Art Feynman

Art Feynman (aka accomplished recording artist and producer Luke Temple) stitches art pop, Nigerian highlife, worldbeat, and other lesser-known genres into a musical quilt that displays his unmistakable guile and eccentric songcraft. On his sophomore album Half Price at 3:30 he delivers songs that side-smile while pointing out the emotional sinkholes that whirl beneath the most overlooked, seemingly commonplace scenarios. As effortlessly as he inhabits his Art Feynman character he also slips into the lives of other personalities, both living and fictional. Where previous entries in the Luke Temple discography-- including his well-liked former group Here We Go Magic-- have utilized organic timbres even while sailing far from the guitar-and-drums shore, Half Price sees him employing drum machines, slightly glossier production, and even autotune with a tasteful balance that suggests these tools have been in his kit all along. The result affectionately evokes guerrilla recording predecessors like Francis Bebey, Arthur Russell, and Haruomi Hosono in musicological detail, yet it’s Temple’s hard-won creative voice that resounds over top of it all facing Half Price forward instead of nostalgically backward.

Audio

Events

Selected Press

…deliriously colorful…analog masterpiece…

  • Tiny Mix Tapes
  • …captivating…a lo-fi gem.

  • Consequence of Sound
  • …the missing link between the Velvets and Can’s most motorik moments.

  • Electronic Sound
  • Art has more than blasted off with this one; he’s propelled himself to a stratospheric high and is taking everyone with him for the ride.

  • DIY
  • …sublime warmth and richness.

  • Cool Hunting
  • …his open-ended psychedelic vision conjures simple, primal emotion.

  • Clash
  • Feynman is treading a thin line between mad genius and depraved lunatic.

  • The Line of Best Fit
  • …coked-out dub-kraut.

  • Pitchfork