OCNY's Kyle Wukasch talked to Gavin Russom (formerly of LCD Soundsystem) and Viva Ruiz about their new musical project, The Crystal Ark.
Last week at Le Poisson Rouge, dance-punk’s favorite label, Death From Above, celebrated one of the newest acts in its musical repertoire, The Crystal Ark. In it, former LCD Soundsystem synth-player and vocalist Gavin Russom joins forces with filmmaker and native New Yorker Viva Ruiz to build an audio-visual project of music, interpretive dance, and film.
The new, self-titled album finds comfort in the culture of Latin America, as Russom's smooth, rhythmic percussions guide Ruiz's Spanish lyrics into nu-wave mysticism. And like much of Russom's prior work, The Crystal Ark aims at bridging the gap between mankind and machine, both visually and musically; his characteristic drone-like, arpeggated chords and dancefloor-appropriate drums often leave the listener struggling to differentiate the synthetic from the real.
In addition to commemorating the new album, the event premiered the music video for the band’s single "We Came To," also directed by Ruiz. Yet the underlying purpose of the night was to support New York Cares' relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy, with all proceeds going to the cause. Adding to the charitable nature of the event, Russom designed a custom T-shirt also benefitting the organization. Find out what Gavin and Viva had to say about their collaboration and check out the new video, below.
Photos by Bradley Bledsoe
Kyle Wukasch: Gavin––the semi-hypnotic, acid flash video you did with Delia Gonzalez for "Relevee" is a personal favorite of mine.
Gavin Russom: Thanks, that video was made by the artist collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus, who I also collaborated with on the Black Meteoric Star live show. Viva has also collaborated with them, it's one of the first things that we discovered we had in common.
KW: Viva, you directed the new video for "We Came To," which premiered at this event. What did you want to convey through the creative direction?
Viva Ruiz: When Gavin and I were writing the track, I was just finishing making a telenovela, IMMIGRANTULA, alongside the red-hot Venus X of Ghetto Gothic (in her acting début), nightlife superstar Sophia Lamar, and many others. It's about hot, avenging, undocumented immigrants living in NYC who feed racist cops to the Mayan spider goddess returning for 2012. So the theme of immigration was in our heads, and the lyrics to the song became about the power and brilliance of immigrant people––recognizing the brutalities they endure to make a better life for their families, and how enriched a culture can be with the inclusion of other cultures (except for European versus indigenous). I was thinking how ridiculous the idea of an "illegal" alien was, and just how weird the word "alien" is in regards to people. That quickly translated into the video's story of two alien nations meeting in space, joining together to become stronger, and coming to a new land together to continue the chain of peace, love, and dance music.
KW: Gavin, what's the best part about working with Viva?
GR: It's hard to choose just one thing, but I'd say it's her unique relationship to performing and creating, which I think comes from her having grown up in New York and having been involved in so many incredibly important creative projects. She's able to make strong statements that combine magic, poetry, sensuality, and theater. That is inspiring and
Last week at Le Poisson Rouge, dance-punk’s favorite label, Death From Above, celebrated one of the newest acts in its musical repertoire, The Crystal Ark. In it, former LCD Soundsystem synth-player and vocalist Gavin Russom joins forces with filmmaker and native New Yorker Viva Ruiz to build an audio-visual project of music, interpretive dance, and film.
The new, self-titled album finds comfort in the culture of Latin America, as Russom's smooth, rhythmic percussions guide Ruiz's Spanish lyrics into nu-wave mysticism. And like much of Russom's prior work, The Crystal Ark aims at bridging the gap between mankind and machine, both visually and musically; his characteristic drone-like, arpeggated chords and dancefloor-appropriate drums often leave the listener struggling to differentiate the synthetic from the real.
In addition to commemorating the new album, the event premiered the music video for the band’s single "We Came To," also directed by Ruiz. Yet the underlying purpose of the night was to support New York Cares' relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy, with all proceeds going to the cause. Adding to the charitable nature of the event, Russom designed a custom T-shirt also benefitting the organization. Find out what Gavin and Viva had to say about their collaboration and check out the new video, below.
Photos by Bradley Bledsoe
Kyle Wukasch: Gavin––the semi-hypnotic, acid flash video you did with Delia Gonzalez for "Relevee" is a personal favorite of mine.
Gavin Russom: Thanks, that video was made by the artist collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus, who I also collaborated with on the Black Meteoric Star live show. Viva has also collaborated with them, it's one of the first things that we discovered we had in common.
KW: Viva, you directed the new video for "We Came To," which premiered at this event. What did you want to convey through the creative direction?
Viva Ruiz: When Gavin and I were writing the track, I was just finishing making a telenovela, IMMIGRANTULA, alongside the red-hot Venus X of Ghetto Gothic (in her acting début), nightlife superstar Sophia Lamar, and many others. It's about hot, avenging, undocumented immigrants living in NYC who feed racist cops to the Mayan spider goddess returning for 2012. So the theme of immigration was in our heads, and the lyrics to the song became about the power and brilliance of immigrant people––recognizing the brutalities they endure to make a better life for their families, and how enriched a culture can be with the inclusion of other cultures (except for European versus indigenous). I was thinking how ridiculous the idea of an "illegal" alien was, and just how weird the word "alien" is in regards to people. That quickly translated into the video's story of two alien nations meeting in space, joining together to become stronger, and coming to a new land together to continue the chain of peace, love, and dance music.
KW: Gavin, what's the best part about working with Viva?
GR: It's hard to choose just one thing, but I'd say it's her unique relationship to performing and creating, which I think comes from her having grown up in New York and having been involved in so many incredibly important creative projects. She's able to make strong statements that combine magic, poetry, sensuality, and theater. That is inspiring and