New York City-based artist Ted Riederer is bringing a new kind of art project to New Orleans, and for a city embroiled in an internal struggle over appropriate decibel levels and how pliable a permit should be, its unique hybrid nature could be just the thing the city needs to jumpstart interest in its own untapped resources.

Never Records is a combination recording studio, record label, and record shop, all operating in one building at 841 Carondelet St.  Riederer, inspired by his own redemptive education at a young age inside the walls of a local record store in Maryland and the field recording projects of Alan Lomax, developed this concept years ago and has since been replicating it (with regional variations) throughout the UK.  New Orleans is the first and only stateside stop for the project so far, though Riederer has passed through the city often, both as a traveling musician and as an artist during Prospect 1.5.  

Within the walls of the Never Records shop, visitors can view a gallery of photographs and artwork from previous temporary establishments in Northern Ireland, Liverpool, and London, as well as flip through stacks of vinyl representing the hundreds of solo folk artists, punk bands, storytellers, jazz groups, and noisicians who jumped at the chance for a free recording session.  A turntable and PA will be set up to listen to these records, even as more are being churned out in the back of the store. Riederer offers three hour sessions, during which he mixes on the fly and cuts vinyl right in front of the artist’s eyes.

“I walk them through the cutting process and show them their sound waves on a microscope. I consider this interaction the real performance of Never Records,” Riederer told me. “The alchemy of cutting never fails to put a smile on participants’ faces.  The machine is a new one made by these crazy but wonderful dudes in southern Germany. It is called a Vinyl Recorder and while it may not be able to compete with a $50,000 Neumann cabinet lathe, I can get pure, beautiful, hiss free recordings.”

The artist or band is allowed to take their own copy home, and another is added to Riederer’s archives, as well as a digital copy.  Riederer encourages bands to use the recording any way they want.  There are no fees, royalties, or ownership issues.  

“It is my sincere hope that people use their Never Record as a demo or for any other means of edification. Some amazing ‘open source’ things have happened. For example, the filmmaker Jason Wyche and I made a video of an Irish singer named Ciaran Mac Giolla, and posted it on our Vimeo page. A TV station in Belfast discovered it and aired the video nationally, giving this amazing exposure to a young and under-appreciated performer.”  

Another example is SJ Downes, a solo country/blues artist from the Midlands area of England who first encountered Never Records in Liverpool.  He was so enthused by his dream come true of cutting a true record that he traveled to both Northern Ireland and London the following year for follow-up sessions and was able to compile his first album from the recordings.  He has been selling copies and stashing away the funds for a “pilgrimage” to New Orleans.  I asked him about what people can expect when they show up for their appointment. 

“The set-up has been different and has evolved at each of the sessions so far, but for the constants I have experienced, I would say as a performer to expect to enter a well set up recording space, with some very cool equipment and an open-minded and friendly producer. I feel very much that the experience is what you make it, and with this I feel Ted offers a blank canvas to be coloured however you wish, or with whatever you bring along. What I have loved about visiting each place so far is how each city has its own essence and as well as the individual acts reflecting their own vision, the collected works seem to have their own opportunity to represent a greater time and place and a coming together of the community with a shared love for music and art,” Downes said.
 

While New Orleans prides itself on being a citywide stage for almost any kind of performer, it can sometimes take an outside influence to bring disparate people into contact with each other in a more meaningful way than circling around Washington Square Park, and there’s almost no telling who will pass through the door of Never Records New Orleans, especially when the price is so right.  Riederer seems to have an earnest desire to recreate the record shop mentality of sharing the unknown and unexpected, the experience of the staff conversing with the enthusiasm of anyone with a teenager’s eager heart starved for new sound.  In the crosscurrent of composers and customers, Riederer is offering to facilitate a re-introduction of a city to itself, free of genre prejudice.  

Andrew Ellis, who works for the gallery Riederer transformed in Liverpool in 2010, told me he was jealous of the people who will be able to visit the NOLA version since he sees a lot of similarities between our city and his.
 

“Being a port town Liverpool has always been at the forefront of music flowing into the country, starting with the merchant navy coming through the port bringing records from across the globe inspiring the musicians of the city. Ted's Never Records project couldn't have found more of a natural home in the UK than Liverpool. Combining a free-thinking and welcoming music community with a large independent arts community due to cheap warehouse and studio space meant the piece was the talk of the town from day one.”  

The Never Records project coincided with a large-scale, citywide art program in Liverpool similar to Prospect 1, but Ellis told me, “Never Records did something that often is lacking in large international arts festivals; it genuinely connected with the city it was embedded in.  Combine that with the fact that Ted is one of the nicest guys I’ve had the pleasure to meet and you've created a project which instantly became an intrinsic part of Liverpool music.”

Jonathan Ferrara, the garrulous gallery owner, is hosting Never Records in his own former gallery on Carondelet that serendipitously became available when its current tenant decided to move on.  While Riederer has full control, Ferrara spoke to me of his desire to capture some unique storytellers in addition to straight musicians.  

“What I want to see is a cross section of New Orleans […] What are the things that are important to us—meaning, New Orleans—that we would want in a snapshot, an archive, right now?  […] What are the intangibles, I think, that fill in around the music?  I don’t even know, but they’ll make themselves evident.”

Riederer agreed.  “I have high expectations from New Orleans.  The recordings we make in October will be like insects captured in amber. We will create an archive of NOLA in 2012. A New Orleans that defies Katrina and BP, and a city whose arts community continues to thrive and grow. I'm so lucky to be coming to your town at this moment.”

Never Records will be open from October 6th-November 4th, Wednesday through Sundays.  Recording sessions need to be arranged beforehand, but there are still plenty available.  Email Ted Riederer at neverrecordsneworleans@gmail.com.