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Soundtrack från videon Guitar Drag, 2000. Inspelad i San Antonio Texas, den 18 November 1999.  

Guitar Drag by Christian Marclay is now being released on Neon Records. The record is actually the sound track for Marclay’s video with the same title that was shown first at London’s Hayward Gallery sound art exhibition “Sonic Boom” in 2000. The piece as well as Marclay has become an icon in sound art circles, and although the video can only be seen in exhibitions as an installation, it is widely known. The full 14 minutes sound track is released on a beautiful 12’’ clear vinyl record packaged in a sleeve with stills from the video.

Filmed in San Antonio Texas, it shows an amplified Fender Stratocaster guitar attached to a rope being pulled behind a pick-up truck. As the guitar drags across the road it produces a range of sounds from the bumping and the friction against the varied surfaces. A fantastic visual piece, but also an amazing sound piece, that stands just as well alone, and in some ways just as visual! From the first sounds of duct-tape being ripped, the familiar sound of someone gently slamming the strings of the guitar, to the sounds of an engine starting and then slowly the beginning of a sound that is hollow and at the same time human, and that takes us through the deepest roarings to high pitch screams until the very end when it all slows down and stops, unwillingly it seems. Knowing the story behind the work or not, the sound itself triggers your imaginaton, leaving your soul no peace. For even if this could be seen, or heard, solely as a beautiful noisy sound piece, there is too much to the idea behind Guitar Drag, for it to not leave you restless and thoughtful.

Guitar Drag has many different layers of references, it alludes to the ritual of smashing guitars in rock concerts, it recalls Fluxus and its many destruction of instruments. It is also like a road movie, with reference to the landscape of Texas where it was filmed, with references to cowboys and rodeos. It is about violence in general and more specifically about the lynching of James Byrd Jr. who was dragged to his death behind a pickup-truck. I want the video to have these multiple layers and trigger people's imagination in contradictory ways. The piece ends up being seductive and repulsive at the same time.
- Christian Marclay, 2001

BIOGRAPHY Christian Marclay is a visual artist and musical composer based in New York, who is exploring the pattern languages connecting sound, photography and film. Since the 1970s, he has explored the intimate relationship between the visual record and recorded sound through cutting, collage and juxtaposition. Marclay often uses records and turntables in both his art work as well as musical performances, and has been called the most influential turntablist outside hiphop.

Marclay was born in 1955 in San Rafael, California, and raised in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied at Geneva's Ecole Superieure d'Art Visuel before returning to the United States to complete his BFA at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston in 1980. He is now based in New York. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at prestigious museums around the world, including Tate Modern, London, the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Kunsthaus Zurich. He has also participated in numerous international group exhibitions. In 2003 he was awarded by the Foundation for the Graphic Arts in Switzerland

Marclay has been performing and recording music since 1979. As a musician and DJ, he has released solo and collaborative records since the 1980's, and has performed at such venues as New York's Knitting Factory and The Kitchen. He has performed with a diverse group of musicians and DJs, including Sonic Youth, Kronos Quartet, Otomo Yoshihide, Ikue Mori, John Zorn and Arto Lindsay. Marclay's solo releases include "Record Without a Cover" 1985, "More Encores" 1988 and "Records" 1997.

Guitar Drag av Christian Marclay släpps nu på Neon Records. Skivan är faktiskt soundtracket till Marclays video med samma titel som först visades på Hayward Gallerys utställnign Sonic Boom i London 2000. Verket såväl som Marclay har blivit en ikon inom ljudkonstvärlden, och fastän videon bara kan ses som en utställningsinstallation, är den vida känd. Soundtrackets hela 14 minuter släpps nu på en vacker tolvtummare i klar vinyl paketerad i ett omslag med stillbilder från videon.

Videon som är filmad i San Antonio Texas visar en förstärkt Fender Stratocaster som är bunden med ett rep till en flakbil. När gitarren dras längs med vägen producerar det en rad ljud, från stötandet till friktion mot olika ytor. Ett fantastiskt visuellt verk, men även ett härligt ljudverk, som står sig lika bra ensamt, och på vissa sätt lika visuellt! Från de första ljuden av silvertejp som rivs av, det välkända ljudet av någon som slår på en gitarr, till ljudet av en bilmotor som startas en sen långsamt början på ett ljud som är både spöklikt och på samma gång mänskligt, och som tar oss genom de djupaste vrål och höga skrik till slutet då det saktar ner och stannar, nästan ovilligt verkar det som. Även om man vet historien bakom verket eller inte, triggar ljudet fantasin och lämnar själen ingen ro. För även om detta skulle kunna ses, eller höras, enbart som ett vackert noisigt ljudverk, ligger det alltför mycket bakom idén kring Guitar Drag, för att inte lämna dig rastlös och tankfull.

Guitar Drag has many different layers of references, it alludes to the ritual of smashing guitars in rock concerts, it recalls Fluxus and its many destruction of instruments. It is also like a road movie, with reference to the landscape of Texas where it was filmed, with references to cowboys and rodeos. It is about violence in general and more specifically about the lynching of James Byrd Jr. who was dragged to his death behind a pickup-truck. I want the video to have these multiple layers and trigger people's imagination in contradictory ways. The piece ends up being seductive and repulsive at the same time.
- Christian Marclay, 2001

BIOGRAFI Christian Marclay är en samtida pionjär inom ljudkonst och turntablism som bor i New York och verkar internationellt. Han är aktuell i Sverige med utställningen The Bell and the Glass på Moderna Museet 1 april-2 juli 2006.