Jump to content

Five American Portraits: Difference between revisions

From Red Krayola Wiki
← Older editNewer edit →
VisualWikitext
imported>Dotclub
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 85: Line 85:


== Retrospectives ==
== Retrospectives ==
[[Mayo Thompson]], 2023<ref>1:42:25 https://falloutpodcast3557.podbean.com/e/falloutpodcast-ep74-and-all-who-sail-in-her/</ref><blockquote>
''Five American Portraits'' is a rehash of American cliches from dixie to "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You". Also Mozart, on the Ad Reinhardt tune, that's Mozart's piano concerto.
The fellows in [[Art & Language]], Mel [Ramsden] and Michael [Baldwin], wrote those lyrics. They're descriptions of paintings that they were making — which was, rather than "he's a this kind of that kind of guy," it talked about where the hair went. And they even wrote me one for Trump, which I didn't want — I will not publicize that... freak — but it had a beautiful first line, like, "a shock of piss-colored hair."</blockquote>
Butchy Fuego, 2011<ref>https://redkrayolaartandlanguage.bandcamp.com/album/five-american-portraits</ref><blockquote>I had been a fan of [[Mayo Thompson]]'s prolific output for years, and had the opportunity to assist Mayo & [[Drag City]] on a previous project which I'm not at liberty to discuss due to a non-disclosure agreement. What I can say about it is that it involved time travel, another legendary avant-guardian and an agent of "the company" assisting my efforts. Mixing Five American Portraits at my studio Top Cat International was a joy and a breeze. DC mogul Rian Murphy was in the house simultaneously cracking the whip and jokes. Mayo was in rare form executing his laser-like vision over the session. The combination of The Raincoats' [[Gina Birch]] and the ever-confounding aural collaborations of [[The Red Krayola with Art & Language]] proves to be a potent combination. DON'T MESS WITH MAYO.</blockquote>
Butchy Fuego, 2011<ref>https://redkrayolaartandlanguage.bandcamp.com/album/five-american-portraits</ref><blockquote>I had been a fan of [[Mayo Thompson]]'s prolific output for years, and had the opportunity to assist Mayo & [[Drag City]] on a previous project which I'm not at liberty to discuss due to a non-disclosure agreement. What I can say about it is that it involved time travel, another legendary avant-guardian and an agent of "the company" assisting my efforts. Mixing Five American Portraits at my studio Top Cat International was a joy and a breeze. DC mogul Rian Murphy was in the house simultaneously cracking the whip and jokes. Mayo was in rare form executing his laser-like vision over the session. The combination of The Raincoats' [[Gina Birch]] and the ever-confounding aural collaborations of [[The Red Krayola with Art & Language]] proves to be a potent combination. DON'T MESS WITH MAYO.</blockquote>


Revision as of 04:24, 6 August 2023

Five American Portraits
Studio album by The Red Krayola with Art & Language
Released January 26, 2010
Recorded
Studio


Label Drag City
/

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Portrait of Wile E. Coyote"5:03
2."Portrait of President George W. Bush"12:16
3."Portrait of President Jimmy Carter"5:59
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Portrait of John Wayne"15:05
2."Portrait of Ad Reinhardt"5:49
Total length:44:12

Background

Mayo Thompson, 2010[1]

Those are all people chosen by Art & Language, and they generated those texts for paintings that they were making, for works that they were making. And we’ve done so many things over the years together they thought perhaps I might like to try to put it to music. They sent it to me and I did want to do it. And so that’s the way it happened. But they made the selections.

Related works by Art & Language

  • "Portrait of President George W. Bush in the Style of Jackson Pollock" 2006
    "Portrait of President George W. Bush in the Style of Jackson Pollock" 2006
  • "Portraits of John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Ad Reinhardt and Wile E. Coyote" 2007[2]
    "Portraits of John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Ad Reinhardt and Wile E. Coyote" 2007[2]
  • "Five American Background Songs" 2009-10[3]
    "Five American Background Songs" 2009-10[3]
  • "Part of an American Portrait" 2013[4]
    "Part of an American Portrait" 2013[4]
  • "Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II, Xi Jinping" 2014
    "Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II, Xi Jinping" 2014
  • "Map to Not Indicate" 1967
    "Map to Not Indicate" 1967

Personnel

The Red Krayola

Additional musicians

  • Dan Cox - backing vocals
  • Matt Ingram - backing vocals
  • Fred Somsen - backing vocals

Technical

  • Dan Cox - engineering
  • Matt Ingram - engineering
  • Mayo Thompson - mixing
  • Butchy Fuego - mixing
  • Rian Murphy - mixing

Retrospectives

Mayo Thompson, 2023[5]

Five American Portraits is a rehash of American cliches from dixie to "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You". Also Mozart, on the Ad Reinhardt tune, that's Mozart's piano concerto.

The fellows in Art & Language, Mel [Ramsden] and Michael [Baldwin], wrote those lyrics. They're descriptions of paintings that they were making — which was, rather than "he's a this kind of that kind of guy," it talked about where the hair went. And they even wrote me one for Trump, which I didn't want — I will not publicize that... freak — but it had a beautiful first line, like, "a shock of piss-colored hair."

Butchy Fuego, 2011[6]

I had been a fan of Mayo Thompson's prolific output for years, and had the opportunity to assist Mayo & Drag City on a previous project which I'm not at liberty to discuss due to a non-disclosure agreement. What I can say about it is that it involved time travel, another legendary avant-guardian and an agent of "the company" assisting my efforts. Mixing Five American Portraits at my studio Top Cat International was a joy and a breeze. DC mogul Rian Murphy was in the house simultaneously cracking the whip and jokes. Mayo was in rare form executing his laser-like vision over the session. The combination of The Raincoats' Gina Birch and the ever-confounding aural collaborations of The Red Krayola with Art & Language proves to be a potent combination. DON'T MESS WITH MAYO.

Reviews

Prefix

January 12, 2010[7]

Mike Wood

Dusted

January 20, 2010[8]

Jon Dale

Pitchfork

January 25, 2010[9]

Andrew Gaerig

PopMatters

January 25, 2010[10]

Richard Elliott

Philadelphia Inquirer

January 31, 2010[11][12]

A.D. Amorosi

AllMusic

Thom Jurek[13]

Uncut

March, 2010[14]

OutsideLeft

April, 2010[15]

Alex V. Cook

References

  1. ↑ https://larecord.com/interviews/2010/03/18/mayo-thompson-the-man-from-mars
  2. ↑ https://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-portraits-of-john-wayne-jimmy-carter-ad-reinhardt-and-wile-e-coyote
  3. ↑ https://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-five-american-background-songs
  4. ↑ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/art-language-part-of-an-american-portrait-p82091
  5. ↑ 1:42:25 https://falloutpodcast3557.podbean.com/e/falloutpodcast-ep74-and-all-who-sail-in-her/
  6. ↑ https://redkrayolaartandlanguage.bandcamp.com/album/five-american-portraits
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100202160745/http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/the-red-krayola-with-art-language/five-american-portraits/35078/
  8. ↑ http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5469
  9. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13854-five-american-portraits/
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120419150225/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/118898-the-red-krayola-with-art-language/
  11. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200725214646/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20100131_New_Recordings.html
  12. ↑ https://issuu.com/consolidatedpublishing/docs/as20100205-c/6
  13. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/five-american-portraits-mw0001954602
  14. ↑ Uncut Mar 2010, p.93
  15. ↑ https://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=1239
Retrieved from "https://redkrayolawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Five_American_Portraits&oldid=5348"