Outsider musicians can be the product of damaged DNA, alien abduction, drug fry, demonic possession, or simply sheer obliviousness. This book profiles dozens of outsider musicians, both prominent and obscure—figures such as The Shaggs, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Jandek, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy—and presents their strange life stories along with photographs, interviews, cartoons, and discographies. About the only things these self-taught artists have in common are an utter lack of conventional tunefulness and an overabundance of earnestness and passion. But, believe it or not, they’re worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality. A CD featuring songs by artists profiled in the book is also available.

Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music

Arts & Photography

Chusid, Irwin

Music

Chicago Review Press

by Irwin Chusid Following hot on the heels of 2004's The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, this book features a wide array of both Chusid's commercial work for prestigious record labels of the '40s and rare, personal work. His style is cartoonish, evoking childhood nostalgia and dereliction of adult responsibility. There is also a wealth of 1940s Columbia Records printed matter exhibiting Flora's visual pranks; 1950s RCA Victor-era work; magazine illustrations, sketchbooks, and prints; 1930s Little Man Press-era drawings; paintings from all decades; photos, and personal keepsakes.

Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

Flora, Jim

History & Criticism

Fantagraphics Books

Jim Flora (1914-1998)'s two previous books (The Mischievous Art and The Curiously Sinister Art), are each in multiple printings. The Sweetly Diabolic Art features paintings, drawings, and sketches from the 1940s through the 1990s, most never previously published or exhibited, as well as more artifacts from Flora's 1940s tenure in the Columbia Records art department and rare newspaper and magazine illustrations spanning several decades. Sweetly Diabolic is also the first printing of an abandoned children's book concept, The X-Ray Eyes of Wallingford Hume. Equally fascinating are original, never-before-published roughs and rejected images from Flora's 1950s and '60s children's books and a gallery of pen and pencil sketches from the 1940s. Sweetly Diabolic also collects, for the first time rarely seen cartoon-science illustrations: the images are augmented by personal vignettes, mementos from the family archives, and a 1984 interview with award-winning graphic designer Robert M. Jones, who offers priceless insights

The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora

Since the 2004 publication of The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, the once-forgotten illustrator has gained recognition as one of the foremost pioneers of a raucous, cartoonish style of commercial art that defines the Mid-Century aesthetic. Two follow-up volumes, The Curiously Sinister Art (2007) and The Sweetly Diabolic Art(2009), captured Flora's largely unseen fine art works, spotlighting a variety of themes such as architecture, cats and dogs, science, cars, trainsand the occasional swerve toward gratuitous violence. But one of Flora's sustaining loves was music. His 1940s Columbia and 1950s RCA Victor record covers, in which legendary musicians were routinely afflicted with mutant skin tints and bonus limbs, are considered classics of outlandish post-Cubist caricature. During this period Flora also produced an enormous amount of promotional ephemera, including new release monthlies, trade booklets, ads, and point-of-sale novelties. The now out-of-print Mischievous Art featured Flora's known album covers. (No complete discography existed.) Since that book's publication, more covers have been found, as well as rough drafts and unused designs. So Flora co-archivists/authors Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon have compiled a complete collection of Flora covers (including recent discoveries) and unpublished sketches in one volume, augmented by music images not included in previous volumes. The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora is the definitive anthology of the maestro's visual compositions, reflecting jazz, classical, and Latin music. Regarding his jam-packed canvases Flora once said he couldn't stand a static space. There's nothing static about the images in The High Fidelity Art: they wail, dance, bounce, and swing from the chandeliers. Flora had a knack for grooving with a paintbrush, making art to which you can tap your toes and snap your fingers.

The High Fidelity Art Of Jim Flora

Economon, Barbara

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chusid, Irwin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Chusid, Irwin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chusid, Irwin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music

Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora

The High Fidelity Art Of Jim Flora