A classically trained Ivy Leaguer and avowed dance-music fanatic (much like current NYC genre-bender Dave Longstreth), Russell spent the better part of the 1980s sawing away on his cello as his disjunctive pop melodies traveled in implausible zigzags. Much like latter-day AnCo, his haunting 1986 masterpiece World of Echo is fractured bubblegum record that still plays nice with ’60s minimalism, ’70s dub, and ’80s polyglot disco.
