World of Echo was developed and recorded in part at Phill Niblock’s loft on Center Street, better known as Experimental Intermedia Foundation. Other tracks were recorded at Battery Sound, and Russell’s own note says, “This tape is a compilation of recordings from many sources, so the sound qualities may vary.” Niblock invited Russell to play in 1985, and what Russell chose to work on is best described as an approach, rather than a particular block of songs. Russell sang into a mic, at close range, and then ran his cello through fuzz and delay and other effects boxes. The cello was plucked and bowed and smacked, creating a one-man band percussion track, though most of it sounds like a cello. Russell sang from various angles inside his head, and matched his voice to the tonality of his string playing. It wouldn’t betray the character of this music to say it feels like improvisations and sketches, but that isn’t what’s going on, technically. Russell songs just didn’t settle; many of them were rendered over and over in different versions, a state of affairs also true to dub and disco and jazz. But World of Echo doesn’t sound like any of that. It comes across as what it is, a guy playing a cello and singing. The final product realizes a state Russell called the “vivid rhythmic reality,” and even the little flashes of feedback feel soft and medicinal. There was nothing quite like Arthur with his amplified cello, other than maybe Hendrix in his quieter moments.

– Sasha Frere-Jones