Red Krayola

Red Krayola (formerly The Red Crayola, The Red Krayola now ) is a Psychedelic-/Avantgarde-Rockband from Houston, Texas. The band was founded in 1966 by singer, guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson. It belongs to the longest active indie rock bands. Your experimental style took stylistically the music of punk and No Wave scene of the 1980s in New York City in advance.

History

Founded as the group in 1966, to the first occupation were next to Thompson drummer Frederick Barthelme ( brother of novelist Donald Barthelme ) and Steve Cunningham. The three founding members studied art at the University of St. Thomas (Texas ). The trio began to perform live, and played mostly cover versions, next they filled their performances with experimental jams. Quickly, the group earned a small cult following within the hippie scene, The Familiar Ugly called himself. Lelan Rogers, brother of Kenny Rogers and owner of the record label International Artists, the band saw during an appearance at a mall and enabled her to record the debut album. At the shooting was involved in addition to the band members Roky Erickson, who recorded the harmonica and organ passages to two songs. Also heard on the album are the Familiar Uglies, which provided the designated " Free-Form Freak Out" interludes between each song. The album did not meet commercial expectations of the label and it initially refused to release the next album. Drummer Barthelme left Red Krayola and was replaced by Tommy Smith. The well-established in this cast album God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It appeared in 1968 in International Artists. Sales were very poor and Red Krayola broke up soon after.

Thompson pursued in the aftermath his solo career. In the 1970s, Thompson moved his residence to London and collaborated with Art & Language and Pere Ubu. In 1979 the third album Soldier Talk, the spelling of the band's name had to be changed because of legal concerns in "Red Crayola ". 1981 a Kangaroo! , Which appeared under the name "The Red Krayola with Art & Language " and to the known experimental musicians such as Allen Rave Stine ( synthesizer), Gina Birch and Epic Soundtracks participated. The album themed communism in the former Soviet Union with songs like A Portrait of VI Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock or The Mistakes of Trotsky. Rave Stine and Art & Language were also involved in the 1983 album Black Snakes. After its publication, Thompson devoted again more work as a music producer. After he had moved his residence to Dusseldorf, taking with him a companion volume to the German musicians Rüdiger Carl Album Malefactor, Ade on, which was published in 1989. In the 1990s he moved back to the U.S. to Chicago. In Drag City 12 " Single 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 appeared with Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire Tortoise and worked. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary band released the album Thompson 2006 Introduction, 2007 Sighs Trapped by Liars and 2008, the remix album finger pointing. 2010 appeared the so far last album Five American Portraits under the band name The Red Krayola with Art & Language.

In spring 2012, Red Krayola actively participated in the three-month exhibition industry of the Whitney Biennial in 2012.

Style

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

Discography

• Parable of Arable land (1967 )
• God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It ( 1968)
• 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)
• Finger pointing (2008)
• Five American Portraits (2010)