Thu 9/17 @ 6-8PM
Jim Ellis published a music fanzine called CLE back it the late 70s and early 1980s, focusing on the obscure and underground bands he knew in the Cleveland scene while playing bass himself with the band X_X, as well as punk-adjacent bands from around the country. He revived the ’zine briefly in the 1990s.
The passion for music never left him. Early this year he founded CLE Records to release some of the music he enjoyed in today’s music scene, a music scene that’s never been so active or diverse, as his roster shows. It includes Duo Decibel System, Moon Echo Garden, Doug McKean, Kiss Me Deadly, and Awesome Quest.
“There’s great music happening somewhere in Cleveland every night of the week,” he says. “Live performances are where it’s at. And we work with the best to make sure the recordings capture exactly what they should.”
But when he comes to Visible Voice books to be part of its Drop the Needle music series, he’ll be looking back to his early days as a fan when he spotlights Pere Ubu’s 1978 debut album The Modern Dance. Released on Blank Records, it wasn’t exactly an easy listen. But its distinctive boundary-pushing art-punk style influenced countless other artistically ambitious underground bands.
The event is free and open to all.