End of All Music teams up with Muscle Beach Records to host an evening of ambient, instrumental music featuring Kell Kellum and Prehistoric Bird along with Josh Burwell’s new art at Southside Gallery tomorrow evening.
Prehistoric Bird is the solo project of Clay Jones, who recently released his instrumental album of the same name through Muscle Beach Records in late September of 2017.
While known around Oxford for working sound-mixing and mastering on projects, this will be Jones’ first time playing at Southside Gallery and the first time he plays a solo set in years. Oxford will experience the musician side of Jones not previously seen.
“I wrote this record during a period of transition, not to mention health problems, that had me in something of an hyper-emotional state,” Jones said. “It was also the first thing I had made like it in many years, so it was kind of an outpouring of pent-up creative energy that had been welling over years of working on other people’s records. A lot of it draws directly from emotional memories, and also just spending time in nature had a big influence.”
Jones approached the record with understanding the outset of his limitations and knowing that everything would be played by himself and whatever was currently at his disposal at his home studio, some of which included: a pedalboard, synths, a drum machine, some bells and a wind-chime outside his back door.
A Jackson native, Jones grew up the youngest of four boys in a musical family. He graduated from Ole Miss with an English degree and ended up never leaving.
“In college, I played guitar in a band called Spoon, a name which we lost to the ‘Spoon’ from Austin who had signed their record deal like a month before us, so we changed our name to ‘This Living Hand’.”
The band he created and helped produce in college, ‘This Living Hand,’ ended up giving him a career in producing and engineering records, which he’s done ever since, but lately, has moved more towards emphasizing on mixing and mastering. He continued on to collaborate on over 44 projects with various musicians, including Modest Mouse, The Seratones, Colour Revolt, Counting Crows and Elvis Costello and the Imposters.
Joining Jones playing music is Kell Kellum, who will be playing from his new, instrumental album, ‘Adding to the Ashes,’ which will be released by Muscle Beach Records on May 11, a few days after the show.
“Inspiration comes randomly, but I find that listening to other musicians makes me want to play and write more,” Kellum said. “During the time of tracking this record, I was really into Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, William Tyler and Bill Frisell. All are superb musicians who still influence me on a daily basis.”
Kellum is a full-time musician and is currently a part of the bands Young Valley, Anne Freeman & The Garbage Sons, The Andrew Bryant Band and The Great Dying. He has also worked in the past with Water Liars, Jimbo Mathus and Greater Pyrenees.
While he tries to write his own parts for each individual band he plays with, this is his first project that he has written all the compositions except for the last song, which closes with a track based on the melody of John Lennon’s ‘Oh Yoko.’
“I usually try to come up with a melody or part every day, but I’ve found that knowing when to call it a day when your mind isn’t in the right place is very important,” Kellum said. “I’m obsessive at times and will work all day on a part if I feel like I’m making headway, but I wear myself out mentally and emotionally if I continue to search for something that’s just not there at the time.”
Kellum said that he was excited for the show to be in a more controlled environment since parts of his music would be too soft to hear in a bar crowd.
“Hopefully, people will be quiet and take time to disconnect themselves from the anxieties of everyday life,” Kellum said. “I’m currently putting together a video that will be projected behind the band. There’s no real concept to the video but it will be a nice visual accompaniment to the music.”
Also featured during the show is Josh Burwell’s artwork. His art is well-known in the Oxford community for the ‘records’ sign that leads up the stairs to End of All Music, as well as being the art on Muscle Beach and End of All Music’s Record Store Day’s Compilation Tape for the past two years.
“I make pictures because I don’t have the right words,” Burwell said. “I’ve always been compelled to create things from my imagination. I like that Tennessee Williams line, ‘Wild things leave skins behind.’ Guess these are mine.”
A Mississippi native, Burwell graduated from Ole Miss and currently works as a printmaking instructor in Los Angeles at Exceptional Children’s Foundation. Burwell said that he was looking forward to hearing the two sets play.
“Kell Kellum and Prehistoric Bird are both heroes,” Burwell said. “I heard a man once regained his sense of sight after hearing one of them play, but I can’t remember which one of them it was.”
Kieran Danielson, one of the creators of Muscle Beach Records, said that working with the two musicians happened fairly naturally since they had been friends for some time and both are focal points in the Oxford music scene. Danielson said that since the label was gaining some traction, people would hopefully look under Muscle Beach’s umbrella to see all the great music coming from this small city in Mississippi.
“We always knew it would be a lot of time, work and money,” Danielson said. “But some perks have been us meeting a lot of new people, being able to help our friends, and always having something to do or work on. It’s really unique for labels and artists to have a close relationship with one another, and I love that aspect about Muscle Beach. Most of the artists on the label have been long time friends of ours and about half approached us about putting out their stuff and the other half we kind of initiated the idea of working with them.”
Danielson said some big releases were coming down the pipe soon at Muscle Beach that they were really excited about, and to keep an eye out for Swear Tapes recently released debut album, ‘Second Son,’ Harry Permezel’s ‘Wax Man,’ which came out a few weeks, and Kate Teague’s new EP coming out this Fall. He said that they were honored to be a part of the event at Southside and they are hoping to do more events like it.
“Ambient and instrumental shows are kind of rare around here, and we’re excited for everyone to hear it from the best in an amazing art gallery,” Danielson said. “Clay and Kell are pillars of the Oxford music community, and it’s just a really special thing that this event is happening. And to have Josh exhibit his art just ties it all together. I’ve personally never seen Clay or Kell perform solo, so I’m most excited about that — it’s going to be a really special night.”
A cash bar will be on site during the event, and the artwork along with the records will be available to purchase at the show.
The doors are set to open at 6 p.m., with Prehistoric Bird’s set at 7 p.m. and Kell Kellum playing at 8 p.m., while Josh Burwell’s artwork will be on display throughout the event.
By Lucy Burnam
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