Tag Archives for Dan Graham

Arthur Radio Voyage #18: Swimming in the Cosmic Ocean w/ DJ Ron Like Hell

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Many leagues below a murky, oil-filled pocket of subtropical waters off the southern coast of the United States, abyss creatures continue to communicate through light and vibration. In the “midnight zone,” a formidable black swallower feeds off of a hydrothermal vent, shrouded in a darkness thicker and blacker than deepest outer space. An opalescent dumbo octopus floats serenely by, her shiny coating picking up hints of a nearby jellyfish‘s flashing stroboscopic light, which illuminates a pulsating haze of red around them. On the very bottom of the ocean floor, a sea dandelion sits quietly, swaying back and forth to the rhythm of tectonic plates stirring below her…


Above: Special guest DJ Ron Like Hell, a resident purveyor of good taste and mind-expanding musical knowledge at northern Greenpoint’s favorite record-vending establishment, Permanent Records. If you are in the New York area on Friday, June 11th, go see him DJ at The Loft above Public Assembly.

Stream it: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Arthur-Radio-Voyage-18-Swimming-in-the-Cosmic-Ocean-5-16-2010.mp3%5D

Download: Arthur Radio Voyage #18: Swimming in the Cosmic Ocean w/ DJ Ron Like Hell 5-16-2010

This week’s playlist…
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Rock My Religion: 9 minutes of conceptual artist Dan Graham's lo-fi video art rockumentary

9 minutes of conceptual artist Dan Graham’s 55 minute low-fi video art rockumentary Rock My Religion(1982-1984). A personal favorite-

Rock My Religion is a provocative thesis on the relation between religion and rock music in contemporary culture. Graham formulates a history that begins with the Shakers, an early religious community who practiced self-denial and ecstatic trance dances. With the “reeling and rocking” of religious revivals as his point of departure, Graham analyzes the emergence of rock music as religion with the teenage consumer in the isolated suburban milieu of the 1950s, locating rock’s sexual and ideological context in post-World War II America. The music and philosophies of Patti Smith, who made explicit the trope that rock is religion, are his focus. This complex collage of text, film footage and performance forms a compelling theoretical essay on the ideological codes and historical contexts that inform the cultural phenomenon of rock `n’ roll music.

Original Music: Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth. Sound: Ian Murray, Wharton Tiers. Narrators: Johanna Cypis, Dan Graham. Editors: Matt Danowski, Derek Graham, Ian Murray, Tony Oursler. Produced by Dan Graham and the Moderna Museet.