Shows/1999-08-25
| August 25, 1999 | |
|---|---|
| [[File:|center|frameless|]] | |
| [[File:|center|frameless|]] | |
| LunaPark | |
| City |  Los Angeles, CA
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| Tour | |
| Event | |
| Billing | |
Announcement
New Times LA
August 19, 1999[1]
Alec Hanley Bemis
Even if you are an ardent fan and supporter of the Red Krayola's 30-plus-year voyage, it's safe to assume that unless everyone you know is enrolled in an accredited art school or M.F.A. program, you may feel a bit skittish recommending the band to your friends.
The reason? On record, the Red Krayola often sound like one imagines conceptual art would sound if it was a largely aural phenomenon. This is unfortunate because even though this band's music does share a number of traits with conceptual art (primarily a chilly, detached aesthetic and an execution that seems to mix precise intentions with an impromptu slackness), Mayo Thompson, a professor at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design and the Red Krayola's only constant member, has always packed his group with a distinct band of players, making the live experience something of a formal undertaking.
In the '60s, Thompson played with the likes of fiction writer Frederick Barthelme and guitarist John Fahey; the '70s found him collaborating with the Art & Language collective; by the turn of that decade, he was working with a group of luminaries drawn from squirrelly English punk bands like X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats, and Epic Soundtracks, while he was moonlighting with Ohio's Pere Ubu, which occasionally returned the favor.
Since returning to the States in the mid-'90s, Thompson has employed some of his most impressive backing musicians to date, the best of whom will be present for this show -- a rare live date squeezed in as the Red Krayola readies for a short Japanese tour. From Chicago comes the duo of art-rocker David Grubbs (Gastr Del Sol, Squirrel Bait) and postrock impresario John McEntire (Tortoise, Bitch Magnet); Thompson's SoCal associates include SST veterans George Hurley (Minutemen/fIREHOSE) and Tom Watson (Slovenly), along with his Art Center colleague Stephen Prina and violinist Elisa Randazzo.
The Red Krayola always ends up sounding like the Red Krayola -- developed melodies sung insistently off-key, songs with a peculiarly brittle swing, lyrics seemingly drawn from a book of daily affirmations filtered through Marx -- but the combination of pristine avant-gardists from the Midwest and a ragtag bunch of Angelenos practically guarantees the jarring frisson that art-rock ultimately demands.
References
| The Red Krayola Shows | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966, 1967, 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | ||
| 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 |
| 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 |
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Live recordings | |||||||||