Arto Lindsay
Encyclopedia
Arthur Morgan Lindsay is an American
guitarist
, singer, record producer
and experimental
composer
. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College
in St. Petersburg, Florida
.
He has a distinctive soft voice and an often noisy, self-taught guitar style consisting almost entirely of extended technique
s, described by Brian Olewnick "studiedly naïve ... sounding like the bastard child of Derek Bailey"; his guitar work is contrasted frequently with gentler, sensuous Brazilian music themes.
with his missionary
parents and came of age during the influential Tropicália movement of Brazilian culture, which included musicians Caetano Veloso
, Gal Costa
, Os Mutantes
and Gilberto Gil
, as well as the visual artists Hélio Oiticica
, Lygia Clark
and Antonio Dias
. This time of cultural experimentation and artistic cross-pollination made an enduring impact on the young Lindsay.
In New York
, Lindsay began his artistic ambitions as a writer, but quickly became interested in the art and music scenes that were evolving out of the New York punk rock
scene at the time.
In the late 1970s, he co-formed the seminal no wave
group DNA
with Ikue Mori
and Robin Crutchfield
, although Tim Wright
of Pere Ubu
fame would soon replace Crutchfield. In 1978, DNA was featured on the four-band sampler No New York
(produced by Brian Eno
) which brought an early taste of international notoriety to the group, and which quickly became the essential document of No Wave. The famous rock critic Lester Bangs
once described the group's ritualistic vocals, and deliberately primitive, speaker-shredding guitar as “horrible noise.”
In the early 1980s, Lindsay, and his particular style of guitar work, featured prominently in the early recordings of John Lurie
's "fake jazz" outfit The Lounge Lizards
and The Golden Palominos
. These groups worked to break down distinctions between rock music, pop music, improvisation and avant-garde
experimentalism. It was during this time that Lindsay established a collaborative friendship with John Zorn
, playing in a number of his ensembles including Locus Solus.
After leaving the Lounge Lizards, Lindsay formed the Ambitious Lovers
with keyboardist Peter Scherer. This music was decidedly more pop influenced and featured more prominent attention to Brazilian music, like samba
and bossa nova
. Although their three albums, Greed, Envy, and Lust were Lindsay's first forays with a major record label, these albums genre-bending pop never caught on in the mainstream. The Ambitious Lovers disbanded in 1991, although Lindsay remained a strong working relationship with Scherer, and continued to record with him.
In the early 1990s. Lindsay began to rarefy his singing voice and launched a solo career which was significantly more oriented toward his Brazilian roots, singing in Portuguese more frequently, throwing in occasional covers of bossa nova
classics like João Gilberto
's "Este Seu Olhar", and updating his sound from 1980s new wave
to more current types of electronica
on albums such as O Corpo Sutil (The Subtle Body) (1996), Mundo Civilizado (1997), Noon Chill (1998), Prize (1999), Invoke (2002), and Salt (2004). These albums are unique in their reliance on collaboration between the musicians, producers and composers that Lindsay continues to work with; Lindsay has worked extensively with bassist Melvin Gibbs
, guitarist Vinicius Cantuária
, and producer Andres Levin
to help create his sound.
Throughout the late 1980s and through the 1990s, Lindsay also composed a number of soundtracks, dance commissions and even continued to dabble in No Wave-influenced projects, most notably with the Arto Lindsay Trio, with Gibbs and Dougie Bowne, who released Aggregates 1-26 on the Knitting Factory
label in 1995. He performed on the track "Counting the Roses," featured in the video game D2.
Over the years, Lindsay has lent his musical talents to – and collaborated with – such artists as: They Might Be Giants
, David Byrne
, Laurie Anderson, Marc Ribot
, Cibo Matto
, Bill Frisell
, Animal Collective
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
, Krisma
, and Kip Hanrahan
, to name but a few.
In 1998, he collaborated with Arnaldo Antunes
and Davi Moraes on the track "Sem Você" for the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
In 2004, he co-produced and played with Seb el Zin on the Anarchist Republic of Bzzz album, also featuring Marc Ribot
, Mike Ladd
and Sensational
.
vehicle Desperately Seeking Susan
and can be seen playing "skronk" guitar in Downtown 81
, a film about the art and music in the East Village featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat
and Deborah Harry
. He is also featured in Step Across the Border
, a documentary on the musician Fred Frith
, directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel (1990) and in Kill Your Idols, a documentary directed by Scott Crary
(2004).
, Tom Zé
, Vinicius Cantuária
, Gal Costa
, Carlinhos Brown
, and Marisa Monte
.
He also co-produced the first album of Anarchist Republic of Bzzz.
, he was able to befriend and collaborate with a number of visual artists who have gone on to important careers in art. With Diego Cortez (born James Curtis) — who would become the artistic director for all his solo endeavors starting in the mid 1990s — Lindsay became immersed in an art community that included Jean-Michel Basquiat
, Nan Goldin
, Francesco Clemente
and Andy Warhol
. Since then, Lindsay has included the work of Goldin, Kara Walker
, Matthew Barney
, Philip Taffe and Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
on his albums.
He has also collaborated with Canadian artist Rodney Graham
at an exhibition at Deitch Projects
, and as part of a sound-art exhibition at PS1
, a gallery in New York.
Arto Lindsay has written the epilogue for the official biography of the German experimental band Einstürzende Neubauten
No beauty without danger (German title: Nur was nicht ist, ist möglich).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, singer, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
in St. Petersburg, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
He has a distinctive soft voice and an often noisy, self-taught guitar style consisting almost entirely of extended technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
s, described by Brian Olewnick "studiedly naïve ... sounding like the bastard child of Derek Bailey"; his guitar work is contrasted frequently with gentler, sensuous Brazilian music themes.
Music
Although Lindsay was born in the United States, he spent many years in BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
with his missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
parents and came of age during the influential Tropicália movement of Brazilian culture, which included musicians Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...
, Gal Costa
Gal Costa
Gal Costa is a Brazilian singer of popular music.-Early life:...
, Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...
and Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, as well as the visual artists Hélio Oiticica
Hélio Oiticica
Hélio Oiticica was a Brazilian visual artist, best known for his participation in the Neo-Concrete group, for his innovative use of color, and for what he later termed "environmental art", which included Parangolés and Penetrables, like the famous Tropicália.- Early work :Oiticica's early works,...
, Lygia Clark
Lygia Clark
Lygia Clark was a Brazilian artist best known for her painting and installation work. She was often associated with the Brazilian Constructivist movements of the mid-20th century and the Tropicalia movement...
and Antonio Dias
Antônio Dias
Antônio Dias is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2006 is estimated to be 10,245 people living in a total area of 877.844 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Vale do Rio Doce and to the microregion of Ipatinga.-See also:* List of...
. This time of cultural experimentation and artistic cross-pollination made an enduring impact on the young Lindsay.
In New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Lindsay began his artistic ambitions as a writer, but quickly became interested in the art and music scenes that were evolving out of the New York punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene at the time.
In the late 1970s, he co-formed the seminal no wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
group DNA
DNA (band)
DNA was a No Wave band formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds...
with Ikue Mori
Ikue Mori
, also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, composer, and graphic designer.-Biography:Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She says she had little interest in music before hearing punk rock...
and Robin Crutchfield
Robin Crutchfield
Robin Crutchfield is an American artist. He is best known as one of the founding musicians of the former New York No Wave scene. He has performed at such hallowed musical grounds as CBGB's, Max's Kansas City and Artist's Space; as well as had his work on display at prestigious venues like MoMA and...
, although Tim Wright
Tim Wright
Tim Wright , alias CoLD SToRAGE, is a Welsh video game music composer most known for his work in video game soundtracks such as Shadow of the Beast II & III, Agony, Lemmings, Wipeout and Colony Wars....
of Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
fame would soon replace Crutchfield. In 1978, DNA was featured on the four-band sampler No New York
No New York
No New York is a compilation album released in 1978 by Antilles Records under the curation of producer Brian Eno. Although it only contained songs by four different artists, it is considered by many to be the definitive single album documenting New York City's late-1970s No Wave...
(produced by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
) which brought an early taste of international notoriety to the group, and which quickly became the essential document of No Wave. The famous rock critic Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
once described the group's ritualistic vocals, and deliberately primitive, speaker-shredding guitar as “horrible noise.”
In the early 1980s, Lindsay, and his particular style of guitar work, featured prominently in the early recordings of John Lurie
John Lurie
John Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
's "fake jazz" outfit The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie.Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.-History:Lounge Lizards were...
and The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos was an American musical group headed by drummer and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership was wildly elastic, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis appearing on every album.While the Palominos' records...
. These groups worked to break down distinctions between rock music, pop music, improvisation and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
experimentalism. It was during this time that Lindsay established a collaborative friendship with John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, playing in a number of his ensembles including Locus Solus.
After leaving the Lounge Lizards, Lindsay formed the Ambitious Lovers
Ambitious Lovers
Ambitious Lovers were a musical group composed of guitarist/singer Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Peter Scherer, active from the mid 1980s to the early '90s....
with keyboardist Peter Scherer. This music was decidedly more pop influenced and featured more prominent attention to Brazilian music, like samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
. Although their three albums, Greed, Envy, and Lust were Lindsay's first forays with a major record label, these albums genre-bending pop never caught on in the mainstream. The Ambitious Lovers disbanded in 1991, although Lindsay remained a strong working relationship with Scherer, and continued to record with him.
In the early 1990s. Lindsay began to rarefy his singing voice and launched a solo career which was significantly more oriented toward his Brazilian roots, singing in Portuguese more frequently, throwing in occasional covers of bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
classics like João Gilberto
João Gilberto
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.-Biography:From an early age, music...
's "Este Seu Olhar", and updating his sound from 1980s new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
to more current types of electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
on albums such as O Corpo Sutil (The Subtle Body) (1996), Mundo Civilizado (1997), Noon Chill (1998), Prize (1999), Invoke (2002), and Salt (2004). These albums are unique in their reliance on collaboration between the musicians, producers and composers that Lindsay continues to work with; Lindsay has worked extensively with bassist Melvin Gibbs
Melvin Gibbs
Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist, composer, and producer who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Gibbs has been called "the best bassist in the world" by Time Out New York magazine....
, guitarist Vinicius Cantuária
Vinicius Cantuária
Vinicius Cantuária is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer and percussionist. He is associated with Bossa nova and Brazilian jazz. Originally from the Amazonian city of Manaus, Cantuária grew up in Rio and relocated to New York City in the mid-1990s...
, and producer Andres Levin
Andres Levin
Andres Levin is a Venezuelan-American record producer, band leader, film maker, recording engineer and philanthropist. Levin won a Grammy award in 2009 for his production of the In The Heights Cast Recording...
to help create his sound.
Throughout the late 1980s and through the 1990s, Lindsay also composed a number of soundtracks, dance commissions and even continued to dabble in No Wave-influenced projects, most notably with the Arto Lindsay Trio, with Gibbs and Dougie Bowne, who released Aggregates 1-26 on the Knitting Factory
Knitting Factory
The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
label in 1995. He performed on the track "Counting the Roses," featured in the video game D2.
Over the years, Lindsay has lent his musical talents to – and collaborated with – such artists as: They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
, David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
, Laurie Anderson, Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
, Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto are a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994...
, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
, Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
, Krisma
Krisma
Krisma is an Italian musical New Wave - electronic group founded by Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser in 1976.- 1976-1979 :...
, and Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan is an American jazz music impresario, record producer and percussionist.-Biography:Hanrahan was born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx to an Irish-Jewish family. He has an unusual role in the albums released under his name, one which he has analogized to that of a film...
, to name but a few.
In 1998, he collaborated with Arnaldo Antunes
Arnaldo Antunes
Arnaldo Antunes , is a writer and composer from Brazil. He began as a member of the band Aguilar e Banda Performática in the late 1970s. For most of the 1980s he was a member of the rock band Titãs. After 1992 he had six solo albums. Since 1992 he has been an award winning poet, but he was first...
and Davi Moraes on the track "Sem Você" for the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon is the eleventh entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums. The album and related television special were both created by the Red Hot Organization , an international organization whose objective in this project is to raise AIDS awareness in the...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
In 2004, he co-produced and played with Seb el Zin on the Anarchist Republic of Bzzz album, also featuring Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
, Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd is a hip-hop MC and producer. As an MC, he practices spoken-word and is known for his poetic lyrics. As a producer, he is known as the owner of the Likemadd label.-Biography:...
and Sensational
Sensational
Sensational is a hip-hop performer from New York. He worked with the Jungle Brothers under the name Torture before going solo. He was featured on the cover of The Wire magazine in December 2009. A film about him entitled The Rise and Fall and Rise of Sensational was released in 2011....
.
Film
Lindsay has appeared in a number of films, usually in tie-ins with other artists. Lindsay had a cameo appearance in the MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
vehicle Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...
and can be seen playing "skronk" guitar in Downtown 81
Downtown 81
Downtown 81 is a film that was shot in 1980-1981.This film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, written and produced by Glenn O'Brien with post-production in 1999-2000 by Maripol, is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan...
, a film about the art and music in the East Village featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
and Deborah Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
. He is also featured in Step Across the Border
Step Across the Border
Step Across the Border is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland...
, a documentary on the musician Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel (1990) and in Kill Your Idols, a documentary directed by Scott Crary
Scott Crary
Scott Crary is a film director, producer and writer based in New York City.Crary filmed, produced, edited, and directed the film Kill Your Idols, a documentary examining three decades of New York art punk bands....
(2004).
Producer
Lindsay has produced recordings by Brazilian musicians Caetano VelosoCaetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...
, Tom Zé
Tom Zé
Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded...
, Vinicius Cantuária
Vinicius Cantuária
Vinicius Cantuária is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer and percussionist. He is associated with Bossa nova and Brazilian jazz. Originally from the Amazonian city of Manaus, Cantuária grew up in Rio and relocated to New York City in the mid-1990s...
, Gal Costa
Gal Costa
Gal Costa is a Brazilian singer of popular music.-Early life:...
, Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
, and Marisa Monte
Marisa Monte
Marisa de Azevedo Monte is a Brazilian popular singer. As of 2011, she has sold 10 million albums worldwide.- Biography :...
.
He also co-produced the first album of Anarchist Republic of Bzzz.
Artist projects and collaborations
From Lindsay's early days in New York amidst the burgeoning art and music scene of the East VillageEast Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, he was able to befriend and collaborate with a number of visual artists who have gone on to important careers in art. With Diego Cortez (born James Curtis) — who would become the artistic director for all his solo endeavors starting in the mid 1990s — Lindsay became immersed in an art community that included Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
, Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin
Nancy "Nan" Goldin is an American photographer.-Life and work:Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts suburb of Lexington, to middle class Jewish parents whose ideas, moderately liberal and progressive, were put to the test when on April 12, 1965 their eldest...
, Francesco Clemente
Francesco Clemente
Francesco Clemente is an Italian and American contemporary artist. Influenced by thinkers as diverse as Gregory Bateson, William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, and J Krishnamurti, the art of Francesco Clemente is inclusive and nomadic, crossing many borders, intellectual and geographical.Dividing his time...
and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. Since then, Lindsay has included the work of Goldin, Kara Walker
Kara Walker
Kara Walker is a contemporary African American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes, such as The Means to an End--A Shadow Drama in Five Acts.-Biography:Walker was born in...
, Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works were sculptural installations combined with performance and video...
, Philip Taffe and Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro , is an Ivorian artist.Bouabré was born in Zéprégüé, and was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the French colonial government. On March 11, 1948, he received a vision, which directly influenced much of his later work...
on his albums.
He has also collaborated with Canadian artist Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham is an artist and musician born in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He is most often associated with the Vancouver School...
at an exhibition at Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects was a contemporary art gallery in New York City founded by Jeffrey Deitch.-History:Since opening with a performance by Vanessa Beecroft in February 1996, the gallery has presented nearly one hundred and eighteen solo exhibitions and projects, ten thematic exhibitions, and a few...
, and as part of a sound-art exhibition at PS1
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center
MoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It is located in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City...
, a gallery in New York.
Arto Lindsay has written the epilogue for the official biography of the German experimental band Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
No beauty without danger (German title: Nur was nicht ist, ist möglich).
Exhibition
- netmageNetmageNetmage is an international festival dedicated to electronic art curated by Xing and produced annually—in the city of Bologna -- as a multidisciplinary program of works, investigating and promoting contemporary audiovisual research.The two major event are netmage and F.I.S.Co...
2006 performs Ipanema Théories with Dominique Gonzalez Foerster and alone Garden of self regard
External links
- Official homepage
- Personagem: Talking With Arto Lindsay Interview from The Morning NewsThe Morning News (online magazine)The Morning News is a U.S.-based daily online magazine founded in 1999 by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack. It began as an email newsletter and in the fall of 2000 evolved into a news-oriented weblog with a New York focus...
- Official Myspace page for "Llik Your Idols", a documentary about the Cinema of Transgression featuring Arto Lindsay
- Arto Lindsay & Toni Nogueira: "Buy One" (1:06) published on the Tellus Audio Cassette MagazineTellus Audio Cassette MagazineLaunched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan, in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus cassette series took full advantage of the popular cassette medium to promote cutting-edge downtown music, documenting the New York scene and advancing experimental composers of the time...
@ UbuwebUbuWebUbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.-Philosophy:...