The DFA and Astralwerks Records are proud to announce the release of 'Days of Mars', the first full-length album of New York artists Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, on October 4th, 2005. These four extended voyages are a full-on visionary listening experience, more about innerspace than outer. The Days of Mars (in reference to the book by author and lover of Hilda Doolittle, Winifred Bryher) is the realization of a sound first hinted at on their hypnotic 'El Monte' single from 2004 and a multi-disciplinary vision that is barely contained by genre or labels.
Already renowned in the art world or rather, worlds, Delia and Gavin show in international galleries their continuous outstreaming of stunning video, performance, theatrical, musical, and visual art, to name but a few. Their prodigious work stems from the collaboration between the two kindred spirits, but the story goes back a bit.
It was the end of the 20th century in New York City. Delia Gonzalez, originally from Miami, moved to the city in the mid 90's, working in various dance groups, including Fancypants, a guerilla theatre troupe prone to burst out in absurd dance on busy street corners. Gavin Russom, a recent transplant from Providence, Rhode Island, was doing magic shows as The Mystic Satin. In the days when NYC performance art embodied aspects of cabaret, live music, and dance, they ran in similar circles, but were still strangers.
That is, until one fateful night at a fashionable though unexciting loft party. Bored stiff among the painfully hip and dance-averse, Delia and Gavin met on the empty dancefloor. Delia remembers: "When I saw Gavin and he saw me, we knew we were destined to work together. I just knew he was my best friend and that he was going to be a big part of my life." Gavin reflects that feeling: "We just decided we were gonna have fun together, recognizing in each other an eagerness to make something happen. So we just danced all night together, when nobody else danced." Within a month, Delia was assisting the Mystic Satin and soon after, they were creating performance pieces together, and branched out into prop-making and set design, modern dance, movies, and videos, not to mention a heavy metal band, Fight Evil with Evil. Gavin says that at the time, "even just going out, we would make outfits together. Everything we did was really collaborative. We've had this ongoing conversation and all the art we make just comes directly out of that. The objects that we make have to do with our interaction."
As the two made more films together, they began to create their own soundtracks. In the year 2000, Gavin, always a bit of a tinkerer, began to build his own synthesizer to avert a crisis he was having with music: "At some point didn't know how to make music anymore. I couldn't relate to the instruments. I just thought visually that analog synthesizers were something that appealed to me, with all the knobs and cords, connecting things together, being able to create and change sounds from scratch." The artistic aesthetic was not far behind its function, and soon enough, the electronic components Gavin devised became a part of their gallery exhibits, showing alongside collages, art objects, props, costumes, drawings, and videos. They soon began creating live music under their own names.
Protection - we do a lot of it these days. Sun cream for our skin, sunglasses for our eyes, condoms for you know where - but do you remember to protect your hearing?
Click to find all the information you need to look after your hearing now so you can enjoy music for years to come
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