I love Arthur Russell’s work, disco and avant-garde alike. Recorded during the years of 1985-1990, this material is culled from two albums, Corn, which was completed in 1985 but never released, and an abandoned Rough Trade album. I would describe the sound as avant pop with a serious disco sensibility. The album was released in 2004 so it’s actually kind of a new release, and even if the music itself is older it still sounds unique and contemporary. It’s the weirdest music to ever get stuck in your head, but music you’ll want to listen to over and over. The last song, “Calling All Kids,” is one of my personal favorites, if only for the refrain, “Grownups are crazy!” set to what Pitchfork describes as the noise from a digital keychain. You might dance, you might sway, or you might move in strange coordinated herky-jerky movements listening to this album. The whole thing is goofy, fresh, and kind of brilliant.

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For the uninitiated, Owen Pallett is a brilliant violinist and singer known for his solo work (formerly under the name Final Fantasy) as well as his string arrangements for bands such as Arcade Fire and Beirut. His solo output consists of orchestral pop songs, and he often performs with just his violin, voice, and loop pedal. On this album, his first for Domino (which had a great year in 2009, featuring releases by Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Wild Beasts, and Arctic Monkeys), he ventures off into even more whimsical avant-pop territory. The entire record is a concept album about a farmer named Lewis in the fictional world of Spectrum. Each song is “a one-sided dialogue with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator.” I’ve always been a fan of Owen Pallett for a lot of reasons, but this album is intricately composed in a way which reminds me of the elaborate routines on display at a circus. He borrows from a much wider palette of sounds, letting keyboards and electronic percussion bleed into a beautiful arrangement of piano and strings in “The Great Elsewhere”. One of my favorite tracks, “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” begins with another giddy and playful measure on the keyboard which he completes with a steady refrain of “I’m never gonna give it to you.” Pallett is deft at combining wit and sparkle in equal measure, and they make for a fantastic escape into a fairy tale of an album.

I had the good fortune of seeing Owen Pallett perform with Mountain Goats this November (back when he was still Final Fantasy). He played a great deal of new songs from this album, and after listening to the recorded version, it’s hard to say which I prefer. Pallett’s flawless technique and emotion translate on a different level in his live performances, so I recommend you make it your New Years’ Resolution to go see him.

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Disco never died, but its geniuses did. Russell was one of those geniuses. Originally trained as a classical cellist in Iowa, Russell studied with Ali Akbar Khan in San Francisco in the 1970s. On his own, he split his time between avant-garde cello compositions and funky disco productions for Loose Joints, Dinosaur L, and Lola, but his passion for both shines through in each. This includes such hits as Wax The Van, Is It All Over My Face, and Pop Your Funk. My absolute favorite song, however, is not any of the disco singles but rather Keeping Up, a curiously subdued experimental pop song which features an electric cello, hush-hush harmonizing vocals and a lot of space to wander. This album should make you dance, think, then wonder why you’re not dancing, and then dance some more.

Like many awesome people, Arthur Russell died of AIDS. He had collaborated with people like Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, David Byrne, and John Cage. In the month of his death, Kyle Gann from The Village Voice wrote, “His recent performances had been so infrequent due to illness, his songs were so personal, that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music.” Even if his life ended too soon, at least he was able to truly collapse into his life’s work; now a part of him lives on forever.

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