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Cantor records links Edmonton to the lost treasures of New York's musical underground

Published December 4, 2008
by Mike Deane in Music Column
http://www.seemagazine.com/


Edmonton is the last place that comes to mind when you think about the New York post-punk or mutant-disco scene, but our town’s Cantor Records is playing a prime role in documenting relics of the NYC underground.

Cantor is a one-of-a-kind operation in Edmonton, and possibly in Canada: a label dedicated to reissuing rare and marginal vinyl records. The first of these re-releases is the lost art-disco EP Transportation by the group Chandra, named after their 12-year-old singer Chandra Oppenheim.

Much like Cantor’s singular place within Edmonton’s musical landscape, Chandra was the only group of its kind in 1980s New York. Art-punkers The Dance were exploring the possibility of starting a group with a kid when their friend, artist Denis Oppenheim, recommended his daughter Chandra. Once Chandra joined the group, they became the talk of New York, putting out an independent release, selling out concerts at CBGBs, and playing the west coast. A year later, Chandra reformed into The Chandra Dimension with an all-teenage band and recorded four songs that were never released.

Never released, that is, until music fanatic and record junkie Aaron Levin, sole proprietor/employee of Cantor Records and music director at CJSR, took an interest in this lost Lower East Side recording.

“I got a copy of the Chandra EP when I was looking for records by The Dance and found out that The Dance had backed this young girl,” Levin explains. “It really floored me, and when I found out she was 12 when it was recorded I knew it was a very exceptional album.”

“My habit of record collecting, and the idea of starting a record label reissuing the rare records I had discovered seemed really appealing but I never took it seriously,” Levin says. “I was talking to Steve Alexander, guitarist of The Dance, and he mentioned that they had recorded a second EP with Chandra and that it was really psychedelic, so that really piqued my interest.”

Armed with the knowledge of a lost Chandra EP, Levin tried to facilitate its release through other record labels but quickly realized that, though there was interest, no one was serious about releasing it. Levin took on the age-old punk DIY ethic and set out to do it himself. Thus Cantor Records was born with a name that hints at Levin’s broader philosophy. “The name comes from German mathematician Georg Cantor,” he explains, “who proved there were more irrational numbers than rational, which is symbolic, to me, of the many treasures in the independent music scene.”

Levin is the first to admit that these treasures are not easy to release. The Chandra album was a tiring process, yet he’s still working on releasing two other albums you’ve never heard of: Daily Dance by Bob Thompson and Doug Snyder (recorded in a kitchen in 1972), and Ian Tamblyn’s 1972 demo Moose Tracks.

While Edmonton may not be the ideal location to reissue obscure American records, Levin has chosen it over NYC as the setting for the official Chandra release party. And it only makes sense that NYC’s youngest and most promising art-punk will be getting her official release at our youngest and most promising venue, the all-ages Hydeaway. So on Dec. 10, Edmonton will be the only place in the world where you can hear abstract dance music with vocals by a 12-year-old girl. Take that, NYC.