Sleeping Bag Sessions

Whether it's hip hop, it's face pointed reverentially to the old school, or house stealing disco riffs by the truck load, people are increasingly intrigued by back-in-the-day. And common to both the aforementioned scenes and much more is one person, Arthur Russell, a man some regard as the best songwriter of the 20th century. In 1981 Arthur set up Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolav. The first release was the album 24-24 Music as Dinosaur L. If you're wondering about the name it would appear Arthur would often use the names of extinct or near-extinct animals. On one production credit he's "Killer Whale, whilst the logo for Sleeping Bag is a Koala bear! The line up was pretty much the same as the Loose Joints sessions, (which boasted the Ingram Bros. rhythm section) and a similar stream-of-conscience approach was taken with the recording itself. Russell arranged the beats so there'd be a change every 24 bars (hence the title) and the band would have to improvise the songs over the top. The album is again very experimental, and makes occasional uneasy listening but the same magic is very much in evidence.