Hazel - Revision history

Dotclub: /* Monitor */

2025-01-30T22:55:21Z

Monitor

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:55, 30 January 2025
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	=== Rocktober ===		=== Rocktober ===
	Winter 1997<ref>https://archive.org/details/roctober-18/page/n46/mode/1up?q=%22red+krayola%22</ref><blockquote>Alphabetically, [[Mayo Thompson]] may be the 13th contributor listed, but he's #1 in our book! Much richer and diverse than the last Crayon-Rock release with a couple of real barnburners in the mix! Sounds like an updated Hatfield and The North.</blockquote>		Winter 1997<ref>https://archive.org/details/roctober-18/page/n46/mode/1up?q=%22red+krayola%22</ref><blockquote>Alphabetically, [[Mayo Thompson]] may be the 13th contributor listed, but he's #1 in our book! Much richer and diverse than the last Crayon-Rock release with a couple of real barnburners in the mix! Sounds like an updated Hatfield and The North.</blockquote>

			=== Sparky No. 2 ===
			1997<ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/C7hj-tqKgCW/</ref>

			Robbie Wilson<blockquote>Clever music. Hmmm...'clever' music, not the most tempting genre in my books. It would strike me (if it existed) as being painstakingly crafted, excessively esoteric and generally lacking warmth/soul/feeling. Are The Red Krayola guilty of making 'clever' music? Well yes and no. Mayo Thompson's knowledge of music populist, underground and avant-garde could be assumed to be huge especially judging from the sounds present on this record. Whether he's pissing about with ancient, instantly recognisable blues riffs and making them sound like they're from another planet (like Stereolab exploring their oft overlooked blues influences) or singing 60s/70s type ballads with such detachment that they take on a whole new meaning - there's a ''knowingness'' behind everything that's really quite frightening. That's not to say that this album is sterile and emotionless, far from it. By drafting in a troupe of musicians (members of Gastr del Sol / Tortoise amongst others) appreciative of past and present Red Krayola, Thompson seems to be able to fairly spontaneous in writing these songs, confident that his ideas can be made real with little difficulty. The range of styles and structures make the the record even more endearing, ranging from POP songs, 21st century spy movie instrumentals and the usual dosage of wordy, angular avant garde compositions which make more sense the more you listen to them. (hey, don't all wordy, angularly avant garde compositions?) Yet this doesn't really matter as most importantly it sounds MODERN and somehow defies the multitude of categories around today, including the one I invented above.</blockquote>

	=== Bennett Simpson ===		=== Bennett Simpson ===

Dotclub: /* Cover art */

2024-09-21T22:45:12Z

Cover art

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:45, 21 September 2024
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	=== Cover art ===		=== Cover art ===
	The photo on the cover is by Cambodian-American artist Khiang Hei. He took it in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square student protests in Beijing.<ref>https://www.pbs.org/video/vannozzi-tiananmen-30th-exhibit-1554318353/</ref>		The photo on the cover is by Cambodian-American artist Khiang Hei. He took it in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square student protests in Beijing.<ref>https://www.pbs.org/video/vannozzi-tiananmen-30th-exhibit-1554318353/</ref>

	~~The packaging design is by [[Christopher Williams]].~~

	<gallery mode="packed">		<gallery mode="packed">
	File:Khiang-Hei-Supporting-Patriotic-Students.jpg\|Supporting Patriotic Students, 1989<ref>https://zimmerli.emuseum.com/objects/60277/supporting-patriotic-students-from-the-series-tiananmen-squa?ctx=22c630c770ac20c651ec69f4cd9e3d2c0850db76&idx=17</ref>		File:Khiang-Hei-Supporting-Patriotic-Students.jpg\|Supporting Patriotic Students, 1989<ref>https://zimmerli.emuseum.com/objects/60277/supporting-patriotic-students-from-the-series-tiananmen-squa?ctx=22c630c770ac20c651ec69f4cd9e3d2c0850db76&idx=17</ref>
	</gallery>		</gallery>The packaging design is by [[Christopher Williams]].

	== Retrospectives ==		== Retrospectives ==

Dotclub: /* Performers/writers */

2023-12-23T08:56:39Z

Performers/writers

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:56, 23 December 2023
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	=== Performers/writers ===		=== Performers/writers ===
	[[Michael Baldwin]] (lyrics?), [[Werner Büttner]] (lyrics?), [[David Grubbs]] (guitar, piano), [[George Hurley]] (drums), [[John McEntire]] (drums), Lynn Johnston (bass clarinet), [[Albert Oehlen]] (drum machine, electronics?), [[Jim O'Rourke]] (electronics, guitar, bass?), [[Stephen Prina]] (keyboard, vocals), [[Elisa Randazzo]] (vocals), [[Mary Lass Stewart]] (vocals), [[Mayo Thompson]] (writing, vocals, guitar), [[Tom Watson]] (guitar)		[[Michael Baldwin]] (lyrics), [[Werner Büttner]] (lyrics), [[David Grubbs]] (guitar, piano), [[George Hurley]] (drums), [[John McEntire]] (drums), Lynn Johnston (bass clarinet), [[Albert Oehlen]] (drum machine, electronics, lyrics?), [[Jim O'Rourke]] (electronics, guitar, bass?), [[Stephen Prina]] (keyboard, vocals), [[Elisa Randazzo]] (vocals), [[Mary Lass Stewart]] (vocals), [[Mayo Thompson]] (writing, vocals, guitar), [[Tom Watson]] (guitar)

	=== Cover art ===		=== Cover art ===

Dotclub: /* Retrospectives */

2023-12-23T08:55:19Z

Retrospectives

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:55, 23 December 2023
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	== Retrospectives ==		== Retrospectives ==
	[[Mayo Thompson]], 1997<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20001006182626/http://www.addict.com/html/hifi/Features/Red_Krayola,_The/970324/page_02.html</ref><blockquote>"We do lots of mail correspondence," he says of his standard method of music by accumulation. "[[Albert Oehlen\|Albert]] [Oehlen] has a studio in Europe he uses and we send tapes back and forth. We seldom work in the same room, but I accept the conditions as I can. When I was 20 and had a band, we could hang out all day and it would be fun to hang out and play all together at once, but we're all working artists with other agendas as well." So, Thompson writes the lyrics and lays down the basic tracks and then ships them off to his collaborators and waits to hear the results, in what he calls an "additive process," where, as long as he doesn't hear something he "just absolutely cannot stand," he keeps his mouth shut and makes editorial decisions.</blockquote>[[Mary Lass Stewart]], 1996<ref>https://www.furious.com/perfect/redcrayola.html</ref><blockquote>Nobody who wanted to exert full control over everything would send tapes around to other people in the band and say, ‘We need some guitar parts. Put stuff down over what's done thus far.' So the work's collaborative in a very thorough sense. Part of the point of Mayo collaborating with so many different people over the years seems to be that he WANTS to be affected by them. It's very brave, I think.</blockquote>[[David Grubbs]], 2014<ref>https://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/448520629680340992</ref><blockquote>The Red Krayola's "Hazel" is coming back into print on LP. It's one of my favorite records I've played on</blockquote>		[[Mayo Thompson]], 1997<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20001006182626/http://www.addict.com/html/hifi/Features/Red_Krayola,_The/970324/page_02.html</ref><blockquote>"We do lots of mail correspondence," [Thompson] says of his standard method of music by accumulation. "[[Albert Oehlen\|Albert]] [Oehlen] has a studio in Europe he uses and we send tapes back and forth. We seldom work in the same room, but I accept the conditions as I can. When I was 20 and had a band, we could hang out all day and it would be fun to hang out and play all together at once, but we're all working artists with other agendas as well." So, Thompson writes the lyrics and lays down the basic tracks and then ships them off to his collaborators and waits to hear the results, in what he calls an "additive process," where, as long as he doesn't hear something he "just absolutely cannot stand," he keeps his mouth shut and makes editorial decisions.</blockquote>[[Mary Lass Stewart]], 1996<ref>https://www.furious.com/perfect/redcrayola.html</ref><blockquote>Nobody who wanted to exert full control over everything would send tapes around to other people in the band and say, ‘We need some guitar parts. Put stuff down over what's done thus far.' So the work's collaborative in a very thorough sense. Part of the point of Mayo collaborating with so many different people over the years seems to be that he WANTS to be affected by them. It's very brave, I think.</blockquote>[[David Grubbs]], 2014<ref>https://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/448520629680340992</ref><blockquote>The Red Krayola's "Hazel" is coming back into print on LP. It's one of my favorite records I've played on</blockquote>

	== Reviews ==		== Reviews ==

Dotclub: /* Personnel */

2023-12-23T08:54:29Z

Personnel

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:54, 23 December 2023
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	=== Performers/writers ===		=== Performers/writers ===
	[[Michael Baldwin]] (lyrics?), [[Werner Büttner]] (lyrics?), [[David Grubbs]] (guitar, piano?), [[George Hurley]] (drums?), [[John McEntire]] (drums?), Lynn Johnston (~~vocals,~~ bass clarinet?), [[Albert Oehlen]] (drum machine, electronics?), [[Jim O'Rourke]] (electronics, guitar, bass?), [[Stephen Prina]] (keyboard?), [[Elisa Randazzo]] (vocals?), [[Mary Lass Stewart]] (vocals?), [[Mayo Thompson]] (writing, vocals, guitar?), [[Tom Watson]] (guitar?)		[[Michael Baldwin]] (lyrics?), [[Werner Büttner]] (lyrics?), [[David Grubbs]] (guitar, piano), [[George Hurley]] (drums), [[John McEntire]] (drums), Lynn Johnston (bass clarinet), [[Albert Oehlen]] (drum machine, electronics?), [[Jim O'Rourke]] (electronics, guitar, bass?), [[Stephen Prina]] (keyboard, vocals), [[Elisa Randazzo]] (vocals), [[Mary Lass Stewart]] (vocals), [[Mayo Thompson]] (writing, vocals, guitar), [[Tom Watson]] (guitar)

	=== Cover art ===		=== Cover art ===

Dotclub: /* Billboard */

2023-12-11T12:40:33Z

Billboard

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:40, 11 December 2023
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	Hell, the stuff sounds pretty damned amazing even if you're just passively listening. Of course, this is participatory music and the muse demands no less from you, the listener. Hear and obey, O minions of music.</blockquote>		Hell, the stuff sounds pretty damned amazing even if you're just passively listening. Of course, this is participatory music and the muse demands no less from you, the listener. Hear and obey, O minions of music.</blockquote>

			=== Billboard ===
			December 7, 1996<ref>https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1996/BB-1996-12-07.pdf#page=64</ref>

	=== Entertainment Weekly ===		=== Entertainment Weekly ===
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	=== Melody Maker ===		=== Melody Maker ===
	Ben Myers		Ben Myers

	~~=== Billboard ===~~

	=== Alternative Press ===		=== Alternative Press ===

Dotclub: /* Rolling Stone */

2023-10-01T08:24:14Z

Rolling Stone

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:24, 1 October 2023
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	February 27, 1997		February 27, 1997

	Elisabeth Vincentelli		Elisabeth Vincentelli<blockquote>It's been more than 30 years since the Red Krayola's first release, [[The Parable of Arable Land]]. Two things have stayed constant for the group since then: the presence of maverick leader [[Mayo Thompson]] and an acute sense of the intricate link between leftist politics and art. Along the way, the band has managed to remain a blip on the fringes of the mainstream's radar while influencing generations of adventurous musicians -- first with abrasive, free-form psychedelia, then with cerebral post-punk.

			Thompson's strength is that he has never surrounded himself with yes men. Instead of picking anonymous musicians to serve his vision, he has always enlisted people with thriving careers in the avant-garde community. During the last three decades, Thompson's collaborators have included writer [[Frederick Barthelme]], agitprop cultural group [[Art & Language\|Art and Language]], members of [[Pere Ubu]], indie-rock luminaries such as [[Epic Soundtracks]] and the Raincoats' [[Gina Birch]], and German artist [[Albert Oehlen\|Albert Ohlen]]. Now lining up for the privilege of playing with their spiritual godfather are the crème de la crème of the instrumental post-rock scene: [[Jim O'Rourke]] and [[David Grubbs]] (both of [[Gastr del Sol]]), and [[John McEntire\|John McEntyre]] (Tortoise, the Sea and Cake), not to mention veteran drummer [[George Hurley]] (the Minutemen, fIREHOSE), all contributed to Hazel.

			Considering the band's past, the '97 Krayola vintage is deceptively subdued. A few tracks, such as "[[Duke of Newcastle]]," with its lilting reggae beat, or "[[Another Song, Another Satan]]," crooned by David Grubbs, are even borderline pop. Of course, the band built its reputation on rejecting the very idea of traditional song structure, so its version of pop involves snubbing the verse-and-chorus foundation ("[[Jimmy Two Bad]]"), turning grammatical rules into poetry ("[[Dad]]") and Kurt Weill-ian singsonging about the oppressed ("[[Larking]]"). By remaining elusive and elliptical, both lyrically and musically, Mayo Thompson involves the audience, which must pay close attention to the record's intricacies, thus setting up yet another collaboration. And you thought listening to music was a one-way experience.</blockquote>

	=== Monitor ===		=== Monitor ===

Dotclub: /* Reviews */

2023-10-01T08:21:21Z

Reviews

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:21, 1 October 2023
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	Greg Beets<blockquote>Unlike too many of his Sixties brethren, [[Mayo Thompson]] of the Red Krayola continues to re-invent his already-singular vision at every step. From the heady [[The Parable of Arable Land\|Parable of Arable Land]] days in Houston through his work with [[Pere Ubu]] in the early Eighties to his elusive-but-formidable presence on today's Chicago avant music scene, Thompson has always strayed far to the left of convention, finding hidden beauty in the seemingly incongruent. This time out, he enlists the help of debtors such as [[Gastr del Sol\|Gastr Del Sol]] guitarist [[David Grubbs]] and Minutemen/fIREHOSE drummer [[George Hurley]] to herd the Krayola's traditional [[Free Form Freak-Out\|free-form freak-out]] atmosphere into the form of actual songs in some cases. Although a lot of Hazel is presented in a cut-and-paste carnival of strange narratives, short bursts of guitar/synthesizer, and bold U-turns galore, songs like "[[I'm So Blasé]]" and "[[Larking]]" capture the same infinite pop energy Chris Bell once reigned in. Makes sense, actually, since a primary tenet of free-form is to throw boundaries out with the bathwater. Thompson refuses to let little inconveniences like time and space get in his way. As a result, his music retains the same obscure vitality it had 20 years ago. 3.0 stars</blockquote>		Greg Beets<blockquote>Unlike too many of his Sixties brethren, [[Mayo Thompson]] of the Red Krayola continues to re-invent his already-singular vision at every step. From the heady [[The Parable of Arable Land\|Parable of Arable Land]] days in Houston through his work with [[Pere Ubu]] in the early Eighties to his elusive-but-formidable presence on today's Chicago avant music scene, Thompson has always strayed far to the left of convention, finding hidden beauty in the seemingly incongruent. This time out, he enlists the help of debtors such as [[Gastr del Sol\|Gastr Del Sol]] guitarist [[David Grubbs]] and Minutemen/fIREHOSE drummer [[George Hurley]] to herd the Krayola's traditional [[Free Form Freak-Out\|free-form freak-out]] atmosphere into the form of actual songs in some cases. Although a lot of Hazel is presented in a cut-and-paste carnival of strange narratives, short bursts of guitar/synthesizer, and bold U-turns galore, songs like "[[I'm So Blasé]]" and "[[Larking]]" capture the same infinite pop energy Chris Bell once reigned in. Makes sense, actually, since a primary tenet of free-form is to throw boundaries out with the bathwater. Thompson refuses to let little inconveniences like time and space get in his way. As a result, his music retains the same obscure vitality it had 20 years ago. 3.0 stars</blockquote>

			=== Texas Monthly ===
			January 1997

			Jason Cohen<blockquote>In the sixties, [[Mayo Thompson]]'s The Red Krayola was a Houston psychedelic band with a writer--[[Frederick Barthelme]]--for a drummer. Thirty years later, the amorphous experimental outfit has a new lineup that makes music with the help of such guests as Minutemen alumnus [[George Hurley]], but time has not tarnished Thompson's gift for adventurous mutability: The Krayola's new album, Hazel (Drag City), is an ethereal, skittish affair that runs from strangely beautiful folk rock and twisted cabaret to Beefheartian jazz and, of course, occasionally unlistenable noise.</blockquote>

	=== Phoenix ===		=== Phoenix ===

Dotclub at 23:45, 24 August 2023

2023-08-24T23:45:08Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:45, 24 August 2023
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	== Retrospectives ==		== Retrospectives ==
	[[Mayo Thompson]], 1997<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20001006182626/http://www.addict.com/html/hifi/Features/Red_Krayola,_The/970324/page_02.html</ref><blockquote>"We do lots of mail correspondence," he says of his standard method of music by accumulation. "[[Albert Oehlen\|Albert]] [Oehlen] has a studio in Europe he uses and we send tapes back and forth. We seldom work in the same room, but I accept the conditions as I can. When I was 20 and had a band, we could hang out all day and it would be fun to hang out and play all together at once, but we're all working artists with other agendas as well." So, Thompson writes the lyrics and lays down the basic tracks and then ships them off to his collaborators and waits to hear the results, in what he calls an "additive process," where, as long as he doesn't hear something he "just absolutely cannot stand," he keeps his mouth shut and makes editorial decisions.</blockquote>[[Mary Lass Stewart]], 1996<ref>https://www.furious.com/perfect/redcrayola.html</ref><blockquote>Nobody who wanted to exert full control over everything would send tapes around to other people in the band and say, ‘We need some guitar parts. Put stuff down over what's done thus far.' So the work's collaborative in a very thorough sense. Part of the point of Mayo collaborating with so many different people over the years seems to be that he WANTS to be affected by them. It's very brave, I think.</blockquote>		[[Mayo Thompson]], 1997<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20001006182626/http://www.addict.com/html/hifi/Features/Red_Krayola,_The/970324/page_02.html</ref><blockquote>"We do lots of mail correspondence," he says of his standard method of music by accumulation. "[[Albert Oehlen\|Albert]] [Oehlen] has a studio in Europe he uses and we send tapes back and forth. We seldom work in the same room, but I accept the conditions as I can. When I was 20 and had a band, we could hang out all day and it would be fun to hang out and play all together at once, but we're all working artists with other agendas as well." So, Thompson writes the lyrics and lays down the basic tracks and then ships them off to his collaborators and waits to hear the results, in what he calls an "additive process," where, as long as he doesn't hear something he "just absolutely cannot stand," he keeps his mouth shut and makes editorial decisions.</blockquote>[[Mary Lass Stewart]], 1996<ref>https://www.furious.com/perfect/redcrayola.html</ref><blockquote>Nobody who wanted to exert full control over everything would send tapes around to other people in the band and say, ‘We need some guitar parts. Put stuff down over what's done thus far.' So the work's collaborative in a very thorough sense. Part of the point of Mayo collaborating with so many different people over the years seems to be that he WANTS to be affected by them. It's very brave, I think.</blockquote>[[David Grubbs]], 2014<ref>https://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/448520629680340992</ref><blockquote>The Red Krayola's "Hazel" is coming back into print on LP. It's one of my favorite records I've played on</blockquote>

	== Reviews ==		== Reviews ==

Dotclub at 12:46, 19 July 2023

2023-07-19T12:46:40Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:46, 19 July 2023
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	Elisabeth Vincentelli		Elisabeth Vincentelli

			=== Monitor ===
			July 1997<ref>https://archive.org/details/monitor-iii-serie-36-julho-agosto-97/page/n19/mode/1up</ref>

			VD<blockquote>Por incrível que pareça, os Red Krayola existem desde os longínquos anos 60, quando emergiram no seio do psicadelismo americano do Texas. Entre 1966 e 1967 embrenharam-se no abstraccionismo. Num constante ambiente de estranheza, desapareceram até ao fim dos anos 70, quando Mayo Thompson, líder da banda, ressurgiu em Inglaterra ao lado de uma nova geração louca que íncluia membros dos Pere Ubu, dos Swell Maps e dos X-Ray Spex. Desafiando sempre as classificações musicais, Thompson vai e vem a seu bel prazer. Regressa em 1994 e desde então, até «Hazel», o professor do Centro de Arte de Pasadena, na Califórnia, rodeou-se de velhos companheiros californianos, tal como o baterista George Hurley (Minutemen e Firehose) e o guitarrista Tom Watson (Slovenly e Overpass), de alguns ilustres de Chicago, como John McEntire (Tortoise), Jim O'Rourke e David Grubbs (ambos dos Gastr Del Sol), entre muitos outros, num total de 15 elementos.

			Os nomes prometem e cumprem no conjunto. O resultado é uma música ecléctica que cruza a simplicidade com o impenetrável, o kitsch, o rock e o funky. Comparem «l'm So Blazé» com «Boogie» e com «Another Song, Another Satan» e logo verão. Fica-se por vezes com a sensação de que os valores individuais desaparecem na constelação de estrelas, sejam as improvisações de O'Rourke ou os drumbeats de McEntire. Fica um som agradável que não sacrifica a complexidade. Um compromisso que Mayo Thompson resolveu bem, comcerteza fruto da sua longa experiência musical. E agora? Novo desaparecimento?</blockquote>

	=== Melody Maker ===		=== Melody Maker ===