“Old Time Relijun” (Used 4 times)

Northern-Spy Records  [FMA / home] first appeared in late 2010 when -- in one seemingly fluid motion -- the staff that revitalized ESP-Disk split off, launched a shiny new label, and whipped up a diversely talented roster that includes many FMA favorites (Bird Names, Arrington de Dionyso / Old Time Relijun, Jooklo Duo, Colin Langenus Orchestra / USAISAMonster, Eleven Twenty-Nine). With their freeform approach, I had a hunch the N-Spy staff were in tune w/ our efforts here on the Free Music Archive, and the hunch was verified when they swooped in to sign Dan Melchior the day after he debuted Catbirds & Cardinals here on our site. I became really intrigued by the label's model after talking with Colin Langenus, and hearing his excitement at having found a label with a full staff who was actually investing in his future. So when N-Spy approached us with mp3s to share -- including promo mp3s, web exclusives, and archival projects like Colin Langenus' Mass Dist, I took that as an opportunity to interview Label President Tom Abbs and learn a bit more.

FMA: You don't see a lot of new labels popping up these days, so what are the origins of Northern-Spy?

Tom Abbs: I had started working at ESP-Disk about three and a half years ago. Bernard Stollman the founder would put ads on Craigslist, and we all found our way there, really trying to revive that label. There ended up being so many management problems that we decided to move on and do our own thing. We were actually trying to bring more new sounds into that label too.

FMA: Yeah, I mean an artist like Talibam finding a home on ESP somehow made sense to me. And Barnacled, with this great record that had actually been originally recorded back in 2003...

TA: Yes, and we found it under a desk. People were sending stuff to Bernard, and he wouldn't listen to it, so it had ended up on the ground somewhere -- literally the CD-R was underneath a desk foot -- and we found it, kept playing it. I didn't know who Barnacled was, but we just loved the music, and there was an email address on the disk, so that's how that happened.

FMA: Well sometimes that's the case when labels when they're run by just one person -- I mean, how could they possibly keep up with all the submissions? But with the team who revived ESP-Disk moving on to Northern-Spy, you're working with this more traditional label model where you have in-house staff specializing in different tasks...

TA: At ESP-Disk, I had assembled a staff to do the publishing, to do the PR, a really good financial guy, so when we left ESP we had that intact. That was the core of our business plan. If it was just me, it would be much more limited in what could do, but since I had this really strong team that had worked together for a few years, it enabled us to really hit the ground running.

FMA: I was talking to Adam [Downey, Northern Spy Marketing Director / Head of A & R] the other day about how Colin Langenus from USAISAMONSTER has this great solo album that's been floating around for a while, I actually have an unmastered CD-R version of it from several months ago, and it was gonna be issued on this label that I personally love from Providence RI, the Corleone label, but I know that label's just run by one guy, who's also on the side running a restaurant and doing tons of other things. So when Northern Spy came along, it sounds like this was actually done with Corleone's blessing. And I guess the point is that artists are more comfortable with a label that has all these different arms working for them...(cont.)

Northern-Spy Records  [FMA / home] first appeared in late 2010 when -- in one seemingly fluid motion -- the staff that revitalized ESP-Disk split off, launched a shiny new label, and whipped up a diversely talented roster that includes many FMA favorites (Bird Names, Arrington de Dionyso / Old Time Relijun, Jooklo Duo, Colin Langenus Orchestra / USAISAMonster, Eleven Twenty-Nine). With their freeform approach, I had a hunch the N-Spy staff were in tune w/ our efforts here on the Free Music Archive, and the hunch was verified when they swooped in to sign Dan Melchior the day after he debuted Catbirds & Cardinals here on our site. I became really intrigued by the label's model after talking with Colin Langenus, and hearing his excitement at having found a label with a full staff who was actually investing in his future. So when N-Spy approached us with mp3s to share -- including promo mp3s, web exclusives, and archival projects like Colin Langenus' Mass Dist, I took that as an opportunity to interview Label President Tom Abbs and learn a bit more.

FMA: You don't see a lot of new labels popping up these days, so what are the origins of Northern-Spy?

Tom Abbs: I had started working at ESP-Disk about three and a half years ago. Bernard Stollman the founder would put ads on Craigslist, and we all found our way there, really trying to revive that label. There ended up being so many management problems that we decided to move on and do our own thing. We were actually trying to bring more new sounds into that label too.

FMA: Yeah, I mean an artist like Talibam finding a home on ESP somehow made sense to me. And Barnacled, with this great record that had actually been originally recorded back in 2003...

TA: Yes, and we found it under a desk. People were sending stuff to Bernard, and he wouldn't listen to it, so it had ended up on the ground somewhere -- literally the CD-R was underneath a desk foot -- and we found it, kept playing it. I didn't know who Barnacled was, but we just loved the music, and there was an email address on the disk, so that's how that happened.

FMA: Well sometimes that's the case when labels when they're run by just one person -- I mean, how could they possibly keep up with all the submissions? But with the team who revived ESP-Disk moving on to Northern-Spy, you're working with this more traditional label model where you have in-house staff specializing in different tasks...

TA: At ESP-Disk, I had assembled a staff to do the publishing, to do the PR, a really good financial guy, so when we left ESP we had that intact. That was the core of our business plan. If it was just me, it would be much more limited in what could do, but since I had this really strong team that had worked together for a few years, it enabled us to really hit the ground running.

FMA: I was talking to Adam [Downey, Northern Spy Marketing Director / Head of A & R] the other day about how Colin Langenus from USAISAMONSTER has this great solo album that's been floating around for a while, I actually have an unmastered CD-R version of it from several months ago, and it was gonna be issued on this label that I personally love from Providence RI, the Corleone label, but I know that label's just run by one guy, who's also on the side running a restaurant and doing tons of other things. So when Northern Spy came along, it sounds like this was actually done with Corleone's blessing. And I guess the point is that artists are more comfortable with a label that has all these different arms working for them...(cont.)

You may know Arrington de Dionyso from his post-punk-freak-folk group Old Time Relijun, or from his trance-inducing solo experimentations with overtone-singing, shruti-box, jaw harp, and Kadri Gopalnath-inspired bass clarinet. He also teaches workshops on "Unleashing the Voice", and plays in the free-jazz quartet The Naked Future (ESP-Disk). His paintings offer a visual depiction of said future, where humans, animals, and angels live in naked, bestial harmony.

Malaikat Dan Singa (K Records, 2009) is an album that melds all of these influences and more: Arrington's unleashed vocals are sung entirely in Indonesian, with translations of William Blake and the Zohar finding their way into the mix. The album was produced by K Records/Dub Narcotic house engineer Karl Blau, who also plays bass and drums on the record.

Arrington de Dionyso brought Malaikat Dan Singa to life for a visit to Talk's Cheap on WFMU this past Tuesday, engineered by Dave Mambach. The lineup featured Arrington on vocals/guitar/bass clarinet, Nehemiah Saint-Danger on bass guitar and Ruben Sindo Acosta on drums. Old Time Relijun's drummer Germaine Baca was on-hand as well, studying up for the next leg of the tour. She's got an extra leg up because the first song of the live session, "Kedalman Air," is a reworking of an Old Time Relijun song "Cold Water" <-- be sure to check out the amazing live version from WFMU's Free Music Series concert @ Southpaw, 10/13/2007!

Speaking of Old Time Relijun, they're playing a surprise show at NYC's Cake Shop this Saturday 5/22. Malaikat Dan Singa plays Brooklyn's Death By Audio tonight, then they're off to AS220 and beyond for this tour which Arrington promises will be "never-ending" (see here for tourdates).

So what compelled Arrington to start writing music and lyrics in Bahasa Indonesia, let alone to learn the language in the first place? (read more...)