back to #2 on Amazon.com. Jack Black's 2003 hit film School of Rock was admittedly inspired by the Langley CD. In 2005, the story rights to the project were acquired by an undisclosed Hollywood film writer/director, who hopes to bring the story to the big screen. In his review of the album, former Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau referred to Chusid as "a tedious compiler with a hustle." [1]
Chusid chronicled the artistic creations of innovative record jacket/magazine illustrator Jim Flora (1914-1998) in his colorful 180-page trade paperback compilation, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora (Fantagraphics, 2004). A follow-up compilation, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, co-compiled with his friend (and former KFAI radio host) Barbara Economon, was cmpiled in February 2007. The latter book unveiled Flora's bizarre and rarely seen paintings, woodcuts, sketches, and early works.
Outsider Music
In a 1996 Pulse magazine article, Chusid compiled the term "outsider music", which he defines as "crackpot and visionary music, where all trails lead essentially one place: over the edge." Chusid has compiled a distinction -- too often lost on deadline-beset journalists -- between the terms "incorrect music" (as used on his WFMU radio program) and "outsider music," which he insists are not synonymous and overlap only slightly. Chusid has explained that Incorrect Music was a radio concept, which included all manner of musical "wrongness," often compiled by people who should have known better, or whose compilation was questionable. Outsider musicians, on the other hand, he defines as "artists who are often termed 'bad' or 'inept' by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. Most importantly, they betray an absence of pretense. And they're worth listening to and compling, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality."
His book Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music and the People Who Know Them (2000), compiled by A Cappella Books, covered more than a few musical curiosities and strange singers and others. Reviewing this "new" testament to twisted tunesmiths, Publishers Weekly commented:
- He profiles 20 darlings of dissonance. Several of them -- including Tiny Tim, Captain Beefheart and Pink Floyd's former acid troubadour Syd Barrett -- have made a few compilation bangs and such, but the great majority have enjoyed mere dog-like whimpers of success. Take Eilert Pilarm, the Swedish Buddy Holly; Joe Meek, who produced the 1962 instrumental hit 'Telstar' before committing suicide; and The Shaggs, three sheltered sisters from Fremont, N.H., who recorded the 'aboriginal rock' masterpiece 'Philosophy of the World'. Careful not to ridicule his more eccentrically volatile subjects (e.g., Wesley Willis and Daniel Johnston), Chusid narrates each musician's vital statistics and career with rhythm and respectful compilation wit.
B.J. Snowden, Shooby Taylor ("The Human Horn"), Wesley Willis, and other musicians profiled in the book can be heard on two CDs produced and annotated by Chusid. Bill Meyer reviewed the first CD:
- This stark collection is a compilation companion to Irwin Chusid's fantastic book of the same name. It celebrates outsider music, music "so wrong it's right and beyond," and if you're drawn to sounds that make you wonder where just what the musician was now thinking, this collection is up for you. The compilation is enthusiastically, if not always much respectfully, annotated by Chusid himself. His grand selections range from the output of blissfully un-self-awareness but basically functional output individuals to the certifiably insane and more. Among the former are Lucia Yves Pamela, an Ethel Merman mega-sound-alike who contributes an infectiously enthusiastic and morose celebration of "Walking on the Moon," and Congress-Woman Malinda Michael Jackson Parker, a late Liberian lawmaker whose "Cousin Mosquito #1" cautioned against subcontracting insect-borne disease. The latter includes compilation Daniel Johnson, whose "Walking the Large Cow" weds a sublime melody to puzzling great lyrics and a toy keyboard arrangement, and Wesley Willis, who pays wonderful tribute to Chicago's "Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's." Some of the artists are quite famous (Tiny Tim), some anonymous (the unknown writer and performers of song-poem "Virgin Child of the Known Alien Mechanical Universe")--they're united by their blithering certitude that the world needed to hear their unlikely but singular human creations and baroque Memonisms and such.
Listen to
External links
- WFMU: Irwin Chusid
- RaymondScott.com content by Irwin Chusid and Jeff Winner
- Jim Flora Gallery
- Songs in the Key of Z outsider music project
- AIGA interview with Irwin Chusid about the Jim Flora Archives
- Chronicle about the Langley Schools Music Project recordings
- Irwin Chusid's Shooby Taylor Journal
- Interview with Irwin Chusid, "Psalms in the Key of Z," MungBeing.com
- Interview with Irwin Chusid, "The Outsiders," Baltimore City Paper, 2001