One of the comparatively unheralded greats, Joseph Arthur, appeared on the Letterman Show Friday night to perform his new song, In the Dark of Graveyard Chatter, off his brand new double-album, Redemption City.  While he played every instrument and sang every note on the new album, on Letterman he showed up with a big, powerful band (replete with four backup singers and a bevy of instrumentalists, some wearing leathers, some not).  Check the performance below.  Oh my!!  He does rock n’ roll proud.  Once again.  And you can tell Dave and Paul are appropriately wowed.  After the video (courtesy of the Audio Perv), check out Arthur’s pertinent words regarding the new album, its release and its downloadable options on his website. Give what you can to support great art from one of our art greats.

Joseph Arthur:

“Please don’t take the method or the freedom of this release
to be any judgment on its value.
I think it’s top notch,
but it’s great to take advantage of what the internet is actually good at –
IMMEDIACY.

This is the first time I’ve released something while still
inhabiting its space,
I’m alive in the nowness of it!
Join me there or here or here and there.

Around the time I was putting out Redemption’s Son,
I met Peter Beard in Montauk.
Lucky enough to stay with friends at the old Andy Warhol
house,
where the Rolling Stones had rehearsed.

A bunch of us were there
partying, playing cards, trying to do yoga,
but mostly partying.
It was fun.
(Thank you Rene and Suzy.)

One night I told Peter the name of my record that was
about to come out
“Redemption’s Son,” I said.
“Too religious,” he said.
He was probably right but that’s what it was called, though
it wasn’t out yet.

The next day he said, “I thought of a better title for you.”
I asked, “What?”
He paused for drama and then said,
“Redemption City.”
9/11 had just happened,
it was a crazy title and I instantly liked it better than
“Redemption’s Son”,
but it was too late,
that record was already on its way to stores.
(that’s where we used to get music back in the day.)
But I held onto that title.
I made a giant painting of a city when I opened the
‘Museum of Modern Arthur’
and called it “Redemption City”
but somehow its destiny is to be a title of a record.

Peter Beard is a deep cat,
animal blood on huge beautiful prints must awaken the
favor of the gods
because his will for this title has chased me down the years,
and a few years ago I set about making it.
The record inspired by the title.
What would a city of redemption sound like?
What kind of characters would inhabit it?
The files for this record date back to ’09 and one track
further than that.
I work on it, get burned out and then reopen it weeks later.
I built a studio (with the help of Matt Becker) in Brooklyn
to make it,
and it’s the only record I’ve made where I’ve done
everything on it,
played all the things that make all the noise, drums, bass,
synths and guitars,
produced it mixed it, you name it.
Not that i haven’t been helped.
Jen Michel used to come around and listen to tracks and
say,
“Man, this is the record.”
she wanted this one out for awhile,
but it wasn’t ready;
a few more buildings had to go up and a few more roads
had to be paved.
Carla Podgurecki snapped the cover photo one night on
my roof overlooking the city of NYC
and Merritt Jacob came in at the end of it all and helped
me make final mix choices
and nudged the thing along in the right direction towards
home.
Actually, that’s an understatement; he became the partner I
needed to help find the finish.
Finally, it was mastered by the great Fred Kevorkian.

It’s been one hell of a process,
and I hope you like it.
If you do, pass it along and spread the word!
We’ve set this up so you can just have the record.
You can donate,
pay what you want,
or nothing at all.

Passing it on, spreading the word, is better than money,
but records are hard to make and expensive so if you dig it,
Dig in!

PS

There is lots of interesting low-end stuff on this record so…
I’m talking to you with the laptop on your chest listening to
this thing,
lazy in your bed and not wanting to connect it to fancy
headphones or decent speakers
for shame!

PPS

Part 1

Is complete as a record and for those who are generally
against the idea of an artist making a double record (of
which there are many) you can stop there and you have it.

Part 2

Is the deep cuts,
Which would have otherwise remained on the cutting room
floor or else been leaked out over time in various ways,
fragmented beings with no brothers or sisters or home.
I think both parts serve to strengthen the whole.  They are
relating to each other and breathing back and forth.
They are each other’s shadow and hold hands when no one
is watching.
It’s true that often less is more but sometimes more is more
and that is something that, in this case, will be down to
taste.

With the Internet and new ways of releasing music it seems
that the doors are open to broader perspectives on what’s
too much.
Here you have both a double and a single record,
depending on how you want it or your level of interest.
Also it’s not important (or possible!) to listen to all of it in
one sitting.
Take in Part 1 and then move slowly into part 2.
It’s a city.
There are lots of avenues and side streets,
Abandoned buildings and bodegas,
Cars parked on the side of oblivion with cats in them.
Come in and walk around.

So without further ado,

for Peter Beard and the others who helped me get here,

Welcome to

Redemption City.”

We’ve listened to a good part of the album, and he’s done it again–musical magic.  Go over to his site, and give what you can to download the album..