CHRISTIAN MARCLAY
GUITAR DRAG 12''

Cover front

Cover back

NEON
002

NEON
002

12''

12
tummare

Clear
vinyl

Klar
vinyl

One-sided 14
min.

En sida 14
min.

Soundtrack from the video  Guitar
Drag, 2000. Recorded in San Antonio Texas, on 18th November
1999.

Soundtrack från
videon Guitar Drag, 2000. Inspelad i San Antonio Texas,
den 18 November 1999.

Mastered by
Vynilium.ch by Flo Kaufmann

Mastrad av
Vynilium.ch av Flo Kaufmann.

Cover design by
Ellinor Gylling with stills from  the video.

Omslagsdeisgn
av Ellinor Gylling med stillbilder från videon.

Edition 1500
copies, 50 signed/numbered.

Upplaga 1500
ex. 50 signerade/numrerade.

Released April
2006

Utgiven April
2006

Guitar Drag by
Christian Marclay is now being released on Neon Records. The record
is actually the sound track for Marclay’s video with the same title
that was shown first at London’s Hayward Gallery sound art
exhibition “Sonic Boom” in 2000. The piece as well as Marclay has
become an icon in sound art circles, and although the video can only
be seen in exhibitions as an installation, it is widely known. The
full 14 minutes sound track is released on a beautiful 12’’ clear
vinyl record packaged in a sleeve with stills from the
video.

Filmed
in San Antonio Texas, it shows an amplified Fender Stratocaster
guitar attached to a rope being pulled behind a pick-up truck. As
the guitar drags across the road it produces a range of sounds from
the bumping and the friction against the varied surfaces. A
fantastic visual piece, but also an amazing sound piece, that stands
just as well alone, and in some ways just as visual! From the first
sounds of duct-tape being ripped, the familiar sound of someone
gently slamming the strings of the guitar, to the sounds of an
engine starting and then slowly the beginning of a sound that is
hollow and at the same time human, and that takes us through the
deepest roarings to high pitch screams until the very end when it
all slows down and stops, unwillingly it seems. Knowing the story
behind the work or not, the sound itself triggers your imaginaton,
leaving your soul no peace. For even if this could be seen, or
heard, solely as a beautiful noisy sound piece, there is too much to
the idea behind Guitar Drag, for it to not leave you restless and
thoughtful.

Guitar Drag has many different layers of
references, it alludes to the ritual of smashing guitars in rock
concerts, it recalls Fluxus and its many destruction of instruments.
It is also like a road movie, with reference to the landscape of
Texas where it was filmed, with references to cowboys and rodeos. It
is about violence in general and more specifically about the
lynching of James Byrd Jr. who was dragged to his death behind a
pickup-truck. I want the video to have these multiple layers and
trigger people's imagination in contradictory ways. The piece ends
up being seductive and repulsive at the same
time.
- Christian Marclay, 2001

BIOGRAPHY Christian
Marclay is a visual artist and musical composer based in New York,
who is exploring the pattern languages connecting sound, photography
and film. Since the 1970s, he has explored the intimate relationship
between the visual record and recorded sound through cutting,
collage and juxtaposition. Marclay often uses records and turntables
in both his art work as well as musical performances, and has been
called the most influential turntablist outside hiphop.

Marclay was born in 1955 in San Rafael,
California, and raised in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied at
Geneva's Ecole Superieure d'Art Visuel before returning to the
United States to complete his BFA at the Massachusetts College of
Art, Boston in 1980. He is now based in New York. Solo exhibitions
of his work have been held at prestigious museums around the world,
including Tate Modern, London, the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of
Modern Art, San Francisco, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, the Museum
of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the New Museum of Contemporary Art,
New York, Kunsthaus Zurich. He has also participated in numerous
international group exhibitions. In 2003 he was awarded by the
Foundation for the Graphic Arts in Switzerland

Marclay
has been performing and recording music since 1979. As a musician
and DJ, he has released solo and collaborative records since the
1980's, and has performed at such venues as New York's Knitting
Factory and The Kitchen. He has performed with a diverse group of
musicians and DJs, including Sonic Youth, Kronos Quartet, Otomo
Yoshihide, Ikue Mori, John Zorn and Arto Lindsay. Marclay's solo
releases include "Record Without a Cover" 1985, "More Encores" 1988
and "Records" 1997.

Guitar Drag
av Christian Marclay släpps nu på Neon Records. Skivan är faktiskt
soundtracket till Marclays video med samma titel som först visades
på Hayward Gallerys utställnign Sonic Boom i London 2000. Verket
såväl som Marclay har blivit en ikon inom ljudkonstvärlden, och
fastän videon bara kan ses som en utställningsinstallation, är den
vida känd. Soundtrackets hela 14 minuter släpps nu på en vacker
tolvtummare i klar vinyl paketerad i ett omslag med stillbilder från
videon.

Videon som
är filmad i San Antonio Texas visar en förstärkt Fender Stratocaster
som är bunden med ett rep till en flakbil. När gitarren dras längs
med vägen producerar det en rad ljud, från stötandet till friktion
mot olika ytor. Ett fantastiskt visuellt verk, men även ett härligt
ljudverk, som står sig lika bra ensamt, och på vissa sätt lika
visuellt! Från de första ljuden av silvertejp som rivs av, det
välkända ljudet av någon som slår på en gitarr, till ljudet av en
bilmotor som startas en sen långsamt början på ett ljud som är både
spöklikt och på samma gång mänskligt, och som tar oss genom de
djupaste vrål och höga skrik till slutet då det saktar ner och
stannar, nästan ovilligt verkar det som. Även om man vet historien
bakom verket eller inte, triggar ljudet fantasin och lämnar själen
ingen ro. För även om detta skulle kunna ses, eller höras, enbart
som ett vackert noisigt ljudverk, ligger det alltför mycket bakom
idén kring Guitar Drag, för att inte lämna dig rastlös och
tankfull.

Guitar Drag has many different
layers of references, it alludes to the ritual of smashing guitars
in rock concerts, it recalls Fluxus and its many destruction of
instruments. It is also like a road movie, with reference to the
landscape of Texas where it was filmed, with references to cowboys
and rodeos. It is about violence in general and more specifically
about the lynching of James Byrd Jr. who was dragged to his death
behind a pickup-truck. I want the video to have these multiple
layers and trigger people's imagination in contradictory ways. The
piece ends up being seductive and repulsive at the same
time.
- Christian Marclay, 2001

BIOGRAFI
Christian Marclay är en samtida pionjär inom ljudkonst
och turntablism som bor i New York och verkar internationellt. Han
är aktuell i Sverige med utställningen The Bell and the Glass på
Moderna Museet 1 april-2 juli 2006.

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