San Franciscan art-punk from Club Foot (Subterranean, 1981 LP) mp3

The Club Foot LP is named after one of San Francisco's premier artist-run venues of the late 70s/early 80s, and documents the jazz-punk-DIY-situationist sounds nurtured therein. Originally released in 1981 by legendary local imprint Subterranean Records (Flipper, Dead Kennedys, Inflatable Boy Clams), it was recently repressed in a limited edition of 450 12'' LP's to coincide with Club Foot's 30th anniversary and an "Artifacts from SF's Art Punk Cabaret" event at the San Francisco Public Library.

Club Foot was founded by Richard Kelly, a student of John Cage who sought to "marry high art values to the vitality of underground performance art; to fuse Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison and Albert Ayler and project that onto the art-rock stage" (this from an article on the Clubfoot Orchestra's website). The original Club Foot Orchestra was a revolving cast of characters from the local scene assembled for this LP recording, including Richard Edson (who appears on the cover) and other members of the bands who appear on this compilation: Bay of Pigs, Alterboys, Longshoremen and Naked City (not the Zorn one). The ensemble disbanded in 1983 after Richard Kelly committed suicide, and the Club itself closed its doors in 1985.

Around this time, inspired by the original Club Foot, Richard Marriott founded a new group under the same name that continues performing to this day. Clubfoot (one word) has a completely different lineup and a distinct focus on "modern music for silent film".

A clip from the contemporary Clubfoot's Nosferatu soundtrack appears after the jump.

A few copies of the Club Foot LP repressing are still available from Subterranean. Bay of Pigs, Alterboys and Longshoremen all performed at Club Foot's aforementioned 30th anniversary celebration earlier this year at Cafe Du Nord, and we hope to hear more from them soon!

Comments

[Nat]

Was so excited to see this one in the new bin. Nice aaa-qui-si-tion!