Aquarium Drunkard: Recent Episodes
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Originating in 2018 when Swedish music archaeologist Karl Jonas Winqvist brought together a group of local musicians, producers, and poets in the Senegalese fishing village of Toubab Dialaw, the Wau Wau Collectif has since felt like something too precious and magical to be real. Now comes the trilogy’s third and final installment, Teranaga, finalized during the band’s first live tour—a five-week journey across Europe with “three Swedes, three Senegalaise, a French driver, and a lovely mess of languages.”
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In Ocean of Sound, David Toop describes ambient music as being more about a smell than a sound. Renascent, the first The Durutti Column record in over fifteen years, keeps us bumping into the bones inside that perfume, pushing Vini Reilly’s hazy summer aesthetics somewhere even more unperturbed and unpretentious. At 73, after a series of strokes that had theoretically compromised his ability to play, Reilly has made a record where all structure is just texture stretched thin enough, or all texture only structure slowed down.
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Recorded shortly after his 1986 cult classic, Keyboard Fantasies, “Light of the Heavens” is a nearly lost relic by Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Existing in the same mesmeric electronic sphere of that album, the track features rippling synths and heavenly chants, as Glenn-Copeland sings lovingly of our infinite cosmic connection. A dazzling video for the song, also unearthed, features trance-like interpretive dance, celestial stained glass, and a bespectacled Glenn-Copeland draped in era appropriate silky headband and robe, singing of “the weaving stars of deepest night,” a paean to the master plan behind our mysterious existence.
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The punk rock, blues-garage band known as Twisted Teens is moving at warp speed through music history straight on through to the future. This latest, Florida Water Blues, follows Blame the Clown by a few months and the self-titled by less than a year, and, never fear, there’s another one on the way. These people aren’t sitting around waiting, for fame, for money, for recognition. No they’re grabbing up music by the handfuls, mining 1930s electric blues licks and punk jackhammer beats and doo-woppy waltz time swirl and dropping them into a blender. This album ranges a little further afield than the previous two, suggesting that there will be more to Twisted Teens if you wait a bit, though they are already a whole fucking lot.
The post Twisted Teens :: Florida Water Blues first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long obscured by Afrobeat lore and rescued from obscurity by Daptone Records in 2009, Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family's Na Teef Know De Road of Teef rides deep-pocket funk, burnished brass, and rolling polyrhythms across four tracks in just over 30 minutes. A long-running member of Fela Kuti's monster Africa 70 incarnation, Nicholas Addo-Nettey steps up as bandleader, driving the get-down from behind the congas. Legend has it Fela heard the record once, ordered it shelved, and in the process consigned the album to more than three decades in the wilderness. Abami Eda, indeed!
The post Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family :: Na Teef Know De Road of Teef first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Describing the sound of Sacred Harp singing can be difficult. Arcane, otherworldly, and overwhelming, it’s a unique a cappella form of shape note Christian hymn singing that was born in England in the 18th century, but took root in the American south. It’s not something you listen to so much something as experience. This week on Transmissions, co-director Matt Hinton discusses his documentary on the subject, Awake, My Soul.
The post Transmissions :: Awake, My Soul first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
No season inspires ritual listening quite like late summer. As the days flatten into heat haze and evenings linger just a little longer, familiar records reveal unexpected contours. As August stretches on, the Aquarium Drunkard crew returns with another installment of our annual Dog Days roundup: a stack of old favorites, forgotten treasures, new discoveries, and seasonal obsessions.
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Listening with the hindsight of twenty years, The Eraser has lost none of its curved-glass cut and glimmer. Yorke was still riding high on a generational songwriting run and, with Nigel Godrich's help, what obstacles remained between idea and execution had been removed.
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The world of Spiral Galaxy extends far beyond music. To mark the release of II, Plastic Crimewave and Sara Gossett look to visionary illustrators, forgotten kosmische explorers, classic album design, and psychedelic cinema, mapping a few of the inspirations behind their singular collaboration.
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Before Pharoah Sanders, before Blazing Saddles, before Muhammad Ali's training camp, there was "Two Moonlins And Mother." Big Black's compact boogaloo gem distills a lifetime of rhythm into three minutes of humid, percussive heat.
The post Big Black :: Two Moonlins And Mother first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. Slow dissolve. Kosmische drift. ECM-adjacent. Synth meditations. Folk reveries. Keith Jarrett. Harmonia. Eno. Ashra. Gaussian Curve. Chet Baker. Sybille Baier. CAN. Fellow travelers.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Recorded at the height of the Black Ark with Lee "Scratch" Perry at the controls and The Upsetters firing on all cylinders, Musical Bones gave legendary trombonist Vin Gordon the rare opportunity to step out of the backline and into the spotlight. Originally released in 1975 as a UK white-label pressing of just 300 copies, it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, becoming one of reggae's great collector's grails.
The post Vin Gordon with Lee Perry and The Upsetters :: Musical Bones first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Charlie Hunter Quartet's track-by-track cover of Bob Marley's 1974 classic Natty Dread probably shouldn't work, but somehow the sublimely talented soul jazz guitarist and his group pull it off. Rather than staying faithful to the sound of Marley's reggae standard, Hunter captures the joy and exuberance of the music. Mixing in salsa, jazz-funk, high-life and blues, Hunter's quartet turn what might have been a polite tribute into an explosive celebration. It should be on every summer playlist.
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This week on the show, we welcome Nashville-based music journalist, critic and author Erin Osmon, to discuss her tremendous book, Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America, which chronicles how heartland rock, typified by artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and more, brought a populist, Americana-inspired sound to the airwaves of the radio and MTV.
The post Transmissions :: Erin Osmon first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Maxine Funke gifts us yet another quietly stunning release in Timeless Town. Across nine songs (including two instrumentals) of homespun folk and lo-fi pop, the New Zealand-based singer-songwriter crafts music that is intimate, starry, and wistful. Leaving her guitar in its case this time, she surrounds her hushed, dusky vocals with various keyboards and analog synth effects, as well as a melodica and pocket operator, and the sparsest touch of cello.
The post Maxine Funke :: Timeless Town first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
In her vividly descriptive lyricism, which comes alive across all her albums, but especially on her latest release, Pentimento, Carson McHone is a natural artist. Written on paintings and postcards, McHone deftly utilizes color, texture and movement in these exceptionally compelling and immersive arrangements. “Tell me if you want to, what colours I should use?” McHone posits on “Winter Breaking”, an immediate highlight that bustles with a Beatles-like swing and delicately embellished with birdsong carried over from the intro featuring a contemplative spoken delivery of an extract from a letter 1840 letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Margaret Fuller. Wrapped in those two opening tracks of Pentimento, McHone, demonstrates how the door hads been left ajar for collaboration between audience and artist, and, crucially, art with art. There may be almost 200 years separating Emerson and McHone’s poetic phrasing, and the worlds in which they were penned, but the works are connected through a sense of humanity and the importance of trying to remain hopeful in dark times.
The post Carson McHone :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Before recording Crooked Songs, Jens Kuross was making cabinets, teaching children how to play the piano, and having a lot of difficult conversations with himself. After a series of disappointments following the release of his 2020 LP The Man Nobody Can Touch resulted in his return to Idaho to lead a quieter life.
The post Jens Kuross :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
For anyone who frequents their local record store, the term "cheap heat" is likely a familiar one. Often its own section, the cheap heat bin usually contains copies of iconic records in dubious condition, lesser-known titles by major artists, and maybe most importantly, overlooked records that either never fully caught on, or for one reason or another, never found their audience. The problem with some of these titles is that while the cheap part is generally accurate, the ‘heat’ is sometimes over-promised. Not the case with Ramsey Lewis’ 1970 funky soul jazz gem Them Changes, a record we've never seen priced higher than $10 that burns hot.
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The Madrid-based Munster Records and its sister label Vampisoul have become house favorites over the last few years. The latter released one of our favorite reissues of the year in Cartao Postal, the 1971 MPB masterclass from Brazilian singer Evinha, and Munster Records is keeping that momentum strong with Joropop: Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela, 1968-1976, a compilation that hasn’t strayed far from the speakers since its summer release.
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An introduction to Japanese folk in 1970s Japan, the following mix was created as a companion to the article on Modern Bible and the story of Gekidan Buraiha. It brings together a selection of early Japanese folk, protest songs and Angura recordings from the same era, providing additional context and atmosphere for the world the little theatre movement troupe emerged from.
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Otoño. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. No static at all.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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"The only thing I cared about was if I liked it or not, and if I liked it, then I was going to play it. Simple as that.” We’re all lucky Danny Thomson had that attitude. The English double bassist, who passed away in late September at the age of 86, made glorious eclecticism his MO for well over 60 years, building up an astonishing discography that includes several of the greatest records ever made, alongside dozens of lesser-known gems. Like a beloved character actor, Thompson’s very presence elevated every session and every show; by nature, he stayed in supporting roles primarily, but his vibe was always unmistakable / irreplaceable. Although you could spend the rest of your days plumbing the depths of great Danny Thompson moments, here are 10 highlights from across the decades.
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The many vantage points in which one can dissect the legacy of the Byrds can feel simply boundless. While the studio innovations utilized on The Notorious Byrd Brothers (released the same year as country rock blueprint Sweetheart of the Rodeo) wouldn't necessarily be confused with that of Pet Sounds, it's a primary signifier of the record that never sufficiently got its due. Despite all of the mythos and legendary inner turmoil that reduced the band's lineup to a duo during the sessions, the record’s spacey psychedelic folk is a time and place never to be replicated.
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This week on Transmissions, we’re toasting harvest season with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of The Autumn Defense, who release their first album in a decade this week. It’s called Here and Nowhere, out October 10 on Yep Roc Records. You might know John and Pat from their work in Wilco; Stirratt is a founding member, and Sansone joined in 2004. But the duo’s work in the Autumn Defense stretches all the way back to 1999, when they formed the Laurel Canyon-style folk rock band in New Orleans.
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Not sure how many eight-string bass / pipe organ / drums trios there are out there, but I’m going to go ahead and declare the Brooklyn-based Animal, Surrender! as the very best of them all. On their second LP, A Boot For Every Bane, bassist Peter Kerlin (Sunwatchers, Solar Motel Band), organist Curt Sydnor (Greg Saunier, Yonatan Gat) and drummer Rob Smith (Gray/Smith, Rhyton, Pigeons) make this unusual configuration sound as natural as can be.
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The Colorado-based M Sage resides in the liminal zone, finding endless inspiration in the in-between. Between natural and digital, stillness and motion, silence and noise, innocence and experience, waking and dreams. These aren’t binaries, mind you — because fuck a binary — but blends. And on his latest LP, Tender / Wading, Sage delights in exploring these blends, blurring the edges, eagerly and earnestly mixing the colors into something brand new.
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Shrunken Elvis—the Nashville based trio of Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson, and Rich Ruth—ignite a mind-meld of pedal steel, synths, and guitars on their self-titled debut, a slyly adventurous and immersive album that fuses languid soundscapes and kosmische vistas with elements of krautrock, spiritual jazz, and ambient & electronic music. Embracing touchstones such as Harmonia, Alice Coltrane, Pat Metheny, and Ashra, to name a few, the trio embark on sonic excursions that move through pastoral, tropical, and celestial realms.
The post Shrunken Elvis :: S/T first appeared on Aquarium Drunkard.
Between 1978 and 1982 Sun Ra parked his roving musical spacecraft at New York’s Variety Arts Studios for a series of rigorous and inspired marathon sessions between frequent gigs in the city. On the heels of their stellar Lanquidity reissue, Strut continues their deep dive into this phase of Ra’s career with the twin 1979 masterpieces On Jupiter and Sleeping Beauty, offering a fresh glimpse at some of the most revered and beautifully spacious music the Arkestra ever cut.
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There’s a lot of great records out there that can still be had for very little money. You just have to crouch down and give them a chance. How is it possible that these 2-sided slices of the human spirit can exist among us, in some cases, for over 50 years and still only be $1?
Welcome to Dollar Diamonds, Volume 2. This month: Johnny Rivers, Linda Hargrove, Garland Jeffreys, John Kay, Mac Davis, Diana Trask and more ...
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Otoño. Autumn. Fall. In this installment: Mojave seeker Ken Layne's Desert Oracle. The return of PTA. Auteurs and the genesis, evolution and eventuality of a character. Karl Childers. The definitive history of Talking Heads. Richard Lloyd's near photographic memory, and more.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. All songs tonight courtesy of the Lagniappe Sessions, all of which are available to download directly at AD.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer follow their 2022 collaboration with Different Rooms, an ambient collage record that once again unites the worlds of cosmic jazz and modular synthesis. The result of their second encounter is another meditative electronic improvisation marked by a glossy timbre of bells throughout, as smooth and crystalline as a pool of soft pebbles.
The post Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer :: Different Rooms appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Max Roach's deep vision of the drums as a communicator of limitless expression permeates every corner of his pathways. Starting in 1970, his M'Boom percussion ensemble was a collective that brought together an array of African, Latin and all sorts of global rhythms. On this 1979 record, the ensemble explores all sorts of polyrhythms with original compositions from all of the expanded octet, as well as abstractly paying tribute to the likes of Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Sandro Perri is a patient excavator of musical possibilities. For the last three decades, the Toronto based musician has put out meticulously crafted toy adventures marked by hypnotic loops and heartfelt deliveries, in songs that feel refreshingly un-derivative and that carve a distinctive space in the landscape of contemporary experimental pop. What unifies the cerebral techno of Polmo Polpo, the imaginative funk of Impossible Spaces, or the seemingly infinite mosaics of the more recent records, though, is the piecemeal lacing of cell fragments by the game of restraint and discovery of his artistic research.
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All One Song: A Neil Young Podcast is coming this summer from Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, hosted by Shakey historian and superfan Tyler Wilcox. Tune in via the Transmissions feed starting Wednesday, June 25.
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In June, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate all $1.1 billion in Federal Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years. Mike Horn, who records as the cosmic ambient Seawind of Battery, is fighting back, raising money to support public radio and TV through this 19-track compilation. It’s a worthy cause, and you could justify the purchase strictly on philanthropic grounds. However, Save the Waves is also an excellent compendium of the current state of ambient, (mostly) instrumental psychedelia, topped up with contributions by Takoma-style pickers, experimental droners, slowcore dreamers and improvising guitar heroes. Don’t buy it because you should. Buy it because you want to.
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Waltz For Debby captures the symbiosis of the Bill Evans Trio beautifully — a live documentation of three musicians whose relationship with each other eclipses being bandmates for something far more powerful and cosmic. It's the kind of confluence that happens once in a lifetime for most musicians, and that's if they're lucky. It's the sound of stars aligning; it’s the sound of capturing lightning in a bottle.
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Cameron Knowler is one of the latest young guns to distinguish himself in the ever evolving world of guitar soli, most readily apparent via his 2025 long-player, CRK, released earlier this year by the eveready Worried Songs. As we noted in our review, Knowler is indebted to his instrument’s history; his playing steadfast, concise, and open to the possibility of the unexpected. For this installment of the Lagniappe Sessions Knowler pays tribute to genre godhead John Fahey, Norman Blake, David Nape and Elizabeth Cotton.
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Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month, Chad kicks it off with some languid summertime folk & woozy dream pop, and Tyler follows with some singer-songwriter-ish zones. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
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Welcome to Pastiche Beach. Chopped and spliced, 50 minutes of artists paying tribute to and/or lovingly ripping off Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Justin made this in 2018 as gratis promo for guests when the Gold Diggers boutique hotel opened in East Hollywood. We pressed 500 copies to vinyl, each side a full uninterrupted track. The bootleg wax is long out of print, so in honor of Wilson’s life and legacy we’re sharing the digital version here for first time. Sail on, sailor.
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Silence is a primary component of Nathan Salsburg’s new album Ipsa Corpora. The first all-acoustic solo guitar record from Salsburg since 2018’s Third, Ipsa Corpora consists of one, nearly 40-minute long track. Within that single song, Salsburg moves through a series of sections made up of a multitude of musical motifs on the acoustic guitar. The binding agent throughout are moments of silence. These pauses not only occur between distinct pieces, but also between notes and figures played by Salsburg. It’s clear that he wants the listener to inhabit silence as part of the album experience.
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Recorded in June 1971 and released the following month, Sociedade da Grã-Ordem Kavernista can be seen as the Frank Zappa's Freak Out! to Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis's Sgt Pepper. More subversive and more experimental than the tropicalist manifesto that had served as one of its main inspirations, the collective album was cursed from the get-go, condemned to premature oblivion by a mix of promotional faux-pas and the tightening of the Brazilian dictatorship.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. RIP Sly Stone.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Summertime, summer sounds. Since 2015 the Villard De Lans, France based label Heavenly Sweetness has been dropping semi-regular sonic island soaks into the digital sphere and beyond via their ongoing Antilles Series. Curating from a wide swath of French Caribbean gems, the series saw the release of its seventh installment this April via a reissue of Luc-Hubert Séjor's 1979 polyrhythmic LP, Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound. The Séjor release also serves as a welcome return to the series, its first post-Covid, following 2019's Chinal Ka 1973 -1995. Dive in, the water's warm.
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A new compilation excavates the curious history and powerful sound of Repetition Repetition, a 1980s L.A. guitar/keys duo that merged the transcendental dissonance of the avant-garde with the serene pulse of new age and the limber nerves of rock ‘n’ roll. Surviving member Steve Caton recalls the scene, hanging out with a Toto guitarist, meeting with Harold Budd and a wedding-reception run-in with Jon Hassell.
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Poet philosopher Howe Gelb is a natural storyteller. And it turns out the Tucson-based songwriter doesn't even need his signature voice—husky and low, a rumbling, phantasmagoric presence fronting his genre-crossing band Giant Sand for more than 40 years—to get his tall tales across. On his latest, Weathering Some Piano, Gelb's voice does make a few brief but welcome appearances, but the focus is on his piano playing—solitary, unadorned, self-recorded at his home in Tucson "during random moments of weathering."
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Paris-based archival label We Want Sounds has become a house favorite, and their ongoing series of Akiko Yano reissues is one particularly sweet fruit to be pulled from that tree. Their sixth and most recent entry in the series came last year when they gave her third studio album, 1978’s To Ki Me Ki, its first ever release outside Japan.
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Long Days, Pleasant Nights is the sophomore album from Dark Canyon, the nom de plume of Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/engineer Mike Novak. We sat down with Novak to discuss writing and recording the album, becoming a new father, Stephen King's The Dark Tower book series, and much more.
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Portico pacifico. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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In 1995 Fugazi released Red Medicine which to us here at AD was a radical shift in the band’s recorded trajectory. The arrangements grew more complex, the studio-as-instrument ethos becoming fully realized with more extreme textures. From lo-fi abstractions to widescreen feedback, to moments of tender beauty, the overall feel of the album felt more personal, even down to the packaging itself. To these ears it stands as a fulcrum which opened vistas in which the next records would further expand upon. Digging in, lyas Ahmed recently sat down with band member Guy Picciotto for a wide ranging talk about the album.
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Call it "brain fog," call it "attention economy burnout," call it the dregs of late capitalism: however you label it, Tamara Lindeman has been feeling it. With "Neon Signs," the sleek and driving new first single from her forthcoming album 2025 album Humanhood, she gives names and shapes to the sense of dread so many of us feel permeating our daily existence: "I’ve gotten used to feeling like I’m crazy—or just lazy."
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Is Matt Sweeney the only guy to play on both a Current 93 and Dixie Chicks record? We suspect so. This week on Transmissions, he joins us to discuss the Monkees-like nature of his band, The Hard Quartet, with Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, Jim White of The Dirty Three, and Emmett Kelly of The Cairo Gang. He joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss.
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The playing is great. The lyrics are knotty and evocative. The songs are distinct and individuated. But more than all that, what makes this self-titled effort so stirring is the joy that these four guys take in being and playing together. In short, this is no haphazard conjunction of people you’ve vaguely heard of. It is a meeting of giants who know and like and understand each other ...
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Speaking from his dining room table in Duluth, Alan Sparhawk graciously explores the various paths that steered his first ever solo album under his own name, White Roses, My God. From the liberatory power of vocal processing to what he's been listening to lately, the talk is a revelation.
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In the two years since Les Rallizes Dénudés began their campaign to officially release the recordings that have been stashed away in their sizeable archives, Takashi Mizutani’s famously enigmatic underground [...]
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Spaghetti western tributes, desert noir soundscapes, doomy post-rock, '70s rock grandeur. A guide to the music of Friends of Dean Martinez with pedal steel player Bill Elm.
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Even funneled through the warbly quality of these 4-track relics, it begs the question: could the band have released a stripped down, psych-folk affair that worked as majestically as their spacey, electronic flourishes? These cuts envision that hypothetical quite clearly.
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The Reflecting Skin looks at explosions of both the emotional and nuclear kind and the ghastly fallout they leave behind. As the film navigates the battlefield of youth and innocence—of false narratives confused for honest declarations, of skeleton-filled closets that no one wants to open—it poetically reminds audiences that the worst nightmares occur during waking hours, committed by flesh-and-blood beings in the glow of golden sunlight.
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An autumnal soundtrack, filled with ambient jazz, cosmic drifts, adventurous improvisatory situations and one hell of a Sonic Youth cover. Fill up your Bandcamp (or other digital service) cart and watch the leaves start to fall.
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Before the explosion of city pop, before shibuya-key and Tokyo’s collectors mania, there was already Mangekyou itself, the 1975 debut record from Yoshiko Sai, then just a 22 year old dropout from the art school of Kyoto. Approaching the 50 year anniversary of Sai’s legendary debut, WEWANTSOUNDS has announced a reissue that will see the album available outside of Japan for the first time ever.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Proving to be a restless sonic chameleon, Adeline Hotel (the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Dan Knishkowy) never makes the same record twice. Inspired by the likes of Jim O'Rourke's transmuting discography, Adeline Hotel's recent records range from fingerpicking guitar, jazz-tinged atmospheric compositions, and orchestral art pop. With nods to the likes of Gillian Welch and John Martyn, his latest, Whodunnit, is a kaleidoscopic autumnal tapestry that brings Knishkowy's precise lyrical talents to the forefront.
The post Adeline Hotel :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As the son of folklorist, photographer, and artist Fred C. Fussell, Jake Xerxes Fussell spent time on the road with his father, documenting the sound and feel of blues singers, indigenous fiddlers, and performers whose songbooks reached back generations. He joins us to discuss musical deep time and his latest When I'm Called.
The post Transmissions :: Jake Xerxes Fussell appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Sarah Davachi builds on the past. Renaissance harmonies, the ghosts of Bach, and The Head As Form'd In The Crier's Choir, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. To mark the occasion, she guides us through her back catalog, detailing 10 years of drone.
The post Catching Up With Sarah Davachi :: 10 Years of Drone appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As Prairiewolf explores how to play together, only the Korg remains apart, it's programmed beat as distinct and inexorably alien as ever. At a time when computers have begun to usurp the few remaining vestiges of the human, it's good to hear a machine that knows its place.
The post Prairiewolf :: Deep Time appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ned Collette got his start in Melbourne’s experimental underground, and threads of improvisation and jazz still run through his work. Collette distills complicated ideas into clarity. He does this musically, letting cross currents of jazz and psych run through his folk melodies without muddying their purity. He does it lyrically, unspooling a novelist’s notebook of observation and conjecture in his songs with ease and a startling lack of drama.
The post Ned Collette :: Our Other History appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Following in the footsteps of the "End Is At Hand" mixtapes, "Country In The Clouds" digs into music from the 60's & 70's Jesus People movement, but this time with a focus on the cosmic country side of the niche subculture. Like holy hippies baptized in the Bakersfield sound, earnest vocals, far out lyrics, and waves of pedal steel beckon listeners to tune in and take the Jesus trip...
The post Country In The Clouds: Cosmic American Music From The Jesus People Movement appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nick Cave wrestles with the darkest parts of the human experience in Wild God, churning up doubt and fear and grief and blasphemy from the muck at the bottom and distilling it, somehow, into transcending clarity. A meditation on humankind’s first crime—the murder of Abel—turns into a rhapsody over frogs jumping up in the rain.
The post Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds :: Wild God appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Saxophonist Josh Johnson's name pops up in a wealth of interesting places: he's collaborated with everyone from Meshell Ndegeocello to stadium rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers. He joins us to discuss his jazz fusion epic, Unusual Object and other musical adventures.
The post Josh Johnson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the aeronautical title to the space chants and exotica flourishes, the irrepressible Estonia-born, Portugal-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Mishan Panfilov has made To The Mesosphere and Beyond a winning and winding homage to early Sun Ra.
The post Misha Panfilov Septet :: To The Mesosphere And Beyond appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: a PSA regarding the free audiobook app, Libby, John Higgs' recently reissued tome on iconoclasts The KLF, Robyn Hitchcock's recent coming-of-age memoir, and Chuco Punk, a look into the El Paso, TX DIY punk scene.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 30 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance project has never settled into an easy, definable zone. But 2024 sees the Six Organs sonic universe expanding kaleidoscopically, even by his prodigious standards. For this return visit to Transmissions, Chasny discusses his trio of 2024 releases, working with ambient dub master Shackleton and noise experimenter Twig Harper, his experiences playing with David Tibet's apocalyptic avant-garde collective Current 93, and cultivating online community through the Six Organs Patreon. Plus: Mark Neeley on Pure Animation for Now People, a collaboration with Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo.
The post Transmissions :: Six Organs of Admittance (2024) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the netherworld of Drag City comes Aerial M: The Peel Sessions, a monumental slab transmitted by David Pajo and recorded for Peely & Co back in 1998. It’s an unlikely and essential document of a previously undisclosed chapter of Pajo’s musical history. For those who ransack the guitarist’s catalog seeking that elusive post-Slint high – a full band treatment of ominous, thundering post-rock – here’s your fix.
The post Aerial M :: The Peel Sessions appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nowhere is Bull’s stage prowess on better display than Still Valentine’s Day 1969, one of scant live recordings of Bull in full flight, finally available on vinyl from No Quarter almost 20 years after it was first unearthed. Recorded before a small crowd at The Matrix—a regular haunt of Jerry Garcia, Jefferson Airplane, Hunter S. Thompson, and even the Velvet Underground— Still Valentine’s Day 1969 plunges listeners into the echoing caverns of Bull’s imagination.
The post Sandy Bull :: Still Valentine’s Day 1969 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nala Sinephro is back with a new album on Warp Records, following her acclaimed ambient jazz debut Space 1.8, from 2021. A multi-instrumentalist virtuoso, Sinephro composed, produced, arranged and engineered the whole record from scratch evoking Pharoah Sanders' spiritual jazz and Jon Hassell's hypnotic electronica.
The post Nala Sinephro :: Endlessness appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like the moving frames in one of the artist's films, So You Like Slippers? comes at you in cozy slices of guitar pop that rarely exceed two minutes. Slippers is the solo project of Los Angeles-based musician Madeline Babuka Black, also the drummer in French pop outfit Le Pain.
The post Slippers :: So You Like Slippers? appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Reissue label Wewantsounds just announced a remastered, worldwide release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Coda, also known as the solo piano version of the 1983 soundtrack to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence plus two bonus tracks based on atmospheric synth pad lines. Acoustically reinterpreted, the multi-award winning and seemingly-grand compositions from the soundtrack are undressed, showcasing Sakamoto's fundamental skills as an instrumentalist and arranger.
The post Ryuichi Sakamoto :: Coda (1983) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With the release of the Chocolate and Cheese (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) earlier this month, the inimitable duo of Gene and Dean dug deep into their archives (i.e. a contractor bag of old cassette tapes and DATs) to share “fifteen previously unreleased demos of classic and soon-to-be classic tracks,” alongside a remaster of the original C&C. The remasters are fine, as clear and crisp as one would expect – but the headline here is the new tunes.
The post Ween :: Chocolate And Cheese (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A few years back, Chris Forsyth hipped me to Robert Quine and Fred Maher's 1984 LP Basic, an instrumental album of guitar and drum machine rock that sounds like it's playing at the wrong speed. His new trio with baritone guitarist Nick Millevoi (whose recent Moon Pulses sounds like the record I wish U2 would make) and Mikel Patrick Avery on percussion and electronics more than winks at Basic with their debut, This is BASIC—at times its wonky, distortion saturated riffs recall that album for sure. But these guys are on their own trip.
The post BASIC :: This Is BASIC appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
New Zealand musician Dean Roberts, beloved in the underground for his albums with Thela and White Winged Moth, passed away unexpectedly on August 10. As a tribute, his longtime friend and collaborator Matt Valentine offers up this personal remembrance.
The post Dean Roberts (Thela, White Winged Moth) :: A Remembrance by Matt Valentine appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Back in April, we had the great pleasure of speaking with Jim O’Rourke and David Grubbs, two of our longtime musical heroes. Our conversation coincided with the release of Gastr del Sol’s new archival compilation, We Have Dozens of Titles, available now from Drag City Records. Over 25 years after disbanding the project in 1998, Grubbs and O’Rourke have assembled a beautifully flowing collection of previously unreleased recordings, bookended by excerpts from the duo’s performance at the Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville.
The post Gastr del Sol :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Jennifer Castle has been in communion with the cosmos for as long as we’ve been listening, and certainly for at least a little while longer than that. On “Lucky #8,” the lead single from her forthcoming new album, Camelot, she emerges as an ambassador for celestial divinity—leaping in song in celebration of its ability to liberate us of our existential dread, almost parental in its omniscient embrace.
The post Jennifer Castle :: Lucky #8 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to Transmissions, our weekly conversational offering. On today's show? Nashville’s own Rich Ruth, who joins us to discuss his jazz rock opus for Third Man Records, Water Still Flows
The post Transmissions :: Rich Ruth appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Try a little tenderness! Fuubutsushi’s Meridians invites the listener into a sound world where gentleness is a strength, where delicacy speaks volumes. A wonderful sprawl across two LPs, the album’s 15 tracks patiently unfold and unfurl, finding a remarkably fertile middle ground between the rich interplay of Bill Evans’ classic early 1960s trio and Chicago’s exploratory post-rock scene of the mid-1990s.
The post Fuubutsushi :: Meridians appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When we last caught up with guitarist William Tyler, it was to commemorate Secret Stratosphere, the ripping live record he'd made with his band of compatriots, The Impossible Truth. But his new single "Flight Final" finds Tyler returning to—and moreover, expanding on—the haunted radiophonic tones of his 2020 EP New Vanitas. There's a stark menace to the song's opening, before a light on the horizon cracks—like that big old moon emerging from behind a shadowy cloud—in the form of a sparkly synth reverie and Tyler's arcing waves of electric guitar.
The post William Tyler :: Flight Final appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week sees the Mississippi Records reissue of last year's revelatory, Keanu Nelson album Wilurarrakutu to a worldwide audience. Nelson is an aboriginal Australian from Papunya, a remote community northwest of Alice Springs, and for this album he recorded himself freely singing his own poems over template Casio beats. Expect simple reggaes, apotheotic synthpop ballads, and new age devotional hymns.
The post Keanu Nelson :: Wilurarrakutu appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Released by Frederiksberg Records, the Danish label that recently reissued landmark multi-genre Scandivanian artists like Klaus Schonning and Karin Liungman, Soren Skov Orbit's Adrift feels like it fits right in while also extending the eclectic, adventurous fusion styles of Pekka Pohjola or Jan Garbarek, who similarly saw jazz as a means for reimagining other musical traditions: Ethiopian harmonies, Balkan melodies, Jamaican rhythms, Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef and whatever else can filter the broken geometries of jazz through a silky folk noir.
The post Søren Skov Orbit :: Adrift appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like the venerable touchstones of golden seventies pop, the strength of Nashville four-piece The Medium lies firmly in their established songcraft. On their promising sophomore effort For Horses, the band melded their confident baroque pop with a rousing dose of guitar-driven melodies. Curiously, the title of new record City Life represents a bit of a mirage.
The post The Medium :: City Life appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
How do you not love a record called Patron Saint of Tireless Losers? On his second proper solo LP, Wilder Maker's Gabriel Birnbaum swirls in a kaleidoscope of symphonic psych-pop and folky strummers. Don't be fooled by Birnbaum's shaggy dog drawl and easygoing melodies—there's plenty of movement here, surprises lurking in the song's untidy corners. Sure, ambling acoustics and Beach Boys-ready harmonies abound, but on the album's best track, the electric piano-dappled "Perfect Again," barrels forward like a train.
The post Gabriel Birnbaum :: Perfect Again appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
“Rated X” lacks the monumental sound collage quality of its taped compatriots. The quick (for this era of Miles) seven-minute tune leans into a minimal chaos, almost as if In a Silent Way was recorded in the depths of hell. What begins in disarray slowly becomes the most cohesive thing you’ve ever heard.
The post Miles Davis :: Rated X appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
“But what the hell do I know? I just record records that get streamed for free.”
A years-in-the-making conversation with songwriter and producer J. Mamana.
The post J. Mamana :: For Every Set of Eyes appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Painted dreams. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The works of novelist, essayist and political activist James Baldwin continues to resonate in the culture and in the music of Meshell Ndegeocello nearly 40 years after his death. No More Water sets his words—and the words of poets Staceyann Chin and Audrey Lorde—to an incandescent soundtrack, influenced by jazz, folk, gospel, rock and the rituals of the black church.
The post Meshell Ndegeocello :: No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week, we have an exceedingly rare interview with Jason Martin, of California dream pop band Starflyer 59. Fermented in the nascent Riverside dream pop underground alongside his brother Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric in the early '90s, Martin's band SF59 released its debut album, Silver, 30 years ago in 1994 on the fledgling Tooth & Nail label. His latest, Lust for Gold, finds him winking knowingly at the title of his 1995 album Gold, a record routinely cited as one of the best shoegaze albums of all-time.
The post Transmissions :: Starflyer 59 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Pat Metheny continues to innovate. At the same time, having just turned 70, his work has become more reflective, looking back at absent friends, bygone mentors and old songs, and considering how they shaped — and continue to shape — him. Entering the sixth decade of his career Metheny continues to make boundary-blind music that, though clearly in touch with a wealth of traditions both orthodox and esoteric, is unmistakably his own.
The post Pat Metheny :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Look, it’s just too big. Weighing in at 17 compact discs (198 tracks!) and five Blu-Rays (11 films!), Neil Young’s upcoming Archives Vol. III box set is a monster that we’ll be grappling with for years to come. Covering the songwriter’s ridiculously prolific / ridiculously divergent span of 1976 to 1987, Vol. III can’t really be summed up in a meaningful way in one cursory review. So, what we’ve got here is a little addendum to Takes, the 16-track Vol. III sampler — 16 more unreleased highlights that give a hint of the treasures in store.
The post Neil Young’s Archives Vol. III :: 16 Unreleased Highlights appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in 1977 following a performance at the Negro Festival of Art and Culture in Lagos and a month immersed in the city with his comrade Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso’s Bicho is a shimmering and rapturous entry in the Brazilian legend’s indelible catalog, one in which the influence of African culture, particularly Jùjú music, coalesces stunningly with funky, orchestral MPB, jazz-laced lounge, and soulful cosmic folk.
The post Caetano Veloso :: Bicho appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month kicks off with Wilcox's mix of sunset laments and armchair boogies, followed by DePasquale's selection of city pop, MPB, and jazz-funk. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: August 2024 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If you’re wondering where to head after Dadawah and Heart of the Congos, this ain’t a bad next step. Man from Higher Heights is a roots reggae jammer shrouded in mystery. It's potent brew of reverent nyabinghi rhythms, synth, brass, and sinuous fuzz guitar will elevate you above the heat and humid murk to your own higher heights.
The post Count Ossie and the Rasta Family :: Man From Higher Heights appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Unseen Worlds is reissuing Real Life and the Movies Volume 1, a 1981 cassette previously published through Tyranny's collaborative private press. Spanning a 25-year period of his varied compositional experiments, the themes enclosed all blend cinematographic excerpts and American cultural miscellanea into a single, unified aesthetic.
The post “Blue” Gene Tyranny :: Real Life and the Movies Volume 1 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
2-Headed Deer, the label that recently gained notability releasing records by jazz experimentalists like Misha Panfilov and the Organic Pulse Ensemble, has just released the first two albums in a series inspired by European Library Music labels like KPM, CAM and Music De Wolfe. The first, Crime, by the Milan-based band Larry Manteca, replicates 1970s Italian b-movie soundtracks, while the second, Oceanography, produced by Chris Stullenberg under the alias of New Library Sound, pays respect to Jacques Cousteau documentaries, with liquid-like analog modular synths and sound effects recombining to evoke marine life and underwater exploration.
The post Library Music Series 1 & 2: Crime / Oceanography appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
"Changing reality is a group sport." Richard Metzger has been documenting the counterculture for decades with projects like Disinformation and the beloved blog Dangerous Minds. Now, he's launched Magick Show—a survey of modern occultists. He joins us to discuss online media, counterculture, and art and explain how "magick" is a part of it all.
The post Richard Metzger :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Even in its semi-bastardized state, Shot of Love stands as a major achievement. The songs harmonize into something spectacular, a perfect finished plan. Hard rockers, little love ditties, kaleidoscopic four-dimensional ballads, "Lenny Bruce": it’s all here, everything you could ever want, bursting out the grooves like a blast of blue-orange Ben-Day dots. It is the album Bob Dylan wanted to make at the time, made the way Bob Dylan wanted to make it. His furnace of desire had not stopped burning. It never would.
The post The Same Man: Bob Dylan’s “Shot of Love” appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on Transmissions, return guest Yasmin Williams. On October 4th, she releases Acadia via Nonesuch Records. It's her long awaited follow up to 2021's Urban Driftwood, and like that record, it's beautiful—a showcase for a one-of-a-kind artist. Williams first came back on the show way back in the lockdown days, but life has changed greatly for her since then. She discusses some of those changes, and opens up about her desire to create with Acadia something of a refuge from the chaos of the world. Ahead of its release, she joins Jason P. Woodbury for a rousing conversation.
The post Transmissions :: Yasmin Williams appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
... the 2022 album Reset has been subject to many playful experimentations, including an expanded edition with remixes and instrumentals and an EP of dub versionings produced by Adrian Sherwood. For this year's own toying with Reset, the goal was making mariachi versions of two of the record's most compelling songs: "Danger" and "Livin in the After."
The post Panda Bear & Sonic Boom :: Reset Mariachi EP appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Obsession is Brian De Palma and Paul Schrader at their most deliriously Hitchcockian, their fandom for the revered British director bursting forth from every frame. Obsession functions as a tale of memory and fixations as much as it works as a fanatical, meta-textual analysis of its creators: two young filmmakers obsessed with Vertigo, attempting to recreate their memory of it in their own image.
The post Videodrome :: Obsession (1976) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Last year Bill Callahan brought Jim White along on a series of tour dates to make his intricate songs more visceral, and even just with drums, it worked extremely well. This live recording of a March 2023 show in Chicago takes that augmentation a step further. For this single show, Callahan added not just White but Austin guitarist Matt Kinsey, Chicago free jazz saxophonist Nick Mazzerella, the Congolese singer Pascal Kerong’A, keyboard player Nathaniel Ballinger and the core of Natural Information Society in Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado. The set leans heavily on songs from YTILAER—seven out of ten tracks are drawn from that most recent studio album—but expands and unpacks them to the extent that you may feel that you’ve never heard them before.
The post Bill Callahan :: Resuscitate! appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Branching off their Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980 compilation, Time Capsule’s reissue of Niningashi’s 1974 LP Heavy Way is a gem of private press, outsider psych. Recorded and self-released while in pharmacy school, the young Tokyo-based musician and his six-piece band captured lightning in a bottle here, and sound like they had fun doing it.
The post Niningashi :: Heavy Way appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Tidiane Thiam’s last LP was a gorgeously stripped-down thing, featuring the Senegalese guitarist communing with nocturnal natural sounds. Africa Yontii, by contrast, is relatively lush and full, with beats, electric six-string and subtle electronics complementing Thiam’s intricate fingerpicking. It’s different, but the meditative space and spirit of the music remains.
The post Tidiane Thiam :: Africa Yontii appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Cosmic country rambler Bobby Lee takes the controls and sets a course for the heart of the cosmos with these covers of songs by Don Williams, Fred Eaglesmith, and funk legends Cymande.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Bobby Lee appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Way back in the 1990s, Neil Young started mentioning Early Daze, a collection of previously unreleased studio recordings he made with Crazy Horse in the late 1960s. As with most everything in Shakeyland, it was a long time coming … but this summer Early Daze finally emerged. Worth the wait? Oh yeah.
For further insight, we went to one of the guys who was there for it all — bassist Billy Talbot.
The post Billy Talbot :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Sometimes, background music moves to the foreground. That’s the case with today’s guests, guitarist Zac Sokolow, bassist Jake Faulkner, and drummer Nicholas Baker. Together, they form La Lom—short for the Los Angeles League of Musicians. In 2019, they were hired to bring suitably vibey music to the lobby of the historic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. Now, they've got a new album coming out on Verve. They join us to discuss.
The post Transmissions :: La Lom appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
While his nimble, soft guitar phrasings and textured harmonies often evoke experimentalists like Bill Frisell or Egberto Gismonti, in Certain Limitations, Temple has formed a trio with Kosta Galanopoulos and Doug Stuart (who they dub "the Cascading Moms") to throw this recognizable aesthetic on top of contorting, broken rhythms—especially in the second half of the record, with the revolving-effervescent "It's All About Timing" and the compressed-syncopated "Second Half." The result is another gem of effortless pop perfection, that can be idle in form without ever giving up its frenzied steam.
The post Luke Temple and The Cascading Moms :: Certain Limitations appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Legendary dream pop and shoegaze pioneers Galaxie 500 just announced their first batch of new music in almost thirty years with the archival compilation Uncollected Noise New York 88-90. A double gatefold LP including a colored special edition inspired by TMOQ bootlegs, the release, scheduled for this September, includes b-sides, outtakes and rare versions of classics like "Blue Thunder" and "Fourth of July."
The post Galaxie 500 :: Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We were curious what people's summers sounded like. So we asked a clutch of the regular contributors to tell us what they were listening to beat the heat and why. What we heard back made for a weird, wonderful soundtrack for this far stretch of the earth’s revolution around the sun. Here's a slate of recommendations to power you through these dog days of summer.
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Dubbed a "true American wildass" by his label, septuagenarian woodworker, instrument maker, and composer David Michael Moore lands somewhere between a Southern Moondog, Vince Guaraldi in the Delta, or even JJ Cale on his beatific Lunch Is Having Lunch.
The post David Michael Moore :: Lunch Is Having Lunch appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Always fearless in his pursuit of sonic fusion, the wizardry of Anthony Pirog continues to invade new melodic landscapes. Hard noise. Ambient. Jazz. Punk. Experimental noise funk. He joins us to discuss collaborations with members of Fugazi, Nels Cline, James Brandon Lewis, Jerry Gilgore, and more.
The post Anthony Pirog :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Sometime in the mid-1980s, John Zorn was hanging out in New York City’s East Village when he made a career-altering choice: to take in a hardcore show at CBGBs. The experience profoundly shaped his next album, the ultra fast, ultra brief Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman.
The post Punk Jazz :: John Zorn’s Spy vs Spy at 35 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
West of Roan is a duo of Annie Schermer and Channing Showalter, two visual and performing artists, who share a love of old folk and myth, close harmonies, shifting drone and puppets. Though grounded in old, ancestral traditions—Celtic and Norse mythology, unadorned singing and the plangent tones of fiddle—the pair have resolutely avoided folk purism. “We’re pretty careful about performing traditional music,” Showalter explains.“ We think it through and we think about what we want to say about the song that we’re singing that’s not ours, and if we don’t feel like we really have much to say about it, we don’t always choose to sing it.”
The post West of Roan :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It’s just guitar, drums and vocals for the duration of the Glass Bead Band’s self-titled debut LP, but that’s more than enough — this is killer stuff, perhaps not unlike something you might’ve heard on Touch & Go back in the mid-90s. Matt Stadelmann’s declamatory vocals and elemental (but still highly melodic) guitar, Marshall Yarbrough’s rock-solid rhythms, hypnotic song forms that occasionally build into explosive moments.
The post The Glass Bead Band appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Lemon Twigs on Todd Rundgren, Sean Lennon, Jonathan Rado of Foxygen and their latest album, A Dream Is All We Know.
The post Transmissions :: The Lemon Twigs appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ethan Iverson is a rare bird, a jazz musician who's just as adept at writing about the form as he is playing it. As a member of The Bad Plus, the recorded a series of adventurous albums with the trio between 2001 and 2016, incorporating covers of artists like Radiohead, Aphex Twin, and Pink Floyd along the way. In 2017, he departed The Bad Plus, turning his focus to albums like his new Blue Note outing, Technically Acceptable.
The post Ethan Iverson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Where do Nintendo 64 games, Russian poets, French filmmaker Chris Marker, and references to Goo Goo Dolls megahits collide? In the lyrics of The Neon Gate, the forthcoming album from Nova Scotian quartet Nap Eyes. Due out October 18th from the ever-reliable Paradise of Bachelors, the new album finds Nap Eyes expanding and taking new form.
The post Nap Eyes :: Passageway appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Drew Gardner steps out on his own with Cygnus A, leaving behind, at least for the moment, his longstanding partnership with Jesse Shepherd in Elkhorn, his free jazz-y improvisations with Flowers in Space (a trio with Andy Cush and Ryan Jewel) and his regular hippie psych collaborations with Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders. No, he’s all by himself here, contemplating the vastness of space, one man in the cosmos staring upwards in wonder.
The post Drew Gardner :: Cygnus A appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fran—the musical nom de plume of Chicago’s Maria Jacobson—returns with her first new piece of music since her hushed masterstroke, Leaving, one of our favorite albums from last year. On her new song “Television,” Jacobson drives a lilting, piano-led country ballad that conveys a distant, tilted domestic tranquility with a splash of barroom blues.
The post Fran :: Television appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As we so often find with the relics of the 1960s, Jim Glover resurfaced in the eighties with a private press disc. Released under the one-off Fang Records, No Need to Explain finds the songwriter in true folky form with just a man, a set of strings, and his words at the microphone.
The post Jim Glover :: No Need to Explain appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Through numbly whispered vocals and mushy mellow vibes, Alex Izenberg & the Exiles attempt to distill from 1970s radio rock the elixir of heartbreak and its philosophical innards, mindfully administering the pharmakon of despair here and there: inexorable solitude and oneiric unveilings of being; emotional parallaxes of all sorts; love as a function of time and time as a function of love; and the good old fear of death.
The post Alex Izenberg & The Exiles appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On the occasion of his 66th birthday, Thurston Moore and his wife and creative partner Eva Moore drop in from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University to discuss collaboration and that time Henry Rollins grew out his hair.
The post Thurston Moore & Eva Moore From The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University :: A Conversation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Hyperbole is near impossible when critiquing Heart Of The Congos, from the untouchable Lee "Scratch" Perry production to the unparalleled vocal harmonies, seamless flow and monumental influence on music within and outside of the realms of reggae. Yet it's also a record whose magic defies scrutiny. It is inscrutable, effervescent and like the ocean upon which the Fisherman toils, its beauty, power and impact shifts according to environmental factors and the mood of the observer.
The post The Congos :: Heart of the Congos appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on a far-ranging episode of Transmissions: guitarist, folklorist, and all-around-top-notch thinker Daniel Bachman. A songwriter and composer from Fredericksburg, Virginia, Bachman first began releasing records under the name Sacred Harp, before adopting his own name for a series of finger-picked classics. In the years since, Bachman’s music has grown more and more experimental, and also, it’s become more directly informed by climate change. He joins us to discuss.
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Ambient, post-fusion jazz, minimalism, field recording, electronic extravaganzas and musique concrete manifestos -- all could be sold as New Age with the right kind of window dressing and perhaps a little bit of sweetening. California Sigh, Underwood's self-released 1988 cassette now issued on CD and LP for the first time by Drag City, dips slightly into field recording and electronic spheres, but otherwise sticks to another major venerable New Age pathway: solo acoustic guitar.
The post Lee Underwood :: California Sigh appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Departing his home for Paris, fashion designer and percussionist/trumpeter Edmony Krater sought to craft his own modern take on his native traditional music, assembling a band of local players and melding Gwo Ka with jazz fusion and psychedelic soul for the singularly awesome experience that is Natibel.
The post Zepiss :: Natibel appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We’re back in the thick of another wild summer — political unrest, insanely high temperatures, shark attacks, etc. For some aural AC, dig into a selection of highly recommended recent releases that run the gamut: private press folk from the 1980s to acoustic guitar Kraftwerk to sweet sounds from Senegal.
The post Bandcamping :: Summer 2024 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month features DePasquale’s sweet mix of psychedelic rock, samba, MPB, and highlife, followed by Wilcox's selection of rarities / demos / outtakes / faves by the legendary Linda Thompson. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: July 2024 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Shot during the contested 1992 presidential election between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, The Last Party is both an American time capsule and a disheartening case of déjà vu.
The post Videodrome :: The Last Party (1993) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The quality of Jake Xerxes Fussell’s output has stayed remarkably consistent over his first five albums, but his confidence in his abilities as an interpreter and the audacity of his song selection continue to grow. The nine songs on his newest, When I’m Called, gather out of the vastness of the past few centuries of sung songs to talk to one another, elaborate on one another, and thread each other through with intertwined meaning.
The post Jake Xerxes Fussell :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A pivotal transitional piece for Herbie Hancock, there are some crucial factors that have kept Fat Albert Rotunda perpetually under the radar. And while Head Hunters this is not, Fat Albert Rotunda is more of a prophetic, transitional piece in the keyboardist's storied jazz-funk evolution than most realize on the surface. There's no mistaking that these arrangements are decisively more R&B than the electric, synthesizer-laced fusion sounds that would soon follow, making the record a peculiar bridge gap.
The post Herbie Hancock :: Fat Albert Rotunda appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Have you heard from your Mothers lately? Not far into the unmitigated archival audacity of Whisky A Go Go 1968, Frank Zappa pauses to lay out the evening’s agenda: “The purpose of this evening is supposedly to make some recordings of The Mothers live, in person…It’s pretty hard to record what we do because it gets so loud and ugly.” Originally conceived as the basis of their first live album, Whisky A Go Go 1968 presents nearly three hours of unreleased recordings of the classic Mothers lineup offering a bizarre sonic smorgasbord to a hungry throng of freakscene denizens that number Kim Fowley, members of The Rolling Stones, The Turtles, and John Mayall among among them.
The post Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention :: Whisky A Go Go 1968 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Released in 1959, Anne Phillips' debut album takes listeners on a journey through the melancholic twilights of a bygone New York City, one that you can only find in bar-stool memories of young love and innocence lost. If there ever was an album for the wee small hours of the morning, it's Phillips’ Born To Be Blue.
The post Anne Phillips :: Born To Be Blue (1959) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In this wide-ranging chat, guest host Zara Hedderman and Chris Cohen discuss Paint a Room, working record stores, Transcendental Meditation, the Grateful Dead, and much more. It’s an open and tender conversation, full of funny moments and deep insight.
The post Transmissions :: Chris Cohen appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Rusty, dusty, good ‘n’ trusty, Color Green are back at it with Fool’s Parade, their second long-player which furthers the band’s evolution from songwriting/studio project to full-fledged rock’n’roll road dogs.
The post Color Green :: Fool’s Parade appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Coming relatively hot on the heels of last year’s Arc Of Day, Danny Paul Grody’s latest LP picks up right where he left off. Arc Of Night (credited to the Danny Paul Grody Duo, thanks to drummer Rich Douthit’s invaluable contributions) sees the Bay Area-based guitarist heading into more nocturnal zones over the course of seven transformative instrumentals. Aquarium Drunkard hopped on Zoom with Danny to get shed a little light on this Night.
The post Danny Paul Grody :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This is a larger, more polished piece of work than Overview, with cleaner, more enveloping production and one or two blow-out rock songs. Yet, as is her custom, Jenkins slips thoughtful social commentary into even the most hedonistic tracks.
The post Cassandra Jenkins :: My Light, My Destroyer appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
French jazz pianist François Tusques formed the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra in 1971 in search of something new. With 1983’s Le Musichien, he's created a spiritual jazz document that emmits an urgent sense of peace.
The post Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra :: Le Musichien appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Numero Group has just announced a high fidelity release of the Lijadu Sisters' beloved 1979 album Horizon Unlimited, This is the first in a multi-year series of records (including unreleased material!) in a campaign to bring the pioneers of Nigerian afro-pop to a wider audience, a project that the label calls "equal parts reissue and reparation."
The post Lijadu Sisters :: Horizon Unlimited appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Imagine a young and unknown future free jazz icon, cutting a rug on a crowded, carefree dance floor in a rundown part of the Lower East Side next to a hedonistic crew of marauding drag queens, experimental theater pioneers, hardcore punks, old Ukrainian neighborhood patriarchs, painters, poets, and other East Village outcasts and weirdos. Matthew Shipp joins us to discuss the legendary Pyramid Cocktail Lounge, its kaleidoscopic clientele, and the anarchic freedom of early '80s NYC.
The post Lower East Side Art Lab :: Inside The Pyramid Cocktail Lounge with Matthew Shipp appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Since 2018, Joseph Stevens' project Peel Dream Magazine (aptly named after BBC Radio 1's John Peel) puts out music of unpredictable variety with predictable recurrence. While the band describes itself as extending the luxurious studio pop tradition of Burt Bacharach or The Beach Boys, and even as a middle point between Steve Reich and Sufjan Stevens (!), any attentive listener will recognize in its sound the influence of luminaire indie acts: the softest parts of Yo la Tengo and The Clientele, the playful lightness of Stereolab and The High Llamas.
The post Peel Dream Magazine :: Rose Main Reading Room appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Lying somewhere between the demarcations of electro-pop, high life, and the Caribbean diaspora sits the solo excursions of synthesized session heavyweight Wally Badarou. A guru behind the computerized keys and best known as The Talking Heads’ secret weapon on Speaking in Tongues, it was Badarou’s penchant for unfathomably catchy fills and phrasings that elevated “This Must be the Place” and “Burning Down the House” to the legendary earworm status they maintain today. This may be the most immediate reference point on Badarou’s extensive resume, but the sounds explored on his solo records are illuminated more clearly within the context of his eighties studio credits. One simply does not work with Black Uhuru, Grace Jones, or Fela Kuti without being fully immersed in groove.
The post Wally Badarou :: Echoes appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A few weeks after the release of the incredible Fourth, the classic quartet of the Soft Machine--Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt--played an unlikely two-night stand in an art museum in Høvikodden, Norway, some twenty minutes outside of Oslo. Personal relations within the band were low; tensions were high; and founding drummer Robert Wyatt was already looking for the exit. But what transpired on those nights, now captured in a massive archival release from Cuneiform Records, was arguably the finest incarnation of the Softs at the absolute peak of their powers. Høvikoddden 1971 documents a band torn between shrieking free jazz, throbbing minimalism, psychedelic space rock and fuzzy, proto-punk garage stomp--suspended between their avant-pop beginnings and their fusion future. A three-hour, four LP slab of the Soft Machine may be too much for the casual fan. Or it might just be the ideal point of entry.
The post Soft Machine :: Høvikodden 1971 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Amour velours. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens, the first recorded collaboration between long-time AACM musicians Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers, produces imaginary soundscapes to the concrete landscapes of Manhattan's largest open area. This delicate psycho-cartography, a miniature model of what is already supposed to be a microcosm of nature itself, is weaved through the slow erosion of the geology of the piano by the crying winds of the trumpet.
The post Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers :: Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Emergency Group don’t have anything to prove at this point, at least not around these parts. Over a pair of albums (and an all-timer Lagniappe Session), they have shown themselves one of the most lethal improvisational rock units around. But while everyone would have welcomed another helping of their headlong neo-kraut assault, their new album goes in a different direction entirely. In Mind Screen, Emergency Group have made a smoldering late-night record, all quiet interplay and expansive spaces.
The post Emergency Group :: Mind Screen appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week, we welcome one of our favorite musicians to the show: Mark Lightcap of Acetone and the Dick Slessig Combo. Last year, New West Records reissued Acetone’s discography, featuring illuminating liner notes by J. Spaceman of Spiritualized/Spaceman 3 and Drew Daniel of Matmos/The Soft Pink Truth. The occasion prompted a great conversation with Mark that we published in written form last year. This week on the show, he joins us for a loose talk from his backyard in LA. From “beautiful music” to his run-ins with Oasis, this conversation takes plenty of fascinating turns.
The post Transmissions :: Mark Lightcap (Acetone/Dick Slessig Combo) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
I Saw A Bug isn’t a lonesome highway; it’s an American cabaret. There are backcountry signifiers, to be sure—banjo and pedal steel and fingerstyle guitar—but there are also eerie synths and drum machines and MIDI programming that make the album feel like a slightly extraterrestrial simulacrum of American music. Almost as if aliens were trying to recreate the country and western songbook based on the handful of AM radio signals that had finally made it past Alpha Centauri.
The post Pat Keen :: I Saw A Bug appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like the coziness of nostalgia, the 4-track tape recorder is immediately evident during the guitar jangle that opens "Blue Eyed Open Sky". Recorded in a tent cabin on a river in the musician's hometown of Big Sur, California, the lo-fi aesthetic of Richard Tripps sophomore album was a deliberate choice, inspired by the analogue charm of tape, where the musician's formative demos crossed paths with key influences like the VU and fellow Big Sur psych-folk outfit The Range of Light Wilderness.
The post Richard Tripps :: Between The Morning appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
“Olympus cock in Radiana/struts the strut of kings,” declares Robert Pollard, against a vamping guitar riff in this, the 41st year of the phenomenon known as Guided by Voices. We can celebrate 30 years of being able to listen to the great Bee Thousand now, but the real triumph is that Guided by Voices just keeps going. Its crashing guitar chords and Who-like drum explosions, its dream-state lyrical surrealities, its inevitable melodies burst from Strut of Kings as fresh and powerful as ever.
The post Guided by Voices :: Strut of Kings appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nothing is simple. Self-knowlege is won painfully, insight by insight, song by song. On his latest album under the Pedro the Lion banner, Santa Cruz, songwriter David Bazan examines the complications of family, faith, and the past—and how it informs the present moment.
The post You Can Sound Like Yourself :: David Bazan on Pedro the Lion’s Modesto appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
There are heavy hitters, and then there's The Dirty Three. A trio comprising violinist Warren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner, and drummer Jim White, these Australian independent rock legends recently returned with their first album in 12 year, the aptly titled Love Changes Everything. This week on Transmissions, The Dirty Three explore their history, reflect on the life and work of Steve Albini, and recall their days opening for The Beastie Boys.
The post Transmissions :: The Dirty Three appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On January 15, 1976—what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 47th birthday—the pianist Harry Whitaker assembled a group of musicians at Sound Ideas Studio on West 46th Street in Manhattan to record what would eventually be released as Black Renaissance – Body, Mind And Spirit. Whitaker had gained experience playing piano in Roy Ayers’ band and as musical director for Roberta Flack for most of the 1970s, but this session was an opportunity for Whitaker to see his specific musical vision become reality.
The post On Harry Whitaker’s Black Renaissance appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A regular sideman and session player for various jazz and rock acts in the Bay Area during the early '70s, trumpeter Luis Gasca eventually stepped back from performing. But his 1972 LP For Those Who Chant cements his legacy, featuring his Latin jazz stylings and players like Joe Henderson, Lenny White, Stanley Clarke and Carlos Santana.
The post Luis Gasca :: For Those Who Chant appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Julius Eastman was a minimalist maverick. Wild Up is a group of Los Angeles-based musicians who have anthologized Eastman’s works since 2021. In their fourth installment, The Holy Presence, Wild Up lands on Eastman’s final compositions, ones that reflect on religiosity and resistance.
The post Wild Up :: Julius Eastman Vol. 4: The Holy Presence appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On her new album, Linda Thompson doesn't sing. But her ever-vibrant personality is on full display on the aptly named Proxy Music. Joined by vocalists like Rufus and Martha Wainwright, John Grant, Eliza Carthy and Dori Freeman, the record captures the melancholic spirit of her classic albums with Richard–who shows up here, too.
The post Linda Thompson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
First released in 1986, the collaborative record of dream pop deities Cocteau Twins and minimalist giant Harold Budd is still among the most interesting crossbreeds between so-called pop and so-called art music. By the time of its release, The Moon and the Melodies‘ mix of cerebral drone experimentation and crystalline emotional delivery was at least on par with those at the frontier of pop’s absorption of the avant-garde: John Cale, Laurie Anderson, Arthur Russell, and the like.
The post Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd :: The Moon and the Melodies appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas's thirty-minute magnum opus, 'The Creator Has a Master Plan' is arguably the paradigmatic work of spiritual jazz, setting the template of deep groove, free blowing and global rhythms that has long characterized the form. But it has also become, improbably enough, something of a standard, covered dozens upon dozens of times--both within the bounds of jazz and beyond them. We scoured a half century of covers and rounded up a handful of our absolute favorite incarnations.
The post Master Planners: Interpretations of Pharoah Sanders’s Magnum Opus appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Selects from the AD mid-year review. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Stop Making Sense is unabashedly effervescent, like a jolt of straight dopamine. For being a concert film about a famous band at the height of their success, there's nothing about Stop Making Sense that's trying to be cool or sexy, flashy or pedantic — it's just trying to have a good time.
The post Videodrome :: Stop Making Sense (1984) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, Joe Pernice of The Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys, and Chappaquiddick Skyline—as well as books, records, and other projects under his own name. The Bros are back with Who Will You Believe. Pernice joins us to discuss.
The post Transmissions :: Joe Pernice appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On paper, journeyman songwriter Alejandro Escovedo's latest album Echo Dancing is a career-spanning look back at his song catalog. In actuality, the record is something more radical—a reimagining that embraces scuzzy electronics, minimalist electric blues, and dubby vocal effects. He joins us to discuss it, dig into his counterculture roots, and share which member of the Velvet Underground "scared the shit" out of him.
The post Alejandro Escovedo :: On Echo Dancing and His Counterculture Roots appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Opposites attract in this unexpected collaboration between dubstep pioneer Sam Shackleton and out-folk innovator Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance. Yet the oddity itself is very beautiful. Shackleton’s music has never sounded so warm and present. Chasny’s work has never seemed visionary and forward looking. They meet somehow in a middle that no one foresaw, and it is a strange and lovely place.
The post Shackleton and Six Organs of Admittance :: Jinxed By Being appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Time flies. As we're halfway through 2024, enter our first-ever midyear review to accompany our annual favorites list. As always, our list is unranked and unruly—not "complete" but featuring more than enough to get you started. Let it blurb ...
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: 2024 Mid-Year Review appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like his previous album, the COVID-era 2022 masterpiece I Survived, It's Over, Nashville multi-instrumentalist Rich Ruth's new album Water Still Flows is absolutely audacious in its musical fusions and amalgamations. This one is a woozy kaleidoscope of spiritual jazz, post-rock, chiming minimalism, Berlin school synth sequencers, metal and drone. It is entirely possible that it shouldn't work, but somehow it does.
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With this recording of Suzanne Ciani's 1974 live Buchla concert at Galeria Bonino in New York, Finders Keepers adds a new touchstone to the obscure history of modular synth music (and to the crucial part female artists have played in it). It also throws light into the deep connection between experimental sound design and the new age music that Ciani later represented, a connection that is not at all restricted to Pauline Oliveros or, later, Laraaji and Eno. In this release, the complex drones of electric sequencers form soft, shapeless tapestries with an almost religious ease.
The post Suzanne Ciani :: Buchla Concert At Galeria Bonino New York, April 1974 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Originating as a lounge duo in Brooklyn, organist and arranger Norman Marcelle and vocalist Lynn Marshall recruited Lynn’s sister Deedee on drums to lay down You Ain't No Weight in 1980, calling themselves Blue Eyed Soul and casting a lo-fi blaze of private-press, left-of-center soul, gospel, and r&b. While reissued digitally in 2019 via Numero Group’s From the Stacks series, much more detail about the album or group appears scant, its relative quiet existence belying its odd and awesome singularity.
The post Blue Eyed Soul :: You Ain’t No Weight appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like most of us during the dog days of the pandemic, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Zachary Cale found himself adrift, searching for inspiration in thoroughly weird times. He found it in a Red Hook art studio, where a piano sat, mostly unused. Cale’s primary instrument is the guitar — you can hear his expert playing all over his previous records. Composing on piano wasn’t his usual mode. But during those long nights in Red Hook, songs started to come.
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This week on Transmissions, guitarist Phil Manzanera, who joins us to discuss his latest project, a memoir called Revolución to Roxy. Writing about his childhood in revolutionary Cuba, his lifelong fascination with music, and his collaborations and run-ins with people like Brian Eno, David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, and more, Manzera reveals his Zelig-like status as one of art-rock’s most creatively pivotal figures. He joins us to discuss it all.
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Twelve years on from their last album together, Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White reconvene in a sprawling improvisation of tidal force, six cuts or one, depending on how you look at things. The tracks flow one into another like water running through sluices, inexorable and boundary-less. It’s as if, once started, the Dirty Three couldn’t stop until they had exhausted themselves.
The post Dirty Three :: Love Changes Everything appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Street-Legal is loud and brash and ugly. There’s a little stink to it, no question. But it reveals the world from which it hails in ways unlike any other Bob Dylan record. It is the primal scream of a man and his nation confronting a future of diminished horizons. It is white diamond gloom and destruction in the ditches. It is a seminal document of bad vibes.
The post This Place Don’t Make Sense To Me No More: Bob Dylan’s “Street-Legal” appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Richard Tucker, Campbell Bruce, and Bert Lee were regulars though not exactly superstars in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. They played as often for change, outdoors in Central Park as at the best known downtown venues, and they made just one album, Limited Edition, in 1970, long out of print until a digital reissue in 2014.
Indeed, Tucker is now best known for his creative partnership with his wife at the time, Karen Dalton. This collection of early, unreleased material includes the original recording of “Are You Leaving for the Country,” which Dalton covered memorably on her 1971 album, In My Own Time, as well as the only song the duo ever wrote together, “Sleeping in the Garden.”
The post Richard, Cam And Bert :: Somewhere In The Stars appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Citing influences such as 80s art-rock, Trish Keenan, Brigitte Fontaine, medieval choruses, church choirs, 50s harmony groups, and more, Coope almost sounds something like coalescing into Nico fronting early Animal Collective. Her deep, hypnotizing chant-like singing leads warbled, gossamer folk into an air of surreal stream of consciousness – her self-looped vocals, guitar, and sparse piano lines echoing against themselves in spectral delight, building cavernous choral fantasies where the tiresome realities and expectations of everyday life fold in on themselves.
The post Anastasia Coope :: Darning Woman appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
... other songs evoke The Zombies, and others yet Talk Talk. Solar and lunar at the same time, the ebbing, scarce light of Levesque's fingerpicked guitars comb into a dense honey dough. It's like he produced the ethnological recordings of the music of a group of divine beings from an 1980s fantasy B-movie.
The post Levek :: Look A Little Closer appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, airing every third Sunday of the month. This month features Tyler Wilcox's Doom & Gloom From The Tomb with a selection of semi-summery sounds new and old, followed by Chad DePasquale's New Happy Gathering with a mid-year halftime report of favorite 2024 digs. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: June 2024 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From his home in Tokyo, Cornelius joined us to discuss the ethereal qualities that make up his current material, his longtime admiration for The Durutti Column, looking back on breakthrough album Fantasma, the Kraftwerk-inspired visual components that augment his live performances, and much more.
The post Cornelius :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Hölderlin remains a footnote in the greater Kosmische tome. Like many of the Kraut canon’s lesser-knowns, Hölderlin’s legacy and overall impact would be marked by sporadic line-up changes, discrepancies in sound and direction, and even lawsuits. Their reputation is further shrouded in the fact that the group, along with big-timers Klaus Schulze and Manual Gottsching, were key parties to the eventual falling out and demise of Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and his Pilz and Cosmic Couriers label. Sensationalism be damned, prior to the drama and tumult that would follow, Hölderlin managed to lock- in on their first LP for the legendary and ill-fated Pilz.
The post Hölderlin :: Hölderlins Traum appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Efficient Space, the label that heroically issued this compilation, defines the songs it gathered as "confessional loner folk, devotional song, civil rights activism." I would suggest it is much more. Like Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk before it, Someone Like Me offers a glimpse into the transcendental sprouts in the salt of the earth, this time by way of alien americana and abstract, out-of-time lo-fi.
The post Someone Like Me :: A Compilation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Pacific bivouac. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The Parisian label Wewantsounds delivers yet again with Funk Tide – Tokyo Jazz-Funk from Electric Bird 1978-87, a compilation surveying the Japanese jazz label’s ferocious first decade, culled by the Tokyo-based DJ Notoya. The eight tracks within, many of which are seeing their first release outside of Japan, comprise a bonanza of fusion, city pop, smooth soul sounds, and beyond.
The post Funk Tide :: Tokyo Jazz-Funk from Electric Bird 1978-87 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
2024 marks 20 years of Wilco's current lineup, and the band is celebrating with another installment of their Solid Sound Festival and a new EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud. Band leader Jeff Tweedy joins host Jason P. Woodbury this week to discuss the fest and the absurdities of life in a band.
The post Transmissions :: Jeff Tweedy of Wilco appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Marina Allen's Eight Pointed Star brings back her light fusion of indie rock and Americana, evoking the folk revival of late '60s icons like Joni Mitchell and Karen Dalton as much as it does present-day peers Dana Gavanski and Andy Schauf.
The post Marina Allen :: Eight Pointed Star appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
One of the unrecognized masters of Brazilian music, Waltel Branco seemed to have been everywhere from the 1940s to the 1970s, Zelig-like. As the director of the Som Livre studios of Rede Globo, he produced most major records of Brazilian music history, with more than three thousand official credits and a few thousand more in dispute, for wildly different works, from the afro-folk of J.B. de Carvalho to the samba of Elizeth Cardoso to the bossa nova of João Gilberto to the tropicália of Gal Costa to the soul funk of Tim Maia.
The post Waltel Branco :: Meu Balanço appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Who was Margo Guryan? Words and Music is a definitive attempt at answering that question: a 3-LP box set collecting Guryan’s recorded work–early, jazz-leaning songs, Take a Picture, and the demos released in the early aughts. It traces Guryan’s musical career from precocious jazz composer to successful songwriter, from her conversion into a pop artist in the late '60s to her unlikely career revival beginning in the 1990s and continuing into the TikTok age.
The post Someone I Know :: Margo Guryan appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
At Ease With Coleman Hawkins is jazz for way past midnight, when ties are loosened and heels are kicked off; when the twilight glow of last night and tomorrow morning ooze into a hazy, pastel hue of here and now.
The post At Ease With Coleman Hawkins (1960) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Combing chamber pop, jazz, and folk with Buddhist poetry, Toronto's Luka Kuplowsky has created a contemplative space with his latest album, the beatifically titled How Can I Possibly Sleep When There Is Music.
The post Luka Kuplowsky :: How Can I Possibly Sleep When There Is Music appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Will Oldham has known Daniel Higgs for decades, first in Baltimore in the late 1990s, later putting up the Lungfish auteur whenever he passed through Louisville. So when his friend, musical collaborator and Louisville neighbor Nathan Salsburg suggested covering a Lungfish song that he’d been singing to his infant daughter, it made perfect sense to Oldham.
The post Bonnie “Prince” Billy :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Though it was released six years prior to Overgrown Path, Chris Cohen has retrospectively called Calamity "essentially his first solo record", featuring minor contributions from consummate collaborator Nedelle Torrisi. Both a mid-aughts indie relic and another of Cohen's signature timeless touch, it shouldn't be difficult for fans of his excellent solo albums to dive into the pool headfirst.
The post The Curtains :: Calamity appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, our weekly series of illuminating interviews and contextual conversations. This week on the show, guitarist and composer Julian Lage. On his latest album, the Blue Note release Speak To Me, Lage often presents himself as something of a singer/songwriter—minus the singing, that is. Joined by a five-piece band and producer Joe Henry, Lage careens from jittery free jazz to classic West Coast pop, maintaining a careful flow that feels generous but considered, diverse but not haphazard.
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If Bob Dylan is the great American artist—the single solitary figure whose body of work speaks to the entirety of the American experience, from sea to shining sea—then Kyle Field is the great Californian artist. The music Field makes as Little Wings encompasses the Golden State from tip to tail, the aural equivalent of a days-long crawl along the 101, from Crescent City to Tijuana. High On The Glade, Field’s latest, suggests a certain shade of Malibu, particularly its northern end, far from oceanfront estates and Chautauqua Boulevard traffic jams. Older, wilder, weirder; less Nobu, more Neptune’s Net.
The post Little Wings :: High On The Glade appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In the midst of a northeast tour Sam Moss stopped in to Pale Moon Services in Cambridge, NY for an afternoon where he spent some time meeting, working with, and being guided by studio proprietor Jared Samuel and assistant engineer Victor Pacek. The day culminated in the following four covers, including Townes Van Zandt's anthropomorphizing a window, 1979 Leonard Cohen, a Willie Nelson chestnut, and Jenn Wasner’s Flock of Dimes.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sam Moss appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Souvenirs shares an otherworldly beauty with the late Ethiopian nun Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's other words of piano and organ. But the presence of her singing voice—warm, lonesome, and seeking—makes for an intimate and spiritually profound listening experience. Producer Cyrus Moussavi joins us to dive deeper.
The post Emahoy’s Parting Gift :: Cyrus Moussavi on Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru’s Souvenirs appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The overwhelming theme of the Milwaukee Psych Fest earlier this month was the disappearing line between psychedelic rock and electric jazz. Right at the point intersection sat the ferocious Emergency Group, who meld diamond-cutter funk grooves, jazzy keyboard cascades and electric guitar squall. Thanks to a pristine soundboard from Milwaukee Taper, you can now hear the Brooklyn quartet rip apart the upper midwest.
The post Emergency Group at the Milwaukee Psych Fest appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Since 2019, Nicholas Krgovich and Joseph Shabason have settled into a groove of serenity. As its title implies, the third entry in pair's loose LP trilogy introduces the mystical touches of sound artist Matthew Sage, who recently released the gorgeous cozy eco-ambient album, Paradise Crick, with RVNG Intl.
The post Shabason, Krgovich, Sage :: Shabason, Krgovich, Sage appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Incoming transmission. On this episode of our weekly podcast, singer/songwriter Leyla McCalla joins us to discuss the new sonic terrain of her latest album, Sun Without The Heat. Though her earlier work with solo [...]
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King Hannah juxtaposes the cool, poised narratives of singer Hannah Merrick with the guitar storms of her partner Craig Whittle, a volatile mix that can sound like Dry Cleaning in one track, PJ Harvey the next. The duo, out of Liverpool, have one previous album, an EP and a slew of singles to their credit before Big Swimmer, but this album ups the stakes considerably.
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It’s no accident that Arab Strap’s eighth full album has a couple of emojis in the title. A disgruntled, disgusted masterwork, I’m Totally Fine With It lives in the belly of the digital beast, spewing blasted poetry at the dits and dots that move through its digestive tract.
The post Arab Strap :: I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
After a trio of excellent early aughts albums with his San Francisco post-prog outfit Citay, Ezra Feinberg stepped away from music to pursue a career as a psychoanalyst. In 2018, he returned to music with his first solo album, beginning an outstanding run of releases that continues to this day with the aptly titled Soft Power. Soft Power mixes post-rock, minimalism and new age, while somehow remaining tangibly human and emotionally grounded.
The post Ezra Feinberg :: Soft Power appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Though Paul Spring's music has always revolved around a nucleus of classical nylon string guitar and a healthy dose of Irish flute, River Flows Two Ways is a truly stripped down acoustic affair, reworking of fourteen tracks culled from his eclectic previous releases. Coinciding with a canoe tour down the Hudson River, the tireless session guitarist (and collaborator of artists like Mary Lattimore) spins new arrangements in both a fresh new album and catalogue introduction of sorts.
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Even if Fragments, the latest Bootleg Series release from 2023, is the end of the line, fans have been given hours upon hours of “pretty good stuff” that we’ll all be sifting through for decades to come. To celebrate this bounty — as well as Dylan’s 83rd birthday this week — dig into a very small selection of Bootleg Series highlights, stretching from The Times They Are A-Changin’ to Time Out Of Mind. There’s beauty in every grain of sand.
The post Bob Dylan’s 83rd Birthday :: Celebrating The Bootleg Series appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Possibly in Michigan has been called a pioneering work of lo-fi aestheticism, an advertisement for Satanism, and a “cursed film.” But is it really a surreal revenge fantasy based on the director’s relationship with the infamous Unicorn Killer?
The post Videodrome :: Possibly In Michigan (1983) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Comme il faut. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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With his new EP Roseway, Jeffrey Silverstein continues his journeyman drift, wedding country ballads to funk boogies and laser-guided motorik drive to languid, swamp-ready guitars. With his Telecaster Deluxe strapped on, Silverstein cut the recordings with his band. The music picks up where his last full-length, Western Sky Music, left off. We caught up with Silverstein to discuss how it came together. Our conversation, edited for clarity and cohesion, is presented here.
The post Jeffrey Silverstein :: On The Far Out, Psychedelic Swampiness of Roseway appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Inspired by Erik Satie and a 1952 French science fiction film, Jeff Parker's "La Jeteé” / “Jetty” has morphed and mutated over its lifespan, changing with its creators whims and settings. Parker joins us to track the song's evolution.
The post Reminders of Time :: On Jeff Parker’s La Jeteé” / “Jetty” appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Synth lifer Steve Roach has maintained a steady workflow for decades, releasing a steady stream of ambient and electronic soundscapes. With the 40th anniversary of Structures From Silence just passed, he joined us to discuss his creative process, learning to go with your own flow, and his lifelong sonic journey.
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"You don't have grief without love." Saxophonist Alan Braufman got his start in the early '70s NYC loft jazz scene, where he took in shows by Sun Ra and other firebrand luminaries. More than 50 years later, he's still at it with a post-bop stunner, Infinite Love, Infinite Tears. He joins us to discuss.
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Little Feat's Lowell George released only one solo album, 1977's Thanks I'll Eat It Here. Dominated by covers of artists like Rickie Lee Jones, Jimmy Webb, and Allen Toussaint, a new version of the album showcases George's vision.
The post Out of the LA Haze :: Lowell George: Thanks I’ll Eat It Here appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Lyrical sax-forward jazz meditations, frenetic piano banging free improvisation, loose hallucinatory sung melodies and surging, swelling masses of sound—it’s hard to pigeonhole Beings. Its music forms and reforms as you listen, shifting dramatically from measure to measure and track to track. This is free improvisation without collision.
The post Beings :: There Is A Garden appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A heady soul-reggae brew that only Lee “Scratch” Perry could concoct, George Faith’s To Be A Lover is a sweet and sultry dose of vintage R&B á la Upsetter. Released in 1977, it’s an undersung classic from the heyday of the Black Ark studio—eight cuts combining the velvet nonchalance of Faith’s voice with a group of reggae heavyweights working out tunes from the Stax, Motown, and Muscle Shoals songbooks.
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Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, airing every third Sunday of the month. This month features Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering with a mix of dream-pop, industrial discord, and chamber music, and Tyler Wilcox's Doom & Gloom From The Tomb with an early birthday tribute to Bob Dylan and his incredible Bootleg Series. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: May 2024 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Locust Land, is Bill MacKay's first album since 2019. It’s a mix of folky vocal melodies and transcendent instrumental reveries, intricate in execution but sublimely easy to listen to. We caught up to talk about MacKay’s life in guitar; the way that structured, sung songs and open-ended improvisations can say the same things in different ways, and how he hopes his music will land with people.
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Some records, leave you content with just listening to the songs. Others, they get under your skin and into your blood. They demand to be played over and over and over. You start to wonder about its origins, how it was made. You want to go back in time and watch it all come together. This is the case with The Speed of Hope by Belgian post punks Dole.
The post Dole :: The Speed of Hope appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Guitarist Elijah McLaughlin sets aside his 12-string for an electric guitar on this outstanding new collaboration with visual and sound artist Caleb Willitz, plus a clutch of midwestern head music ringers. The result is an endlessly inventive, restlessly mutating work of improvised music, which moves between jazz, psych, post-rock, ambient and Americana. But more than that, it is also a love letter to the Chicago experimental music scene.
The post Elijah McLaughlin & Caleb Willitz :: Morning Improvisations / Evening Abstractions appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on our podcast, Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes joins Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions to discuss the spiritual vastness of his beat-driven album, Death Jokes. Stacked with samples of artists like Lenny Bruce and J Dilla, it doesn't reveal itself quickly, but reveals more with each listen.
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As thoughtful in her articulations about her artistry as she is imaginative in her tremendously vivid arrangements, Clarissa Connelly is a compelling conversationalist. Today, she joins AD to discuss her new album, World of Work, the power of dreams and the ongoing discovery of magic to be found in her music.
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Last fall saw the release of the Sydney, Australia based DIY artist Chet Sounds' sophomore LP, Changes Happen to Everyone, Everywhere. At a dozen tracks, it's a lo-fi glossy and groove-laden trip across 70s-am pop, yacht rock, private press outsider folk, library funk, and Rundgren-esque psychedelia. For this installment of the Lagniappe Sessions we catch up with Chet (Tucker) as he works his way through a grip of disparate favorites, ranging from a mid-60s fantasy sit-com theme, to reinterpreting Judee Sill and the undisputed majesty that is Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale".
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Chet Sounds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Winged Wheel was already a supergroup of sorts. With the band’s second LP they’ve gotten even super-er. Big Hotel brings the whole gang back together: Cory Plump (Spray Paint, Expensive Shit), Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Damiana), Fred Thomas (Tyvek, Idle Ray) and Matthew Rolin (Powers/Rolin Duo). But it also adds two serious ringers to the mix — Sonic Youth’s mighty sticksman Steve Shelley and Water Damage’s similarly mighty Lonnie Slack.
The post Winged Wheel :: Big Hotel appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fabulous Soundtracks isn’t a concept album per se, but it’s structured like a series of “soundtracks” for 10 distinct real life experiences. Each refracted through Jack’s mind and his senses, these commonplace occurrences come out the other side like a shimmering dream.
The post Jack Name :: Fabulous Soundtracks appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Mirror Music is billed as a solo record, but Balmorhea’s Michael Muller is fully in collab mode here, drafting some of the best in the biz to help him craft a collection of hauntingly gorgeous sonic landscapes.
The post Michael A. Muller :: Mirror Music appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long-rumored since the death of the inimitable Trish Keenan in 2011, the “final” Broadcast album has materialized as Spell Blanket, a megalithic collection of songs and sketches culled from Trish’s extensive archive of 4-track tapes and MiniDiscs recorded during the group’s post-Tender Buttons period (2006-2009). Its 36 tracks mostly nestle somewhere between that unadorned masterpiece and the rough-hewn assemblage of Mother Is The Milky Way, though it fully showcases the myriad of facets—aside from their earliest, dreamiest era—that made the group so special.
The post Broadcast :: Spell Blanket – Collected Demos 2006-2009 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With a glowing aura, Close To The Mystery's twelve tracks cycle through with dashes of dreamy Julee Cruise balladry, the rugged glamour of early Roxy Music, and the artful experimentation of Arthur Russell. A loaded treasure of soulful art pop,
The post Jackie West :: Close To The Mystery appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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50 years ago this month, the Miles Davis octet traveled to Brazil for three-night stands in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo – a stretch of gigs featuring the same personnel that recorded the Dark Magus live set at Carnegie Hall earlier that spring. While Dark Magus documented guitarist Dominique Gaumont’s incendiary first night with the band, the tapes from Brazil capture Miles’ well-oiled three-guitar lineup in full flight; Gaumont layering waves of feedback between flights of Hendrix-inspired indulgence, Pete Cosey supplying gobs of heavily modulated riffs and theatrics, and rhythm ace Reggie Lucas abandoning the steady throb of the wah-wah to solo at will.
The post Miles Davis: Four More from Brazil, 1974 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A lost record from 1957, Ferlin Husky’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams would be right at home on the jukebox at The Bang Bang Bar from Lynch’s Twin Peaks. These are transmissions from the dark side of mid-century Americana, echoing across forgotten county line roads and empty chrome diners.
The post Ferlin Husky :: Boulevard of Broken Dreams appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on Transmissions, Jim Jupp, co-founder of Ghost Box Records, which has mined TV soundtracks, vintage electronics, psychedelia, pop, and supernatural folklore for decades, issuing music by Broadcast, Pye Corner Audio, The Advisory Circle, and Jupp's own band, The Belbury Poly, who released the jazzy, psychedelic concept album The Path last year. This week on Transmissions, Jupp joins us to discuss his storied label, plumbing the nostalgic depths, the evocative spaces of The Twilight Zone, fairy lore, extraterrestrial, and yes, the lure of "hauntology."
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This two-LP set is taken from a show on Feb. 21, 1976 and two in November 1977. The lineage of these records is a little muddled: parts of the 1977 shows were released on The Soul Vibrations of Man and Taking A Chance on Chances, two limited-edition records with questionable fidelity. Additionally, according to Sun Ra archivist Michael Anderson, the tapes were a mess: “it’s a puzzle,” he says in the liner notes. But thankfully the puzzle has been put together for release by Zev Feldman’s Jazz Detective label.
The post Two Nights In Chicago: Sun Ra At The Showcase 1976-77 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If Jahari Massamba Unit might have felt like just another side project four years ago for the prolific beatmaker and the loop-juggling rhythmist, it now seems like they have tapped into rich, unexplored territories in their own musical trajectories.
The post Jahari Massamba Unit :: YHWH is LOVE appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If the title strikes you as a twist on the classic Durutti Column track, mission accomplished. A nod to his favorite guitarist Vini Reilly, "Sketch For Spring" is the topical new single from avant pioneer Cornelius. Like the benchmarks of a classic Durutti track, the airy and intricate instrumental was originally designed as background music for an entertainment complex in Tokyo.
The post Cornelius :: Sketch For Spring appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Here in the Pitch is a gorgeous slice of baroque pop, but also something gnarlier and more complicated. Recording for the second time at Gary’s Electric Studio in Brooklyn and employing a full band, Pratt'’s realized a lush, baroque 1960s pop sound akin to Vashti Bunyan’s work with Joe Meek, Dusty Springfield, even Petula Clark.
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Chirs Cohen returns with "Damage", the first single from his new album Paint a Room, with Tortoise's Jeff Parker credited for the arrangements and experimental saxophonist Josh Johnson on the horns.
The post Chris Cohen :: Damage appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Following the release of 2019’s Gazing Globe, Outer Spaces eased into hiatus while Satalino and partner Chester Gwazda pursued some serious life changes. Changing states, physical ails, a global pandemic, and the resulting mental exhaustion gave birth to a series of stripped back acoustic tunes. Over the next few years those ideas gradually flourished into the ten songs that make up Little Green—a showcasing of Satalino’s artistic foundations, while laying her experience bare for the listener’s immersion.
The post Cara Beth Satalino :: Little Green appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The opening notes of Nick Harley’s Leave No Trace places the listener in an alternate weird and wobbly Appalachia. A folksiness remains throughout the tape, though the trail connects the dots between the country-rock of Crazy Horse, understated choruses a la Big Star, and just plain downer-folk by its terminus.
The post Nick Harley :: Leave No Trace appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Myriam Gendron is balanced between opposing forces: between songwriting and poetry, English and French, acoustic folk and chaotic post-rock. Her third album, Mayday, is a continuation of this balance: a meditation on grief, sorrow, and most importantly, survival. Ahead of its May 10 release, we sat down with Gendron, discussing Leonard Cohen, recording with Jim White, and the intersection of poetry and songwriting.
The post Catching Up With Myriam Gendron appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Music is integral to the bleak zones created by filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. With his new album, Lost Themes IV: Noir, he taps into the spirit of classic film noir. He joins us to discuss the style, mood, and influence of classic noir: "Everybody's doomed in these things. That's what I find."
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Via Adrian Sherwood’s liner notes to Cry Tuff Chants On U we’re reminded that Prince Far I had initially been dubbed King Cry Cry owing to his infamous “voice of thunder.” Had he been a preacher (which he was, in his own way) it’s not difficult to imagine him proselytizing to hordes of non-believers.
The post Prince Far I :: Cry Tuff Chants 1981-84 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Another banger from Analog Africa: their latest compilation, Congo Funk! – Sound Madness from the Shores of the Mighty Congo River (1969-1982), abounds with a surprising and exhilarating collision of rumba, psych, and funk. Homespun, lean, and occasionally blown out in garage bliss, the spirited sounds cultivated here represent the resulting explosion of Congolese rock bands following James Brown’s 1974 performance in Zaire in promotion of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s famed heavyweight bout, The Rumble in the Jungle.
The post Congo Funk! :: Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Though he’s known for his fiery, raging performances with groups like Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka and The Ancestors, Shabaka Hutchings eases into a contemplative zone with his debut solo album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. “What does it mean to have music of spiritual substance? What does it mean to be spiritual? What is spirit?” This week on Transmissions, Shabaka Hutchings joins us to discuss that force, his shift toward the flute, the influence of Outkast, and connecting with his father on a creative level.
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Recorded over two sessions in the fall of 1962 at Nola Penthouse Studios in New York City, Night Lights finds Gerry Mulligan exploring the somber side of cool jazz, playing originals and standards with a no-frills approach.
The post Gerry Mulligan :: Night Lights (1963) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On WALKS, the third album from Group Listening, the duo of Paul Jones and Stephen Black move into a more electronic frame, the newly synthetic soundscapes captured by a lens that remains fragile, bighearted, and childlike in its wonderment.
The post Group Listening :: Walks appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In March 2023, alto saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinoshi appeared onstage with an unexpected guest list. On top of seed. — Kinoshi’s 10-member ensemble founded in 2016 that includes horns, keys, guitars, two double basses, and some very lively drums — this suite was bolstered by the stately strings and woodwinds of the London Contemporary Orchestra, alongside the ghostly echoes of experimental turntablist NikNak.
The post Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed :: Gratitude appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Still House Plants filters torch blues through a cracked mirror, floating polysyllabic jazz singer melisma over clanging, clattering noise abstractions. It sounds like the most irregular sort of post-rock—U.S. Maple or Slint—with a Billie Holiday aficionado along for the ride, or perhaps like Circuit Des Yeux doing a guest shot with Black Midi. Let us stipulate right now that Still House Plants will not be to everyone’s taste, but you have to hear it. This is a band absolutely carving its own swath through music.
The post Still House Plants :: If I Don’t Make It, I Love U appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
That this sublime slice of life-affirming music is considered reggae is incidental in the same way that Alice Coltrane's Journey In Satchdinanda is considered jazz. What it really is, what they both really are is devotional music that transcends genre limitations and taps into something that most musicians could spend a lifetime failing to achieve.
The post Dadawah :: Peace And Love appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Tucked away in the jeweled annals of the ESP-Disk catalog is 4 A.M. at Frank’s (or Raga, as it was later titled upon reissue), the lone album by NYC free-folk progenitors The Seventh Sons. It’s quite possibly the most peaceful and flat-out beautiful album the label ever put out, an extended eastern-tinged folk jam that’s close kin to the searching guitar soli of Robbie Basho and Peter Walker.
The post The Seventh Sons :: 4 A.M. At Frank’s appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In the late 1970s, a budding dub-loving producer named Adrian Sherwood assembled a crack band of Caribbean musicians living in the working class neighborhoods of North-West London. Before they became Prince Far I’s onstage accompanists, Creation Rebel recorded a series of albums under their own name, cementing their status as the house band of Sherwood’s On-U Sound label.
The post Creation Rebel :: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Writhing Squares’ antecedents are the heaviest of heavy psychedelicists. They draw from the ecstatic riffery of Blue Cheer, the nodding hypnotics of Wooden Shjips, the heavy raptures of Red-era King Crimson. When they employ a drum machine, as in hard-popping “Cerberus,” you can hear an echo of Suicide in the whip-crack of percussion and the answering blat of saxophone.
The post Writhing Squares :: Mythology appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Step into spring with the latest edition of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
Included are tracks from two of our favorite records: Book End, whose band leader was also the leader of Primary Mini-Band, and Naotune Saga. The mix also features Buraiha, a band steeped in the avant-garde Angura movement, along with a group called Sharons Forever which (with no liner notes to guide) offers a poignant tribute, leaving us to ponder the mystery behind this memorial record dedicated to 'Sharons for everybody.'
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 14 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: the life and times of Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, the late Jean-Patrick Manchette, blurring the conceptual lines of experimental filmmaking and abstract animation, “the most unread book ever acclaimed,” and more.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 29 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It is perhaps at the peak of his unhinged behavior in the mid-70s that Martyn stumbled into his creative apex. Solid Air confirmed that the chops were there, but it was with One World that the artist cemented his potential for crafting masterworks that transcend the folk-singer moniker.
The post John Martyn :: One World appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Saturday, April 20th, Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions returned to the esoteric grounds of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles for a living taping with guest host Will Sheff (Okkervil River) in conversation author Sean Howe, discussing Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s, book on High Times founder, provocateur, and trickster Thomas King Forçade as part of PRS' Earth Day celebration Plantstock.
The post Transmissions :: Sean Howe (Live at PRS) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Colours & Light, Project Gemini’s second album, released by certified groove merchants Mr. Bongo, UK bassist Paul Osborne welcomes listeners into the soundtracks of his dreams. Expect acid folk, tropicalia, yé-yé, and Caribou circa The Milk of Human Kindness—when they were still a psych-pop band with two drum kits.
The post Project Gemini :: Colours & Light appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On his second live release this year, Villa Maximus sends jazz pianist and synthesizer maven Greg Foat to Mykonos with his frequent collaborators guitarist Warren Hampshire of the Bees and drummer Ayo Salawu of Kokoroko. But the real wild card here is stellar Greek reedman Sokratis Votskos, who adds flute and bass clarinet to this already formidable unit. The thrilling results range from deep space ambient jazz exploration to funky krautrock blowouts.
The post Greg Foat, Sokratis Votskos, Warren Hampshire & Ayo Salawu :: Live at Villa Maximus, Mykonos appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With Death Jokes Damon McMahon has created a complicated musical and cultural tapestry, inspired by hip-hop sample density. “I just really hope that people take the time to pay attention to the details, because there’s so much in this album. Even my dearest friends are saying, ‘I didn’t understand it until I’d listened to it five times.'"
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Although a few diehard indie rock fans would probably recognize his album artwork for groups like Galaxie 500, Urge Overkill, and the Butthole Surfers, it’s likely that even that small coterie of people wouldn’t readily recognize Michael Macioce's name. But he documented NYC's avant scene with his camera, offering photos of Sonic Youth, Ween, John Zorn, Galaxie 500 and many more.
The post Reversed Lens: The Return of Michael Macioce appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Maximal repetition with minimal deviation: This is the guiding principle of Water Damage, the amorphous Austin, Texas-based collective specializing in 20-minute slabs of hulking, relentless drone-rock for people who think two notes is one too many. An awe-inspiring racket that sounds like Earth taking a crack at making dance music, or a bulldozer covering Faust.
The post Water Damage :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Enter Nick Millevoi. The guitarist's Moon Pulses rises over the horizon of cosmic guitar, breathing life from a new direction. The six-part suite that encompasses the LP offers a stoic take on the free-form headyness that proliferates the current world of guitar records.
The post Nick Millevoi :: Moon Pulses appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns to the Dublab airwaves for another round of sound. New Happy Gathering kicks things off with an hour of folk, chamber atmospheres, and downtown jazz + Doom & Gloom From The Tomb will jam some new favorites from 2024 — motorik workouts, early morning ambient and dreamy drones. Sunday, 4-6pm PT.
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somesurprises began modestly, but with the band’s latest record, the excellent Perseids, they’ve moved into a positively widescreen space. It’s a dreamy sound, occasionally reminiscent of such legends as Stereolab, Grouper, Mazzy Star or Yo La Tengo. But it’s not just dreamy. Beneath the gorgeous drones and sweet motorik pop-rock, there are plenty of sharp edges, both sonically and lyrically.
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Though seemingly lost to history, ‘Bongo Joe’ was one of the best street performers to have ever graced a sidewalk - a musical genius, true outsider artist, DIY instrument builder, and poet-philosopher whose legacy has gone painfully neglected save for those lucky enough to witness his performances. Using a set of discarded oil barrels, a DIY PA system, and custom mallets, Bongo Joe transfixed street audiences across Texas, first performing in Houston, then Galveston, next Fort Worth, and finally San Antonio, where he set up in front of the Alamo for decades.
The post Bongo Joe :: Two Oil Drums And The Truth appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on the show, we’re joined by Sam Shepherd, AKA Floating Points. His discography is full of beautiful and strange electronic music—bubbling Buchalas, skittering beats, washes of synthesized sound, and even moody, spacious post-rock. But underneath it all, his love of jazz is clear. In 2021, he teamed with an actual jazz legend: the late Pharoah Sanders, as well as the London Symphony Orchestra for Promises, a single 46-minute composition broken into nine movements. Today, Floating Points joins us to discuss bringing Promises live to the Hollywood Bowl September 20th.
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On November 3rd, James Wallace, aka Skyway Man, returns with Flight of the Long Distance Healer. Best known for his work on Joe Pera Talks With You and his kaleidoscopic psychedelic pop records, Skyway Man is more than just a character for Wallace to inhabit: "Skyway Man is a vehicle for me to sing more easily about life and love. It’s a superimposed image, always flickering in and out of existence, different each time. Today, he shares the metaphysical sci-fi video for "The Holding On."
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With her 2019 book, American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology D.W. Pasulka documents her six-year-long ethnographic study into the belief systems at the root of the UAP phenomenon. Along the way, she interviews influential scientists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, astronauts, and former military and government officials, traveling from the deserts of New Mexico to the Vatican archives in Rome. Pasulka’s intent isn’t to persuade or deter from the phenomenon but to understand why—and how—people believe (or don’t believe) in UFOs and aliens from a modern vantage point. Using the history of religion as her narrative compass, Pasulka questions how people interpret unexplainable events and how current technology manipulates such interpretations.
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"Waiting for the guitar to play" concludes a short written piece penned by musician Yuzo Iwata, a memory of observing a jam session outside Tokyo. This Daylight Moon insert is a perfectly suitable precursor to the album: a fascinating, whirlwind relic of the late guitarist. Spiraling, Velvets-inspired guitar textures float between seaside ambiance and complex riffs over gloomy soundscapes. The (mostly) instrumental record grips hold of you as a reminder of the essence of a true psychedelia in sound, rather than the buzzy ambiguity that the term seems to be placated in of late.
The post Yuzo Iwata :: Daylight Moon appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week, we finish the band’s chronological story then pivot to take in Sunburned’s many artistic collaborators. We hear about the personal impact of the band’s non-stop touring and the eventual burnout that ground things to a halt. Moloney and Thomas then describe how this was followed by several “wilderness years” where the band was just there but they weren’t really doing anything with it. Overlapping with this period there was a migration from Boston out to western Massachusetts. This brings us up to the modern era and ends the chronological review of the band’s history. In the second half of this episode, we explore some of the band’s many artistic collaborators, including NNCK, Ira Cohen, Circle, and Four Tet. Finally, we hear about the visual arts aspects of the band – both cover artists and a bit about the individual practice of Phil Franklin. If you want to see some of the cover art discussed in this episode, check out the songs linked below. Several of the songs used in this episode came from these same albums.
The post No Way Out: An Oral History of Sunburned Hand of the Man: Loft at Sea appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in the Balearic Island of Mallorca at Bananamoon Observatory Studio, the-then home-studio of psych-pioneer Daevid Allen (Soft Machine, Gong), Brossa D’ahir’s sound is profoundly imbued with the bucolic, coastal atmosphere of its location. The music, dreamy and wandering, is a warm, breezy blend of guitar, bongos, flute, lute, glockenspiel, mandolin, and harmonica, swaying like a hammock in tranquil balance with Laguarda’s voice and the celestial backing vocals of Tapineria’s Joan Marí and additional players.
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Bill Orcutt, Chris Corsano, and Tashi Dorji join Aquarium Drunkard to discuss the lasting appeal of the two-piece band in improv and experimental music.
The post On the Duo Format: An Interview Series :: Chris Corsano, Bill Orcutt, and Tashi Dorjii (Pt. 2) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On New Shadows, the latest offering from Jerry David DeCicca, the always astonishing Texas troubadour shares what may be his most personal, internal reflections yet in a glorious left-turn of large, outward production. DeCicca’s dark, romantic, and existential ruminations are both disrupted and beautifully augmented by fat, slinky synths and drum machine beats, horns alternately dour and uplifting, and even the occasional auto tune. The album comes at the end of the month, but today he shares the final single, “Lost Days,” along with an accompanying video by Jake Housh.
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What more can be said about those hallowed halls of the PERRO sessions? A musical who’s who of the upper echelon of San Francisco at the height of its power. Every cornerstone of the scene was represented in the assemblage, but the ship was helmed by two wayward voyagers—pushing the outer expanses of musical ideation. Often omitted from the varied bootlegs and official releases culled from the sessions, an unsuspecting bit of guitar minimalism would finally see the light of day in 2006. With the deluxe reissue of David Crosby’s magnum opus If I Could Only Remember My Name, “Kids and Dogs” was unearthed for the masses.
The post David Crosby :: Kids And Dogs (1971) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Los Angeles, we are pleased to share word of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions live at the storied Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz on Saturday, September 30th with Matt Marble, author of Buddhist Bubblegum: Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russell.
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Thirty years ago, shortly after taking leave of Throwing Muses to start Belly, Kristin Hersh made Hips and Makers, a raw, acoustic solo album that throbbed with strings and pulsed with furiously strummed guitar, featured a notable duet with Michael Stipe, and ended up selling more copies than any of Hersh’s other records before or since. It was unamplified, but hardly quiet or well behaved, and about as passionate and stirring as a record can be. Fast forward to 2023, three years after the surprise return of Throwing Muses, and Hersh has circled back again with Clear Pond Road, her first solo acoustic outing in quite some time and a good one.
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Dub/roots especial. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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On November 17, Acetone releases i'm still waiting, a comprehensive boxset featuring the band's studio albums and unreleased recordings. Here, we present an exclusive excerpt from the boxset's liner notes, by Drew Daniel of Matmos. "Acetone's story is easy to miniaturize: they traded volume for space."
The post All the Days and Nights: Drew Daniel (Matmos) on Acetone, Then and Now appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the rugged coastline of Maine comes the sound of Wildflower, the music project of Adrian O'Barr. Composing gentle tunes and endearing lyrics, filled with pastoral beauty and hope, O'Barr procures the help of musician friends to augment his songs and lean into extended jams.
The post Wildflower :: Seabirds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back, thanks for being here with us. Emil Amos of the Drifter's Sympathy podcast is with us today on Transmissions. Perhaps you know his work with OM, Grails, Holy Sons, or the records he releases under his own name, like Zone Black, his latest record of library style sounds, synthy 80s soundtracks, hip-hop beats, and ambient music. It evokes a mythic ‘70s—an area we linger in this conversation.
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Montreal’s Retail Simps know their rock ‘n’ roll history and how to mess with tradition. On their second album, the quintet led by Celluloid Lunch label boss Joe Chamandy keeps the party raging with deep fried nuggets of garage-punk funk. Whether they’re revving up into frenzied guitar freakouts or coasting through slower paced strummers, Chamandy blows out his vocal chords at every step.
The post Theee Retail Simps :: Live On Cool Street appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As a followup to the Time Fades Away (Again) collection we shared earlier this year, break out the Jose Cuervo and get into one of the best audience tapes from Neil Young's somewhat ill-fated early 1973 North American tour.
"Neil was pretty strange on his big tour," former road manager Leo Makota told Rolling Stone. "[He] was trying to get a certain sound out of the band that he apparently could never find. The band would jam at soundchecks in the afternoon and sound great. Then they'd come in and do the show at night and never make it."
The post Neil Young & The Stray Gators :: Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia, January 29, 1973 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Swell Maps are the obvious reference point for Famous Mammals—especially since they’ve already paid tribute to Nikki Sudden—but you can also describe them as a toned-down Homosexuals, or someone’s idea of a dream band with Mark E. Smith sharing the mic with Trish Keenan.
The post Famous Mammals :: Instant Pop Expressionism Now! appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
At this point in our story, Sunburned Hand of the Man morphs into a many-headed hydra with varying manifestations in the loft and on each tour. To get through this vague period of 5-8 years, we focus on the band’s tour stories. We learn how a years-long period of heavy touring was kicked off with a family-band excursion to play a wedding in Alaska. After a conjunction of high-profile press coverage, Sunburned suddenly found themselves in high demand on the international festival circuit. So we focus on stories of their extended tour of Europe and the UK in 2003. Our story gets blurry after that first European tour, so we step back and focus first on stories of Sunburned’s many North American tours – including the 2004 cross-country trek out to Arthur Fest and back where they picked up the “no way out” rallying cry. Finally, we hear a conglomeration of stories from the band’s later European tours.
The post No Way Out: An Oral History of Sunburned Hand of the Man: Tent City Roller appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Steve Gunn, Rick Brown (75 Dollar Bill) and drummer Jim White join Aquarium Drunkard to discuss the lasting appeal of the two-piece band in improv and experimental music.
The post On the Duo Format (An Interview Series) :: Steve Gunn, Rick Brown, and Jim White (Pt.1) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The songs are good, but the singer overshadows them, making strummed blues folk unpredictable and mesmerizing with the sheer intensity of her delivery. You could go right back to Karen Dalton for comparisons or stop more concurrently with Joanna Sternberg, but these singers are idiosyncratic in different ways. Prewn is a band that sounds like nothing else, brash and ballsy then achingly vulnerable, but always in thrall to strong feelings.
The post Prewn :: Through the Window appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Maverick composer Arnold Dreyblatt joins us from his Berlin home base to discuss his visual art background, collaborating with Megafaun and Jim O’Rourke, the enduring rhythms of Bo Diddley, and his latest album, Resolve.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Based on sheer musicality, Wolf City could be the strongest record Amon Düül would ever make. The ensemble’s second record of 1972, released just a couple months after its predecessor, removes theatrics, limits improvisation, and its blistering riffs shake the very foundations of psychedelia. Things get quaking in wavering slink. The entire world begins to reverberate around the serpentine exchange of acoustic and electric guitar interplay. A false chorus ushers in a fiddle led freak-out and synthesizers begin to malfunction before heading into a lull.
The post Amon Düül: A Young Person’s Guide 005 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, so glad to have you here once again. Our guest this week is Will Sheff, known for his solo work and years with the indie rock band Okkervil River. In this conversation, Sheff and host Jason P. Woodbury cover a wide stretch, examining how the indie rock landscape has changed and evolved over decades, exploring the spiritual core at the heart of his music, and hearing stories about his interactions with luminaries like Roky Erickson and Jason Molina.
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Before the Mahavishnu Orchestra lit the inner mounting flame, before Chick Corea returned to forever, even before Miles Davis ran the voodoo into the great electric beyond, The Tony Williams Lifetime was melting minds and faces with their incendiary double-album debut, Emergency!.
The post The Tony Williams Lifetime :: Emergency! appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Amancio D’Silva, a Bombay-born, UK-based jazz guitarist and composer, cut his teeth playing with fellow musicians from the English jazz scene, releasing two albums of his own in the late [...]
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Ruth Garbus finds the extraordinary in the most mundane objects, the noise of traffic, the feel of a rubber ball in the hand, the comfort of two small squares of dark chocolate and one or two vials of red wine. These quiet songs, sublimely introspective yet recorded with friends in front of a live audience, have a still, luminous power.
The post Ruth Garbus :: Alive People appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In this week’s episode, we hear stories of Sunburned Hand of the Man’s earliest jamming and meet more members of the band. We learn that, after jamming namelessly for a year and a half, the band finally started using the Sunburned moniker. Then we tune in to learn about their earliest excursions playing outside the Charlestown loft, including their first show as Sunburned as part of an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. We hear how the interplay between these new locations and contexts provoked new modes of performance and artistic connections.
The post No Way Out :: Leaving the Nest appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In 2019, director Chad Stockfleth released a lo-fi, VHS-only documentary A Future History Of: The Elephant 6 Recording Co. Following that limited rollout, documentarian Lange Bangs—whose footage was used extensively in the film—came onboard with the folks behind 2020's Other Music doc, producer Rob Hatch-Miller and editor/producer Greg King, to streamline and expand the documentary. The resulting film, now titled The Elephant 6 Recording Co., sees official release on today. Bangs joins us to reflect on the Elephant 6 scene.
The post Lance Bangs on The Elephant 6 Recording Co. appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For the latest installment of the VIDEODROME column, we sat down with writer and screenwriter, Kim Morgan, to discuss Frank Perry’s Play It As It Lays (1972), Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins, and driving in Los Angeles.
The post Videodrome :: In Conversation with Kim Morgan on Play It As It Lays (1972) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Summer is the time for fusion. No, not the heady thought-provoking churning jazz skirmishes with psychedelia of Herbie Hancock’s early Headhunters or Miles’ brooding early 70s offerings. This calls for truly catchy grooves, more funk than conventional jazz, and beats per minute that soar as high as the mercury. Jaco-era Weather Report fits the bill, as does the seemingly cocaine-fueled filth funk summoned anytime Miroslav Vitous picks up the electric bass. And lest we forget the odysseys of the craft’s perfectionists--Casiopea.
On Bird Raga, guitarist Peter Sprague dives right into this mode.
The post Peter Sprague :: Bird Raga appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Today's guest is writer Laura Snapes. Her work has been published by the BBC, Pitchfork, and NME, and she's the deputy music editor of The Guardian. We’ve been aiming to have her for Transmissions for some time now, and now we're so glad we’ve got this episode to share with you listeners, covering the psycho-geology of songs, the climate, varied definitions of the term “Americana,” and her recent listening: Julie Byrne, Be Your Own Pet, Róisín Murphy, and Jesse Lanza. Plus, the occult roots of Aphex Twin and what it means to "name" a nascent music genre.
The post Transmissions :: Laura Snapes appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With its blasted out drums, scuzzy guitars, and sleek synths, Interiors, the fifth album from Brooklyn synth punk duo The Vacant Lots, cruises into a chrome-plated retro-future. He joins us to discuss Iggy and the Stooges, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Suicide, and other formative influences.
The post Diversions :: Vacant Lots appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
15 years ago in 2008, singer and songwriter Michael Nau released his band's debut as Cotton Jones Basket Ride, The River Strumming. Only 300 copies were pressed that immediately sold out, making it an obscure, rare record. Suicide Squeeze has recently reissued the record. This is an atmospheric album that is ready for rediscovery, a southern gothic summer night trip.
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This week, we hear about the origins of Sunburned Hand of the Man. Here’s an amazing and extremely early glimpse of Sunburned playing live in late 1997. You can see many of the musicians described in this episode! You can check out Shit Spangled Banner’s Ass Run release here, and this is the Discogs entry for the “other” version. Click through the images to see the accompanying note from Byron Coley. Also, here’s Byron’s piece remembering Marc Orleans published in The Wire. And this is an album by Marc Orleans’s band Juneau. We were wondering if Lothlorien – the Tolkein-themed space in southern Indiana was real.
The post No Way Out: Loveletter to Complicated Dreams appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As artists, we all hope to go out on our shields. Live in Brooklyn 2011 is an infallible testament to the unrivaled power of Sonic Youth’s three-decade career, one that saw countless peers and proteges come and go.
The post Sonic Youth :: Live in Brooklyn 2011 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Heavy-duty dub fire. Culled from versions produced for the Freedom Sounds label between 1976-1979, Freedom Sounds In Dub serves up some of the most righteous riddims Soul Syndicate ever laid down, all prepared á la dub by none other than his highness, King Tubby.
The post King Tubby And Soul Syndicate :: Freedom Sounds In Dub appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Rolling in from the other side. Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, August 20th, 4-8 PM Pacific. This month, Chad DePasquale drops in with New Happy Gathering, featuring a patchwork of 2023 digs, both new and archival. Jason P. Woodbury’s Range and Basin comes forth with a Sun Ra and Sinéad O’Connor-inspired mix of remixes, dubs, and cosmic comfort blankets. Tyler Wilcox arrives with Doom & Gloom from the Tomb, featuring an hour's worth of deep cuts/rarities/live jams/etc from The Band as a little tribute to the recently departed Robbie Robertson. And to close, a kosmiche patchwork: New Horizons: American Visionary Music 1968-1986 presented by Tarotplane.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard: August 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It’s time to get back into your compact disc collection, where untold bonus track treasures are waiting to be re-discovered. This time around, we’re checking out The Band in Woodstock, a tasty Dr. John / Nilsson collab and Neil Young & Crazy Horse burning down the barn.
The post Bonus Tracks, Vol. 5 :: The Band, Harry Nilsson, Neil Young and Crazy Horse appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Jimmy Jumpjump and animator Al Jarnow join us to discuss the rollicking new Sloppy Heads album Sometimes Just One Second, The Grateful Dead, Gary Panter, and more.
The post Jimmy Jumpjump of The Sloppy Heads and Al Jarnow :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On this episode of Transmissions, Darren Jessee joins us for a freewheeling talk about influences, lyrics, creative process, and his time on the road with Ben Folds Five. We discuss a wide range of artists—Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Gordon Lightfoot, and spend a lot of time reflecting on Neil Young, who Ben Folds Five toured with in the 1990s. Along the way, we inspect the notion of how songs change and shape our views, the tenor of the culture wars back in the ‘90s, and the value of occasionally overdoing it.
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The Band certainly went through the ringer — alcoholism, drug addiction, shady business dealings, mental health woes, etc. — but when they stepped onstage together, that all disappeared. Check ‘em out on this audience tape from way back in 1971, entertaining the throngs in Central Park on a warm summer night. The Band weren’t jammers; they generally stuck pretty close to the script in a live setting. But the songs have an added warmth, those irreplaceable/irrepressible voices blending magically with deceptively complicated arrangements. There’s a sense of support amongst the quintet that you don’t hear in many other places, an all-for-one spirit that lifts both the musicians and audience.
The post The Band :: Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City, June 30, 1971 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Early on Rosali Middleman’s Variable Happiness comes a moment that absorbs your entire life. A downward cascade of notes that draw you in and refuse to let go until they only exist as a fragmented toll in the ears. This new LP comes under the alias Edsel Axle (hereafter which Middleman is referred in the spirit of the proceedings) and features no one other than the artist on electric guitar and a combo amp.
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Anohni has been making transcendent, unearthly music for more than two decades now. Her latest album, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, is perhaps her best yet, mining a rich vein of classic soul to deliver impassioned lyrics about love, gender identity, intergenerational connection, and the climate crisis. She joins us to discuss resilience, soul, and the role of an artist in our damaged culture.
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Our pilot episode introduces the concept of the podcast and takes a close look at Sunburned’s iconic album, Headdress. We hear about the origins and goals of the podcast—grappling with the complexities of Sunburned’s chaotic narrative. Music journalist Allison Hussey joins us to provide an outsider’s perspective of the band. Byron Coley describes Sunburned’s impact on the wider music scene. Then we focus on one song in an attempt to discern a bit of what Sunburned does when they jam. Finally, we turn to Sunburned’s iconic 2002 release, Headdress, and that album’s recent 20th anniversary reissue.
The post No Way Out: An Oral History of Sunburned Hand of the Man: Headdress appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With The Path, Belbury Poly mastermind Jim Jupp (co-founder of Ghost Box) creates a vivid and faerie haunted-world, combining funk rhythms, krautrock repetition, prog grooves, and library music into a bewitching radiophonic swirl. While Belbury Poly began as a true solo project, here Jupp is joined by a cast of collaborators, including bassist/guitarist Christopher Budd, drummer Max Saidi, and Jesse Chandler (Pneumatic Tubes) on flute, clarinet, and keyboards, and author and poet Justin Hopper, who adds quixotic and evocative narration to the record.
The post Belbury Poly :: The Path appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Los Angeles singer/songwriter Sam Burton isn't trying to "reinvent the wheel" with his sophomore album, Dear Departed. Crafted in collaboration with Jonathan Wilson (Margo Price, Angel Olsen, Father John Misty) in Laurel Canyon, the album incorporates familiar and trusted elements—think Nick Drake at his most windswept, Leonard Cohen in a slightly sweeter mood, or a less rhinestoned Glen Campbell—but Burton presents his own vision. He joined us to discuss teaming up with Wilson, his roots in rural Utah, and finding a newfound appreciation for the '90s pop country he grew up hearing.
The post Sam Burton :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Back in 2022, songwriter Lincoln Barr got in touch, writing a personal note in which he expressed an appreciation for what we do here at Aquarium Drunkard. "Listening to the topics that come up in your conversations, I can't help but recognize a kindred spirit out there in the desert.” Since then, Barr and Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury have gone back and forth via email, discussing spirituality, art, poetry, Ireland, Sinéad O'Connor, NRBQ, psychedelia, personal work, and much more. And now, they finally link up for a proper podcast discussion. Though their conversation was shaded by the passing of O'Connor, a shared favorite, they covered lots of ground additionally, waxing on mysticism, personal exploration, and Barr's incredible album, Forfeit the Prize.
The post Transmissions :: Lincoln Barr appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. (some descriptors per the books, here) In this month’s stack: an experimental reggae novel, Lou Reed's tai chi practice, the final chapter of The Dead, and an oral history of The Hold Steady. Your librarians this month are Jarrod Annis, Justin Gage, Tyler Wilcox.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 25 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In “Não Diga Não”, part of Voz e Suor (1983), with maestro Cesar Camargo Mariano, Nana Caymmi is covering not bossa nova but an obscure Tito Madi song, of the samba-canção generation, a crooner-inspired genre which bossa nova was precisely reacting against.
The post Nana Caymmi e César Camargo Mariano :: Não Diga Não appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Returning for his second Lagniappe Session, Hollow Hand's Max Kinghorn-Mills this time teams up with Irish singer-songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances on the following pair of inspired covers. First up, the majesty that is the Elvis Costello penned "Shipbuilding", via Robert Wyatt's 1982 single, followed by a spirited rendering of the 1992 Yo La Tengo gem, "Always Something".
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With this podcast, we embrace the full force of Sunburned Hand of the Man. The final result is assembled from conversations and recordings with 15 current and past members as well as outside commentary from friends, fans, and collaborators. Across eight episodes, we unravel the band’s complex history and examine the hows and whys of this bizarre creative endeavor. Coming August 15th from Aquarium Drunkard and Talkhouse Podcast Network.
The post No Way Out: An Oral History of Sunburned Hand of the Man (Coming Soon) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like many reggae classics, there’s some digging to do when looking into the history of “Rise Up.” The track originated as a riddim for roots legend Max Romeo on the Barnes-produced I Love My Music in 1982. However, a keen producer’s instinct told Barnes he had a burner on his hands, and he overhauled the mix. Stripping away Romeo’s original vocal entirely, leaving only the relentless rhythm track and mantra-like chorus.
The post Tyrone Evans and Bullwackie :: Rise Up appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If Violent Hand of the Sleeping City feels like the soundtrack to a mid-century noir film that doesn't actually exist, well, that's the point. With a background in television & film scoring, the composer self-describes the record's mutated jazz as a homage to 1970s crime film scores.
The post Sean Wolcott :: Violent Hand Of The Sleeping City appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A wide cast, including avant-R&B singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, trumpeter Josef Leimberg, punk jazzers Irreversible Entanglements, cosmic reedist and vocalist Angel Bat Dawid, vocalist Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o, Grandmaster CAP, and remixers Dennis Bovell, Rich Medina, Moon Medicin, Sanford Biggers, Joel Tarman, and the Kronos Quartet unite to explore, expand, and reinterpret Sun Ra on Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War and Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War (Remixes).
The post Red Hot + Ra :: Nuclear War appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
You’ve probably seen the headlines — this summer is the hottest summer … ever. As we all wilt beneath 2023’s scorching heat, music is a good way to chill out, figuratively if not literally. And with another Bandcamp Friday (Aug. 4) upon us, we’ve got a few recommendations for the dog days.
The post Bandcamping :: Midsummer 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to the tenth installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 10 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Hataaliinez Wheeler grew up in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation. And though he’s just recently released his Dangerbird Records debut, Singing Into Darkness, he’s spent the last few years creating as much art as he can—recording music, making lo-fi videos, and writing poetry. Today, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his run-in with and shout-out from Mac Demarco, discuss the influence of his father's record collection, and discuss what its felt like for his personal art project to find a life outside of his own head.
The post Transmissions :: Hataałii appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
So steadfast was their faith in Jesse Colin Young, Warner Brothers ended up giving the frontman and his Youngblood cohorts the keys to a subsidiary label as the 1960s faded out. A greasy affair overall, the selections and the general atmosphere of camaraderie is cut from the same cloth as The Band’s early output, though with far less emphasis on the tightness of arrangements and harmonies.
The post Banana And The Bunch :: Mid-Mountain Ranch appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We last checked in with Taper’s Choice days before their first annual “Choice Fest” here in Los Angeles. Now, on the eve of the eagerly anticipated second annual event [Choice Fest, August 5th at Spoke Bicycle Club in Los Angeles], we reached out to the band to chart how things have grown and expanded, both in terms of fans and for themselves.
The post Catching Up With Taper’s Choice appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
There’s something enticing about a record that mysteriously strides the line between full-scale “children’s album” and, well, just another addition to the discography. Released the same year as their classic fourth record Stars/Time/Bubble/Love, legendary sunshine pop outfit The Free Design seemingly conquered both of these creative aesthetics with ...Sing for Very Important People.
The post The Free Design :: Sing for Very Important People appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When people talk about the rise of the underground punk and grunge of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, they often talk about bands like Pixies and Nirvana harnessing the quiet/loud effect—the swing between chaotic moments of aggression and more mellow, melodic control—and how that can heighten the effect of each. Far Caspian’s Joel Johnston takes a similar approach in his music but with a different set of tools. Rather than the loud and quiet, Johnston deploys the busy and the bare, the dense and the deserted, building his songs piece by piece before leveling them entirely. Johnston never lets his latest record, The Last Remaining Light, remain static for long.
The post Far Caspian :: The Last Remaining Light appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It has been almost 4 years since the release of Little Electric Chicken Heart but Ana Frango Elétrico has remained busy in the meantime, appearing on over 20 albums as a vocalist or instrumentalist.
The post Sessão de Verão 4 :: Ana Frango Elétrico – No Promises Or Predictions appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the beginning Paint has been less sweatily engaged in real-world, rock-band aesthetics than the Allah-Las. Spiritual Vegas, from 2020, draped a surreal glaze and shimmer over its drawling boogies and vamps. But Loss for Words goes much further, dissolving radio pop like a tablet of Alka-Seltzer in water, leaving nothing but bubbles.
The post PAINT :: Loss For Words appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
What does it mean to really listen to the Holy Spirit? To take up your cross and faithfully follow? What does it take to pass through the eye of the needle? Sinéad O'Connor knew. When she was growing up, a young abused girl in Dublin, she made a promise to follow the call of the Holy Spirit that dwelled within her, a force she would later come to say was music itself. In this space, she took refuge, and in return she found her voice, a one of a kind sound capable of soaring or cracking, of great power and holy sensitivity.
The post Promises to the Holy Spirit :: Sinéad O’Connor (1966-2023) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Backed by a murderer's row of local Nashville talent (Erin Rae, Rich Ruth, Sean Thompson, Adam Bednarik and Dominic Billett), Spencer Cullum returns to AD fold with the following encore Lagniappe Session. Not unlike his 2021 entry, the set of covers riffs on various portions of Cullum's musical diet, from the '70s avant pop of Slapp Happy to the ineffable magic that was Soft Machine's second full-length.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection | Second Session appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A world-weary would-be swansong by a maverick songwriter with nothing left to lose, Life and Death in Paradise is a portrait of Mike Cooper’s iconoclastic brilliance shining like the strange and glorious diamond it is, forever ahead of its time.
The post Mike Cooper :: Life And Death In Paradise appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to another episode of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, so glad to have you with us. A major inspiration for us in the podcast zone is media theorist Douglas Rushkoff, host [...]
The post Transmissions :: Andy Zax appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Unlike Lynch’s other commercial work, which highlights his aesthetic trademarks while showcasing the brand’s merchandise, the Georgia Coffee campaign is as much an advertisement for the product as it is for Twin Peaks, simultaneously exhibiting the series’ seismic impact on pop culture as well as Lynch’s uncanny ability to straddle the line between the mainstream and the avant-garde.
The post Videodrome :: David Lynch’s Georgia Coffee Commercials (1993) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Produced and co-composed with experimental-indie-jazz legend Chris Weisman, Blake Mills' new record feels like a slow-moving explosion -- a heated fog. Mills, who by now has already won a Grammy and played with Joni Mitchell for a while, inverts the very folk he aims for here, unwinding and disintegrating it into lush, counterintuitive arrangements.
The post Blake Mills :: There Is No Now appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ente is the main project of Arthur Bittencourt, one of the most promising names of contemporary Brazilian music. "eternamente sua", the band's second ever single (and the first from a debut record scheduled for this year), sounds like Clube da Esquina if they had been heavily into shoegaze. Bittencourt says he was influenced by Popol Vuh and Shostakovich as well as by the landscapes of Minas Gerais.
The post Ente :: Eternamente Sua appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Trumpeter Steve Bernstein joins us to discuss the electronically processed jazz of Sexmob's The Hard Way and share wild stories of working with legends like Lou Reed, how he helped prep the Sun Ra Arkestra to appear on-stage with U2, and tell us about the one time he had to tell Hal Willner "no."
The post Steven Bernstein (Sexmob) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the rare and obscure to the unknown, producer Tee Cardaci mines eleven genre-spanning gems produced during the waning days of Brazil's military dictatorship, recorded by a new emerging class of artists operating outside of the major label system. Set to release August 4th, via AD and Org Music, we asked Brazilian music authority Allen Thayer to catch up with Cardaci in regards to the three year process it took to make the Sonhos Secretos compilation a reality...
The post Sonhos Secretos :: In Conversation With Producer Tee Cardaci appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A mere spelling error gave Giovanni Tommaso's 1970 solo debut Indefinitive Atmosphere its distinct title, but the Italian bassist is responsible for its groovy slices of spunky fusion, jazz rock, and out there vibrations.
The post Giovanni Tommaso :: Indefinitive Atmosphere appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like its predecessor, this 16-song collection was compiled by garage rocker and record-maker Mikey Young (he’s played in Total Control, Eddy Suppression Ring, the Green Child, the Ooga Boogas and others, and mastered more hard-rocking down-under discs than you can shake a stick at) and Keith Abrahamsson (the founder and head of A&R at Anthology Recordings). Together the two have combed through dusty crates and piles of singles, finding long-neglected gems among collections bound for second-hand shops.
The post Various Artists :: Still Sad (Anthology) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Steve Gunn and John Truscinski have been making improvised music together for a decade and a half and five albums, exploring the fiery conjunctions between experimental drone and rock and roll. Their Soundkeeper, from 2020, was a revelation in the way it channeled explosive rock energy into free-ranging instrumental inquiry. Now, the duo adds a third in Bill Nace, the Body/Head collaborator they first worked alongside on a Kim Gordon-fronted project to accompany Andy Warhol’s film Kiss. The expansion makes a fundamental difference, anchoring this often incendiary guitar and percussion experiment in an endless serene now.
The post Gunn Truscinski Nace :: Glass Band appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Though Gia Margaret's 2018 debut, There’s Always a Glimmer, was the striking work of a singer/songwriter, when medical issues put a strain on her voice, she turned to instrumental music, first with her ambient leaning self-titled 2020 album, and now Romantic Piano, a collection of moving piano compositions, mostly instrumental, that feels at once meditative and comforting. It’s the kind of music that carves out more space for the listener—and it turns out, it’s the kind of music that did something similar for its creator. In our talk, we discuss the intuitive roots of Gia’s music, working with previous Transmissions guest David Bazan of Pedro the Lion, and much more. It’s a thoughtful, spacey conversation for you as we weather the way out heat of summers in a changing world
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Brooklyn's Emergency Group emerged earlier in 2023 with Inspection of Cruelty, a radical cassette on Island House Recordings. Blending electric Miles adventurism with kraut-y psychedelia, it was an auspicious debut — and its two extended tracks left you hungry for more. Fortunately, the quintet is already in the planning stages for a second LP, this one in collaboration with Psychic Temple / Big Ego mastermind Chris Schlarb. While we wait for the fruits of those sessions, dig Emergency Group's first Lagniappe Session — it's a doozy.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Emergency Group appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The seemingly sole disc from a group called Country Spice emerged in 1975 via the short-lived, Milford, Iowa-based Sonic Records and a recent, low-key, digital reissue from Numero Group has newly illuminated this country-rock / psych-pop gem. The ever-reliable B-side is preciously strange – a female voice takes over for a big sky, Mac-inflected cosmopolitan pop, its rural sound upended by baroque harpsichord passages and lyrical, gothic chimera.
The post Country Spice :: Clouds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The early part of 1970 has always been something of a black hole for Zappa fans. Session contracts suggested he was working, but on what exactly? Finally, with the release of Funky Nothingness, we get a look into this period. It’s not revelatory in the same way The Hot Rats Session box was, but it doesn’t feel like it’s supposed to be either. Instead it’s a peek into the studio and a look at Zappa’s music in transition, slowly moving from the jazz-rock of Hot Rats and into the harder jamming of his mid-'70s records.
The post Frank Zappa :: Funky Nothingness appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Leaving, a quiet masterstroke of chamber folk and scorched indie-rock, the Chicago-based artist tackles heavy, existential concerns—grief, isolation, heartbreak, the simple act of existing on a world that seems less habitable with each passing day—but plays on with quiet aplomb
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Signals coming from somewhere beyond. It's time for Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard. This month, resident DJ Chad DePasquale opens up with New Happy Gathering, an hour of atmospheric samba, dusty psych-folk, and sinewy funk. Next, Jason Woodbury’s Range and Basin dedicates a whole show to Bill Frisell's incredible "Egg Radio," spanning live takes, covers, studio work and beyond. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb with Tyler Wilcox shares an hour's worth of bittersweet 2023 sounds. And to close, musician and writer Jeffrey Silverstein invites you to join him for an hour of slinky country and big sky sounds. Airs on dublab, Sunday, July 16, from 4-8 Pacific.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: July 16, 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In 2007 WFMU's Beware of the Blog shared a raucous collection of "the racket made by a fuzztone guitar" entitled Country Fuzz Spectacular. They followed it up in 2011 with a second offering, both expertly curated. Along with (the equally great compilation) God Less America, the two volumes soundtracked a good many days and nights around the AD hq. It's now 2023 and we recently rediscovered the set via an ancient hard drive. Hallelujah. For those who missed out in the '00s, we're sharing both volumes here via a zipped folder.
The post Country Fuzz Spectacular, Vol. I & II appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Embrace the choogle. As far as summer jammers go, Sean Thompson's 'Weird Ears' LP from last August continues to pay dividends as it slides from country to cosmic in the blink of an eye. Presently woodshedding material for his next full-length, we caught up with Thompson and co. from his Nashville home, cutting four tracks for his inaugural Lagniappe Session. Come for the Funkadelic cover, stay for the Kernal.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Two new tracks arrive from cosmic country crooners Tobacco City just in time for a dumb, weird American summer. A-side “America” finds Chris Coleslaw and Lexi Goddard inebriated in hymn to our national idiocracy and the existential paradox of its existence.
The post Tobacco City :: America b/w Motorcade appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Marc Ribot is one of the most intriguing and dynamic guitarists in music. But when he wants to cut loose, he unites his punk-informed trio Ceramic Dog. Ahead of the charging Connection, Ribot joins us today on Transmissions to discuss musician labor rights, Hal Willner's Night Music and more.
The post Transmissions :: Marc Ribot appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
London-based reissue label Time Capsule, which released the AD-heavily rotated Mário Rui Silva’s Stories from Another Time 1982-1988 a couple years back, returns with Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 later this fall, a collection of Japanese reggae pop that, based on this first taste, promises to be revelatory.
The post Miki Hirayama :: 電子レンジ (Denshi Lenzi) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The oracular songs that make up Picture of Bunny Rabbit, the latest (and potentially final) posthumous release by minimalist/experimental/mystic composer Arthur Russell were recorded at about the same time as his best-known work, World of Echo. And they share that album's fragile, evocative, just beyond your fingertips elusiveness.
The post Arthur Russell :: Picture of Bunny Rabbit appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Live In Brooklyn 2011 captures Sonic Youth’s extraordinary final NYC performance. It’s been available digitally for a few years now, but Ethan Miller’s Silver Current Records is giving it a bootleg-a-rific double LP/CD physical release.
Want to dig even deeper? Check out this lovingly curated fan-made collection of (mostly) live Sonic Youth. Presented (mostly) chronologically, Death To Our Friends takes us from those scuzzy No Wave days to that Lollapalooza haze to the band’s excellent latter daze. Take a dip in the Diamond Sea this summer.
The post Sonic Youth :: Death To Our Friends (1981-2011) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored, Texas guitarist Hayden Pedigo wordlessly shares stories of fate and sustaining hope. A meticulous and detailed player, he's spent the last decade refining and shaping his sound, pushing for ultimate clarity of expression. But just give that cover painting by Jonathan Phillips a good look: Pedigo is just as interested in stoking creative impulses that align him with his comedic heroes—here's a guitarist who borrows from Harmony Korine nearly as much as John Fahey and names albums after quotes by National Lampoon co-founder Doug Kenney. Pedigo joins us to discuss bringing the unexpected into his work.
The post Calling From Elsewhere :: Hayden Pedigo on The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Part 6 of our Celtic Guru series. Perhaps ‘No Guru’ is a veiled admission that Van’s vehicle of theosophy, literature, and astral tendency to suspend himself and audiences in a frozen moment of space-time simply could not deliver on the spiritual awakening sought after for so many years. Having come up short, why not hunker down and make use of the mystic foundations he had built up over the decades in search of these answers in the minutiae of daily life.
The post Celtic Guru :: Van Morrison In The 80s | No Guru, No Method, No Teacher appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Now in their 37th year as a working outfit, we connected with founding member and bassist Dave Schools from his home in northern California to discuss the evolution of Widespread Panic, the early influence of Athens, GA, collaborations, their DIY approach, touring, mentors and beyond.
The post Dave Schools :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Hallelujah, Neil Young is back on the road after a long pandemic delay — perhaps the man’s longest break from touring … ever? On his west coast solo tour, Neil is going (relatively) deep into his back catalog, playing some rarely heard numbers from the days that used to be.
The post Neil Young :: Eurotour 2003 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A "Nature Day" concert at a modern art museum in Brasília, 1976. Enter Som Imaginario, the Tropicalia legends known for their own stellar album run in the early seventies (in addition to backing Milton Nascimento). With their wailing psychedelic fuzz guitar and blistering jazz rhythms, recently unearthed relic Banda Da Capital is a fascinating glimpse into the group's live prowess. At times, eerily reminiscent of the original Soft Machine line-up in the best possible way.
The post Som Imaginario :: Live at Museu de Arte Moderna appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
PJ Harvey makes news sonic and literary worlds each time the tape recorder is on. Her 10th album, I Inside the Old Year Dying is a 12-song cycle sets Harvey’s 2022 verse novel Orlam to music, folding natural sounds and Dorset dialect into a set of eerie post-industrial folk songs.
The post PJ Harvey :: I Inside the Old Year Dying appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
"I'm not a scientist, so I don't exactly understand how radio waves are sent through the air. But as a kid, it was magic." M. Ward joins us to discuss Supernatural Thing, Elvis, his collaborative process, the influence of Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, and more.
The post Catching Up With M. Ward appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Budos Band swaggers into the fray in Frontier’s Edge with a brilliant squall of brass and a sinuous rhythm section, splitting the difference between classic 1970s blaxploitation and a serpentine ethio-jazz groove. The Brooklyn-born large ensemble—which includes a full horn line and multiple percussionists in addition to the standard rock instruments—made six albums and two EPs on soul-funk revivalist Daptone Records. Now, they’re continuing the saga on their own Diamond West label.
The post The Budos Band :: Frontier’s Edge appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
While Black Lips have matured and grown since forming in 1999, the Atlanta-based garage band haven’t “settled down.” Case in point is Apocalypse Love , the group’s 10th album, released last year [...]
The post Transmissions :: Jared Swilley (Black Lips) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Clientele has been constructing gorgeous, buoyant psychedelic pop for more than three decades now, distilling the languid beauty of a late summer afternoon into whispery gems that hide surprising complications.Yet there has always been more to the Clientele’s art than wistful elegance, and never more so than I Am Not There Anymore, the band’s ninth full-length.
The post The Clientele :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Stewart Copeland speaks with Chris Schlarb about the derangement of The Police, film composing, and why he can't wait to get done with the interview.
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On the fifth anniversary of Richard Swift's passing, those who worked closest with him speak to what made his process so magical. Includes remembrances from Jonathan Rado (Foxygen), Damien Jurado, Jessie Baylin, Luke Lalonde (Born Ruffians), Greta Morgan (Springtime Carnivore), Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds), and Kevin Morby.
The post Art Time :: Richard Swift Remembered appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Just a perfect Day. The six gorgeous instrumentals that make up Danny Paul Grody’s quietly awesome new LP take us from sunrise to sunset, their steadily unfolding grooves somehow acknowledging the inevitable passage of time and stopping it entirely. Grody isn’t quite as prolific as some of his fingerpicking peers, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a single misplaced note in his catalog.
The post Danny Paul Grody :: Arc Of Day appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Endless Skyways finds Lee having finally reached the horizon he’d been headed toward, only to take a flying leap beyond it. At just nine tracks, the album wastes no time. The band achieves liftoff straight away with “Reds for a Blue Planet,” powered by Lee’s patented homebrew of twang and choogle. Just like that, we’re lost in the ozone and our heads are feeling a little lighter.
The post Bobby Lee :: Endless Skyways appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Multireedist Doug Wieselman is known for his work with the vanguard of pop, jazz, and avant-garde, but with his new album WA-Zoh, released by Shahzad Ismaily's figureight records, he turns his attention to electronically manipulated birdsong.
The post Doug Wieselman :: WA-Zoh appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Photo Summerlude. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Over the course of its thirteen year existence, Skygreen Leopards would further evolve, hone and refine its bent take on classic west coast psychedelia. As an album, Family Crimes not only stands as the nexus of this evolution, but is home to some of the group's best material.
Summer is here and so is its music.
The post The Skygreen Leopards :: Family Crimes appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on the show, we’re joined by London-based singer/songwriter David John Morris. Perhaps you know him for his work with folk rock band Red River Dialect , but for this talk, we [...]
The post Transmissions :: David John Morris (Red River Dialect) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With Heaven Is a Junkyard, Trevor Powers returns to the Youth Lagoon banner. Crafted with producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Adele, Gil Scott-Heron) after period of medical strife that robbed Powers of his ability to sing his signature lilt—thankfully only temporarily—the album finds Powers at his most generous and adventurous.
The post Youth Lagoon :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Following on from their excellent 2017 debut, The Bonk Seems To Be A Verb, the Dublin-based group led by Phil Christie continue to explore the boundless potential of experimentation and [...]
The post The Bonk :: Greater Than Or Equal To The Bonk appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This is Protomartyr’s sixth album, arriving out of a maelstrom of uncertainty and loss. The sound has turned slower, weightier and more violent. Where the band began in a spiked Fall-ish spatter, its songs now move with a ponderous nearly metallic heft.
The post Protomartyr :: Formal Growth In The Desert appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Search For God is best served on close listen, not succumbing to its musical simplicity and charm, but sitting with the simpler and harder-to-tackle questions it poses. Whispers doesn’t bathe much in metaphor, doesn’t water it down with lo-fi glam or frills. Instead, by trimming some excess and focusing on the song craft, Whispers takes a massive step forward. Like those who are subject to his words, we are left wanting more.
The post Jimmy Whispers :: The Search For God appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Seventh Continent is classified as a family drama, but it’s undoubtedly a horror film, perhaps one of the most horrifying films ever made. It’s nihilism as an aesthetic, misanthropy as a philosophy, and construction as deconstruction.
The post Videodrome :: The Seventh Continent (1989) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Charm is such a slippery thing to describe, especially the quiet, unassuming kind. Joanna Sternberg, the young singer-songwriter behind I’ve Got Me , has got it in bundles. It’s right there in every [...]
The post Joanna Sternberg :: I’ve Got Me appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to the ninth installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 9 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Aquarium Drunkard speaks with Douglas McCombs about the formation of Black Duck, the approach they took for their album, the motivation behind his 2022 solo release VMAK The post Douglas McCombs (Brokeback/The Sea and Cake/Black Duck) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Bar Italia occupies a shifting, shadowy ground between sunny 1960s euro-pop and post-punk, leaning one way or another depending on who is singing. Yet while each member has a distinctive timbre and personality, the song circles nonchalantly around a common theme: what it’s like to watch youth slipping away.
The post Bar Italia :: Tracey Denim appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
“Get your head out of the clouds.” It’s an idiom often associated with parents, teachers, authority figures, or any sort of ‘straight folk.’ Ascribe to the mundanity of life, the endless rat race, the wheel of productivity. On Cloud Suites, California pianist and experimental composer Nico Georis offers a gentle rebuke of this sentiment with a dizzying array of stratospheric keyboard arrangements.
The post Nico Georis :: Cloud Suites appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Now taking on the mysterious role of "Gary Owens" (the young lap steel guitar player on the LP cover), Graves is the moniker of veteran indie singer-songwriter Greg Olin. While spending many years collaborating with fellow Northern California outsider musicians like Lee Baggett and Little Wings (whom he now joins as Perpetual Doom labelmates), Graves has very quietly released a steady stream of solo material dating back to the early aughts; the music's subdued folk touch accurately described as "a calmness that can't be faked" the last cycle around.
The post Graves :: Gary Owens: I Have Some Thoughts appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Writing about The Modern Folk’s Modern Folk One in our AD 2022 Year in Review, we called it, “A blend of field recordings, astral zones, freak outs, leisurely jams, and rustique concrète from the ever-prolific Josh Moss.” That gives you a little sense of the kind of music Moss creates with his ultra-prolific recording project. Head over to his Bandcamp and you'll find dozens and dozens of releases. Moss is such an inspiring creator, completely beholden to doing his own thing explicitly, so naturally, this conversation wanders down strange paths—from Bigfoot to Bob Dylan—and stands as one of our most discursive episodes to date.
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Freak lifer Jeffrey Alexander recently dropped Spacious Minds, a five track "EP" featuring a thirty six minute "Dark Star". Plug in and space your face.
The post Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders :: Spacious Minds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Cinematic samba-funk tinged with warm psychedelia and plenty of saudade, Curyman is a beacon of modern Brasiliana and an instant summer session staple. While Rogê would be easily at home alongside contemporaries like Sessa and Tim Bernardes on our Atençao! comp from last year, there’s a lush charm to Curyman that harkens back to the golden era of 70s MPB.
The post Rogê :: Curyman appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If you've followed AD for a minute you're likely aware of Sam Blasucci's role as one half of the Los Angeles based Mapache. Whereas that project hones in on the sunny sonic alchemy of LA's coast and canyons, Blasucci's recent solo material works a slightly different thread, influenced both by his move from guitar to piano, and time spent in New Orleans over the pandemic. On heels of his debut long-player, Off My Stars, Blasucci's Lagniappe Session digs into the work of Mexico's Marco Antonio Solís Sosa, an old standard made popular by Jimmy Durante, and a nod to his own Italian roots.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sam Blasucci appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: a pictorial guide to the Steely Dan extended universe, conversations with the musicians who've backed up Bob Dylan, John Higgs alternative history of the 20th century, On Minimalism, and a road map to the shadow worlds of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska.
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Before the São Paulo bar and performance space Porta ever opened its doors to the public, Paula Rebellato, the co-owner, had a dream one night that she was visited by an old man. It was during the height of the pandemic and she was at a crossroads in her career, but in her dream an old man looked around the bar with approval, laughed, then exclaimed “Yeah, it’s going to be psychedelic!”
The post Sessão de Verão 3: Porta – The Old Man appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, Volume One was recently reissued as a 4-LP set via Real Gone Music. For vinyl pundits this is notable as it marks the first time the set's contents have been remastered for the format via the original analog tapes.
The post Grateful Dead :: Dick’s Picks Volume One appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like sands through the hourglass...It’s time for Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard. This month, resident DJ Chad DePasquale opens up with New Happy Gathering, an hour of psychedelic sunshine pop, gauzy summer folk, and experimental outsider blues. Next, Jason Woodbury’s Range and Basin offers private press synth hymns, fried jammers, and future soul. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb with Tyler Wilcox with sunbaked solar summer jazz from the '60s and '70s. And to close Aquarium Drunkard animator Mark Neeley presents Patchwork Radiant, an hour of music spanning jazz, symphony pop, mellow heat and more. Airs on dublab, Sunday, June 18, from 4-8 Pacific.
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Here is a driving, soul-jazz tour de force from a mysterious Northampton, MA quartet circa 1969. The original rarity limited to five hundred copies, the repress comes courtesy of Paris-based reissue label Le Très Jazz Club, whose catalogue includes sought after Japanese jazz releases from the likes of Kosuke Mine and Masaru Imada Trio +2's essential Green Caterpillar.
The post Elysian Spring :: Glass Flowers appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Summer approaches and we're once again under the spell of Legion of Mary, the short-lived bay area live outfit that was home to players Jerry Garcia, Merle Saunders, John Kahn, Martin Fierro and Ron Tutt. Performing around 60 shows between July 1974 to July 1975, the band's spirited performance at Milwaukee's Oriental Theatre in April of '75 is one of their best in circulation, and one that, thus far, has yet to see an official release.
The post Legion Of Mary :: Oriental Theatre | Milwaukee, WI, 1975 WZMF appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We recently caught up with both Cynthia Sley and Pat Place, in the first smoky days of summer, about Bush Tetra’s history and evolution, the new album and the legacy they’d like to leave. Said Place, “Girls come up to us after shows, and say that changed my life. We feel like, okay, wow, this is all worthwhile then.”
The post Bush Tetras :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to Transmissions. The name Bruce Licher commands respect in the underground world of independent rock. As musician and letterpress artist with Independent Project Press , he’s created art and bespoke album packaging [...]
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Circa 1973 by way of 2023, this recently released 7” from the Madrid-based Munster Records comprises two tracks from Colombian sisters Elia and Elizabeth Fleta—the title track to their album Alegría and a slice of sunshine psych from their self-titled lp.
The post Elia y Elizabeth :: Alegría b/w Ponte Bajo el Sol appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Paradise Crick feels like a breakthrough for the Colorado-based musician. It’s not so much an album as it is an enveloping landscape, teeming with ever-shifting textures and vibrant colors. We dropped in on Sage in his home studio a few weeks back to get a personal tour of Paradise Crick, in the process attempting to answer a thorny question: can ambient music be funny?
The post M. Sage :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Among a near-endless cycle of unearthing the unsung guitar hero, we come across some that truly branch out beyond the realm of the loner guitar soli adherent. And occasionally, those troubadours manage to keep on kicking long enough to see their music reach a wider audience after, sometimes, decades in obscurity. Wall Matthews is one such survivor.
The post Wall Matthews :: The Dance In Your Eye appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On the heels of their superb, hypnotically smooth fourth record, we bring you the inaugural Lagniappe Session from John Andrews & The Yawns. While Love for the Underdog examines the cinematic charms of the classic theater experience, this batch of covers expands upon the far reach of Andrews and his talented collective. From lo-fi takes on familiar influences like Arthur Russell and Vashti Bunyan, to the elusive single "Seabird" (also check the Peruvian yacht-rock version) by singer-songwriter duo The Alessi Brothers, there is a plethora of inspired takes to get lost in.
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Hoy hoy! This month we’re treated to a double dose of Little Feat with some seriously tricked-out reissues of two defining albums in a pretty flawless run, Sailin’ Shoes (1972) and Dixie Chicken (1973). There’s perhaps no better reflection of Little Feat than the music a put down on these two records, which represent a crucial junction in both sound and songwriting as the band transitioned from dusty barroom boogie to their breakthrough blend of slick production and southern-fried funk.
The post Little Feat :: Thank You! I’ll Eat It Here: Live At The Palladium, Los Angeles, CA (8/28/71) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
...in 1996 the group followed up Friday Afternoon In The Universe with an even more deeply heady and dank offering, Shack-man. MMW as a group decamped to a remote section of Hawaii to record the album (via solar power) in a literal plywood shack where they channeled the island’s native spirits, “The Nightmarchers”, and the funky New Orleans voodoo of The Meters, along with a sprinkle of Europe’s rave scene. The result was something akin to “soul-jazz, hip-hop, and post-punk world beat”.
The post Medeski Martin & Wood :: Jazz Econo: Friday Afternoon In The Universe And Shack-Man appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Another dive into the CD shelves, where we’re uncovering more bonus track gold. This time around Justin Gage and Tyler Wilcox have dug up some swampy jams, beautiful b-sides and righteously funky demos, all from that early- to mid-1970s sweet spot. Fire up that Discman and listen in.
The post Bonus Tracks, Vol. 4 :: Willie Nelson, John Cale, Curtis Mayfield appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Of the many albums to play in requiem for (T.S.) McPhee, fearless leader of the mighty Groundhogs, there are none quite like Live at Leeds. It’s one of those right place/right time performances, recorded in 1971 while the band was opening for the Stones with a set comprised entirely of songs from Thank Christ for the Bomb and Spilt.
The post The Groundhogs :: Live At Leeds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On villagers, the eighth album from Tim Rutili's steadfast Califone project, the singer bemoans “a Roxy Music cassette dying in the dashboard sun.” That image serves as a fitting description of the sound here: open pop melodies and soulful singing at the mercy of time, nature, and memory. Rutili joins us to discuss his creative process, after funeral disassociation, and how reality television influenced the album as much as, or more than, his lofty cinematic obsessions.
The post Tim Rutili on Califone’s Cinematic Village appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions: ambient country trio Suss. On their own, Suss members Jonathan Gregg, Bob Holmes, and Pat Irwin have been involved in musical projects, with artists like k.d. Lang, the B-52s, John Cale, David Bowie, Norah Jones, the War on Drugs and Wilco—Irwin even contributed music to Nickelodeon's Rocko’s Modern Life.
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While we wait for Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, let’s enjoy this wondrous 40+ minutes of the Coltrane Quintet in Finland. Compared to the Village Vanguard tapes from just a few weeks before, the performance is relatively smooth — nothing too outward bound like “India” or “Chasin’ Another Trane.”
The post John Coltrane Quintet With Eric Dolphy :: Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, November 22, 1961 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Just six cuts make up Waves, that is, five guitar duets and one noise-drone experiment, but all of them are quietly beautiful, bringing together the spirit, the skill, the intelligence of two remarkable guitarists at play.
The post Ben Chasny And Rick Tomlinson :: Waves appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Compiling 17 tracks across Angolan guitarist, researcher and intellectual Mário Rui Silva’s 1980s output, Stories From Another Time 1982-1988 is an eccentric and engrossing collection of historically informed and forward thinking folk music. Under the tutelage of Liceu Vieira Dias, co-founder of the late nationalist-militant afro-folk group Ngola Ritmos, Silva internalized the musical and political implications of his home’s origins under Portuguese imperialist rule and, upon turning these stones over, transmuted the generational trauma and traditional Angolan semba and kazukuta rhythms of its time with more modern textures of jazz-fusion, neoclassical, and tropical pop.
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This first taste from the recently launched Madlib Invazion Music Library Series finds JJ Whitefield at the controls with Ethio Meditations / Drama Al Dente. Created over the course of the pandemic, the series self describes as a nod to "the best 'Music Library' releases of the past, on labels like Italy’s Sermi, Germany’s Bruton, France’s MP2000 and the UK’s DeWolfe." Aesthetic ideals achieved, as Whitefield riffs on Ethiopian jazz and psychedelic funk over the course of the LP's nineteen tracks.
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From a studio tucked away in the back of the Ace General Store, a beachy vintage shop some 60 miles inland of the seaside coast of the small Japanese island Enoshima, emits the smoky, alchemic jazz-folk of maya ongaku. A trio of childhood friends—Tsutomu Sonoda on guitar and vocals, Ryota Takano on bass, and Shoei Ikeda on percussion and synth—the band feels fully at peace with itself on its debut album, Approach to Anima, released last month via Guruguru Brain.
The post Maya Ongaku :: Approach To Anima appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Consummate purveyors of 'American weirdness', Chicago's Glyders returned to the fold earlier this year with the release of their latest LP, Maria's Hunt, via hometown heroes Drag City. Buttressing the album, the band's Lagniappe Session takes on southern fried Skynyrd, The Damned as chooglers, acoustic Scott Walker and Johnny Mathis by way of the Hoss.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Glyders appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Bonny Doon came together in a scrappy DIY Detroit punk garage scene, but over time has moved towards the sunny clarity of classic pop. The band’s latest album, Let There Be Music, distills exuberant songs to their essence, tamping down the guitar mayhem to make space for the piano and breezy “ooh la las” waft over dreamy hooks.
The post Bonny Doon :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Here's one that slipped by us in 2021 -- the sophomore LP from the Bloomington, Indiana based jazz quartet, Snaarj. Released eight years after Levels, the group's 2013 effort, Snaarj II immediately makes up for lost time. Case in point, the album's longest track, "Parker Groove". In contrast to album's beat forward material, the leisurely six-plus minute groove stretches out for a solid four minutes before sliding into its eventual prolonged climax.
The post Snaarj :: Parker Groove appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Summer is creeping in, and if we're lucky, we'll soon be by the water somewhere warm. Cue "Life Go Low," the easygoing new single from Sam Evian, a track which floats along via a humid groove. Evian grew up near the coast of North Carolina, "down south where the weather's great / no one will mind if you show up late / I know for sure." Listening to this song, it's easy to imagine driving those Eastern NC roads that seem to stretch on forever past acres and acres of peanuts and other row crops, the breeze growing saltier as the ocean draws closer. Occasionally a horn blast cuts through the calm, but for the most part everything's pretty laid back.
The post Sam Evian :: Life Go Low appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in a desanctified church outside of Quebec, "Keepers" is the second track off the NY based jazz outfit's self-titled 2019 lp. Smoky, languid, spiritual and sublime.
The post Brahja :: Keepers appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
While much of the Brazilian pop-music scene was caught up in the groundbreaking fusion of traditional folk stylings with Rock and Roll, Baden Powell was lingering further in the past. Tropicalia was taking the underground by storm; applying fuzz guitar, jazzed out sensibility, and tongue-in-cheek humor to far more danceable and groove-oriented cuts than the Anglo-American scene could comprehend. But prior to Os Mutantes massive breakthrough, Powell was working through his own vision of Brazil’s emergence into the mainstream. In 1966, Tristeza on Guitar was released as an essential first step on the road to full-blown Tropicalia.
The post Baden Powell :: Tristeza On Guitar appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Summer is rapidly approaching — and if you need some fresh tunes to soundtrack the next few months, we’ve got recommendations, from Ethiopian pop to well-tuned piano minimalism. Be aware: there’s no Bandcamp Friday this month; the next one hits Aug. 4, 2023. But hey, any day can be Bandcamp Friday if you toss a couple extra dollars onto the asking price of any release on the platform.
The post Bandcamping :: Summer 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For his premiere Lagniappe Sessions, Novak takes the cinematic reverberation of Dark Canyon and infuses it into the compositions of Lee Hazelwood - another musician who was no stranger to the spectral sounds of lonesome desert towns.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Dark Canyon appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Last month marked the 109th anniversary of Sun Ra’s arrival on earth. As such, it's a fine time to revisit the soundtrack to the iconoclast's 1974 Afrofuturist science fiction film, Space Is The Place. The Sundazed label has it covered via their new boxed set, Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is The Place (Music From The Original Soundtrack).
The post Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is The Place (Music From The Original Soundtrack) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On April 19 of this year Abrams sat for a Zoom call in the Chicago home he shares with his partner Alvarado, backed by one of her signature glowing artworks. Abrams expressed his life’s work with the same reflective purpose and dedication he brings to his art. He discussed his Jewish upbringing, working with The Roots, jamming with Chicago’s finest improvisers and his unparalleled Eremite albums.
The post Joshua Abrams :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Today on the show, we’re joined by Allyson McCabe, author of the new book: Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters. McCabe is a writer, broadcaster and producer, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, BBC Culture, Wired and on NPR.
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Reissued last year via Mississippi Records, slip into this long out-of-print South African spiritual jazz LP from 1971. A songwriter, bandleader and pianist, Ndikho Xaba relocated from South Africa for San Francisco in 1964, falling in with the likes of Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra.
The post Ndikho Xaba And the Natives appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com. In this month’s bag: out-of-print albums, new versus ‘old’ music, a Bicycle Day query from New Zealand, record store strategies and more …
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: Mailbag, Vol. V appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Weird times, strange signals. Reverberating from the hills of Glassell Park, California, welcome to episode twelve of the Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show.
Feat: Cass McCombs | Jon McKiel | Quilt | Sean Thompson's Weird Ears | Triptides | Hollow Hand | Amen Dunes
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
... the result is Williamson’s lovely Time Ain’t Accidental, an album that balances the lilting heartbreak of classic country with the fresh, modern sound of pop. The songs are restless and yearning, powered by the ache for change and movement. They are gorgeously simple sounding but subtly sophisticated, showcasing Williamson’s clear, pure, vibrato laced voice.
The post Jess Williamson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Summer crate staple right here. All propers to Mr. Bongo for the initial hip, as featured on the third volume of their ongoing vinyl mixtape series. Brazil, 1972.
The post J.B. De Carvalho E Seu Terreiro :: Fui Na Umbanda appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded over four weeks in Adam Halliwell’s home of Melbourne, Freedom Lapse is inspired by a trip Halliwell made to Mexico shortly before the pandemic. In the liners, Halliwell describes his travels “winding through villages” of the mountains of Mexico, “drenched in color,” a place where “the past, present and future stretch out in one place.” This pliability of time and place is central to the magnetic pace of the album’s six tracks.
The post Adam Halliwell :: Freedom Lapse appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in 1971, and released two years later via ECM, Keith Jarrett's collaboration with drummer Jack DeJohnette marks one of the last times the keyboardist would flex electric. Fresh off his two year stint behind the boards in Miles Davis's electric band, Ruta and Daitya features seven duets produced by label head Manfred Eicher. With a palette skirting between sinuous electric funk and acoustic washes of percussion, flute and piano, the forty-one minute runtime does well to maintain a cohesive identity without feeling aesthetically schizophrenic.
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RF Shannon's new album Red Swan in Palmetto, out May 26th on Keeled Scales, finds the band exploring swampier parts of their native Texas. Gone is the wide open, desert-tinged sound of past albums; what has emerged is knottier and more enigmatic. Songwriter Shane Renfro talks to us about the long process of recording the new album and how he uses songwriting to explore and get closer to his natural surroundings.
The post RF Shannon :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Signifying a momentum shift in the influence of Brian Wilson, the nineties to early aughts saw a handful of curious, if not downright mysterious Beach Boys/Brian Wilson tribute compilations. With eclectic, avant-garde artists and names like Smiles, Vibes & Harmony, these comps began to emerge intermittently. Spurred by interest in the legendary abandoned Smile project reaching a fever pitch, these hidden relics provide fascinating insights frozen in time. All these decades later, artists of all varieties continue to look at that specific era's creative burst and beyond for endless inspiration. To quote the promotional description for the Japanese compilation Smiling Pets: "Sure, there's a little schlock, but not that much".
The post Subtle Vibrations: Assorted Beach Boys Cover Oddities appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On May 26, Aquarium Drunkard and Org Music present Jesus People Music Vol. 2. Culled from the BlackForrestry’s AD mixtapes of obscure ’60s and ’70s Jesus People psych, rock, folk, and country. In advance of this collection’s release, we’re presenting its liner notes, written by Jason P. Woodbury.
The post Jesus People Music, Volume 2: The Reckoning appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Funky crudités. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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We're pleased to welcome Alex Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay on today's episode. Together, they have created a tremendous and deeply entertaining new book about one of Aquarium Drunkard's favorite bands: Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors From The Songs of Steely Dan.
The post Transmissions :: Alex Pappademas & Joan LeMay on Steely Dan appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Glen Brigman, the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Southern California band Triptides, has been dabbling in variations of adjacent genres throughout the band’s nine album tenure. The band, and Brigman, continue to gracefully evolve from their bleached surf rock roots, through their wandering psychedelia breadth. Now, fresh off the heels of last year’s melodic, Heartbreakers-esque release So Many Days, Brigman draws from our collective past, both literally and sonically, to craft Triptide’s most recent LP, Starlight.
The post Triptides :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like its lead character, Sling Blade walks a fine line between mishandling sentimentality and portraying somber reality. But its characters are never caricatures, transcending tropes with an often excruciating amount of empathy and depth, none more so than Billy Bob Thornton as the tortured Karl Childers.
The post Videodrome :: Sling Blade (1996) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When I’m listening to Lael Neale’s new album Star Eater’s Delight , it makes me think of the duality of “resistance.” There’s resistance in the sense of restraint: the songs are skeletal, [...]
The post Catching Up With Lael Neale appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A deeply sighing cut of downtempo soul, the emotional gravitas on Cinnamon Soulettes’ “I’ll Show You How” is only amplified by the mystery surrounding its actual recording.
The post Cinnamon Soulettes :: I’ll Show You How appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
At one point while listening to Anadol’s latest LP, I became overwhelmed with the sensation of descent. At 15 minutes, the fourth track of Felicita seems intentionally sequenced as the arrhythmic heart of the record. There is a bell, a heartbeat, a train, something scratching, something breathing, something screaming. It’s a provocative mix which rewards an attentive headphone listen.
The post Anadol :: Felicita appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Yo La Tengo’s latest LP, This Stupid World, is another in a long line of masterpieces — this is a band that’s been so good for so long that it’s easy to take them for granted. But let’s not do that. As a little celebration of YLT, we’ve put together a mix of deep cuts stretching from the late 1980s to somewhere close to the present day. They’ve got a lot of this kind of thing. There are b-sides, bonus tracks, covers, instrumentals, guest appearances, remixes, live cuts, film scores … even the rejected jingle for a Coke commercial.
The post Yo La Tengo :: Deeper Into Deep Cuts appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Sifting through the sands of time. It’s time for Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard. This month, resident DJ Chad DePasquale opens up with New Happy Gathering, featuring jazz-funk, art-rock, sound experiments, [...]
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: May 21, 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via Brazil, polyrhythmic psych-laced orchestral steam heat. A kitchen sink kind of voodoo, complete with ambient bird calls, torrents of wind, hits of brass, and a bevy of unidentified "effects," 1968's Krishnanda is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Genre-defying, the album's thirty minute runtime touches upon myriad modalities and is now back in print via the Brighton, UK based Mr. Bongo.
The post Pedro Santos :: Krishnanda appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Though the grooves of Rose City Band's Garden Party go down easy, when he was coming of age in Wallingford, Connecticut in the 1980s, Ripley Johnson defined himself by what he hated. “Being an adolescent you’re just against everything, so we were against all of the synth pop and '80s haircuts,” says Johnson. “Everything was neon and there were yuppies and Reagan.”
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Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: American polymath Harry Smith's seismic influence over nearly every aspect of counterculture, the monk-like practice of deep listening, a survey of women in punk, how birds sleep and more.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 23 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
From the music down to the apropos cover art, there's an identifiable cinematic charm that permeates Love For the Underdog, the fourth LP from John Andrews and The Yawns.
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Name checking Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, The Circling Sun is collective murderer's row of New Zealand jazz luminaries crafting modal/spiritual jazz. Spirits, released later this month via Soundway Records, is their debut.
The post The Circling Sun :: Spirits appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Thiago França may just be the busiest musician in Brazil. His typical performance and recording schedule is often filled up 6-7 days a week, sometimes with more than one performance [...]
The post Sessão de Verão 2: Thiago França – The Silver Saxophone appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Get lost in this, the self-contained world of the London based jazz outfit Ill Considered. Formed in 2017 by Emre Ramazanoglu and Idris Rahman, the project began as an experiment in improvisation utilizing drums, bass, saxophone and percussion. Now boasting over a dozen releases, for a taste, dig into the group's 2018 full-length, Ill Considered 3. While no longer a strictly improvised excursion, the sentiment most definitely remains over the course of the LP's eight tracks, culminating in a heady 35 minute brew.
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Fresh off the release of the live album rock out Secret Stratosphere, William Tyler joins us to discuss his full band vision, discuss the last decade or so in film, and detail his fears about AI and the digital landscape.
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Fresh off the road from showcasing his calculated brand of Celtic Soul, Van returned to the studio in 1984 to record his most overlooked work of his 1980’s oeuvre. From the opening licks of “Tore Down a la Rimbaud” we’re greeted with familiarity: a tight groove, a muted edge, and Van drawing inspiration from his literary heroes. The studio craftsmanship of Morrison’s prior works of the decade remains, and he runs a tight ship keeping the layers of arrangements and backing singers right on time.
The post Celtic Guru :: Van Morrison In The 80s | A Sense of Wonder appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The new album from Brian Christinzo, known professionally as BC Camplight, begins with a joke and ends with a wordless two-minute outro track, “The Mourning." This is the kind of emotionally discordant record Christinzo has given us with The Last Rotation Of Earth, one where gallows humor sits next to genuine vulnerability and devastation.
The post BC Camplight :: The Last Rotation of Earth appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Erin Rae returns to AD with her third Lagniappe Session, this time as a duo with Taylor Zachry. A callback of sorts to her initial session from 2019, this installment once again finds the Nashville based singer-songwriter paying tribute to the enduring work of the late Gene Clark, covering "Out On The Side" and "Polly" - both tunes via Clark's own late sixties collaboration with banjo player Doug Dillard.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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This week on Transmissions, Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner, the psychedelic folk duo Elkhorn. Their new album, On the Universe In All Directions, finds Jesse once again at his familiar 12-string acoustic guitar, but instead of Drew joining with his trademark Telecaster, he’s moved over to vibraphone and drums for this outing. From Buddhism to John Fahey, from time slips to Aquarium Drunkard itself, this conversation unfolds and wanders, we hope you enjoy it.
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Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun ‘lan-ˌyap,’ — 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus. With the remarkable On The Whole Universe In All Directions , Elkhorn continues [...]
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Elkhorn appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Gardner picks up his guitar again for the amiably shaggy Flowers in Space, an album of four low-key liquid jams that all stretch out around the ten-minute mark. Recorded at the same 2019 Black Dirt sessions featured on Gardner’s excellent 2021 self-titled solo cassette, Flowers in Space further demonstrates the guitarist’s virtual telepathy with bassist Andy Cush (of Garcia Peoples) and drummer Ryan Jewell (of pretty much everything). It was unexpected treat to get another slab of sympathetic magic from what amounts to a veritable dad psych supergroup.
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Breathe deep the sonorous vapor that riseth from Green Ark, the latest from everyone’s favorite wooly, woodland wielders of the vibe eternal, MV & EE. After a brief (and prolific) detour with Wet Tuna, Green Ark synthesizes the last two decades of MV & EE’s various guises and iterations into a singular philosophy of sound, launching them on a new course to the far flung reaches of their Spectrasound universe.
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Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan's SQÜRL has been around for 14 years, but Silver Haze marks the duo's long-player debut. They join us to discuss working with producer Randall Dunn, guests Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anika, and Marc Ribot, and the influence of poet John Ashbery.
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Via Asheville, NC, the pensive piano jazz stylings of Steve Okonski. File under nocturne. Released earlier this year, Magnolia's atmospheric impetus initially stemmed from a late night session in the winter of 2020 followed up by a second week of sessions the following summer. All improvised and recorded live to a Tascam 388, the trio's (pianist Okonski, double bassist Michael Isvara Montgomery and drummer Aaron Frazer) interplay feels both intuitive and effortless.
The post Okonski :: Magnolia appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Released last year, Healing Potpourri’s Paradise came across like an introspective deep dive, drawing upon all that inspired the band’s orchestral brew of infectious chamber pop. The recording project of Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Simi Sohota and collaborators, the group’s inaugural Lagniappe Session dives head first into these avant-pop sensibilities.
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Shaping up to be one of our most played albums this spring, Gabriel da Rosa made his full-length debut in February with É O Que A Casa Oferece, courtesy of Stones Throw Records. Sounding like a lost seventies samba album, from the likes of Paulinho da Viola or Martinho da Vila, da Rosa makes his Lagniappe debut via a pair of Brazilian staples: Geraldo Pereira and Tom Jobim with Vinícius de Moraes.
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A decade ago, alone in his Indianapolis apartment, Jason Molina died, his body no longer able to keep up with what it kept calling for. Seven years prior to his death he was a man on fire. His creative process was fueled by a recognition of darkness, resulting in incredibly confessional and stark albums.
The post Don’t This Look Like the Dark :: On Magnolia Electric Co.’s Sojourner appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Fridge’s masterpiece Happiness dropped in September 2001. And like Tortoise’s American flag-stamped Standards from earlier that year, it was one of the last great missives from post-rock’s salad days. Revisiting it at two decades’ remove, one still hears the work of ingenious and relentless tinkerers.
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This week on Transmissions, we’re joined by writer and musician Jana Horn. Her new album The Window is the Dream is out now on No Quarter Records. Writing about it, Andy French at Raven Sings The Blues calls it, a “delicate exfoliation of dream and reality.” When she’s not penning oracular folk rock songs, Horn teaches fiction at the University of Virginia and writes short fiction. She joins us to discuss it all.
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Kahil El'Zabar has worked as a bandleader and collaborated with Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Dizzy Gillespie. With his latest album, Spirit Gatherer: A Tribute to Don Cherry, El’Zabar is once again joined by the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, with vocalist Dwight Trible of the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and multi-instrumentalist and son of the album’s namesake, David Ornette Cherry. Celebrating jazz luminary Don Cherry, the album is beautiful in its spatial depth, brevity, and intimacy, three attributes clearly set upon with masterful intention.
The post Kahil El’Zabar: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
10 tunes were chosen for Loaded, each one a perfect pop miniature. The album is famous for its unparalleled one-two punch of "Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll," of course. But that's just the beginning of its delights. There's also the twilit balladry of "I Found A Reason," the choogling groove of "Train Round the Bend," the garage rock abandon of "Head Held High," and the slow, sad sway of "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'." Slyest of all is the groovy opener, "Who Loves the Sun," which wouldn't have sounded out of place next to the Archies on Lou's beloved AM radio.
The post The Velvet Underground :: Fully Re-Loaded appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
"Without a doubt, there was something mystical and magical going on with Lee Perry." Co-director Adam Bhala Lough joins us to discuss his film, The Upsetter: The Life & Music of "Lee" Scratch Perry and what he learned from his time with the late dub pioneer and artist.
The post The Upsetter Director Adam Bhala Lough on Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Supernatural Will appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If a friend were to inform me that a psychedelic band had just held up a convenience store, seized a Fed Ex truck, and were now currently at large and on the lam, my first guess would be that the perpetrators were the members of Mystic 100s. Like their hardcore punk forebears, the group’s music often sounds like the work of unpredictable and dangerous people.
The post Mystic 100s :: On A Micro Diet appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In the 1970s, Os Tincoãs released three of the most revered and unique records of Brazilian music, which crystallized translucid vocal melodies on top of the polyrhythmic percussion patterns of Afro-Brazilian ritualistic music. Now, more than forty years after their last album, Sanzala Cultural has just released Canto Coral Afrobrasileiro, a collection of the trio’s recordings from 1982/83.
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The violence and bleakness at the end of Over The Edge sets it apart from other like-minded coming-of-age/juvenile delinquent films; it chooses to resolve itself as a cautionary tale for adults instead of a celebration of youth for teenagers.
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Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn join Aquarium Drunkard to discuss UK Grim, their latest collection of discontented electronic post punk anti-anthems. They share thoughts on working with Perry Farrell, online discourse, and their unlikely pop audience.
The post Catching Up With Sleaford Mods appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Back from Australia, jet lag transmission. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Europe 1966 is a 4-LP set documenting four of Albert Ayler’s performances with his quintet that took place over a ten-day period in November 1966. The collection includes the band’s appearances in Berlin, Lörrach, Stockholm, and Paris, where the saxophonist and his group took part in a package tour called Newport In Europe, a George Wein-curated program that also included Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, and Dave Brubeck. Ayler’s group on this tour consisted of his brother Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, William Folwell on double bass, and Beaver Harris on drums. (The latter replaced longtime Ayler accompanist Sunny Murray, who opted not to make the European trip.)
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Recorded in Lafayette Park near the White House in 1972, Love Cry Want made the Nixon administration tremble and, the story goes, prompted the president’s Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman to cut the band’s power source. So, why haven’t you heard this shamanic burst of fire music with killer grooves?
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This week on Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions: spiritual avant-garde jazz keyboardist Surya Botofasina. His latest album is called Everyone’s Children and it was created in collaboration with previous Transmissions guest Carlos Niño , members of [...]
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Via fan compiled live footage of several sets spanning 1964 to 1975, the meditative grace of Bill Evans. Sweden. France. Denmark. Transcendent.
The post Bill Evans :: Live Footage 1964-1975 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
What makes Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra so salient – so casually charming and endearing – is that it belongs to a singular night. It’s not only a live performance, but a sonic documentation of an evening spent at the Alhambra in Chicago.
The post Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra (1981) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On the heels of their exceptional tenth LP, A River Running To Your Heart, Eric D. Johnson's long-running Fruit Bats return to AD with their second Lagniappe Session. While the 2014 entry found Johnson and co. covering the likes of Richard and Linda Thompson (along with '80s avatar Joe Jackson), this new installment pays tribute to both the lyricism of Ewan MacColl and Fred Neil as well as the enduring nature of the chosen pair of tunes. Giants, both.
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After a few more prolific years as a perpetually in-demand session player, Spencer Cullum's highly anticipated sophomore record is another gleaming display of folk beauty and avant-pop sensibilities. A sorcerer of the pedal steel guitar, the Nashville-via-England musician brings a fresh new approach on the heels of contributing to the sessions of the likes of Angel Olsen's Big Time. The breezy, pastoral atmosphere of an Essex countryside still permeates Coin Collection 2, where the minimalist hums of harp, mandolin and cello flow from a theoretical, cozy pub. All the while, Cullum's vocals shine as more maturely pronounced than the last time around.
The post Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A year on from Big Time, Angel Olsen revisits four songs from that startlingly beautiful full-length’s sessions, paring back to classic country essentials in two pristine ballads and rocking out in a pair of full-band recordings.
The post Angel Olsen :: Forever Means appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Coming in hot like mercury. Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard. Gentle drifts, upward shifts, and who knows what else in between. This month, resident DJ Chad Depasquale digs up a blend of funk, country, soul, and folk music—let yourself wander with New Happy Gathering. Next, Jason Woodbury’s desert sojourn Range and Basin after the end of the world. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb with Tyler Wilcox. Some old stuff, some new stuff. All golden! And to close, a special mix from James Adams, a special presentation of Pretty Good Stuff: Bob Dylan in Japan. Airs on dublab, Sunday, April 16, from 4-8 Pacific.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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In 1992, Eddie Chacon broke out as one-half of Charles & Eddie, his soul music duo with Charles Pettigrew. Their single “Would I Lie to You?” was a major international [...]
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After The Feelies splintered, bassist Brenda Sauter formed Wild Carnation. Tricycle, Wild Carnation’s 1994 debut, is an under-heralded classic of Garden State folk rock. Feelies fans will find plenty to love — and much more. Tricycle is getting deservedly spruced up in a remastered/expanded form by Delmore Recordings for Record Store Day this month, so Aquarium Drunkard hopped on the phone with Sauter to get the behind-the-scenes details. Like any good New Jersey saga, it features Maxwell’s, Yo La Tengo and a Sopranos cast member.
The post Brenda Sauter (The Feelies, Wild Carnation) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We last caught Steve Gunn and Bing & Ruth’s David Moore together on Gunn’s Nakama EP, the 2021 disc where the guitarist reimagined five cuts from that same year’s Other You with various collaborators. In an alternate version of “Reflection” Gunn and the minimalist composer expanded and extended conventional song structure but didn’t abandon it entirely. This new joint effort is far more open-ended, letting splayed guitar chords and clear, uncomplicated piano notes glance off one another in a gentle ebb and flow.
The post Steve Gunn and David Moore :: Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Among certain sectors, Steve Hillage will always be known as the “exhibit A’” cosmic hippie rock guitar virtuoso. But part of what made his 1970s work so original was the degree to which his band cross pollinated guitar with synthesizer. Exploring esoteric topics, far out symbolism, and awash in aquatic cosmic tides, Hillage created a body of mystic jazz rock.
The post The Water Bearer’s Jar :: The Esoteric Jazz Rock of Steve Hillage appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Hovering somewhere in the middle distance between ambient country, noir jazz, and post-rock bliss, New York instrumental group Royal Arctic Institute returns with From Coma to Catharsis. Recorded in collaboration with James McNew of Yo La Tengo, the new album sounds, to quote AD's Tyler Wilcox, something like "Tortoise covering Santo & Johnny." John Leon of RAI joins us to discuss.
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Long Cool World by ambient country duo North Americans—guitarist Patrick McDermott and pedal steel wizard Barry Walker Jr—unfolds slowly, stretching time nearly to the point of dissolve, ushering in melodies like spring crocuses after a thaw. The peals and textures of Walker’s steel entwine with McDermott’s own gentle picking with a synergy that reveals each player to be of the same diamond mind.
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The Black Editions label continues to do the lord’s work. In recent years, they’ve been digging through the archives of legendary Japanese psych label P.S.F., giving new life to some truly great and often lesser-known records. The latest is Heavenly Persona, the only studio album from Shizuka, which was released on CD back in 1994. A remarkable record — try to imagine Les Rallizes Dénudés making a record with Hope Sandoval and you’re somewhere in the ballpark.
The post Shizuka :: Heavenly Persona appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Today on Transmissions, Adrian Quesada is best known as one-half of The Black Pumas, his duo with singer/songwriter Eric Burton. But Quesada’s musical output is varied: he’s worked with Brownout, a Latin hard rock-tinged outfit, Grupo Fantasma, Adrian Younge, and many more. In 2022, he released his debut solo album, Boleros Psicodélicos, followed that same year by Jaguar Sound. He joined us to discuss his trajectory, his worldwide success, his roots in hip-hop, and much more.
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Faith Hubley's experimental short film Skydance opens with a simple message: "Reaching for life in the cosmos." Animated in Hubley's unmistakable visual style with sound provided by playwright and musician Elizabeth Swados, Skydance blended jazz and animation. A further blurring of the lines between mediums can be experienced with a new book edition of Skydance, published by Anthology Editions. Part abstract art book, part storybook, it's a remarkable 2D adaptation of Hubley's one of a kind film.
The post Skydance :: The Fusion of Jazz & Animation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Bob Dylan is headed to Japan for his first shows of the year, and Bobcats around the world will mark that gig as the real beginning of 2023. This new episode proves that every time Dylan visits Japan, he leaves behind plenty of Pretty Good Stuff.
The post Bob Dylan :: Pretty Good Stuff | Ep. 16–Live in Japan appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Spring may have already arrived as far as the calendar is concerned, but Allchival Records' new Operating Theatre compilation, Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth / Rapid Eye Movements, nonetheless suits the season's shift toward verdant growth. Led by producer, composer, and musical maverick Roger Doyle, Operating Theatre was an Irish synth-pop band and avant-garde theatre troupe. These Fairlight-sampler driven synth epics point to the possibility of spring's arrival.
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On Lonnie Holley's Oh Me Oh My, the visionary bluesman unearths surreal experiences in hallucinatory, stream of consciousness poetry, backed by feverish, impressionistic jazz, funk and gospel music. Jacknife Lee, the acclaimed Irish producer, assembled the musical backing and incorporated contributions from guest artists, giving Holley’s music a shimmering dreamlike depth. A diverse group of collaborators, including Moor Mother, Michael Stipe, Justin Vernon, Sharon van Etten and Rokia Koné added their voices to these revelatory songs. Today, he joins us to discuss.
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We’re back in the CD section, digging through those round shiny things to spotlight some of our favorite bonus tracks. This time around, check out some way-out early 70s jazz-funk, lost West Coast psych jams and spiraling folk rock trips.
The post Bonus Tracks, Vol. 2: Bobby Hutcherson, The Byrds, Pentangle appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The seeds for Langendorf United—a new quintet led by Swedish composer & saxophonist Lina Langendorf—took root in 2013 when she traveled to Addis Ababa, practicing Ethiopian scales and tonalities while studying the music of Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekuria and Hailu Mergia. Ten years later, she emerges with Yeahno Yowouw Land, a smoldering mind-meld of free, spiritual, ethio-jazz recorded over two days with players from Sweden and Norway...
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This week on Transmissions, we’re talking past selves with Sharon Van Etten, who’s recently released an anniversary edition of her landmark 2012 album Tramp. Raw, personal, and born from personal upheaval, [...]
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Over his many years perched in the tangled branches of American underground music's family tree, James Jackson Toth has employed many names for his projects, including his own name, the ever-morphing Wooden Wand designation, DUNZA, and more. And now: James and The Giants. He joins us to discuss the personal and sci-fi nature of the record and ponder: What would Neil Young do?
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...a brilliantly raw snapshot, a weirdo masterpiece that trades the celebratory nature of most live albums for uncertainty, experimentation and feral wildness. To celebrate Time Fades Away’s golden anniversary, we’ve compiled an alternate version of the album. Some of it comes from the original Stray Gators tour, some of it comes from much later on. All of it captures the unhinged thrills of the original. Don’t be denied — listen in.
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The latest installment in the always-winning Habibi Funk series highlights Libyan composer & producer Najib Alhoush’s band, The Free Music. The tellingly titled “Part 1” collection compiles tracks off two 1976 albums from the band, who all in all recorded, and self-funded, ten lps. The premiere selection absolutely smokes—bursting with a technicolor blend of soul, funk, disco, and reggae.
The post Habibi Funk: The Free Music (Part 1) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Just in time for another Bandcamp Friday on April 7, we’ve got another selection of recent/recommended releases for your listening pleasure ranging from Agharta-damaged workouts to homemade minimalism. Fill up your cart and hit that “Buy” button.
The post Bandcamping :: Spring 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Mike Polizze's acoustic album Long Lost Solace Find was one of 2020's prettiest and most laid back folk rock recordings. But with Purling Hiss' Drag On Girard, he resumed his assault on the ampflier with a blistered headlong brilliance. He joins us to discuss.
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Fifty years ago, fifty two minute bootleg fan compilation of Pink Floyd tour footage in support of Dark Side of The Moon, 1972-73.
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Late last year Wadada Leo Smith turned 81. The trumpeter and composer has been making records since the late 1960s when he was part of Chicago’s AACM, and he’s recorded for everyone from ECM to Tzadik, doing everything from solo trumpet records to string quartets. But as he gets to an age when most slow down, Smith’s been even more prolific than ever. Last year saw seven discs of string quartets, plus another five of duos between him and musicians like Jack DeJohnette and Andrew Cyrille. And now there’s another set: Fire Illuminations, a digital only release coming out via Smith’s own Kabell Records on March 31.
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Courtesy of rain soaked LA. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone of The Zombies join us on the Transmissions podcast to discuss new music, their classic single “Tell Her No” and landmark LP Odessey and Oracle, their relationship to super fan Tom Petty, and of course, we had to ask them about the fake Zombies that toured in the wake of the band’s late ‘60s breakup.
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With a career spanning six decades, Joel Vandroogenbroeck witnessed nearly the entire development of western pop music’s lesser-known backrooms—from the early days of jazz singers in smoky bars to soul crooners to kosmische-inflected Fusion and the rise of New Age soundscapes. Rising to recognition in the 21st century as sonically adventurous listeners began deep dives into the cosmic landscape of European jazz-rock, the Vandroogenbroeck-led Brainticket existed on the same plane as Between, Bob Downes, and Xhol Caravan.
The post Joel Vandroogenbroeck :: Far View appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On May 26, Aquarium Drunkard and Org Music present Jesus People Music Vol. 2. Culled from the BlackForrestry’s AD mixtapes of obscure ’60s and ’70s Jesus People psych, rock, folk, and country. In advance of this collection’s release, we’re presenting its liner notes, written by Jason P. Woodbury.
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The inaugural Lagniappe Session from songwriter Tim Hill arrives on the heels of his sophomore effort Giant, a cozy collection of songs rooted in the traditions of LA troubadours like Warren Zevon and Neil Young. Also a Whittier, California-based ranch worker and known as the touring keyboardist for Allah-Lahs, Hill continues to brew his own craft of cowboy originals rooted in worn and dusty standards. Along with the aforementioned Zevon (of whom he previously covered "Steady Rain"), we hear another side of Hill's eclectic influences on this collection of covers, with instrumental pieces from Erik Satie and Argentine folk legend Atahualpa Yupanqui.
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Coming through the haze, it's Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Up first, New Happy Gathering offers an overcast hour of South African jazz, Japanese surf guitar psych, Hungarian pop, and outsider Americana. Then Range and Basin drops in with spoken word sci-fi mysticism, jazz, funk, and live recordings. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb brings a mid-'60s Blue Note extravaganza of moody post-hard-bop. And to close, SUSS brings us a special hour-plus broadcast of influences, icons, and outliers from the Ambient Country scene. Tune in Sunday, March 19 from 4-8 PM Pacific time via dublab.
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We caught up with Doug Paisley on a foggy January night at his home in Toronto. His new album Say What You Like, out March 17th on Outside Music, was recorded over the past few years, with selections pulled from his huge trove of songs in progress. “For me it’s all about recording these little ideas and then they just keep coming back,” Paisley said. “And there's a question in them and then the answer is somewhere way down the road.”
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Turner Williams’s instrument of choice is the shahi baaja— a kind of amplified typewriter zither, which uses metal keys to alter the pitches of its strings, already a collision of east and west, archaic and industrial. Run through a vast arsenal of effects pedals, the entire rig gets downright cybernetic.
The post Turner Williams Jr. :: Briars On A Dewdrop appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It's 1973 and with Au pays des merveilles de Juliet French singer-songwriter Yves Simon decides to change things up. Syncopated, the title track finds Simon's sing-speak vocal floating above two and half minutes of folk-funk. Listen up, tout suite.
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Today on Transmissions, we're joined by Saskatchewan-born songwriter Andy Shauf to discuss getting sober, God, and how these big topics relate to his latest album of introspective folk pop, Norm. Fans of his ‘70s-styled songcraft will still find lots to love here, but as we discuss, the production is deeply rooted in modern experimentation and the anything goes sonic possibilities of digital recording.
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We're heading back to Austin this week, presenting not one, but two showcases. First up is Friday night's AD x Gold Diggers shindig at Lucille (on Rainey Street) with Orions Belte, Fruit Bats, Bonny Doon, Pearl & The Oysters, Aoife Nessa Frances and The Golden Dregs. Still upright? If so, come by our unofficial day party on Saturday with Hippie Scum at Lolo Wine (E. 6th Street) at noon and catch Peter One, Cactus Lee, Sean Thompson's Weird Ears, Rogé, Peel Dream Magazine, Future Museums and Skyway Man.
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The return of Floating Action. “I Knew I Felt It” — the first taste from the forthcoming lp, Glacial Speed, due out in June.
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Gabriel da Rosa’s debut album, É o que a casa oferece, arrives at an auspicious time as Brazilian music is becoming more ubiquitous, cresting a wave of popularity that has been building over the better part of a century. The last 90 years have seen Carmen Miranda’s polyrhythmic schtick in the thirties and forties, the smooth and sophisticated bossa nova craze of the early sixties, and in the seventies Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Milton Nascimento championed an adventurous style of Brazilian jazz. Now, a new Brazilian tide is rising, building off the previous waves’ continued relevance, and it’s washing ashore along the Southern California coast.
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Welcome to the eighth installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 8 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Stay Awhile Sunshine is the final album by Midwest Farm Disaster troubadour Bob Martin. Produced by Jerry David DeCicca, it presents Martin's uncanny voice at its vivid center. Presented here: the album's title recording and a new short documentary about Martin.
The post Bob Martin :: Seabrook appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Over forty years have passed since the debut single from guitar pop legends the Pastels. The epitome of underground cult status, counterculture archivist Sam Knee summarized the band as "bridging the gap from post-punk into the new '80s indie era" in his book A Scene In Between, a visual encyclopedia of the era. Emerging from the era of the C86 cassette and hometown Orange Juice, the group is equally synonymous with the Glasgow-based music institutions they helped foster.
The post The Pastels :: The Last Great Wilderness appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Is True Stories a musical, a comedy, a documentary, or another Talking Heads film? In retrospect, it's all of these things and more. True Stories is an oracular film, predicting the changing landscape of Texas while simultaneously capturing America in all its peculiarities circa the mid-eighties.
The post Videodrome :: True Stories (1986) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Psych pioneer Dorothy Moskowitz of The United States of America joins us on the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast to discuss her new collaboration The United States of Alchemy and new album Under An Endless Sky.
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In her essential new book Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983, author Jen B. Larson writes that new wave singer Kate Fagan "never wanted to fit in, but to find herself." That much is clear listening to Captured Track's new compilation I Don't Want To Be Too Cool, which collects Fagan's early '80s singles and outtakes. She joins us from New Orleans to discuss the comp, her roots, working with reggae legend Peter Tosh, and share a series of photos from her archives.
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Spiritmuse Records is one of several modern record labels dedicated to reissuing jazz and jazz-inspired music from around the globe. The London-based label’s recent Spirit of France compilation showcases “obscure, rare spiritual jazz, deep folk and psychedelia sounds from the French ‘70s-‘80s underground” and is everything that tantalizing description promises.
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Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: author Ben Wardle's biography of Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, a look at why Sinéad O’Connor matters, future music from Germany, and critic, musician and media theorist DeForrest Brown Jr’s Assembling A Black Counter Culture.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 22 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez grew up in two words, splitting time between their father's native Switzerland and Ecuador, where their mother's family hailed from. But on El Bueno Y El Malo, the siblings evoke the sound of some sparse and sun-bleached desert. Hermanos Gutiérrez joined us to discuss their origins, filmic inspirations, how the desert influences their recordings, and share a new video for "Hermosa Drive."
The post Hermanos Gutiérrez :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
There’s a certain pulse in São Paulo, unlike any city I’ve visited. The noise from traffic, helicopters, work crews, and vendors is constant and polyrhythmic. São Paulo often sounds and feels like it’s bursting at the seams. With roughly 12 million people in the city proper and 22 million in the metropolitan region, the megalopolis is loud - one of the loudest places I’ve visited - and this from someone who lived in lower Manhattan for over a dozen years.
The post Sessão de Verão 1: Subterrâneo appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Wayne Shorter died in Los Angeles on March 2, 2023 at the age of 89, a titan of modern music. People, in mourning and celebration, are returning to an enormous body of recorded music that was astonishingly great from start to finish. Dust off the mid-60s Blue Note classics like Juju and Speak No Evil. Marvel with dropped jaw at what the Second Quintet was doing in December 1965 at the Plugged Nickel. Listen to Wayne’s pop cameos on Aja or Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. Funk out to the non-stop groove machine of Sweetnighter. But spare a late, quiet hour for the strange and beguiling, untranslatable world jazz of Moto Grosso Feio. There’s something magical about those transitional albums, where everything is in motion.
The post Wayne Shorter :: Moto Grosso Feio appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If October’s Perfect Middle Hall was a surprising left turn away from Cactus Lee’s string of decidedly country LPs, new standalone single “Alpine Skier,” out March 3rd on Hippie Scum, is something else altogether. Call it a swerve off the blacktop.
The post Cactus Lee :: Alpine Skier/Shoot From The Hip appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Sparked by a recent re-obsession with Miles Davis' On The Corner sessions, Abstract Truths returns with a grip of records that have been hovering around the LA hq these past few months. Electric fusion, Turiyasangitananda jams, hard bop, jazz funk, spiritual. Myriad modalities abound…all rooted by an earthy funkiness. File under: soul music.
The post Abstract Truths: An Evolving Jazz Compendium – Volume 9 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Two new documentary films, The Elephant 6 Recording Co. and This Is Sparklehorse, cover two very different Southern artistic expressions in the ‘90s, subtly pushing against the idea that Southern music is exclusively traditional or conservative, remapping the sound of a new South for a new generation.
The post The Strange South :: The Elephant 6 Recording Co. and This Is Sparklehorse appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Crescent’s fourth album By The Roads still bears traces of the dreamy “rural psychedelia” that famously characterized the Bristol scene, but the album strains after a certain sharpness and concreteness—like a ghost trying to materialize in broad daylight. By The Roads is not a lost album, by any means, but it is indeed a mysterious one. For twenty years now, it has been hiding in plain sight.
The post Crescent :: By The Roads And The Fields appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Jazz grip. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PST, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Known for his inviting and cinematic jazz compositions, Los Angeles-based composer Brendan Eder approached third LP Therapy with a very singular hypothetical. Anchored by a church organ, what if Richard D. James were to lead a chamber ensemble?
The post Brendan Eder Ensemble :: Therapy appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Philip Selway, best known as the drummer in Radiohead joins us on Transmissions to discuss his third album, Strange Dance. It’s a sweeping and textural listen, envisioned by its creator as something like a "Carole King record meets Daphne Oram." We caught up with Phil to dig in. Along the way, we discuss his songwriting approach, explore why he decided to forgo playing drums on this new outing, touch on the side project arrangements enjoyed by Radiohead, the band’s relationship to peers like Portishead, Wilco, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the 20th anniversary of Hail to the Thief, and much more.
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Crash landing somewhere between the deep fried expanses of Amon Düül II and brawny riffs of Tres Hombres, "Area Code 601" presents guitarist William Tyler in a thrilling new mode: that of a feedback-drenched country prog rocker. Joined by backing band The Impossible Truth—bassist Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs, Dead Weather), drummer Brian Kotzur (Silver Jews), and Luke Schneider (Margo Price)—the song arrives alongside the announcement of a new live album, Secret Stratosphere, due out March 31st from Merge.
The post William Tyler & The Impossible Truth :: Area Code 601 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Krano—the nom de plume of Italian singer-songwriter Marco Spigariol—returns next month with Lentius Profundius Suavius, his second collection of timeless country soul, sung in his native Venetian dialect and played with a passion that is as gentle and empathetic as it is raw, rollicking and, sometimes, noisy as hell. Dig “See,” an early, jaunty taste from the record—it’s folky and rambling, possibly with a sardonic sigh, as a güiro-inflected levity and a shower of spacey effects fall upon Spigariol’s parched, sweltering blues.
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LA four-piece Bondo released their first EP 77 in late 2021. A five-song set, it's a precise and exact document that wears its '90s post rock influence on its sleeve: elongated phrases, careful dynamics, grayscale tones, very intentional distortion settings. Think Unwound, Spiderland, Acetone. The group return this month with the release of their first full-length, Print Selections, out via Italian label Quindi Records.
The post Bondo :: Print Selections appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dougie Poole’s got a clear-eyed view of our modern moment and a country songwriter’s ability to sum it up in a perfect line. The songs on his 2020 album The Freelancer’s Blues concerned themselves with the ennui and indignity of urban 21st century work, life, and work-life – dead-end gig economy jobs, cross-country moves from one coast to another, and the yearning for a “Natural Touch” while cycling through futile first dates. Poole’s new album, The Rainbow Wheel Of Death, finds him doomscrolling even further, and just as before, he finds “troubles stacked like dishes / in a crooked pile.”
The post Dougie Poole :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Western Massachusetts strikes again. Fronted by Beverly Ketch and Robert Thomas, Stella Kola is rounded out with support from members of John Andrew’s Yawns, Sunburned Hand of the Man, understated guitar hero Willie Lane, bliss ambassador Wednesday Knudsen, and a whole slew of Feeding Tube records alumni. The self-titled debut from the ensemble makes clear an intention to work themselves into a small, yet prolific scene that fully embraces the groundbreaking era of the British Isles electrified folk rapture at the close of the 1960s.
The post Stella Kola :: Stella Kola appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Given their mastery of the archival compilation record, it should be no surprise that Numero Group would eventually dive into exotica, releasing Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights in 2018. Exotica is a perfect pairing for Numero Group's statement of intent: a hyper-specific subset of music that quickly came in and out of vogue, reflecting a bygone era's style and cultural context. More so, due to its short lifespan as a commercially viable genre, much of exotica is largely uncharted, and in these uncharted waters of adrift songs, a label such as Numero Group sets its sails.
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Emerging from a billowing cloud of smoke, a bramble of electric guitars growing from the soil beneath him: behold "Cowboy Grass," a new jammer from Jeffrey Silverstein. The first single from the forthcoming Western Sky Music, it adds a healthy dose of swagger to the familiar brew of JJ Cale-styled boogie, loner folk ambiance, and Silverstein's Berman-esque wordplay.
The post Jeffrey Silverstein :: Cowboy Grass appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Death Valley Girls' Islands in the Sky might look from the outside like a celestial new age outing, but it's something else and all together unexpected: an old fashioned rock & roll album boasting consciousness boosting effects. Today at AD, Bonnie Bloomgarden of the band joins us for a discussion about the radical aspects of creativity.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Part 4 of our Celtic Guru series. Released in 1984, Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast was recorded a year prior on the heels of Inarticulate Speech’s release. With the familiar cast of musicians that he had been using on tours and in the studio over the last few years, Van could construct a comfortable atmosphere that, while surely demanding, cultivated the appropriate balance of studio re-creation and spontaneous musical ideation.
The post Celtic Guru :: Van Morrison In The 80s | Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Today on Transmissions, a tremendous conversation with Jason Stern and Don Fleming of the Lou Reed Archive. From the contents of the archive to under-recognized albums from Reed's discography, this talk covers fascinating aspects of Lou's life, offers insight into his art, addresses controversies, and much more.
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The Lagniappe Sessions return in 2023 with Courtney Marie Andrews. Recorded last fall around the release of her Sam Evian produced LP, Loose Future, the following set finds Andrews taking on late-era Leonard Cohen, along with a low key rendering of the ubiquitous late 90s radio smash that was Shania Twain's "You're Still The One".
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The compact disc era brought with it endless reissues of old albums — and to entice us all into buying those old albums for the second, third or fourth time, they often included bonus tracks. Was there a fair amount of barrel scraping as the years went by? Oh yeah. But there were also plenty of completely awesome sounds that gave us fresh perspectives on classic LPs and artists. In this new, ongoing Aquarium Drunkard column, we’ll be diving back into our CD collections to highlight some of the very best bonus tracks …
The post Bonus Tracks, Vol. 1: Jerry Garcia, Gram Parsons, David Bowie appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Awash in reverb and rippling bridges of synth, “Visions of Fatima” is the latest communiqué from cosmic LA weirdos monde ufo and the first taste off their forthcoming album, Vandalized Statue to Be Replaced With Shrine. The lounge-laced dose of ambient psych from the duo references the Marian apparitions witnessed by three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal in 1917 and proceeds to blend the sacred and the supernatural in their keenly overcast fashion.
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Singer/songwriter Jenny O joins Aquarium Drunkard for a searching talk about Spectra, growing up in rock, jazz and classical music, learning to work within her own unique parameters and she’s through writing love songs and wants to dedicate the rest of her life to communicating about the climate.
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"Paris 1919 is John Cale's furthest excursion into musical imagination, illuminating horizons heretofore unsighted," went the PR copy for John Cale's third solo effort, which was released 50 years ago this month. To celebrate Paris 1919's 50th anniversary, here's a re-imagined version of the LP, featuring some choice covers, oddities and even a few appearances from Cale himself. Take down the flags of ownership and listen in.
The post You’re A Ghost :: John Cale’s Paris 1919, Re-Imagined appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Andy Norris’ Surface Noise project is an ambient beat tape. Its sound originates deep in the pocket, not a sample library, with paint dolloped on thick and deliberate–more like Van Gogh than Pollock. The latest is Here: Extras. These six alts, remixes, and “outtakes” reveal more of jazz and funk elements and shows off the intricate and wildly divergent drumming styles. Tinges of Thievery Corporation, Monster Rally, and Flying Lotus flutter through.
The post Surface Noise :: Here: Extras appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. This month, New Happy Gathering bundles a collection of new digs (current and archival) and heartfelt farewells to some recently lost legends. Then, Range and Basin offers a jazzy, soundscapey trip into the Sonoran Desert. To follow, Doom and Gloom sprawls out with an hour of neo-classical, library music, post-post-rock, retro-futurist situations, and recent jazz. To close, Sick Sad Motherslug with Ana Gavrilovska of Maggot Brain Magazine drifts out into cosmic expanses. Tune in Sunday, February 19 from 4—8 PM Pacific on dublab.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: February 2023 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With their jittery harmonies and bounding rhythmic clangor, their insistence on doing it themselves, and their brash disregard of expectations, The Raincoats didn’t just talk about feminism: they enacted it. Nearly 20 years on after The Raincoats last album, founding member Gina Birch has made a solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, her first in a multi-decade career (unless you count a 1994 album by The Hangovers). We talk about her new record, her early days in squats, her love of reggae and the legacy of The Raincoats.
The post Gina Birch (The Raincoats) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On numün’s excellent new album Book of Beyond, the synthesis of earth and space seems more complete. Indeed, the entire album exudes a kind of gravity, decidedly reminiscent of the wide-open melancholy of Bruce Langhorne’s Hired Hand. numün have perfected something like a space-age cowboy music here, plaintive and freighted. Even its sci-fi sonic filigree, the theremin trills and Mellotron moans, seem like signifiers of a future that has already been foreclosed.
The post Numün :: Book of Beyond appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With a rallying call of “We, Here and Now!,” and an abiding faith in minimalism, collective improvisation, and amplification, Pärson Sound were the primordial sonic maelstrom from which much of Sweden’s underground ‘progg’ scene emerged.
The post Pärson Sound appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On her latest, All Of This is Chance, Irish singer/songwriter Lisa O'Neill leads listeners down foggy, meandering path. It opens with a telling lyrical invocation: “Clay is the word and clay is the flesh, where the potato gatherers like mechanized scarecrows move along the side-fall of the hill.” O’Neill’s hunger is for a more far-reaching connection; to nature, to creativity, and to an unseen spirit.
The post Lisa O’Neill :: All Of This Is Chance appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Unsung Britfolk hero Steve Tilston joins us to discuss his sparse early '70s gem An Acoustic Confusion, the influence of Bert Jansch, and that time John Lennon wrote him a letter...which he never received.
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Max Turnbull of Badge Époque Ensemble on Transmissions, our weekly podcast. Last year, BEE released the magisterial Clouds of Joy, which landed on the Aquarium Drunkard Year in Review best of the year list. A stirring blend of jazz, choral music, prog, funk, R&B, and indie rock, it’s a layered and dynamic creation. We discussed that record, Max’s work with his wife, Meg Remy of U.S. Girls, his lifelong hip-hop influence, and the myriad and mysterious ways music connects to listeners.
The post Transmissions :: Badge Époque Ensemble appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Heartfelt tributes to Tom Verlaine have been pouring in since news broke of his death late last month. A famously enigmatic character, the Television co-founder never went out of his way to make himself lovable — but he was loved all the same. As you’ll see below, Verlaine provided a guiding light for a wide array of artists through the decades. His deeply original approach (to the guitar, to songwriting, to life) went beyond mere influence and inspiration; it seeped inextricably into the DNA of generations of musicians and writers. As a result, this case will likely never be closed …
The post Guiding Light :: A Tom Verlaine Appreciation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When Hot Rats came out in October 1969, it showed a new side of Zappa’s music. It wasn’t poking fun at trends or mixing genres in a blender. It highlights his compositions and skill in both writing memorable songs and as a guitar hero. The lengthy guitar solos showed him emerging as more than just the scruffy leader of the Mothers of Invention, while the musicians he surrounded himself with - from session players to heavyweights like Jean-Luc Ponty - pointed to his ambitions as a musician. But when compared to the material within this box, it also shows Zappa as producer, too.
The post Frank Zappa :: The Hot Rats Sessions appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com. In this month’s bag: Steely Dan haters, scratching that Van Morrison itch, music from the Sonoran desert, bandcamp reccs...
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: Mailbag, Vol. IV appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Launching the listener into the aural assault of “Soap Shop Rock”, Yeti wastes no time getting started. The wandering, acid-drenched psychedelia of Phallus Dei is noticeably absent. The Mothers-esque eccentrics traded in favor of tectonic heaviness. As the four-part suite arrives at its second movement, Amon Düül clears a path for denim-clad stoner rockers to follow for the next half century.
The post Amon Düül: A Young Person’s Guide 003 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In line with the late records of Jovem Guarda, such as Erasmo Carlos' 1970-1972 trilogy of later-revered proto-indie, as well as with Os Mutantes' flavorful Brazilian psychedelia, Rubinho & Mauro Assumpção's only ever release wanders through daring and often humorous experimentations. With bare instrumentation and lo-fi timbres blowing against the grain of the recording, it soon came to be a coveted rarity among collectors. Mr. Bongo's recent reissue offers a great chance to reexamine this piece of soft-noise MPB.
The post Rubinho E Mauro Assumpção :: Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For the latest installment of Aquarium Drunkard’s VIDEODROME column, we sat down with writer and cinephile, Matthew Specktor, to discuss Shoot The Moon (1982), the Hollywood cycle of divorce films from the eighties, and his upcoming book.
The post Videodrome :: In Conversation With Matthew Specktor On Shoot The Moon appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We're back in the stacks with creative guides from Rick Rubin and Chris Schlarb, looks at the music of The Byrds and Sonny Rollins, and Amiri Baraka's groundbreaking Black Music.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 21 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Minneapolis-based producer and composer Andrew Broder joins us to discuss his soundtrack for Alan Moore's dream-like detective movie The Show, plus his work with luminaries like MF Doom, Joe Rainey, Lambchop, and Alan Sparhawk and the late Mimi Parker of Low.
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First Nation free jazz, drum machine folk, Beefheart-ian scrawls and more. Plenty of killer sounds to get you through the dark days of winter, ranging from vintage Motor City jazz to Iranian tanbur improvs. And don’t forget, the next Bandcamp Friday (during which the platform waives its usual fees) hits on Feb. 3 …
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On Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom, Cincinnati's The Drin, from Cincinnati sheathes unyielding staccato rhythms in the undulating ooze of dub. Stark drum beats push electro-shocked funk/soul vamps into denatured, machine-like fury, while guitars scream and basses rumble and one Dylan McCartney chants blankly about worms and dooms and poisons.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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A ripping slice of late 60’s psychedelic Texas soul, Sole Inspiration’s “Life” is a Saturday night jam for Sunday morning sorrows. Recently dug up by Numero Group, the track bursts out the gate with a righteous organ that bellows across the holy blood cries of front man & songwriter Juan Gonzalez’s existential despair.
The post Sole Inspiration :: Life appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nina Persson of The Cardigans and James Yorkston join host Jason P. Woodbury on Transmissions to discuss The Great White Sea Eagle, their low key and homey collection of folk rock, we explore a bevy of interesting topics, run-ins with members of Black Sabbath, Tom Jones, an ill-fated tour with John Martyn, and much more.
The post Transmissions :: James Yorkston and Nina Persson appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fueled by familial strife, Robert Forster's The Candle and the Flame is one of 2023's loveliest and most moving records. We talked to Forster about life and love, time and memory and creativity—and his top favorite concerts in a lifetime of going out to see music.
The post Robert Forster (Go-Betweens) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A subterranean entity which has been releasing records since 2016, C.I.A. Débutante exist in their own dusted lane where the distinction between no-fi rock and bedroom-synth music blurs into a fun-house-mirrored mirage. On their single "The Punch" b/w "The Garden," they maintain their uncompromising sonic universe while gesturing toward recognizable rhythms.
The post C.I.A. Débutante :: “The Punch” / “The Garden” appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dig into this priceless footage of Soft Machine performing an early take of Robert Wyatt's magnum opus, "Moon in June". With bassist Hugh Hopper rounding out the trio (following the departure of Kevin Ayers), this Wyatt/Ratledge/Hopper line-up is the force behind Volume Two and "Moon in June" landing spot, Third, in which the band plunged further into merging obtuse psychedelia with their singular brew of jazz fusion. Joined by the likes of the Ornette Coleman Quartet, Shocking Blue and Keith Jarrett, Jazz Bilzen might have been the perfect setting for the peak of this seminal trio.
The post Soft Machine :: Live At Jazz Bilzen appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Chico Lessa's debut record, a post-Tropicalia jazz-funk private press release from 1982, has just been reissued by the Madrid-based label Vampisoul. It retains influences from the popular Brazilian funk of the early 1980s, from the then-somewhat-defunct Clube da Esquina scene (whose conductor Wagner Tiso is a center feature of the record), as well as from the exploratory and dissonant MPB of Boca Livre (whose mastermind Maurício Maestro signs the arrangements here). A bright little gem in an otherwise uneventful career that, much like the recent rediscoveries of José Mauro or Hareton Salvanini, makes us wonder what Brazilian music could have been -- or what we are still to find out it was.
The post Chico Lessa :: S/T appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A reluctant farewell to Tom Verlaine, who helped define (and then quickly transcended) the NYC punk scene of the 1970s, inspiring countless groups through the decades.
We’ll likely have more to say about the man in the days/weeks to come, but in the meantime, here’s an hour’s worth of Television covers stretching from the 1970s on through the present day, putting a spotlight on the impact the band had on the generations of artists that followed in their wake.
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On John Mark Lapham’s second release under the moniker Old Fire Voids, the musician and filmmaker creates a sprawling and meditative odyssey through the darkest corners of the West Texas towns that continues to spark his imagination. A guest-filled journey with vocal and lyrical contributions by Bill Callahan, Adam Torres, Emily Cross and Julia Holter, Lapham pulls elements from post-rock, avant-country, spiritual jazz, and murky drones to soundtrack eroding structures that cast shadows in the desert for nefarious characters to hide.
The post Old Fire :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Built on stones laid down by John Lee Hooker, Tony "T.S." McPhee's The Groundhogs were labeled “post-blues” by the rock & roll press of the late '60s and '70s. The band was farther out than Cream, and they tapped into an end-of-flower-power darkness like a less disdainful The Doors, and shared the medieval attitude of Ladbroke Grove bands like Deviants, Pink Fairies, or Hawkwind. but their journey to Inner Space reflects entirely unique concerns.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PST, Channel 35) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
James McNew of Yo La Tengo and Dump joins us to discuss This Stupid World, the 25th anniversary of his Prince covers album, the influence of Sun Ra, playing with Yoko Ono, and more.
The post Transmissions :: James McNew (Yo La Tengo, Dump) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
King Tuff's newest album, Smalltown Stardust, looks back fondly on the place where Kyle Thomas grew up, couching sunny melodies in soft 1960s psychedelia and folk arrangements. In this interview, we talked about small town life Vermont-style and the experiences that shaped Thomas.“ When there’s nothing to do, you kind of make it up. You’ve got to figure out how to fill the time. We would go play music together or just hang out,” he recalls.“I do think that boredom is a huge part of creativity.”
The post King Tuff :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Almqvist's 1979 debut, Nyanser, is a Nordic masterpiece of folk, fusion, and world music. A guitarist first and foremost, he plays the record largely himself, his patient and winding passages often leading the sojourn across the album’s majestic thirty-eight minutes. He also lends his hand at Rhodes, flute, synthesizer, tabla, bass drum, Amadinda, and all manners of percussion, the virtuosity of his playing spiritedly matched with the fervent erasure of genre—flowing freely between folk, jazz fusion, synth-pop, new age guitar, and heady dives into percussive, tribal chants.
The post Thomas Almqvist :: Nyanser appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Have you been keeping up with our Mailbag series? Last month a reader submitted a question in regard to our stance on hi-fi. Digging in a little deeper, we caught up with our friend Matt Reilly, of the UK based Cambridge Audio, in regard to gear - specifically, new vs. vintage.
The post Vintage Vs. Modern Audio Gear | Insight from Cambridge Audio: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Like a duck gliding over water, synth-soul maestro Eddie Chacon returns with "Step By Step," another taste of his forthcoming record Sundown, out March 31st on Stones Throw Records. Produced by John Carroll Kirby, it oozes spaced-out bliss.
The post Eddie Chacon :: Step By Step appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
After catching our attention when it first appeared on Bandcamp back in 2021, Bobbie Lovesong’s debut gets a welcome rerelease on vinyl via Woodsist. A work of both solitude and harmony, On The Wind is an “hallucinatory sonic love letter” to Taos, New Mexico, where Lovesong (aka Madelyn Strutz) lived communally with a small group of musicians during lockdown in 2020. It’s a perfectly played hand of desert solitaire, full of dreamy 60s- inspired pop and woozy instrumentals that pass through the clouds of your mind like lysergic vapor trails against the cosmic American sky.
The post Bobbie Lovesong :: On The Wind appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If Lady In A Cage presents a worldview, it’s decidedly misanthropic. Footage of baseball games and fighter jets are juxtaposed with heinous news reports and acts of savagery. This is America in decline, blissfully aware of its ignorance but unwilling to confront the nightmares its pacification has spawned.
The post Videodrome :: Lady In A Cage (1964) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Originally released in 1972, The Tropicals’ Urubamba was, until recently, a deeply rare collection of the experimental library sounds of Italian composers Giancarlo Barigozzi aka Ginazzi & Oscar Rocchi aka Chiarosi. An album delighting in all manners of jazz, funk, fusion, easy-listening, and Afro-beat, it saw its first ever reissue last month in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, via the Italian-based Sleeve Records.
The post The Tropicals :: Urubamba appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The 2023 season of Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions podcast is officially underway. This week on the show, Chad Clark of Beauty Pill. On January 20th, Ernest Jenning Record Co. releases Blue Period, a double LP compilation featuring music Clark recorded for the legendary punk label Discord Records between 2003-2005.
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No Neck Blues Band existed at the polar opposite of what these days can feel like over-sanitized accessibility and extreme exposure to everything-all-the-time. As longtime fans, we felt checking in with some of the members could not come at a more crucial moment.
The post No Neck Blues Band :: (More) Letters From The Earth appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As a prolific producer, composer, and session player, Jon Brion has been involved with some of the biggest movies and recordings of the last three decades. But with the recent archival release of his debut album Meaningless, listeners can finally hear him as a proper solo artist. Brion joins Aquarium Drunkard to discuss the album and what it means to him more than 20 years after its creation.
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Will the well ever run dry when it comes Neil Young live jams and rarities? God, I hope not. In recent years, Young has begun sporadically posting a selection of complete live gigs on his Archives site, spanning the from the late 1960s to the late 2010s. It's been a welcome feast for Neil fanatics. For this mix, the third installation of our Honey Slides series, we've grabbed a few highlights (as well as a choice Barn jam) for your enjoyment. Stretching from 1976 to 2010, it's all electric and leans heavily towards the darker, grittier side of Young's material. Plenty of Crazy Horse, of course, but also the Stray Gators, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, the International Harvesters and more.
The post Neil Young :: Even More Honey Slides appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
To be blunt, Wild Goose won’t be for everyone. Folk-jazz crossovers are a tough sell. Even tougher to execute. Especially in a way that doesn’t come across as forced or corny. And there is little to no nuance between the British folk stylings of Wilkie and Hart, and the post-bop, nearing Free Jazz blowouts of the musicians joining them. Imperfect, the album remains an ambitious and visionary album fifty years later.
The post Colin Wilkie & Shirley Hart :: Wild Goose appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. This month, New Happy Gathering showcases an alternately upbeat and somber hour of jazz & dream pop, Range and Basin leans into long instrumentals and new age, and Doom and Gloom starts the year off right with an Honey Slides mix of dark all-electric Neil Young rarities. To close, Grey on Gray, an all-vinyl hour long slide to close out the last year and open up a new one. Fireside GORP-jazz, new age, and beyond. 1969-2022. Tune in Sunday, January 15 from 4—8 PM Pacific on dublab.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: January 2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On his debut solo album, James Waudby (Salko/Horse Guard Parade) plays nimble, dancing acoustic guitar with a light touch, matching his six-string melodies with an unhurried voice that feels like belongs on a lost 1960s folk classic by Bert Jansch.
The post James Waudby :: On The Ballast Miles appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Meg Baird’s latest album, Furling, withdraws itself into small domestic spaces. It explores the partnership the songwriter has forged, both musical and romantic, with the guitarist Charlie Saufley. It meditates on the way that a piano can sit at the center of family life, making any house a home. And yet, it also faces outward, pushing out rollicking grooves and aching, pristine clarity. It makes the case for Baird, once again, as one of the finest singers and songwriters of her generation.
The post Meg Baird :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Prior to founding Zelone Records and becoming the emperor of mellow groove, Shintaro Sakamoto fronted Yura Yura Teikoku. A scrappy psych trio with humble origins in the Tokyo’s DIY underground, the band cut a unique trail guided by an eclecticism that pushed their sound ever further to new heights. Over two decades, 10 studio albums, a live record, and a slew of EP’s, the band eventually saw crossover success in Japan, signing to a major label and garnering a cult following abroad. However, as everything seemed to fall in place for in place for Yura Yura Teikoku, the band dissolved amicably in 2010, a decision rendering 2007’s masterful Hollow Me their de-facto swan song.
The post Yura Yura Teikoku :: Hollow Me appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Comradely Objects is every bit as mathematical as it is melodic, and as already covered artfully here at AD by Brent Sirota, it is arguably the crowing achievement of the Horse Lords cannon. Fresh on the heels of their latest release, we caught up with guitarist Owen Gardner and bassist Max Eilbacher to discuss recording in lockdown, relocating to Germany, weaponizing the avant-garde, Cornelius Cardew, and what happens when lyrics fail.
The post Horse Lords :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Slovak prog legend Dezo Ursiny is still to find the recognition he deserves outside of his homeland. A successful composer of documentary soundtracks in the socialist 1970s, and later a filmmaker in his own right, Ursiny passed away prematurely but left a significant oeuvre.
It's the music you'd hear in a dream where you're coming back from a party in a late night cab and the streets are empty and the sky is gleaming and the world is ending.
The post Dezo Ursiny :: Modry Vrch (1981) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
... dig into this remarkable cover. Arguably Bobby Gillespie’s most soulful delivery, the piano-driven track delivers a shimmering, almost spiritual ambiance before crashing into a haunting, slow burn of an outro. The narrative penned through the lens of a wounded Vietnam soldier, the stark minimalism of Wilson’s lyrics is a perfect match for the band’s bluesy comedown and the -era choral, gospel arrangement.
The post Primal Scream :: Carry Me Home (Dennis Wilson Cover) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Picking up exactly where Beautiful Vision’s “Scandinavia” left off, “Higher than the World” unfolds amid a cascade of synthesizer, choppy R&B guitar, and the saccharine acknowledgment of higher consciousness that defined Van Morrison’s sonic pilgrimage of the 1980s. The third installment of what can be termed the Celtic Guru period, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart incorporates a softer edge to the sound that Van was building over the course of the decade.
The post Celtic Guru :: Van Morrison In The 80s | Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Ecstasy of Gold finds members of Acetone, Dick Slessig Combo, and Dengue Fever teaming up for a set that spans fuzzed out workouts, psych, prog flexes, surf, and sure enough, Morricone-y grandeur.
The post The Ecstasy of Gold :: Volume One appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
To the other side of the sky. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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After a brief stint contributing to Steeleye Span’s remarkable debut, the husband and wife duo of Gay and Terry Woods set forth to Ireland in search of a sound not quite attained with their English cohort. Slightly more rockin’ than the ensemble they had just left – and definitely more soulful – The Woods Band borrows the electrified approach of Fairport Convention, Mellow Candle, or Strawbs.
And while the nuances of the old isles remain, the warmth that the group cooks up on The Woods Band makes an ideal companion for the post-holiday thaw, entering January bleary-eyed but ready to tackle a new year.
The post The Woods Band :: S/T (1971) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg discusses Medley Attack, the influence of The Clean, and takes us deep behind the scenes of the blockbuster Pavement reunion.
The post Spiral Stairs (Pavement) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Channeling western contemporaries like Pylon, and forecasting 2010-era recordings from the likes of Lower Dens and Deerhunter, Japan’s Zelda first emerged as a punk-rock/new-wave quartet in 1980 with a pair of 7” singles, followed by their 1982 self-titled debut—a boisterous affair that balances a healthy diet of glossy, hard-charging rock, playful power-pop, and avant-garde art rock leanings.
The post Zelda :: 真暗闇 － ある日の光景 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ce soir, lourd sur l'ambiance française. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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All vinyl hour long slide to close out another weird year. Fireside GORP-jazz, new age, and beyond. 1969-2022.
The post Grey On Gray :: A December Mixtape appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Meditative, yet engaging, Chiaroscuro plays as more of a continuous statement piece than as a collection of individual songs. Widescreen and cinematic, Henriksen's vocals float intermittently across the album's 42 minute run-time amidst a cascade of hand drums, ambient trumpet (reminiscent of Jon Hassell), and sparse sound design.
The post Arve Henriksen :: Chiaroscuro appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The most beautiful sound next to silence comes to NYC. This “all-star night” of ECM-related performers is a delight, with some unique performances and collabs. Manfred Eicher's esteemed label had been around since the late 1960s, but Keith Jarrett's blockbuster surprise, The Koln Concert, brought ECM closer to the mainstream in 1975. Jarrett wasn't there for this evening's celebration, but the All-Stars shine bright without him.
The post ECM Records All-Star Night :: The Village Gate, New York City, January 1976 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to the seventh installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 7 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Go ahead and dip heavily into that Charles Mingus eggnog. It’s the holidays, you’ll need it. Tonight, suit up, it’s Aquarium Drunkard’s annual seasonal spectacular.
The post The Aquarium Drunkard Radio Holiday Nog Spectacular appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, The New Happy Gathering Holiday Party: An hour of samba, lounge, jazz, funk, soul & abstract music. Then Range and Basin, an hour of mostly instrumental tunes selected by Jason P. Woodbury. A "loner folk” excursion from Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb. To close the show out, Christmas Jambree: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape Selected by Dev Sherlock. Tune in Sunday, December 18 from 4—8 PM Pacific on dublab.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: December 2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
All roots episode, fireside. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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There are two ways to evaluate Less Than Zero: a standalone film that functions on its own cinematic merits, or the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel. Like most pieces of media that live in various forms, the appreciation or dissatisfaction largely stems from which one was encountered first, and the personal sentimentality placed upon that experience. But there's a third way to approach Less Than Zero, and that is as a holiday film."
The post Videodrome :: Less Than Zero (1987) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Looking back to look ahead. It’s our Year In Review 2022. As always, our list is unranked and unruly. Let it blurb.
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: 2022 Year in Review appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Anchored by an incendiary score by Dennis Bovell, 1980's Babylon is an essential watch for those interested in the diasporic tendrils of Jamaican roots reggae as witnessed in the UK during the late '70s and early '80s. Come for the sound system, stay for the story.
The post Babylon (1980) :: Streaming In Full appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Richard Dawson of Newcastle Upon Tyne. This is how the songwriter credits himself on the cover of his new record The Ruby Cord—the third part of a possible trilogy (beginning with medieval Peasant, and modern times in 2020) which finds him delving into the different timelines of communities in England. Alex Riggs joins Dawson (and a cat named Trouble) to explore more.
The post Richard Dawson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
No static at all. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The whole of Automne Six is an imaginative drift, one free of purpose and reveling in the logics avant-pop can follow. Each track offers an exercise in constrained lyricism, trusting intuitive intention yet sensitive and willing to submit to subtle movements. The beauty is in watching these two use those parameters to create an oddly attractive set of songs.
The post Automne Six :: S/T appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The brilliantly colored and exquisitely crocheted hand talisman on the cover of Headdress beckons you in. The fingertips of the sunburned hand touch the waning crescent moon. It is a good reminder that Sunburned Hand of the Man knew how to sling that cosmic slop. Of all the free rock bands that emerged around the turn of the millennium, Sunburned were definitely the loosest and funkiest.
The post Sunburned Hand Of The Man :: Headdress (20th Anniversary Remaster) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When Bob Dylan's Christmas album appeared in 2009, it was both totally unexpected and 44 years overdue. In this instance, we're glad he waited. Christmas in the Heart features Dylan singing songs you know by heart in a voice without restraint. There's fun for the whole family, and all for a good cause. It's enough to make a believer out of anyone.
The post Bob Dylan :: Christmas In The Heart appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The outstanding new Light/Flux reveals a band that is very much still evolving. It doesn’t really sound much like Hawkwind or krautrock jazz or Scandinavian psychedelia at all. It is a lower, darker affair, steeped in American slowcore and southern California desert rock.
The post Mythic Sunship :: Light/Flux appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Warren Zevon once said “We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.” But even if your towering “too read” pile can’t guarantee immortality, those pages can make life feel even more worth living. In this month's stack: a comprehensive look at the early years of New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records, the life and work of Chet Baker, kranky records, and the story of Impulse Records.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 20 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Born Patrick Flegel, musician Cindy Lee walks around Seattle chain smoking cigarettes while his brother’s band, Preoccupations, plays a set for KEXP. He is surrounded by huge concrete slabs and dons an orange ski cap. We spoke via Zoom and for a while, we couldn’t see or hear him. When we do, he sort of looks like someone without a cellphone. Someone who walked into the last Radioshack and stole a few things. He is not in drag. Not yet. He looks like a man.
The post That Last Train Is Back Again: A Conversation with Cindy Lee appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson brought an archaic weirdness to Canned Heat. Obsessed with traditional blues and well versed in the boogie dialect of John Lee Hooker.
The post The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our new monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com.
In this month’s bag: Holiday music recommendations, the art of the music documentary, Lee "Scratch" Perry lost treasure, Charles Stepney, and a grip of AD favorites for normals.
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: Mailbag, Vol. III appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Kranky Records co-founder Bruce Adams recently published a book, You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music, which succeeds as both a memoir and a cultural history of a brief wrinkle in time when a few Chicago neighborhoods seemed to comprise the center of a then-flourishing underground rock universe. Aquarium Drunkard spoke to Adams about kranky kommandments, the ways in which the world of publishing differs from the world of music, and the trappings of “functional” music.
The post No Salt, No Lint, No Cassettes: AD Interviews Author And kranky Co-Founder Bruce Adams appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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As the Turkey-fare winds down and the boxes of Christmas decor make their way from the basement, a transition is needed. Ringing in the holiday season in subtlety requires a look no further than America’s finest composer and most innovative maestro of steel string. With a discography expanding beyond 40 titles, it’s possible to overlook the holiday offerings among masterworks like Fare Forward Voyagers, The Yellow Princess, and those first five Takoma releases. Smack dab in the middle of John Fahey’s first decade shifting around the tectonic plates of traditional music came The New Possibility.
The post The Gospel Of Fahey’s Christmas Soli appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It’s been more than 50 years since Neil got together with Crazy Horse, but still — nothin’ else matters. Young has just released the Rick Rubin-produced World Record, his third album with the band in as many years, and the heart of the group remains the same as it was back in ’69: drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot, who together have provided the elemental rhythmic bedrock that Neil has relied on for all these years. Aquarium Drunkard caught up with Talbot from his South Dakota home to get the lowdown on the Horse’s past, present and future.
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Shot in the southern California mountain range surrounding Big Bear lake, "Up On The Wind" serves as a teaser of what's to come next year on the Sylvie front.
The post Sylvie :: Up On The Wind appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Yet another inspired ride in BBE’s masterclass series highlighting the golden age of modern Japanese jazz from the late 1960s – early 80s. Helmed and curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, this installment shines a light on the Masaru Imada Trio + 1 lp, Planets. Originally released in 1977 via private press, the seven track set finds pianist and bandleader Masaru Imada joined by bassist Kunimitsu Inaba and drummer Tetsujiro Obara, along with sympathetic percussion courtesy of Yuji Imamura.
The post Masaru Imada Trio + 1 :: Planets appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The so-called “loner folk” genre has become a bit of a record collector cliché over the past decade or so. The danger of hyperbole when it comes to this music is always near; you know, “unknown genius singer-songwriter makes a masterpiece, only 30 copies ever made!” Caveat emptor, of course! But the attraction remains. When it comes to the best of it, we’re given a glimpse of some alternate timeline where the dreams of these outsiders come true, and the high quality of their tunes is finally recognized and celebrated. History re-written in a small but meaningful way.
The post Loner Folks :: Robert Lester Folsom, John Fizer, Trevor Beales appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We spoke with Bitchin Bajas' Cooper Crain just before Thanksgiving, as the band was preparing for an East Coast tour and moving forward on two new recordings: a second collaboration with Natural Information Society and a 12-hour improvised jam made last spring in the Azores. We talked about how these three make their music and how their audiences receive it, about starting over after a setback and about how music works best when it’s a bit of a mystery.
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Jazz's engagement with South Asian musical ideas and instruments in the 1960s and 70s didn't just make 'spiritual' or 'world' jazz. Out of the extraordinary variety of jazz experiments with Indian musical traditions came all kinds of funky, soulful, groovy, exploratory and just plain far out sounds. We collected some of our favorites.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Yesterday, legendary Brazilian musician Erasmo Carlos passed away at 81. Simultaneously proto-Tropicalia and post-Tropicalia, his trilogy of releases from 1970 to 1972 embody an indie aesthetic of twangling guitars and cosmic laid-backness that, rather than merely mimicking (and being subsumed by) American trends, may fit completely in an admirable tradition of obscure para-country balladeers, with Robert Lester Folsom, F.J. McMahon, and others.
The post Erasmo Carlos :: 1941-2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in the '70s and early '80s like his exceptional album Neighborhoods and presented again by the Freedom to Spend label, Back to the Woodlands by experimental composer and public radio explorer Ernest Hood layers field recordings from his neighborhood in Western Oregon with washes of zither and synthesizer.
The post Ernest Hood :: Back to the Woodlands appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Tradition runs rampant around Thanksgiving: generations of old recipes, football, Alice’s Restaurant, , and, of course, a parade of balloons shutting down NYC. What else do you need? If you thought you were covered in the Thanksgiving tradition department, we did too…until a few years ago, when someone blew the dust off a long lost tape — Doug Sahm’s Thanksgiving Jam.
The post Happy Thanksgiving :: Doug Sahm And Friends – Austin, TX 1972 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
...the EP finds the Heidi Alexander-led group embracing all manner of sinuous funk, particularly on Earth's second track, "Feed Me". Reminiscent of ESG/Talking Heads/Slits, the near seven minute embrace drips with pathos as Alexander's double tracked vox breathe in and out over a muscular bass line, polyrhythms, mellotron, sax, flute, Korg, and beyond.
The post Earth Girl Helen Brown :: Feed Me appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The string of releases to follow Common One would serve as companions in staking out a New-Age Celtic spirituality built on channeling legacies as far flung as Jimmy Rogers, Ray Charles, Christmas Humphrey, and L Ron Hubbard. Critical as any of these to Van’s Celtic Guru years was an interpretation of Alice Bailey’s theosophy. The ideas were laid out on Van’s 1980 masterwork, but the seven rays never radiated as brightly as they did on Beautiful Vision.
The post Celtic Guru :: Van Morrison In The 80s | Beautiful Vision appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, Tyler Wilcox's Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, sliding into Jason P. Woodbury's Range and Basin and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. To close the show out, a special airing of an episode from our weekly podcast: a chat with iconoclast, Jim Jarmusch. Tune in Sunday, November 20 from 4-8 PM PST on dublab.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: November 22 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Rather than characterize Baker as the trumpet-wielding James Dean or a playboy jazz rebel, Weber shows Baker for who he was: a deeply flawed man, with bruises and blemishes and all. The contrast between Baker's personality and musicality makes Weber's profile of Baker that much more heartbreaking. How could someone of so few words be so lyrical and poignant in their musicianship? How could someone who lived so crudely play so gently and sing so sweetly?
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The previous installment of Diversions found multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn diving deep into the sonic world of fellow traveler, Keith Jarrett. This edition finds us in the hands of Kim Åge Furuhaug, who drums for the Norwegian trio Orions Belte. An AD favorite, the group are pulling a proper KISS move ⟨™⟩ this month, each releasing a solo album via a 3xLP box set, making Furuhaug the analogous Peter Criss. As Furuhaug went straight jazz with his offering, we asked the drummer to walk us through its aesthetic DNA.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The turns this music takes, random as they seem, are never cheap jump-scares. They are developed organically throughout, and Johansen’s crack squad of Norwegian musicians fully commits to them. Somehow they manage to weld spiritual jazz and icy ECM and martial prog and no-wave noise into an improbable, and emotionally stirring, unity. It is one of the most inventive and consistently surprising records out this year, and it might be one of the finest.
The post Gisle Røen Johansen :: Kveldsragg appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The days are growing shorter and the holidays are upon us. In the interest of making everyone's lives slightly easier this season, we returned to the golden era of electric jazz and put together a long compilation of cocktail funk and rare groovers to spin for a house full of family and friends. Press play and let it spin. One less thing to worry about.
The post Saturnalia: Deep Jazz for Long Nights, 1969-1980 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to the final episode of Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions’ 2022 season. We saved a great one for the finale, on this episode we're joined by Kid Congo Powers.
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As 2022 winds to a close, we are wrapping up this year’s installment of the Lagniappe Sessions with the Tokyo based artist Takuro Okada. The set finds Okada on the heels of his first album in two years, Betsu No Jikan, which features a heavy murderers’ row of of guest players including Jim O’Rourke, Shun Ishiwaka, Nels Cline, Sam Gendel, and Carlos Niño. No stranger to covers (the LP kicks off with Okada and co.’s transfiguration of Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”), the following session finds the artist paying tribute to fellow countryman Haruomi Hosono, and the title track from Don Cherry’s 1975 LP, Brown Rice.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Takuro Okada appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The group chat is, in many cases, where even the mildest ambitions go to die: Impulsive hiking trips, pickup basketball games, and attempted excursions to see if the live NASCAR audience is “really about that life” have all stalled like so much well-meaning legislation in a complicated bicameral government. Count Fling II — a rewarding new album rooted in spacious, richly synthesized Krautrock firmly on the NEU! side of things — as the rare realization of one of these tossed-off schemes.
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On Blind Spot, her second album, Adrie furthers her sound by adding drums and bringing in a sturdier, more refined set of songs. At eight tracks, the material is relatively simple but effective, and sonically reminiscent of the intimacy of the Microphones, the sober psychedelia of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and the subdued pop tones of the Fates’ Furia.
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There’s a lightness, a sort of levitational glow, about Isla Craig’s presence on her new album, Echo’s Reach. Blending her r&b sensibilities with canvases of jazzy chamber soul, knotty art-pop, and rumbling psychedelic dirges, the Toronto-based vocalist takes her piano-led meditations on nature and its wondrous, joining expanse, in unexpected and daring directions.
The post Isla Craig :: Echo’s Reach appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Nigeria, 1982. Released the same year as King Sunny Adé’s masterful Juju Music, this incoming medley of highlife-psych jumps in at the six-minute mark of the side-A medley from Ahuja Bello and His Golden Eagles Band’s Late Bobo Doherty.
The post Ahuja Bello & His Golden Eagles Band :: Late Bobo Doherty (1982) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Like a dusty ten-dollar bottle of bonded bourbon you didn’t know was in the cabinet, Grease Band is a little bit of countrified heat that’ll sure as hell cure what ails you. It’s a loose, shambolic gem whose ragged swagger and earthy charms sound as good on Sunday morning as they do on Friday night.
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Today on the show, we are joined by the Kadane Brothers, who founded the pioneering slowcore band Bedhead in 1991 in Dallas, Texas. On this episode of Transmissions, we dig into Bedhead’s history and idiosyncratic approach, exploring how they worked “remotely” and by telephone long before remote work was standard, the space carved out by Bedhead’s unique sound, their cover of Cher’s “Believe,” and much more.
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Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our new monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com.
In this month's bag: The importance (?) of hi-fi. Local LA surf breaks. On-U Sound dub stylings. European copyright and live recordings. And lastly, nagging earworms.
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A mind meld of epic proportions, in 1976 Turkish jazz percussionist Okay Temiz and South African pianist, bassist, and vocalist Johnny Dyani teamed up for Witchdoctor’s Son. Sharing original compositions, a Don Cherry cover, and re-arranged traditionals from their respective homelands, the pair deftly fuse the material into wild, free jazz freakouts.
The post Okay Temiz / Johnny Dyani :: Witchdoctor’s Son appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The highlight of this exhaustively curated set are the performances which allow us to listen in to a full concert or series of tunes. It is here that we experience Bert’s crowning achievement—the temporal transcendence of music consciousness. From one song to the next Jansch could transport his audience to 1930’s Mississippi, the court of King James, or a 1974 folk club in Soho without missing a beat.
The post Bert Jansch :: Bert At The BBC appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Jeff Parker has had quite a year, but he may have saved the best for last. Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, released by Eremite Records last month, offers up four sidelong pieces recorded live in Los Angeles over the past few years. Here, we get to eavesdrop on Parker, bassist Anna Buttterss, drummer Jay Bellerose and saxophonist Josh Johnson in full freedom flight. It’s an uncommonly intimate live recording — the players seem to be extremely at ease in this small club setting.
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Horse Lords’ previous record The Common Task appeared on March 13, 2020. Two days later, the whole world began to close. The erstwhile Baltimore quartet (three of the members now live in Germany) returned this month to a world changed, but certainly not changed enough. The radical music on Comradely Objects speaks directly to our historical predicament: Horse Lords erect seemingly stable musical systems which they force to undergo transformation in spite of themselves.
The post Horse Lords :: Comradely Objects appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
“My songs are my true autobiography—it’s all in there, if you know where to look.” If that’s the case, the latest chapter in Robyn Hitchcock’s story is the brand-new SHUFFLEMANIA!, the songwriter’s first full-length LP since 2017. Released on his own Tiny Ghost Records label, it’s a star-studded affair, with guest appearances from Emma Swift, Kimberley Rew, Johnny Marr, Brendan Benson, Pat Sansone, Eric Slick, Sean Ono Lennon, Morris Windsor and more, all adding their skills to a very strong collection of new Hitchcock tunes. To get the scoop, Aquarium Drunkard connected with Hitchcock via Zoom in London...
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Magic Carpet were a London based group that consisted of four members: Alisha Sufit, Clem Alford, Jim Moyes and Keshav Sathe. The band recorded one album in the winter of ‘71-72 on the English based label Mushroom. Influenced by the sitar and other cosmic elements of ancient acoustics, Magic Carpet’s lone debut LP is magical, a poetic journey through space and time. Alisha Sufit of the group joined us to discuss the untold story of Magic Carpet.
The post Alisha Sufit of Magic Carpet :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fire! Water! Air! Kraus! is the Auckland outsider musician's 19th album, and of the nine we've heard, the most fully realized rhythmically and melodically. Here, Kraus mostly abandons the guitar and emphasizes electronics, tipping his hat toward Mort Garson's occult Moog classic (as Ataraxia), The Unexplained.
The post Kraus :: Fire! Water! Air! Kraus! appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Released by Ghost Box, known for library music and esoterica-informed releases by Broadcast, The Focus Group, and more, Pneumatic Tubes' A Letter From TreeTops finds Mercury Rev and Midlake contributor Jesse Chandler pulling together strands of impressionistic Vince Guaraldi jazz, public information film soundtrack zones built on reeds, flutes and synths, and hazy cosmic Americana.
The post Pneumatic Tubes :: A Letter from TreeTops appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Oghneya is one of the most interesting recent additions to the impressive catalog of Habibi Funk, a label that aims to circulate Arab funk and soul records from the 1960-80s to a global audience. Originally released in 1978 by the Issam Hajali-lead Lebanese trio Ferkat Al Ard, the record maintains the modes and melismas so associated with Arabic music while entertaining cinematic orchestral arrangements within a pop psych-folk compositional framework.
The post Ferkat Al Ard :: Oghneya appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With a welcome chill in the air and a fresh Bandcamp Friday hitting on November 4, it’s time for one more 2022 edition of AD’s Bandcamping, filled with recent & recommended sounds. Fill up that cart and find some new favorites.
The post Bandcamping :: Autumn 2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Lindsey Verrill of Little Mazarn and Lou Turner connect to discuss their new records, Dairy Queen, and creating "enough wiggle room for the slipper to fit someone else who might want to be the protagonist."
The post Little Mazarn & Lou Turner :: In Conversation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Scott Hirsch dons a number of hats: singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer. Based in Ojai, CA, where he mans Echo Magic studios, the multi-hyphenate artist joins us for his second Lagniappe rodeo following up his 2019 session. While that installment found Hirsch reconfiguring the likes of Dire Straits, Dylan and Commander Cody, the following focuses solely on the sonic wizardry of one space cowboy, Steve Miller.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The genre known as exotica stands just next door to a number of considerably better respected musical forms. Speed up that reverbed guitar and you’ve got surf. Slow it down and you’re in the spaghetti western territory of Ennio Morricone. With a good deal more distortion and chops, you’ll be at spitting distance from acid rock. With a fleshed out jazz instrumentation and an expanded improvisational element and you’re not too far from the early Sun Ra. Perhaps this is what drew the American avant-garde saxophonist, composer and impresario John Zorn to it.
The post John Zorn :: The Gift appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Slow Fawn, Sam Cohen, a producer, songwriter, and musician known for his work with Apollo Sunshine, Yellowbirds, Kevin Morby, Danger Mouse and Karen O, creates a glowing, meditative space. Inspired by Terry Riley and drawing from long jam sessions with his collaborators, it reflects Sam's desire to "create a world without friction, where you could float and feel joy."
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Gold Dust spins out gossamer trails of folk rock, a whipped cream daydream of cosmic cowboy reveries that may remind you of the Beachwood Sparks or Garcia Peoples, depending how hard Stephen Pierce happens to be knocking it out just then. A veteran of the Western Mass musical universe, these are wistful, effervescent clouds of misty sunshine, pierced at times by Beatles-psych twang (not a sitar, but maybe wishes it were) and grounded, often, by surprisingly heavy, dirge-y thwacks on the fours.
The post Gold Dust :: The Late Great Gold Dust appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We’re digging the America Dream Reserve compilation, recently released via the Santa-Cruz based reissue label and archival project, Smiling C. Compiled by record collector Charles Bas, it comprises sixteen tracks of private press, home-recorded American country, folk, soul, lounge, disco, and beyond, all dripping with drum machine, synths, and lonesome bedroom pop vestiges. FX’s “Things Are Not What They Seem” has been a particularly choice cut of late.
The post FX :: Things Are Not What They Seem appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The mighty John Cale has re-emerged — he's touring Europe as we speak and has a new LP coming out early next year (You can check out the Weyes Blood-assisted "Story of Blood" now). In the meantime, let's go back to the mid-1970s when John was just getting going as a touring act. He’d obviously played live plenty before, but following the release of 1975's Slow Dazzle, he really leaned into being a traveling musician.
The post John Cale :: Rond Point, Marseilles, France, April 12, 1975 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Soon Over Babaluma is a satellite moon in CAN’s oeuvre, perpetually orbiting the seismic mass of the music they created between 1969-1973, one last psychedelic excursion before transitioning into the tighter arrangements and slicker production of the mid-late 70s. CAN was floating ever deeper into space, fresh off the gravitational break achieved on Future Days. Recorded on the heels of Damo Suzuki’s departure, Soon Over Babaluma marked both the end of era and a reinvention of everything the CAN had been working toward— the deepening of a sound that was still hurtling toward the outer reaches.
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SOYUZ's Force of the Wind is an imitation of the Brazilian Clube da Esquina scene of the 1970s, in the sense that it adheres to certain aesthetic principles and compositional signifiers associated with that group. It even explicitly names its models: Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Burnier & Cartier, Arthur Verocai. Yet it's clear that any appropriation of Brazilian music is careful and loving, as Alex Chumak wants to not only pay homage to the 1970s MPB that fascinates him, but to play with its grammar, extend it, renovate it. To sound Brazilian yet not Brazilian, as he explains.
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At the start of 2020 Aoife Nessa Frances initiated the new year with her psych-folk debut, Land of No Junction. Misty vocals, expansively intricate guitar work, gauzy strings, and mellotron washing over hazy production cemented her a spot as one of the most promising artists of a new decade. On Protector that prediction holds up. Frances has created an album of down-tempo pop music that retains the psychedelic leanings of her first LP. The vocal work of the Irish songwriter remains serious and solemn, but the work put into the arrangements of the tunes seem to signify a change in ambition.
The post Aoife Nessa Frances :: Protector appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
"I grew up only listening to reggae music. And for a long time, I felt like that was really outside of my musical identity." June McDoom joins us to discuss her new reggae-inflected collection of psychedelic folk.
The post June McDoom :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Released by Ongehoord, Deadline Paranoia 3/3 is the last of three compilations by the 1980s Amsterdam-based outfit. Jeroen Vermandere, who runs the label, discovered these hauntingly timeless recordings while pouring over the Dutch 1980s cassette scene. I’ve been obsessed with this release since first hearing it, and I think Vermandere puts it best in his description of the newly-rediscovered group when he says the recordings embody “a sensitivity towards the spiritual placed alongside anarchic violence.”
The post Deadline Paranoia 3/3 :: Cappadocia appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
... reverberating flutes, amplified saxophones, liquid Fender Rhodes keyboards The guitars are jazzy and lysergic in turn, sometimes in the very same track. At times, the drums sit right in the pocket; moments later, they are thundering out for the old gods. It was not so much a fusion of jazz and rock as a continuum where these forms could mutate one into another and back again. All of this music is compelling; some of it is sublime. This darker corner of the krautrock era of the 1970s deserves a good deal more light.
The post Every Angel’s Terrifying: Explorations in German Jazz-Rock, 1970-1980 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Internationally renowned artist Rodney Graham (January 16, 1949 – October 22, 2022) passed away earlier this week, and while primarily known as a visual and conceptual artist of uncommon depth and clarity, his career also ran a parallel track over the last two decades as a singer/songwriter and recording artist of wryly observed and perfectly constructed pop songs that mine a half century or more’s worth of North American musical forms.
The post How To Avoid An Imbroglio: A Rodney Graham Musical Primer appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Broadcasting from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery … The Aquarium Drunkard Show. The Halloween edition, Wednesday night / 7pm California time. SIRIUS/XM ~ Channel 35.
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Fresh off of a long summer on the road, the multi-instrumentalist recorded his inaugural Lagniappe Session soaked in the California sun of his outdoor garden studio (background cricket ambiance and all). In addition to tackling Jonathan Richman's interpretation of fantasy exotica, the selections play tribute to his many lifelong influences dating back to childhood in Japan: deep cuts from the limitless worlds of Haruomi Hosono and Eiichi Ohtaki.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Yohei 鹿野洋平 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Noon is a time defined as much by what it isn’t as what it is, a place where morning has ended but afternoon has yet to crest. For songwriter Mat Davidson, the voice and mind behind Twain, Noon is an attempt to exist in this middle ground. But the album resists its existence as a fleeting thing, smearing itself across the album’s 13 tracks to mesmerizing effect, becoming a moment you might believe you’ll be able to live in forever, even if you can’t.
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This week on Transmissions: Joe Rainey. Rainey is a pow wow singer of the Red Lake Ojibwe tribe. He’s known for collaborations with Bon Iver, Chance the Rapper and Alan Sparhawk of Low, and in May he released his debut solo album, Niineta on Justin Vernon’s 37d03d label. Created in conjunction with producer Andrew Broder, it pairs his vocals with samples culled from his vast collection of pow wow tapes, thundering percussion, and dense, thickly layered soundscapes that evoke the overwhelming haze of modern electronic music.
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The documentary shows news reports and photographs from a town decaying into chaos throughout the 1890s: murder, suicide, mental insanity, epidemics, arson, and economic collapse. Whether following one of the many Black River Falls residents taken to Mendota Asylum for insanity or tracing ghost sightings in the area, Wisconsin Death Trip displays a community in complete decline, stripping away the romanticization of the American frontier to reveal its true agony and despair.
The post Videodrome :: Wisconsin Death Trip appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The break up was cemented. The live reputation established. Amon Düül’s more musical half – adopting the suffix ‘II’ – entered the studio and laid down the first identifiable Kosmische slab. In name alone, Amon Düül II’s debut demanded attention. “The God Cock” would formally signify Germany’s emergence as a world power once more—though this time on the countercultural stage. Preceding Can’s Monster Movie by two months, Phallus Dei would be the introductory major-label document of a burgeoning Gegenkultur coming out of West Germany at the end of the 1960s.
The post Amon Düül: A Young Person’s Guide 002 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
In 2016, Australian label Efficient Space released Sky Girl, a near immaculate collection of gems lifted from small pressings dating from the sixties to the nineties compiled by Julien Dechery and DJ Sundae. Although highly varied, pasting together new wave tones, borderline outsider rock, and haunting folk, Sky Girl is a seamless listen. Six years on, Efficient Space offer their second compilation, Ghost Riders, put together by record collector Ivan Liechti, culled between 1965-1974.
The post Ghost Riders :: A Compilation appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. This month: Galaxie 500, the punk dramas of Kid Congo Powers, Cosey Fanni Tutti's cross generational epic Re-Sisters, the Zen poetics of Philip Whalen, and horror comics from Jack "The King" Kirby.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 19 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Weird times, strange signals. Reverberating from the hills of Glassell Park, California, welcome to episode twelve of the Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show.
Feat: White Fence | PAINT | Sean Thompson's Weird Ears | Color Green | Floating Action | Rich Ruth | Kamikaze Palm Tree | The Babe Rainbow | Kolumbo
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For director Bill L. Norton, 1972 was a big year. The UCLA graduate had two movies coming out: Cisco Pike, a counterculture drama starring Kris Kristofferson as a down-on-his-luck musician and ex-con being forced by corrupt cop Gene Hackman to sell a garage full of weed in one weekend ... along with the release of his low-budget made-for-tv movie, Gargoyles. As one might guess, these two films could not be more different from one another.
The post Videodrome :: Cisco Pike And The Gargoyles (1972) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Helmed by Argentines Alberto Infusino (Sandhy) and Alberto Vanasco (Mandhy), Para Castukis was recorded in the span of three hours with an ad hoc pickup backing band (farfisa, congas, drums, bass, and guitars). Released in 1969, touching on folk, psychedelia, pop and rock, the one-take affair is charming in its ramshackle naiveté.
The post Sandhy & Mandhy :: Para Castukis appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Several years following the masterful swan song Ask The Ages, the final recorded project of avant-jazz pioneer Sonny Sharrock is a powerful, curious oddity. The otherworldly, zig-zagging riff of Sharrock's signature wailing guitar provided the iconic theme song for 1994's animated hybrid experiment Space Ghost Coast To Coast. Distributed as a limited promotional item, Sharrock's full blistering soundtrack clocks in at a mere fifteen minutes. Expect free-form guitar jams that pull no punches.
The post Sonny Sharrock’s Ghost Planet appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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In retrospect, Near Dark has endured amongst horror aficionados as one of the most eminent genre-hybrids ever made for many reasons: the kinetic pacing that mixes art-house ambiance with multiplex populism, the seamless blending of outlaw-western with vampire-horror, and the synth-soaked score from Tangerine Dream. But Near Dark's under-discussed ace-in-the-hole is that it's a horror film that handles exposition with the utmost confidence and grace.
The post Videodrome :: Near Dark (1987) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dead Notes is back—kinda, sorta. Though our normal column remains on hiatus, we had to fire things back up for a talk with Mark A. Rodriguez about his new book of Dead art, After All is Said and Done: Taping the Grateful Dead 1965-1995.
The post Dead Notes #16: The Dead Tape Collector (Mark A. Rodriguez) Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This week on our weekly interview podcast, a wide-ranging interview with Clem Burke of Blondie. He joins us to discuss the band’s early years, interactions with luminaries like Robert Fripp and Giorgio Moroder, the fashion forward cultural shift, and Numero Group’s monumental box set collection, Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982. A game conversationalist, Burke brings a quick wit and sharp intellect to this chat, which traces the group's evolution, early days, and his work as a case study documenting the physical condition of drummers.
The post Transmissions :: Clem Burke of Blondie appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
There’s a moment halfway through “Humility,” the opening track on Jairus Sharif’s Water and Tools, that sounds like the skies opening up. Where harsh, metallic ripples of cold electronic synths were rumbling, the renegade, proclamatory exaltation of Sharif’s saxophone suddenly takes on a warmer, less defiant tone. And the backdrop, too—bright, wooly synths and avian chirps—feels like the arrival of spring as Sharif’s horn elevates with undulating keys—the music pure, joyous, and untethered.
The post Jairus Sharif :: Water And Tools appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For his first Lagniappe Session, the musician who named his debut album after Robert Ashley’s record label surprised no one by selecting a pair of deep cuts to reinterpret. The Necessaries’ “More Real” receives a dubby deconstruction with Mairesse stepping in for Arthur Russell, while his cover of Leslie Winer’s “John Says” is a welcome introduction to the musician and poet called “The Godmother of Trip Hop” by John Peel.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sagittaire appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Cactus Lee, our dear, enchanting nine-to-five troubadour, drops his most recent release, Perfect Middle Hall, on vinyl this week. It's a perfect format for enjoying this one—a tight, cozy six-song cycle of Kevin Dehan’s woolen, lo-fi folk, which introduces a more full-bodied richness into the sonic palette.
The post Cactus Lee :: Perfect Middle Hall appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering, with chilly winds of gospel, country, soul & folk. Then, Jason P. Woodbury takes over with Range and Basin, synth folk, Spanish psych, jazz, and piano meditations. Then, Tyler Wilcox pops in Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, with an hour of Robyn Hitchcock deep cuts, demos, rarities, b-sides and live material spanning his entire career. And to close, Autumn Sweater, woodsmoke, buffalo check and the crunch of broken pine needles underfoot. Tune in Sunday, October 16 from 4-8 PM PST on dublab.
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The second of Rolin’s two solo outings issued in physical format this year, Passing marks a slight shift in feel and perspective. Where Sea of Stars (released back in May) was an expansive, kaleidescopic cascade of dexterous twelve-string, Passing is more fragmented and hermetic in nature, though no less encompassing.
The post Matthew J. Rolin :: Passing appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For the uninitiated Tommy McLain’s music has been categorized as Swamp Pop. A term that was popularized by author John Broven in his wonderfully enthusiastic and extremely well researched book about the depth and range of the music of the Bayous of Louisiana entitled “South To Louisiana”. His songs have the emotional feel of soul music, the distinct melodies of the back country and certainly the rhythms of New Orleans R&B. But when he starts singing his voice grabs your attention, draws you in and you don’t want to be any where else.
The post Tommy McLain :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Following the mind-altering fuck-folk of Indian War Whoop and The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders, Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber reined in their psychic troubadour ambitions and embraced melody once more. 1971’s Good Taste is Timeless finds an expanded Rounders digging into the annals of American goodtime music for inspiration. That is, until we near the end of the first side. As the band tiptoes into “Spring of ‘65” there is a familiar cadence in the delivery—this time from across the North Atlantic.
The post The Holy Modal Rounders :: Spring of ’65 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Lee Baggett's Just a Minute, released earlier this year, marks his first outing under his own name after decades in the West Coast underground. For his first-ever Lagniappe Session, he breaks out selections from Def Leppard, The English Beat, and Van Halen, reflecting on the cuts as he goes along.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Lee Baggett appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Turning mistakes in magic dust. Lambchop mastermind Kurt Wagner joins Aquarium Drunkard correspondent Al Riggs to discuss the band's 16th full-length, the sprawling The Bible.
The post The Mistakes Make It Interesting :: A Conversation With Kurt Wagner of Lambchop appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our new monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com. We're gonna keep it loose!
The post Aquarium Drunkard :: Mailbag appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Terry Jennings phantasmic presence runs quietly throughout the early history of minimalism—a whispered name with previously only a meager handful of bootlegs and collaborations to his credit. Piece for Cello and Saxophone corrects that at long last as the first proper document of Jennings as a composer, a resurrected score as monumental in the minimalism’s development as La Monte Young’s “The Well-Tuned Piano” or Terry Riley’s “In C.” It’s a work to be experienced—90 minutes of sustained tones in a glacial chorale, shifting between shades of light and dark, harmony and dissonance, peace and disquiet.
The post Terry Jennings :: Piece For Cello And Saxophone (1960) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With his debut book My Life in the Sunshine: Searching For My Father and Discovering My Family, Nabil Ayers walks a tightrope, balancing personal and familial history with stories about a life spent playing music, working in record stores, and falling in love with music. On this episode of Transmissions, he discusses his work with 4AD, The Control Group, and Beggars Group, and his complicated relationship with his father Roy Ayers.
The post Transmissions :: Nabil Ayers appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The eleventh installment of Tompkins Square’s routinely superb Imaginational Anthem series, Chrome Universal parts company with the 6 and 12-string territory and delves into some the ever-expanding sonic universe of pedal steel guitar. It’s a beautiful and complex instrument that’s seen a renaissance over the last few years, making its way out of the honky-tonk and charting a course toward a new light of day somewhere between earth and space.
The post Chrome Universal: A Survey of Modern Pedal Steel appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Marva Broome one of the many gems on Pierre Barouh and the Saravah Sound, a survey of the label’s unique blend of chanson, jazz, soul, African, and Brazilian influences. It’s an embarrassment of riches comp, ranging from Baroque Jazz Trio’s raga-inflected excursions, the unraveling sax and guitar of “EDF Power,” and the sly nocturnal groove of Pierre Akendengue’s “Orema Ka-Ka-Ka.” The Art Ensemble even turns up again on Brigitte Fontaine’s sultry “Comme La Radio” and behind Alfred Panou’s recitation on “Je Suis Un Sauvage.” Mon dieu!
The post Marva Broome :: Mystifying Mama appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On their self-titled album as Mess Esque, Helen Franzmann and Mick Turner generate poignant and skeletal melodies that float in a self-contained dream pop universe. They joined us to discuss tuning their approach to each other and more.
The post Mess Esque :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The cover of 1967’s Guilty declares, in bold newsprint, that Wrecking Crew Howard Roberts has been “judged guilty on 11 separate counts of being a dirty, funky, swamp bossa nova guitar player.” With Roberts’ milky smooth tone, fluttering double-stops, and effortless sweeps as evidence, no jury on earth could exonerate him.
The post Howard Roberts :: Guilty appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Join me in L.A. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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This week on the show, Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson and guitarist Yonatan Gat join us to discuss their collaborative work as Medicine Singers, which pairs the powwow drum and the voices of the Eastern Medicine Singers with Yonatan’s electrified guitar and contributions from experimental composer Joe Rainey, Ikue Mori of DNA, Thor Harris of Swans, previous Transmissions guest Laraaji, and the late jamie branch. Jamieson and Gat join us to discuss their collaboration.
The post Transmissions :: Medicine Singers appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
...from a decade in obscurity, the king of guitar rumble himself was back. With a stripped-down sound that could have been a companion to Dylan’s Basement Tapes, Link Wray set stereo amplifiers ablaze with “Fire and Brimstone.” A ferocious bottleneck slide exposé kicks off the piece—rest assured listener, the power chording maestro of primitive rock, he remains, but with more than a few new tricks up his sleeve. Phaser-heavy chords wash over the piece as a backbeaten wallop of percussion sends the whole cacophony into a backwoods romp. Then he sings. Wray had experimented with vocals on some previous recordings but any attempt at a calm serenade had gone the way of fancy studio tricks. This was a WAIL.
The post Link Wray’s Three Track Shack appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On their excellent new album Distances, Elkhorn guitarists Jesse Shepherd (acoustic) and Drew Gardner (electric) lean into the rhythmic possibilities afforded by not one but two guest drummers: the Virginia-based Ian McColm and DC percussionist Nate Scheible. The result is an expansive set of tunes like "Wilderness," which floats along a determined but peaceful groove before taking a left turn into knottier territory. Shepherd joins us here to share a DIY-crafted clip for the song, an unfolding collage that suits the song beautifully.
The post Elkhorn :: Wilderness (Video) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Over the past fifteen years, in addition to his solo career, Julien Gasc made brief stints in Stereolab and Hyperclean. Most notably, though, Gasc has been a core member of Aquaserge, a French outfit that walks a fine line between psychedelic grooves and avant, Henry Cow-like tangents. On his own, Gasc creates pop songs, classifiably.
The post Julien Gasc :: Re Eff appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Listening to this phenomenal collection of Velvet Underground prehistory, it’s fairly mind-boggling how fast Lou Reed and John Cale moved in the earliest stages of their creative partnership. Less than a year after these acoustic demos were made, the pair were in the studio recording the epochal Velvet Underground & Nico — an LP whose reverberations are still being felt today.
The post Lou Reed :: Words & Music, May 1965 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, every third Sunday on dublab. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering, drifting between the seasons with folk, country, ambient & rock. Then, Jason P. Woodbury takes over with Range and Basin, with comic book free jazz, avant-western and ecstatic gospels. Then, Tyler Wilcox pops in Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, with a bunch of solo acoustic Takoma School situations—mostly new-ish stuff, but some dips into the past. Then to close, Tom Scharpling of The Best Show presents The Best Drunk Aquarium Show. Tune in Sunday, September 18 from 4-8 PM PST on dublab.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard On Dublab :: September 2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dark Canyon captures an eclectic mix of outlaw sounds that could have easily fallen out of a Sergio Leone film. The careful consideration of composition and sonic aestheticism is an omnipresent hallmark of Dark Canyon, which combines retro-infused production and filmic songwriting to create a stereophonic homage to the grainy landscapes of the wild west.
The post Dark Canyon :: S/T appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Located roughly halfway between Cleveland and Buffalo in the country side off the 1-90, Erie, Pennsylvania isn’t exactly the first place you’d go looking for rock music. But if you're looking for Zappa? Well then, Erie has plenty for you on that front. Earlier this year, the Zappa estate released a six-CD box set of live material all recorded in the area within a three-year span: a show from May 1974, another from November 1974, and one from November 1976. All three are from Zappa’s mid-'70s prime, and two of them are great examples of bands that get short shrift in his massive discography.
The post Frank Zappa :: Zappa/Erie (Live) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Funky crudités. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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David Lynch sound designer Dean Hurley and German-Brazilian songwriter and singer Gloria de Oliveira join us on our weekly Transmissions podcast to discuss their haunting cover of Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser’s “All Flowers in Time,” the myriad ways Lynch influenced the project, and the ever elusive nature of time and existence.
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Misha Panfilov has been brewing a singular blend of psychedelic jazz, electronic lounge, and ambient exotica for the better part of a decade now, the results growing only more potent and intoxicating with each council. On his latest solo venture, The Sea Will Outlive Us All, he greets us at an “Albatross”-on-repeat level of bliss and ascends toward a mystical summit of sound.
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The song of the summer is transitioning nicely into the coming fall. Living up to her namesake, Angela Autumn’s “Dancer” drifts in with a sultry melodicism perfect for the days between seasons. It’s a bit of a departure from the Appalachian-inspired folk of last year’s excellent Frontiers Woman, but the markings of old weird Americana continue to gleam through the sonic development with each note she sings.
The post Angela Autumn :: Dancer appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Upcoming project The Lost Tapes by lost seventies band Mad Anthony is not your typical archival release. For Los Angeles-based musician Ben Schwab it's more than personal. Ben's father John was a member of the band, whose three part vocal harmonies recall the soulful, rootsy folk ethos of CSNY or Jackson Browne. Recorded in 1975, these demo songs represent the first time that any of the group's recorded music will be heard outside of friends and family. The aptly titled Lost Tapes are just that, sourced from a two track reel-to-reel of bare demos recorded live in a barn in Santa Barbara, California. Ben spoke to AD about all of the elements that brought his father's recordings to life, the self-proclaimed "sweet fusion" of the music, and the direct lineage to his own Sylvie project.
The post Mad Anthony :: The Lost Tapes appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A dozen dusky acid folk songs for the waning days of summer. Welcome to the sixth installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
The post First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 6 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The nom de tune of sonic chameleon Frank LoCrasto, Kolumbo features vast and intricate orchestrations reminiscent of the symphonic exotica and jazz-pop records birthed by Capital records in the 50s and 60s. Strings, woodwinds, brass, keyboard and percussion all make an appearance, buoyed by an edge of psychedelia complete with synthesizers and loads of tape echo. On the heels of the project's debut release, Gung Ho, LoCrasto and co. touch down with their inaugural Lagniappe Session, sonically juxtaposing the works of Stevie Wonder, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brian Wilson, Duke Ellington and more.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Kolumbo appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
With a vast discography going back to the mid-1990s, Steven R. Smith is a man of many monikers — he’s released music as Hala Strana, Ulaan Khol, Ulaan Markhor, Ulaan Passerine, Ulaan Janthina. Don’t stress. Whatever name he goes by, Smith is nothing if not consistent. He’s an expert craftsman, a maker of (usually) guitar-based instrumentals that build wide-open sonic vistas upon sturdy rhythmic foundations. While Smith is a more than capable one-man band, on the latest Ulaan Passerine LP, Sun Spar, he drafts some outside talent to fill in the frame.
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Ready to slide into autumn? If so, this should help: Marc Emory’s Listening Music / Anfang. Originally self-released in 1974, and resurrected last month via Scissor Tail Records, the mostly instrumental affair finds Emory handling all the guitars/vox. An obvious grip for devotees of William Ackerman’s Windham Hill and the greater Takoma family, the reissue is being limited to 200 copies in keeping with the spirit of the amount pressed for the original ’74 release. The skilled 12-string fingerpicking is perhaps the main draw, but don't skip the vocal numbers, with Emory finding a fully-hazed If I Could Only Remember My Name / Gary Higgins sweet spot.
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Surprise! The first Lagniappe SuperSession is a birthday party gathering of 33 artists interpreting the music of songwriter, James Toth. The songs in this collection cover over 20 years of music from James’ career, from his early band Golden Calves to his last Wooden Wand record, Clipper Ship. Featuring artists Woods, Marisa Anderson, Lee Ranaldo, William Tyler, Ryley Walker, Tashi Dorji (as Mount), Thurston Moore, Meg Baird, and 25 more, the range of styles and sounds on this compilation show off the universality of Toth’s impressive oeuvre.
The post Lagniappe SuperSession :: Birthday Blues | 33 Artists Interpret The Music Of James Toth appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The Feelies reference only tells part of the story here. Lush and teeming with geniality, The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness deliver jangly, sun-kissed pop melodies that subsist wholly within their own sphere. Ten melodic tracks breezing in at under thirty minutes anchored by the self-proclaimed "cult group's" signature Byrdsian guitar jangle, the album's no-frills power pop materializes like a sort of roadmap sampler of its many aesthetic predecessors.
The post The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness :: The Third Wave Of… appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fresh off the recording of Backwaters, Tony Rice’s improv driven unit settled in on the stage at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. The band in tow reproduced Rice’s recent studio line-ups with John Reischman on mandolin, Fred Carpenter on violin, Todd Phillips on Bass, and Rice holding down rhythm and lead guitar. Not a banjo in sight. The Reischman-penned “That Waltz” starts off the set. With the band seeming to dance upon clouds, it is immediately apparent that the next hour of music – defying classification at the time – had no plan to be grouped in with any standard progressive bluegrass of the era.
The post The Tony Rice Unit :: Live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, July 17, 1982 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Just about 12 years into their trip, Bitchin Bajas just seem to get better and better. The Chicago trio, made up of Cooper Crain, Rob Frye and Daniel Quinlivan, has just released Bajascillators — and this new four-song collection is perhaps the most skilled and absorbing distillation of their sound yet. Things kick off with “Amorpha,” the kosmische groove strong right out of the gate, jewel-like textures swimming through the mix — this is undoubtedly a record that rewards headphone listeners.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Lou Turner’s 2020 LP Songs For John Venn was a striking and assured debut, full of sage wisdom, lyrics that were both wryly funny and deeply felt, and plaintive melodies that drew from a deep well of country and folk influences. A fantastic first offering! But Microcosmos, Turner’s follow-up, is even better. Building on John Venn’s firm foundation, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter has delivered an album that solidifies her status as a modern master.
The post Lou Turner :: Microcosmos appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Rather than become a pillar of blaxploitation, Trouble Man has been abated to a cinematic footnote of the subgenre. But the impeccable soundtrack from Gaye deserves to be held in the same regard as other blaxploitation soundtracks ranging from Edwin Starr to Bobby Womack. It's not only one of the best soundtracks you don't hear enough about, but one of the paramount releases of Gaye's prolific career, emblazoning him as a musical jack of all trades and a master of all of them.
The post Videodrome :: Trouble Man (1972) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
We're sitting down with Chicago sisters Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney, who join us to discuss the work of their father, the late Charles Stepney. As a producer and arranger, Stepney was at the helm for incredible '60s and '70s work with Earth, Wind & Fire, Rotary Connection, The Dells, Muddy Waters, Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Terry Callier, and many more before his passing in 1976. But on Step on Step, a mind-blowing new collection from International Anthem, a new vision of Stepney emerges: that of a home recording genius. The Stepney Sisters join host Jason P. Woodbury to unpack who Stepney was, his relationship with his wife and partner Rubie, his love of science fiction, and his status as one of hip-hop’s most sampled composers.
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Experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi is one of music’s most prolific and inventive collaborators, working with everyone from Keith Rowe and Keiji Haino to Jim O’Rourke and Merzbow in largely improvised sessions, then layering the results into intricate constructed pieces that blur the boundaries between jazz, noise, rock, minimalism, drone and electronics.
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To celebrate a half-century of Transformer, here’s an alternate version of the album, cobbled together from live performances, NYC apartment demos and internet sessions, stretching from the early 1970s to the 21st century. Some of these tunes would become setlist mainstays; others didn’t make it past 1973. The reinventions here are sometimes radical, veering from buoyant glam-funk to shameless Michelob Lite-rock, from austere and solemn readings to goofy garage pop. The one constant? Lou himself, of course. Even as his voice and vibes shift from year to year, Reed’s intense, one-of-a-kind life force shines through, no matter where he takes these tunes. If he taught us anything, it’s that there’s more than one way to walk on the wild side.
The post Lou Reed :: Transformer | Transformed appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Founded in New York by Danish video journalist Andreas Vingaard, Frederiksberg Records is responsible for one of our favorite jazz reissues of 2015, Carsten Meinert's 1969 LP, To You. As such, we make a point to check in on the label's doings from time to time. Stylistically varied, yet always consistent in their output and approach, our latest pass yielded a pair of digital only reissues released earlier this summer, Karin Liungman's I Denna Magiska Tid, and Ole Knudsen's Det Handler Om Kærlighed.
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Removed from the psychedelic rock and baroque pop that helped Sanullim take Korea by storm in the late 70s, “Don’t Go" is all astral-funk and disco spunk.
Landing somewhere between the Stones’ “Emotional Rescue” and the Buckaroo Banzai theme song, it’s an intergalactic boogie serving dance floors and rocket ships alike
The post 산울림 [Sanullim] :: 가지마 [Don’t Go] appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. This month: false prophets, monsters of various mental planes, and bad trips. Reports from the frontlines of the late 1960s jazz avant-garde. The ritual zen of fly fishing. A slice of alternate history, and one cursed bunny.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 18 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard is floating in through the window every third Sunday on dublab. It’s late summer and we’re swimming in it. Up first on our four-hour broadcast, Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering, with torrid August tides of psychedelic rock, post-punk & DIY pop. Then, Jason P. Woodbury takes over with Range and Basin, dropping synth minimalism alongside sophisti-pop and spiritual epics. Then, Tyler Wilcox pops in Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, offering a selection of sweet new sounds from 2022. To close, Jarrod Annis with Ephemeral Frequencies, a hazy hour of dubbed out zoners. Tune in Sunday, August 21 from 4-8 PM PST on dublab.
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Tokyo Drifter is undoubtedly a pop film, and like the greatest pop songs, its limitations birthed its originality. Despite a muddled script adapted from pop-song lyrics, a meager budget, and a draconian studio system, Suzuki managed to outmaneuver his dire circumstances, producing a film that was even more glossy and fashionable than if he had twice or triple the budget and time. It's pure spectacle for the sake of spectacle, an idiom of sixties pop culture that - like any great pop chorus - invites you to sing along with it.
The post Videodrome :: Tokyo Drifter (1966) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On the heels of his latest and seventh long-player, This Is A Photograph, we caught up with Kevin Morby to discuss Memphis, Butterflies, and his appreciation for someone who died 25 years ago. Hallelujah! Hallelujah.
The post While We Wait: A Conversation With Kevin Morby appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For his debut Lagniappe Session, Eli Winter applies his solo guitar to a set of songs by Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell, Maria BC, Judee Sill, and Karen Dalton.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Eli Winter appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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For his most recent OSEES album, A Foul Form, John Dwyer shifts again, this time revisiting the punk and hardcore that shaped his Rhode Island adolescence. And since he’s looking back, it seemed like a good time for us to look back, too, in an interview that spans the Dwyer career so far, from Providence skate punk to SF garage rock to Castle Face honcho to free improv experimenter.
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Built on loops culled from doo wop, psychedelic pop, and early rock & roll records, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom's new album Reset is an exuberant and oracular listen. In this all-new episode of our weekly interview podcast Transmissions, Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Peter Kember (Sonic Boom) sit down with host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss their collaborative partnership, the influence of far out futurist Buckminster Fuller, memory and musical optimism.
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Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow In Curved Air” is a piece of music that, in certain registers, has the lasting power of a proverb. Released on David Behrman’s Music Of Our Time series through CBS, it’s a supple composition which defines just as easily defies minimalism, an open work that extrapolates jazz, improvisation, raga, tape manipulation, and classical motifs. Nico Georis, an FM synthesis aficionado and head of his own experimental radio station, approaches Riley’s mythical work with a fluid and unintimidated approach.
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At three in the afternoon on Thursday, September 28, Amon Düül II took the stage of the Aula der Pädagogischen Hochschule. Freshly split from the ‘nonmusical’ portion of their Munich commune, the eight-piece ensemble intended to make waves, not as a leftist collective, but as a strict musical unit.
The post Amon Düül: A Young Person’s Guide 001 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Last month saw the release of Of Montreal’s 18th long-player, the seven track Freewave Lucifer fck, and with it the perennial project’s second set of covers for AD, this time paying tribute to a pair of British iconoclasts and longtime influences. First up is Barnes’ rendering of Syd Barret’s “Dark Globe, off The Madcap Laughs, the singer-songwriter’s 1970 debut following his departure from Pink Floyd. Up next, the majesty of Marc Bolan circa ’71, courtesy of an acoustic take on “Cosmic Dancer”, via T. Rex’s Electric Warrior.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: of Montreal (Second Session) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Going from country to cosmic in the blink of an eye, the debut long-player from Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears will put a smile on your face and a spring in your step—guaranteed. The Nashville-based guitarist has established himself as a valued sideman over the years (you’ve heard him with Erin Rae, Eve Maret and Spencer Cullum as well as with the late/lamented Promised Land Sound), thanks to his tasty/tasteful six-string mastery.
The post Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears :: S/T appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Electronic soul singer Eddie Chacon returns with "Holy Hell," and a new label in Stones Throw Records. In a new Sissy Chacon-directed video, Eddie and producer John Carroll Kirby go cruising in a message scrawled 1986 Lincoln Mach 7, cooing a message of redemption like Curtis Mayfield over G-Funk fusion synths and reeds.
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Candid may not have the same name brand recognition as Blue Note or Impulse! But during its brief existence, the label made its mark on the jazz and blues worlds—as a recent series of remastered reissues demonstrates. The cream of the crop is Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, recorded in October 1960 and released the following year. It’s a thoroughly crackling affair, highlighting the composer at one of his many peaks and featuring an awesome lineup of musicians
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In this installment of Videodrome, Stephen Lee Naish examines the sinister and dangerous representation of urban spaces in cinema. From comedies like Adventures of Babysitting to Taxi Driver, The Warriors, and Cosmopolis, he explores how film filters our own sense of danger and makes the city a strange and intriguing place—and a hellscape once night falls.
The post Videodrome :: The Cinematic Metropolis appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
If you’re a fan of jittery guitar-driven indie rock, you’re probably most familiar with our guest today, Glenn Mercer from his work with The Feelies. While this episode of Transmissions doesn't skimp on Feelies discussion, Mercer also discusses the diversity of his catalog, including work The Trypes, whose 40th anniversary edition of Music for Neighbors was released earlier this year, and his solo canon. Along the way: the Velvet Underground, The Dead, Peter Buck of R.E.M., his tribute works to David Bowie, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, and Marc Bolan, plus even more.
The post Transmissions :: Glenn Mercer (The Feelies) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
An ambitious and thrilling slice of neo-spiritual jazz fusion from Rich Ruth (AKA Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Michael Ruth). The sonic touchstones on I Survived, It’s Over come fast and thick, ranging from Santana and John McLaughlin’s cosmic collabs with Alice Coltrane to mid-1990s Tortoise (indeed, the album was mixed by Tortoise co-founder John McEntire).
The post Rich Ruth :: I Survived, Now It’s Over appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Minami Deutsch are not shy when it comes to krautrocking. Their name in Japanese translates to “South Germany,” they’ve self-identified as “repetition freaks,” and band leader Kyotaro Miula calls the Japanese trio’s third album, Fortune Goodies, an "encyclopedia of krautrock." But the band offers much more than just pastiche, achieving instead a kind of spiritual homage.
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Released in 1978, Prince Far I’s Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 is a pivotal album at the juncture of Jamaican and British dub—a nexus of dub’s origins and everything the music would evolve into. It’s a dank and earthy affair full of Flabba Holt’s & Sly Dunbar’s driving, deep-nodding basslines that still pack enough power to rattle the foundations of Babylon.
The post Prince Far I and The Arabs :: Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dance The Mutation. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Cheri Knight is a rare person who connects equally to Pauline Oliveros and Steve Earle. Her recently released archival collection American Rituals presents the post-punk minimalist recordings she made at Evergreen State College in the late '70s and early '80s. She discusses it all today on Transmissions.
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Even when exploring themes of trepidation, the jovial songs of Paradise seem to function as naturally optimistic relics. On the aptly named album, Simi Sohota's Oakland-based Healing Potpourri creates a swirling palette of psych-pop and multi-layered aural exotica.
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Mapache returned earlier this summer with the release of Roscoe’s Dream, the Los Angeles duo’s third, and tightest, LP to date. Comprised of Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch, we described their sound in 2017 as something akin to “a blazed up Everly Brothers” — something the pair make good on in 2022, via their debut Lagniappe Session. Here, Mapache pay tribute to Don and Phil’s “Always It’s You”, originally cut by the brothers in 1960 as a b-side. Next up is a faithful cover of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ “You Only Have Your Soul”, a tune found on the second volume of Welch’s lost songs collection, Boots No. 2.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Mapache appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Among new artists digging into the bygone sounds of Pacific impressionism, Molly Lewis is the standout. She has taken her sound to the masses and has been met with praise and approval. In the seventy years since America’s initial Exotica sensation, popular music has been in a state of near-constant upheaval and reformation. Yet, on her forthcoming EP Mirage, Lewis’ sound manages to mystify while remaining accessible to collective taste.
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Aquarium Drunkard turned 17 a few months ago, and Zach Cowie (aka Turquoise Wisdom) has been a part of it for 12 of those years, beginning with the third entry in our (then new) guest selector series. A music supervisor by trade, Cowie's mixes span myriad decades, genres, and moods, always aesthetically maintaining an empathetic through line. Now totaling a baker's dozen, we have re-upped each individual mix beginning with the first volume from 2010.
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Some albums are meant to be listened to when we’re alone—in an empty living room, in a corner booth of an all-night diner, driving along familiar roads. It’s these reflective environments that help us to enter what Martin Courtney calls the basement of our mind—the liminal space that forms when we reappraise our memories from the subjective vantage of the present day. And it’s this bittersweet spot from which Magic Sign draws its energy.
The post Martin Courtney :: Magic Sign appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Stringed-thing wizard and tireless sonic explorer Joseph Allred is in the process of moving back to the only place that truly feels like home: The verdant sliver of rural Tennessee that inspired their new album The Rambles & Rags of Shiloh, a collection of 10 gorgeous instrumental works for acoustic guitar and banjo. We recently connected with Allred for a wide-ranging chat about Black Sabbath, Buck Gooter, being a hillbilly in a big city and finding a sense of belonging in music.
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In his sterling new compilation Sharayet El Disco: Egyptian Disco & Boogie Cassette Tracks 1982-1992, archivist Moataz Rageb, aka DJ Arabesquo, highlights the importance of cassettes to the musical culture of 1980s Eqypt. The compilation effortlessly moves through nine tracks, across thirty-seven groovy minutes, filled with classic 1980s production effects, early drum machines and synthesizers tweaked to accommodate Egyptian rhythms.
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The hymn of images is difficult to convey. Daughn Gibson has returned. His first new music in six years. We caught up with him to talk about his new EP, Kriminelle Energie. What was difficult now seems easy. He sings for us. Stay tuned.
The post Oligarchs And Water: A Conversation With Daughn Gibson appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Color Green is the eponymous debut LP from the Los Angeles, via Queens, duo of Corey Madden and Noah Kohll. Released via AD and Org Music, it's an eight track collection of riffing grooves, satisfying harmonies, and skillful micro-jamming.
The post Color Green :: S/T appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As Fantasma do Cerrado, Rafael Stan Molina creates sound mosaics that oscillate between pop song forms and exploratory ambient recordings. Nowhere is this dialectic more explicit than in “Catanduva”, where suave folk is suddenly broken by an explosion of strange shapes, and simple melodies alternate with wild and sparse modulations reminiscent of the the unexpected turns of Jim O'Rourke's compositions
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The funk is its own reward. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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We’ve found ourselves delving deep into the Habibi Funk series of late and Ahmed Malek’s absolute smoker “Autopsie d'un Complot,” from Habibi Funk 003: Musique Originale De Films, is the most recent to go on repeat. Kicking off with wavy sunshine-psych guitar and giving way to a deeply mischievous bassline and glistening synths, the track stays deep in the pocket for three-and-a-half-minutes of lean, sweltering funk.
The post Ahmed Malek :: Autopsie d’un Complot appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Dummy, out of Los Angeles, embodies irresolvable contradiction, managing like Schrodinger’s Band to play pogo-happy punk rock songs that are also kosmiche “Astronomy Domini”-esque LSD dreams. It’s not that they alternate between these two things, but manage to be both at once. That bifurcation was noted in our 2021 Year in Review, saying that “Dummy may look like a scrappy, punch-drunk Stereolab or a blissed out, mantra-hypnotized Wire, depending on which way you squint at them, but they’re wonderful either way.”
The post Dummy :: Mono Retriever b/w Pepsi Vacuum appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Alex Izenberg resurfaced this past May with the release of his third full-length, I'm Not Here. Introspective and impressionistic, it's an album that defies easy categorization. This is both a testament to Izenberg's idiosyncratic pop-craft, and the sonic palette set forth by producer Greg Hartunian, with an assist from Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth. For this, his second Lagniappe Session, the singer-songwriter reflects on the nature of impermanence via a cover of Jim Croce's 1972 hit single, "Time In A Bottle". Fast-forward to present day and we find Izenberg paying tribute to Fleet Floxes' "I'm Not My Season", culled from the group's 2020 lp, Shore.
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With Final Thaw, their debut as Iceberg , guitarist John Kolodij, drummer Jayson Gerycz (Cloud Nothings), and saxophonist Dylan Baldi (Cloud Nothings) engage in a meditative swells of free music that eventually crescendo into ecstatic abandon. We're sharing the video for "Harland Wolff Blues," in which the trio tap into frenzied and deep zones, conjuring up free music that shares a spirit with the rollicking indie rock Gerycz and Baldi are known for.
The post Iceberg :: Harland Wolff Blues (Video) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Our guest this week on the show is Mitch Horowitz. Perhaps you’ve heard the occult scholar and author on Coast to Coast AM or The Duncan Trussell Family Hour or perhaps you’ve heard him right here on Transmissions. With the occasion of his new book, Daydream Believer: Unlocking the Ultimate Power of your Mind, out this week, we invited Mitch back to the show for another fascinating and wind ranging conversation about mind causation, ESP, the paranormal, and music.
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Unlike Bitches Brew’s monolithic density that, at times, obscured the band, it was Mwandishi’s individual players who got the machine up and running. If one part of the equation were to be removed, the entire unit would collapse. It was one of music’s most successful experiments in Group Dynamics and set the tone in jazz for a decade. Here, we have assembled these players at the height of their creative powers in the early seventies. All are accompanied by at least one of their Mwandishi compatriots, and most feature much of the ensemble. The breadth of this universe is expansive but listen closely and the sonic tether keeping them connected is revealed.
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The message is crystal clear: The Pyramids intended to create Liberation Music wholly inspired in the origins of African art...don't expect your grandmother's Spiritual Jazz.
The post The Pyramids :: Aomawa – The 1970s Recordings appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A near vocal-less affair, the 20-track double-album combines threads of both the Berlin and Düsseldorf schools, with most recordings laid down between the late ‘70s through the ‘80s. Each track contains constantly refining repetitious rhythms, often from a sequencer, with snaking, silvery synths and guitars overtop, each run through a series of effects that alternate between hijacking and complementing melodic impulses.
The post Silberland :: Kosmische Musik, Volume 1 (1972-1986) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
At a quick glance, Penza Penza might seem like a lost 70s Zamrock situation, and perhaps that’s exactly as Misha Panfilov would have it. The Estonian composer and multi-instrumentalist has proven tireless over the past few years—we took his 2021 earthy jazz masterpiece, Days as Echoes, recorded with the Misha Panfilov Sound Combo, for several spins around the orbit and have since savored his recordings with Gloria Ann Taylor, various one-offs and collaborations, as well as his forthcoming score for the animated film Sierra, the tastes from which have been a symphony of synth fantasias.
The post Penza Penza :: Neanderthal Rock appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
At this point in her career, we would probably settle for a “pretty good” album from Joan Shelley. But no, The Spur continues an unbroken streak of masterpieces for the Louisville-based artist. It’s a record that features some of Shelley’s very best songwriting, bolstered by sensitive and occasionally surprising arrangements, ravishingly lush at some points, spare and spectral at others. The Spur is a wonder, from start to finish.
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On Dizzy Demos: 2 Tickets to Cheeseburger in Paradise, songwriter Mike Polizze reveals the ramshackle core of his solo debut Long Lost Solace Find, collecting demos and outtakes from the album's original sessions. The former Purling Hiss frontman's songs shine in nascent form, tugging at threads that connect to country rock, glam, and classic loner folk. For his first ever Lagniappe Session, Polizze keeps things similarly direct and locked in, with two sparse traditional songs.
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From the archives of Micron Music, Every Mouth Must Be Fed: 1973-1976. Originally released via Pressure Sounds in the spring of 2008, a CD copy of this twenty track compilation soundtracked the majority of that summer, and, due to a recent cop of the vinyl version, it appears to be doing the same some 14 years later. A toppermost three year overview of the Kingston, Jamaica based label, the roots collection highlights selects from the likes of Joe Higgs, U Roy, I Roy, Tommy McCook, Junior Byles, King Tubby and others, featuring an effortless array of early reggae and dub.
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Hidden Waters, the recent vinyl compilation of new Brazilian music by Sounds & Colours, offers a dreamscape view of the alternative music scene that has recently bloomed around the Audio Rebel studio in Rio de Janeiro. From established icons of 'nova MPB' like Kassin and Letrux to up-and-coming artists like Raquel Dimantas and Os Ritmistas, and from the serene soul pop of Jonas Sá and Marcello Callado to the abrasive noise experimentalism of Cadu Tenório & Juçara Marçal and Ava Rocha.
The post Hidden Waters: Strange And Sublime Sounds Of Rio de Janeiro appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Over the course of its first side, Hermit's Grove answers the question of what a collaboration of Pharoah Sanders, Ian Carr, and Caetano Veloso would sound like. By the time you reach this conclusion, the group launches into a stoney rendition of Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes’s “Canto de Iemanja.”
The post Wax Machine :: Hermit’s Grove appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded in 1970, but not released until 1972, 666 was a departure for Aphrodite's Child. Forgoing the flowery pop of his previous work with the group, the album finds Vangelis diving headfirst into the apocalyptic, reflecting on the end of days and taking listeners along for the transcendent ride.
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No static at all. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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We caught up with Joan Shelley on a summer Friday shortly after the Supreme Court upended Roe Vs. Wade, a weird and unsettled time for everyone, but perhaps particularly for a female artist in Kentucky with a new daughter. We talked about making art in a pandemic, the importance of collaboration and the difficulties of doing anything else when you have a young child, as well as the pleasures of listening to music all the way through, the way it was intended.
The post Joan Shelley :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. Our guest today on the show Glenn Jones, who joins us to discuss his new album Vade Mecum, out now on Thrill Jockey Records, as well as touch on and illuminate the complicated legacy of John Fahey. Both solo and as a member of Cul-de-Sac, Jones has been a force of creative energy in the world of solo acoustic guitar, guitar soli, or American Primitive music, a term we discuss in this chat.
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Oksana Linde’s music is where she lets her dual passions of nature and music bleed together. Her compositions are inspired by both the wonder scientific observation generates and the questions it can’t quite answer, playing to imagined and perceived worlds. Treading a line between cognizant experimentation and blissful meditation is a rare craft to witness and it’s here in spades.
The post Oksana Linde :: Aquatic And Other Worlds appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On what is Dehd's best album to date, the band finds its most full creation: an album of happiness, reflection, and effusive exploration, Blue Skies is the Chicago band's triumphant entry from out of a pandemic world.
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The bootleg live version of "Charlotte Sometimes" from The Cure’s soundcheck at The Hammersmith Odeon could be considered the definitive version of the song. It's a perfect concoction of composition and environment, adding an additional ghostly layer to an already haunting song. The lo-fi recording quality and cavernous reverb from the empty venue perfectly plays into the song's eerie nature. It’s as if The Cure are performing to an audience of phantoms beneath the dim lights of an abandoned theater - is there a better way to hear The Cure than that?
The post The Cure :: Charlotte Sometimes (Soundcheck, 1982) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Heavy kosmische from America’s Rhine substitute: the mighty Ohio River. As if Ash Ra Tempel recorded at the Black Ark. For a one-off group of unknown Ohioans, Ra Can Row sounds remarkably contemporary for their time.
The post Ra Can Row :: Ra Can Row (1983) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
...it’s “Silent Force” that rises out of the album like a thick encroaching mist. It’s a massive groove that wouldn’t be out of place on an Africa 70 record, displaying the full strength of Brooks’ tenor sax and the supple interplay of his ensemble as they funk hard over an insistent undercurrent of nyabinghi drums. With Brooks’ tenor backed by Jamaican session luminaries like Ernest Ranglin, Harold Butler, Boris Gardiner, and Tony Allen, “Silent Force” is an otherworldly melding of roots reggae, spiritual jazz, and African polyrhythms that transcends the narrow confines of genre. This is fusion music in the truest sense.
The post Cedric “Im” Brooks :: United Africa appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Coming in clear and loud: Airing every third Sunday of the month, Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns for four hours of freeform tunes on dublab this week, on July 17 from 4-8 PM Pacific, with New Happy Gathering, Range and Basin, a Doom and Gloom from the Tomb Pavement deep dive, and an hour of country funk from Jocelyn Romo of Heaven and Earth Magic.
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Singer/songwriter Lael Neale sits down at Schubas Tavern in Chicago to discuss her album Acquainted with Night, her collaborator Guy Blakeslee of Entrance Band, and where she's going next.
The post Lael Neale :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Arriving July 22 via AD and Org Music, Color Green’s full-length debut is music of absolute forward motion, meant to be played from open car windows no matter the speed you’re traveling. The songs nod reverently to their forebears—from the Allmans-tinged sunshine of “Ill Fitting Suit” to the JJ Cale taillight lament of “Ruby”—before tossing up a wave and taking the whole show a little further down the road. With another record in the works and a road-tested band behind them, we caught up with Noah Kohll and Corey Madden as their Color Green hive mind ambles steadily toward its next incarnation.
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Via satellite, transmuting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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For their first ever Lagniappe Session, North Carolina songwriter/singer/producer Al Riggs takes on songs by The Who, Liz Phair, and Hidden Cameras.
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Transmissions with Canadian podcaster, broadcaster, music journalist, and music lifer Vish Khanna. He’s the host of the long running and inspirational Kreative Kontrol, a podcast dedicated to creativity, which has featured talks with people like Will Oldham, members of Pavement, Sonic Youth, Warren Ellis of The Bad Seeds, Jeff Tweedy, Ian MacKaye, and many others. Khanna and host Jason P. Woodbury embark on a revealing conversation about niche music podcasting and creative process.
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Step on Step presents soul and funk producer Charles Stepney alone and in the basement, working with drum machines and synths to craft sounds that feel remarkably modern. Take his embryonic version of "That's the Way of the World," an eventual hit for Earth, Wind & Fire: its lo-fi instrumental glory shines as brightly as a heart on fire.
The post Charles Stepney :: That’s the Way of the World (Home Demo) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The band's live recording at WLIR in Long Island on April 10, 1973 is undoubtedly one of the great early Feat bootlegs, and perhaps only rivaled by the following year’s performance at the very same studio on September 19, 1974 (now officially released as Electrif Lycanthrope: Live at Ultra-Sonic Studios, 1974). Fresh from the recording sessions for Dixie Chicken, this 1973 set is red hot.
The post Weed & Molasses: Little Feat | Live at WLIR Ultrasonic Studios, April 10, 1973 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Armchair funk residing in the same universe as Herbie Hancock’s transitory explorations before remaking his identity with Headhunters in 1973—an organic merging of pop music with jazz and funk tropes that, despite feeling experimental, remains palatable to a broad audience.
The post Cleve Alleyne’s Force 3 :: Remember Where You Came From (1983) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On her solo debut, Activities, Anna Butterss embraces expansive electro-tinged jazz. Revealing the full depth of her musicianship, she performs the record almost entirely herself, utilizing a gamut of upright and electric bass, guitar, piano, Rhodes, analog and digital synths, drums, drum programming, percussion, flute, and vocals.
The post Anna Butterss :: Activities appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Founded in the Bronx by Jamaican expat Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes in 1976, Wackie’s take on dub and reggae is nothing if not distinctive. Idiosyncratic by nature, and textually lo-fi by [...]
The post Bullwackie In New York :: Documentary (1981) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fourteen humble, cosmic and fragile tracks scanning folk and rock. Welcome to the fifth installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.” A proper companion for these lingering, dusky summer days.
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Never underestimate Neil Young’s hype-building skills. He first teased Toast way back in the late 2000s, tantalizing fans with tales of a missing album recorded with Crazy Horse in San Francisco around the turn of the century. Now, after nearly a decade-and-a-half, Toast is finally here — and we can decide for ourselves whether it lives up to Shakey’s hype.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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While tracing the collaborative history of Iggy Pop and David Bowie, you inevitably end at Iggy Pop’s 1986 album, Blah-Blah-Blah and its third single, "Shades." According to the liner notes, the album was produced and co-written by Bowie, but the larger story - the one dipped in gossip and swirled in rock ’n roll folklore - is that Blah-Blah-Blah is a repurposing of throwaway material from Bowie's ill-fated Tonight sessions, calling into question the classic Bowie/Pop paradox: is it Iggy Pop singing a David Bowie song? Or is it David Bowie producing an Iggy Pop song?
The post Iggy Pop & David Bowie :: Shades (1986) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
I’m The Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971 collects parts of Norma Tenega's first two albums as well as two songs from her unreleased 1969 album, and a healthy chunk of demos. Listening to this 2-lp collection and reading Erin Osmon’s excellent liner notes (which include interviews with Tanega shortly before she passed in late 2019), Tanega’s life and music feel inseparable. Her voice, guitar, and autoharp laugh off the hardships of living and lean into the comic details, embracing self-amusements, aphorisms, and minuscule mysteries.
The post Norma Tanega :: I’m The Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Joan Shelley's fantastic new album The Spur, the singer/songwriter reaches out from a place of solitude, seeking connection. Rooted in Britfolk aesthetics, it's an album that feels intimate but spacious too, all finger picked acoustic guitars, Richard Thompson inspired electrics, and sparse percussion.
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The latest from JJ Toth of Wooden Wand and One Eleven Heavy, Dunza opens up new sound worlds, mutated drone funk, Popol Vuh-style devotional psych, and time-bending zoner rock. Check out the video for "Disowned" for a taste, conceived and edited by collaborator Jason Meagher of Black Dirt Studio.
The post Dunza :: Disowned appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Drifting in under the radar of psych collectors and enthusiasts alike are The Smubbs. They may have the worst band name in the history of modern music, but those willing to overlook this will revel in psychedelic folk that goes toe to toe with most of their freaked out peers.
The post The Smubbs :: This Is The End Of The Night! appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Omertà is comprised of five musicians from a handful of projects that line the interior of France’s experimental underground, notably La Société Étrange, releasing limited edition pressings on labels like Standard In-Fi, Desastre, and La Novià. Each of the members, and their associated groups, possess krautrock's stealthy octave climbing and open feel, dub's intimate incorporation of analog electronics and generally hazy air, and a bit of post-punk's willingness to try anything out.
The post Omertà :: Collection Particulière appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
For better or worse, there is something within us that won’t give up. For better, that is what Matt O’Keefe does with his music. We recently caught up with O'Keefe in his front yard to discuss three songs that will be released off his debut solo record, Warm Infinity.
The post Marquee Friends: A Conversation With Matt O’Keefe (Baby Chuck) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A deeply pleasing sensation arises when terrific cover art not only fully delivers on the music, but also bears a distinct resemblance to it. Ryo Kawasaki’s 1976 jazz-funk album Juice is one such record. Bright and refreshing like a piece of citrus, peel the skin back and you’ll find an electric fantasyland of traversing wires and circuits. Over the course of its seven tracks, the visually sci-fi-tinged world of Juice feels at once perfectly of its time, yet remains delightfully vital in 2022.
The post Ryo Kawasaki :: Juice appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Guitarist Pat Metheny recently described music as a “carrot”, “I am still figuring out what the stick is,” he concluded to Ross Simonini in The Believer. That idea of constant investigation permeates Metheny’s nearly 50 year music career as well as his first s/t LP with his Pat Metheny Group.
The post Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Depending on your entry point, Andy Paley’s body of work might be familiar via a number of unique gateways. Recording with Phil Spector and the Wrecking Crew. Producing the Shangri-Las. Writing with the Ramones. Sharing the stage with Patti Smith. And, of course, Brian Wilson’s proclamation of Paley being “the greatest musical genius I’ve ever come across”. Now residing in Vermont, Paley connected with us to discuss his long trajectory traveling all avenues of music, as well as current projects still rooted in the Spector-inspired tradition of the sixties “girl group” and French yé-yé sound.
The post Andy Paley :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Originally released in 1975, El Gusano's Fantasia del Barrio was given a second life in 2010 via the Austin, TX based Heavy Light Records. It too soon found itself out of print. Described as the missing link between Texas psychedelia and the chicano soul and funk of the late 1960s and early 70s, the record's ten instrumental tracks pivot between zeitgeisty rock and humid groove.
The post El Gusano :: Fantasia del Barrio appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A simmering rendition of Gilberto Gil’s “Duplo Sentido". The first of only four sides recorded by Brazil’s Tetê Da Bahia between 1974-75 finds the chanteuse throwing the drifting, folky hue of Gil's original out the window of a speeding car, before heading into a dimly lit tunnel of dream logic and psychic dislocation.
The post Tetê Da Bahia :: Duplo Sentido appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
However one chooses to interpret the thematic message, part of Tetsuo’s lasting endurance is that it can be enjoyed on a purely visceral level. If you tear away all of the percolating themes, Tetsuo is a pure emulation of the sci-fi and horror content Tsukamoto grew up watching and reading. It’s a love letter to the kaiju films of Toho Studios as well as a continuum of Japanese horror; ironically dubbed “the most metal film ever made
The post Videodrome :: Tetsuo: The Iron Man appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. This month: the proto T-Rex lit of Marc Bolan, a regional love letter to the art of the concert poster, a deep dive into Dilla’s unique time feel, mid-80s Charles Portis, James Calvin Wilsey's lonesome noir guitar, and a look into the rise of Warner Bros. Records. Your librarians this month are Tyler Wilcox, Jarrod Annis, Chad DePasquale, Justin Gage, Mark Neeley and Jason P. Woodbury.
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 17 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Absolute homegrown ephemera gold courtesy of a 1972 Germany documentary which finds Neil Young in a honey slide haze on his fabled Broken Arrow Ranch, work-shopping “Out on the Weekend” (endearingly amused by his own lyrics), and hanging with Elliot Roberts, the fellas, the dogs, and the cows.
The post Neil Young: Songwriting & Old Men (Live & At Home, 1972) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Under the name Travesía, the trio of Estela Magnone, Mariana Ingold, and Mayra Hugo graced a handful of albums that defined the direction of Uruguay's music coming out from under a dictatorship in the early 1980s. In the trio’s short lifespan, though, they released only one album--1983's Ni un minuto más de dolor, the first Uruguayan record performed and arranged entirely by an all-female group.
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Taste the whip. Captured in January 1972, a year and half following Lou Reed's hard exit from the Velvet Underground, we find ourselves at Le Bataclan theatre, Paris, France. The occasion marked a semi-impromptu reunion of the former VU bandmates. For a night, anyway.
The post Lou Reed, John Cale & Nico :: Le Bataclan, Paris 1972 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The past few years have seen Neal Francis carve out his name with an incendiary live show and a refreshingly well-schooled, analog-obsessed interpretation of 70s soul. His dry tenor has been compared to that of Allen Toussaint, and the late maestro would certainly approve of Francis’ keyboard stylings, as well as his affinity for billowing grooves and charged arrangements.
The post The Lagniappe Sessions :: Neal Francis appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A celestial nocturne, Estrela Acesa is the sophomore stunner from Sessa. It’s been three years since the São Paulo-born singer-songwriter dropped his perennially stellar debut, Grandeza—a jubilant, sun-dappled LP embodying a confluence of Brazil’s rich past and musical traditions. But where Grandeza was an ode to temporal pleasures, Estrela Acesa is a humble meditation on the nature of love, eternity, and the point of intersection between music and spirit.
The post Sessa :: Estrela Acesa appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
'70s dub/reggae especial. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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The awareness of our own mortality is a blessing and a curse. This isn’t a new idea, and it’s one that we’ve seen reflected time and again in art. While catalysts vary, for Kevin Morby it was witnessing the sudden collapse of his father at a dinner. Thankfully his dad survived the incident, but much in the same way that just seeing parents, or ourselves, get older can send us down that spiral staircase of mortality, Morby turned his thoughts inward.
The post Kevin Morby :: This Is A Photograph appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
"He was looking forward to playing Israel," writes Leonard Cohen's biographer Sylvie Simmons of the songwriter's first tour of the Holy Land in 1972. "He was terrified of playing Israel."
The post Leonard Cohen: Yad Eliahu Sports Palace, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1972 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A folk singer, a dreamer, a soul. On his newly released sophomore album, Mil Coisas Invisíveis, São Paulo’s Tim Bernardes brings his diaristic existentialism to vibrant sonic life. Whether accompanied with just his guitar, or surrounded by handclap percussion, swelling string arrangements, and muted woodwinds, he stakes his claim as a graceful and earnest chanteur, joining the ranks of fellow countrymen Jorge Ben, Caetaneo Veloso, and Clube da Esquina.
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This week on Transmissions, a post-punk roundtable with Mark Stewart of The Pop Group, Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire, Eric Random (The Buzzcocks, Nico). On Mark’s latest album, VS, they team up for “Cast No Shadow." How did post-punk hit their respective places? What role did regionalism play in the music’s development? These three join us for a freewheeling hour of discussion and deconstruction—talking about the VU, German cosmic music, black magic, and more.
The post Transmissions :: Mark Stewart (The Pop Group), Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), Eric Random (The Buzzcocks) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Recorded during 2020-2021, these freak outs from MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger and Cameron Ralston of Spacebomb, offer avant-funk and gospel grooves, heady minimalism, Kosmische Muzik, and dubby ambiance in apocalyptic times.
The post Revelators Sound System :: Revelators appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Over the past half decade the Paris based label WeWantSounds has released some of our most favorite reissues in a number of genres: Spiritual Jazz, Soul, Japanese Experimental Pop, Japanese Free Improvisation and Arabic Music. The label’s two most recent reissues (Ennio Morricone's Sans Mobile Apparent (Bande Originale du Film), and Freddie Hubbard's Music Is Here – Live at Maison de la Radio, Paris 1973) maintain the high quality record collectors have come to respect and expect.
The post Ennio Morricone: Sans Mobile Apparent (Bande Originale du Film) / Freddie Hubbard: Music Is Here – Live at Maison de la Radio, Paris 1973 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
All mouths will be fed. Twenty years ago next month saw the release of Laika Come Home, a complete and total transfiguration of Gorillaz s/t debut as remixed in dub. Spacemonkeyz (dj Darren Galea) is the controller, and the results are nothing short of sublime. At times haunting, at times ethereal, the dozen tracks absolutely float featuring limber contributions from the likes of U Brown, Tina Weymouth and Terry Hall. Not unlike Bill Laswell's ambient-dub interpretation of the Bob Marley catalog, Laika is the rare instance of a remix album feeling as essential as the core material its culled from.
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The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s expression, “Great Black Music: Ancient to the future,” is a program for life and not a mere slogan. It reminds us that we cannot move forward without reference to the past; that we must respect and respond to our elders. On their duo album Beyond, released under the moniker I AM, saxophonist Isaiah Collier and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode invoke two of the heaviest albums in the Free Jazz canon: Interstellar Space, by John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, and Duo Exchange, by Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe.
While it echoes the past, Beyond is not an imitation or an attempt to recreate history. It is an album bursting with spiritual energy that will give joy and inspiration to both old heads and new Free Jazz acolytes alike.
The post Isaiah Collier & Michael Shekwoaga Ode (I AM) :: Beyond appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This is a bootleg, make no mistake! But however you hear it, you gotta hear it (perhaps over on YouTube?). A major addition to the Alice Coltrane canon, this soundboard recording features the pioneering musician and her incredible band (Charlie Haden on bass, Ben Riley on drums, Aashish Khan on sarod, Pranesh Khan on tabla and Bobby W. on tamboura and percussion) journeying fearlessly across the astral plane. Four tracks, fours sides! Tons of AC’s intense organ hijinks – how did she get that crazy sound?
The post Alice Coltrane :: Live At The Berkeley Community Theater 1972 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
During the 1970s, Brazilian luminaires Sá, Rodrix & Guarabyra invented what they called "rural rock" as a mixture of anglophone folk rock and música caipira (an umbrella term for the Iberian-descending, acoustic-guitar-based musics from the countryside of Brazil). In 1974, Rodrix dropped the band and Sá & Guarabyra continued as a duo, detaching themselves even further from conventional MPB and going simultaneously more regional, towards genres like sertanejo de raiz and xote, and more pop, towards the esoteric country ballads of Van Morrison or JJ Cale.
The post Sá & Guarabyra :: As Canções Que Eu Faço appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Wednesday Knudson describes the glowing set of tracks on her new LP, Soft Focus, as “ambient.” That’s true, to an extent, but that genre is widely used as a label and has grown a messy head of hair lately. Recorded in spring of last year, right around the time most of us felt remotely safe popping our heads out of our pandemic quarters, the Soft Focus recordings capture a musician treating her terrestrial tones with a newfound appreciation.
The post Wednesday Knudsen :: Soft Focus – Volumes One And Two appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns for four hours of freeform melodies and modulations this Sunday, June 19, airing this month from 7-11 PM Pacific, following a series of special Juneteenth broadcasts. Up first is New Happy Gathering with an hour of psychedelic dub, drum machine funk, outsider art-rock, subterranean techno-punk, and more. Then Range and Basin, featuring meditative drifts, far-out synth scapes, desert rock, and psych pop. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb offers a mix of sunset sounds from the first half of 2022.
The post Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard On Dublab :: June 2022 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Legendary composer and arranger Wagner Tiso is one of the most underrated figures in Brazilian music history. Tiso led the Clube da Esquina scene in the 1970s, and although his name is scarcely mentioned in international guides to the movement, his maximalist aesthetics and chamber music influences are deeply engraved in all of Clube da Esquina releases.
The post Wagner Tiso :: A Igreja Majestosa appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It was 1972, and Jim Sullivan needed a hit. The 32–year–old singer– songwriter had played around Southern California in any pub or bar that would have him, filling venues with an outsize presence limited to not only his tall stature but also his massive voice. He’d released U.F.O., a privately–pressed, spectral masterpiece in 1969, but the record’s psychedelic folk sound had failed to find an audience, even with a seasoned cast of Wrecking Crew players providing credible backing.
The post I’ve Been Born a Million Times, But I Am Never Dead: Jim Sullivan (1972) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On Wilco's Cruel Country, Jeff Tweedy takes a dazed look around. He joins us to discuss why it felt important to cut the new album live, the influence of the Grateful Dead, and what it feels like to inhabit Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 20 years later.
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David Cantwell is a critic and journalist, and co-author (with Bill Friskics-Warren) of Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles. Last month, he released a revision of his book on Merle Haggard, which originally appeared in 2013. The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard is, as Cantwell writes in his introduction, “not a biography.” Instead, it’s his critical history of Haggard’s performing life and studio work. He joins Aquarium Drunkard to discuss.
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Sunshine soul. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Fall once again, dear friends, into the warm waters of Shintaro Sakamoto’s musical universe. Ever the maestro of mellow groove, Like A Fable is Sakamoto’s first album in six years, the fourth in a string of idiosyncratic solo albums that include Love If Possible, Let’s Dance Raw, and How To Live With a Phantom, each propagating their own infectious mixture of sly funk, exotica, disco, and deft songcraft.
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Andrew Bird's virtuosity is no secret. It's a disservice at this point to dip into adjectives of praise and find a new way to say as much. Bird's been around the well-regarded block, with a discography and collection of co-signs to prove it. It's tough to think of a time he wasn't simply out there, doing his talented thing - playing live, popping up on your tv screen, releasing attentive albums.
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Capturing the Stones in 1972, in the midst of the North American leg of the Exile On Main St. tour, Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones is a raucous document of the band at the top of their live game. Shot on 16mm, and initially presented in quadasound, the Rollin Binzer directed film first saw its theatrical release in 1974 before virtually disappearing from the market for the next three decades.
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Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, we're joined by Andrew Khedoori and Mark Gowing of Longform Editions. It’s tempting to think of Longform Editions as a “record label,” but Andrew and Mark think of it more as an online gallery for musical works.Mark and Andrew have a long history in the music industry and are lifelong record collectors. They joined us to discuss the way Longform works, how they crafted it as a sustainable project for both artists who contribute and themselves, the process of deep listening, and much more.
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Night recordings from the forests of old Borneo. Early synth cassettes from the Maghreb. Gypsy puppet theater orchestras from Azerbaijan. Electric thumb pianos blasting from homemade P.A. systems in the [...]
The post Radio Is A Foreign Country :: Electro-Folk Sounds of North Sumatra (Mixtape) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Simon Joyner, who recently turned fifty, has been quietly making records for a small cult of dedicated fans since 1990. Hovering above the intersection of chaos and beauty, the Omaha-based songwriter’s vivid and imagery-rich songs occasionally recall Leonard Cohen at his most personal and apocalyptic, while always revealing Joyner’s affinity for the fearless, unpredictable sounds of the noise and experimental scene on which he cut his teeth.
The post Simon Joyner :: Songs From A Stolen Guitar appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On their new album, Clouds of Joy, Toronto’s Badge Époque Ensemble has swelled into a 13-headed hydra. In director Colin Medley’s rock doc style video for Badge’s latest single, “Zodiac”, the laid back left-handed stickman steps us through their history, briefly introducing each member like a jazz bandleader offering everyone a solo.
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Bill Laswell's 1997 remix collection of the Bob Marley catalog. At eleven tracks, the set deftly works a seam that feels at once familiar yet pleasantly discordant. As an ambient exploration of dub, traces of Marley's original compositions float in and out, at times cresting, though more often submerged in atmosphere. As Laswell's paints the walls with sound, melodies appear and disappear. Spacious, impressionistic and meditative, Dreams proves the exception to the rule of the remix album---no small feat for a cottage industry with a history of sideways results.
The post Bill Laswell :: Dreams Of Freedom (Ambient Translations Of Bob Marley In Dub) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Ten years past the end of Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo takes the stage at a low key festival in northern New England with just a couple of guitars and a few microphones. He strikes a note, hard, on an aging acoustic, cocks his head a little, and seems to contemplate that reverberating sound. From an iPhone lying on a stool next to him, the sounds of urban life flicker—an indistinct voice, some running water, the sounds of faraway traffic.
A few days after the concert, we connect by phone to talk about Ranaldo’s experience of the pandemic, how it moved him to create this new piece and how his attitudes towards touring and performing have changed since COVID.
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Four years in the making, Michael Rault is a personal album exemplified. After wrapping up the album cycle for 2018's excellent It's A New Day Tonight, recordings for the eponymous new record were juggled between commutes from California and Rault's Canadian hometown, Edmonton. Like the uncertain logistical challenges of the pandemic that corresponded with this trajectory, the changes came both personally and professionally.
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Zach Phillips’ OSR Tapes is probably among the most admired contemporary labels you’ve never heard of. Defining Phillips’ style in one paragraph is as hard as summarizing the history of the dozens of pseudonyms he has composed under.
For this interview we caught up with Philips to discuss institutional experiments with labels, his relation to South American music, his poetry and friends in New York, his imagination of harmony, Agambem’s messianism, and more ...
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For the Gabonese Republic, the 1970’s opened with an oil boom, and with it came an ensuing willingness to invest in a cultural endowment. In 1971, it was decided that the nation’s armed forces should have a band. Thus was born Orchestre Massako. Led by established musician Jean-Christian Mboumba Mackaya (a.k.a. Mack-Joss), the government-subsidized nature did not detract from its intense funkiness. Blurring the lines between folk traditions and modernity, the music featured on Analog Africa newly issued Orchestre Massako offers tapestries of complex harmonic arrangements and folk cadences.
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Step inside a surprising, reviving, 40-minute set of sounds from bohemian keyboard savant Marco Benevento. The new album is Benevento>/i> (a hat tip to Paul McCartney's solo debut) and the new music is a neon pool party; powering an addictive, hazy blend of West African grooves, psychedelia, and electro through your entertainment speakers.
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Since their live debut at Gold Diggers in December of last year, Taper’s Choice have rolled through a smattering of dialed-in shows: more nights at Gold Diggers, Big Sur freakouts, New York rooftops and playing amongst the wine vines of Sonoma. Ahead of their inaugural festival later this month (Choice Fest), we caught up with the band to get a bit more detail about what's ahead, how fast things have come together, and much more.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Here comes the summer once again and we’ve got a bunch of recommended tunes to help soundtrack the season as temperatures inevitably start to rise. Tune in, spread out — and don’t forget the sunscreen.
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This week on the show, we're joined by Chicago indie trio Horsegirl—Penelope Lowenstein, Nora Cheng and Gigi Reece. Their new album, Versions of Modern Performance, echoes classic indie rock and features members of Sonic Youth. They join us to discuss it all: high school, Chicago's all-ages scene, recording at Electrical Audio, and more.
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Funky tonk, indeed. In the fall of 1971 the Miles Davis septet embarked on a 21 date tour of Europe. Captured for broadcast on Norwegian television was the ensemble's ascendant set at Chateau Neuf in Oslo, Norway. A high water mark of this iteration of Davis' band, the incendiary hour-plus set runs the voodoo down and back again, with untethered performances from all involved. Edging into the beyond, Keith Jarrett appears especially possessed...
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By chance I met Ras Tayo at Deadly Dragon Sound a decade ago. He invited me to bring some tunes out to The Den in Brooklyn, and soon I began spinning with a serious group of selectors every Sunday night. All the DJs had their big tunes and favorites that I'd look forward to hearing. These songs are ones they played often.
The post Dealer’s Choice :: Ras Tayo Is The Selector (Roots Reggae & Beyond) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Candy Mountain is in many ways a strange film, but it makes perfect sense in the context of Robert Frank’s life. Perhaps the strangest thing about the movie is that it was made in 1987, and not ten or twenty years earlier.
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Louisville musician Chris Bush’s Flanger Magazine creates relaxed and intimate improvisations. Embracing analog synth and folk sounds alike, it’s light experimental music that recalls the twisted folk of contemporaries Brannten Schnüre, the less structured explorations of the Advisory Circle, and even Graeme Miller and Steve Shill's warm and inviting Moomins music.
The post Flanger Magazine :: After the Bend appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Carson McHone has been singing on the barroom stages of Austin, Texas since she was 16 years old. She’s a rare contemporary country artist who was born and raised in the Lone Star State, rather than moving to the rootsy music mecca to try and make it. Her latest is Still Life, produced in collaboration with Daniel Romano, her husband.
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The return of Abstract Truths. This series began in 2016 as a way to highlight jazz in all its many forms. The selector for this installment's dig finds musician and collage artist Ilyas Ahmed weaving a two-plus hour tapestry of sound, spanning 1964-2021.
The post Abstract Truths: An Evolving Jazz Compendium – Volume 8 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
As a composer, singer, and producer, Pierre Barouh’s wanderlust was matched only by his musical curiosity. With Le Pollen Barouh pushed the boundaries of French chanson ever further into his own borderless musical universe, reaching beyond language, style, and culture toward a commonality of song and sound.
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Born in Rio de Janeiro, musician Maria de Fátima worked with artists such as Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Arthur Verocai, Flora Purim, and others, but it wasn’t until she and her husband relocated to Uruguay that she recorded her sole release, 1981’s Bahia com H. Teaming up with local synth legend Hugo Fattoruso and a cast of Uruguayan players, Fátima crafts a record that is Música popular brasileira at its finest—breezing boldly through jazz, folk, Candombe, and exotica-inflected takes.
The post Maria de Fátima :: Toda Menina Baiana appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Fifteen short songs fly by quickly as Moon cycles between settings like a frenzied keyboard demo: synthy Shakedown Street vibes (“Plot Points”), slow-mo shoegaze (“I-80”), oxygen bar melancholy (“10 Apples”), or full blown aquatic junglist bliss (“Deep Time”).
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Led by guitarist/vocalist Helios Creed and Moog master/vocalist Damon Edge, Chrome often got dubbed as “industrial psychedelia.” And while that term's fairly accurate, it's too generic to capture the apocalyptic terror vibes heard on these Bay Area sci-fi obsessives' releases from 1977-1982. 3rd From The Sun represents the zenith of Chrome's foreboding worldview.
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Early 80s industrial beats synthesized with traditional African rhythms make for a deep zone experience on Criola, a collection of collaborative tracks between Belgian/Congolese duo Denis Mpunga and Paul K. Released on Music from Memory in 2017, Criola includes scattered and unreleased material which finds the Congolese-born Mpunga pairing guitar, bass, thumb piano, zither, vibes, and vocals with Belgian-born electronic luminary Paul Stas aka Paul K.’s brigade of synths and drum machines.
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Howard Wales 1976 fusion of jazz/funk, Rendezvous With The Sun, received a proper a vinyl reissue last month via Ubiquity Records. While traces of the space-funk previously explored via his collaborations with Jerry Garcia exist, Rendezvous finds itself more in a space alternating between various forms of keyboard vamp and groove reminiscent of the contemporaneous work of fellow player, Jan Hammer.
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A one hour compilation of assorted Mothersbaugh muzak, from Insomniaks cuts to highlights from 2017's 45 RPM box set Mutant Flora. Sprinkled in are other rarities, musical pieces composed for some of the musician's visual art exhibitions. The weirder the better.
The post Mark Mothersbaugh’s Insomniak Flora (A Mixtape) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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In 1969, Uruguayan musician Eduardo Mateo joined with poet, actor, and theatre director Horacio Buscaglia to create Musicasión—a collection of fourteen performances over four productions, featuring musicians from Mateo’s band El Kinto and other artists from around the country. An album, released in 1971, comprises these performances and this week, thanks to the efforts of Juana Molina and Crammed Discs, sees a slightly belated 50th anniversary reissue, featuring 16 previously unreleased tracks.
The post Musicasión 4 ½ (50th Anniversary) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
The debut long-player from Joys Union Group is a marvelous slice of New American Kosmische — absolutely cosmic but somehow still deeply earthy. The Texas-based collective features members of Future Museums, Sungod and Uniform, and they’ve knocked it out of the park on their first at-bat.
The post Joys Union Group :: Boredom Euphoria appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
On her stunning new album Big Time, Angel Olsen chronicles a complex couple of years and a resulting sense of rebirth. Filled with country-tinged melodies and sparse arrangements, it features some of the songwriter's most engaging work.
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This week on Transmissions: producer, television music maker, radio host, and overall interesting guy Ben Vaughn. His new album is called The World of Ben Vaughn. Rooted in gentle strums, much of its sweetly traditional songcraft was recorded out in Vaughn’s Relay Shack studio in the Mojave Desert, and it echoes the most rustic of selections he plays on his great radio show The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn. Ben’s produced albums by Arthur Alexander, Nancy Sinatra, Charlie Feathers, and more—as well as collaborating with Alex Chilton and Alan Vega. For this episode, we spoke about the new album, his work as a Hollywood television music maker, producing Ween’s irreverent cult classic 12 Golden Country Greats and much more.
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A singer-songwriter as acclaimed for his art career, Terry Allen has always done things his own way. From his blood-soaked travelogue debut Juarez, to sculptures that reside in airports, he's devoted his life to staggering bodies of work that move effortlessly between gallery walls, theatrical stages, and public airwaves. And that's barely scratching the surface...
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Shuckin’ Sugar is a terrific time capsule, with a young Karen Dalton sounding already close to fully formed, her unmistakable vocals bolstering a selection of trad tunes. Her partner throughout is Richard Tucker and the duo’s harmonies run deep, finding the raw Appalachian vibes necessary to pull this kind of music off successfully.
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Sam Hoffman’s 2018 debut, Fairweather, was a promising collection of lo-fi power pop out of Nashville, TN. His spirited live shows sprang up around the Music City, but then 2020 happened and any momentum seemed to dissipate. Which is why we were excited when he sent us his latest recorded effort, “Mull It Over”.
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The Whitefield Brothers In The Raw remains as potent in 2022 as the day it dropped twenty years ago. Originally released in 2002, and later reissued via Now Again, the LP's panglobal brew of ragged psychedelic funk dripped different, defying easy markers of genre, era, and locality.
The post The Whitefield Brothers :: Weiya (Serengeti Beat) appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
When an artist dies young, we’re often left wondering what could have been and looking for clues among their final records and performances. In the case of Albert Ayler, the search is especially frustrating: his death by suicide in November 1970 cut short an intense and singular career, right as he started moving in a new direction. Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 Recordings, a new four-CD/Five-LP set provides a tantalizing glance at some of the saxophonist’s final performances: two full shows finally presented in complete form.
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For four and a half decades, guitarist Bill Frisell has folded his beautifully faded melodies into a tapestry that includes work high profile pop singers, raging jazz punk, folk, ballads, country and western. In Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music, released this week by Faber books, author Philip Watson presents a sprawling biography of Frisell. Aquarium Drunkard is proud to present an excerpt from the book's first chapter, "The Searcher."
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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On their debut EP, New England Trio, Kioea (pronounced KEY-O-E-AH) present a fresh take on instrumental, “world-music-inflected”, psychedelia. Informed by a wide spectrum of influences including indie, ambient, as well as artists like Erkin Koray and Sir Victor Uwaifo, Kioea’s sound is simultaneously modern and vintage.
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Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this installment: the roots of the enigmatic Elephant 6 Collective, Sinéad O'Connor, utopianism, a Kim Gordon edited compendium of music essays, and more...
The post Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 16 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns on May 15, from 4-8 PM Pacific. Four hours of freeform sounds from the Aquarium Drunkard crew.
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Whether ordering glitchy breaks and riffs, or sampling the noise of kitchen utensils and of a cavaquinho (the traditional mini-guitar of samba), M. Takara's Puro Osso produces a certain ambience both reminiscent of Tom Zé and the electronic prayers found in the work of Boards of Canada (or, more recently, in Kara-Lis Coverdale or Ana Roxanne).
The post M. Takara :: Tigre Triste appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
This fourth volume of First And Last features a menagerie of tunes for the early days of summer (with seven of the twelve songs culled from EPs), from psych-pop to breezy bossa nova, wrapping up with a grip of introspective folk.
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Slowing down? If you've paid even half attention to the prolific vocation of Haruomi Hosono you know it's not in the cards. Long before Shoplifters made waves at Cannes, composition work had long been a staple of the musician's repertoire.
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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Sonic chameleon Frank LoCrasto is set to release his next lp, Gung Ho, under the guise of Kolumbo, a nom de tune originally reserved as an outlet for LoCrasto's excursions into the aesthetic worlds of Arthur Lyman, Roger Roger, Esquivel, Martin Denny, and others.
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At age seventy-one, David Michael Moore is a Genuine American Freak. An artist and woodworker, living in Rosedale, Mississippi, its mighty river flowing half a mile from his home, Moore has been quietly recording a potent, homespun Americana—tinged with eastern tonalities and new-age ambient passages—for the past three decades. A compendium of these unique and eccentric sounds comes to us in the tape Flatboat River Witch: 1994 – 2015, released via the Bloomington-based Ulyssa imprint.
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Welcome back to Transmissions, today on the show we’re joined by Sarah Martin of Glasgow's Belle and Sebastian. The legendary Scottish indie band has a new album out now on Matador, A Bit Of Previous. Martin joined host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the new record, the band’s history, that infamous scene in High Fidelity, the Belle and Sebastian cruise and much more.
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An enigmatic figure in Estonian music, Velly Joonas is a diverse and prolific audiovisual artist who has worked within many mediums, including painting, poetry, and a surprisingly diverse set of musical genres. “Stopp, Seisku Aeg!” was recorded as a demo for the amateur band Vstretša to support a performance permit application as an example of what they would play. Joonas suggested covering “I See Red!” by Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA, rewriting the lyrics herself in Estonian for Vstretša’s version. The result is a funky, soulful jam, blending synths, strings, and Joonas’s ethereal voice into a groove that far eclipses the original.
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Beautiful Alice Coltrane artifacts keep popping up, whether in official guise (last year’s Turiya Sings collection) or unofficial bootleg situations (the astonishing Berkeley 1972 double LP). Somewhere in between is this recently unearthed video of Coltrane performing at the Yogaville complex in Buckingham, Virginia, in the 1990s.
The post Alice Coltrane :: Yogaville 1993 appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
It's been a decade since the last time Lyle Lovett released a new album, and 12th of June works as both an introduction as much as it does to catch up on the ten years passed. "I wanted this to be a proper introduction to me and the Large Band if people haven't heard us, or just something that feels familiar to people that do."
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Luaka Bop continues to do the lord’s work: following last month’s release of Pastor Champion’s fervent gospel, they're now reissuing the ultra-rare 1975 record, When Do We Get Paid, by teenage family gospel band the Staple Jr. Singers, who traveled the Delta and the Bible Belt, and pressed their own copies of their sole record to be sold and shows and on their front lawn.
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Dylan’s Time Out of Mind turns 25 this year. Produced by Daniel Lanois, the album won three Grammy Awards and provided a new batch of songs—meditations on love and loss—that Dylan almost immediately began to work into his Neverending Tour setlists. This episode of Pretty Good Stuff explores those live versions of the songs from Time Out of Mind, with performances stretching from a week after the album’s release to the edge of the pandemic, when Dylan temporarily paused his relentless touring schedule. Rediscover how Dylan turned the studio masterpiece into a killer batch of road-tested Pretty Good Stuff.
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Lovely Music chronicles the early days of Ivan Mairesse’s Sagittaire project, pulling from material written between 2015 and 2017 in San Francisco, where Mairesse recorded the album before moving back to his hometown of Los Angeles. Mairesse takes an introspective approach to songwriting on Lovely Music, juxtaposing dark lyrics with lush pop arrangements, Fripp & Eno-esque guitar tones, and a tender vocal delivery.
The post Sagittaire :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
A bit more than 30 years ago, Jason Pierce shook off the end of Spacemen 3 in a sweeping, cosmic re-imagination of the Troggs “Anyway That You Want Me". Now three decades on, he’s still blowing fragile melodies into sweeping orchestral climaxes, finding a spiritual resonance in maximalist, elaborately arranged pop. Everything Was Beautiful is Pierce’s ninth album as Spiritualized, coming four years after the solitary of And Nothing Hurt and, perhaps more relevantly, in the immediate wake of Fat Possum’s reissue of the first four Spiritualized albums. It's a glorious summation of the Spiritualized journey so far, an exhilarating, enveloping document of Pierce’s art.
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Like Gong on bad drugs, this record features wigged out flute, fried acid guitar that at times approaches a Sonic Youth / Dead C level of intensity, loose jazz inflected drumming, stoned out vocals, and a grainy, lo-fi drunken vibe that teeters on the edge of collapse. In other words, amazing. Check it out.
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Return guest Kurt Vile joins us for an all-new episode of the Transmissions podcast. Joining host Jason P. Woodbury, Vile shares thoughts on the new record, unpacks what he learned during the pandemic, reflects on working with producer Rob Schnapf, digs into his favorite Bruce Springsteen deep cuts, and offers musings on Neil Young, Kesha, and Sun Ra.
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Joan Shelley’s sixth lp, The Spur, is set to drop June 24th via longtime label partner, No Quarter Records. “Amberlit Morning”, a duet with Bill Callahan, is the second taste, accompanied by a video shot in Red Hook, Brooklyn by Cyrus Moussavi and Brittany Nugent.
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Sung in both Portuguese and English, Spectrum dropped Geração Bendita in 1971 as a companion soundtrack to the banned 1971 Brazilian film of the same name (Blessed Generation). Recorded at Todamérica studios in Rio de Janeiro, the ad hoc group consisted of actors/musicians from the film along with former members of the band 2000 Volts. The serving? Post-hippie comedown energy with loads of fuzz guitar, psych-folk jammers, harmonized vox, and indiscriminate Tyrannosaurus Rex leaning oohs and ahs.
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A heavy dose of tripped-out French psychedelia circa 1971, “Long Song for Zelda” slow burns its way through the mind, courtesy of Parisian prog-rock stalwarts Gong and novelist, musician, and pseudonym extraordinaire, Dashiell Hedayat.
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A remote supergroup from members of Matches, Spray Paint, Expensive Shit, and Tyvek dives into My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins bliss. The result reveals the wonders of modern technology and the exceptional musicianship and editing skills of these American rock, drone, and experimental elites.
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Acres of Rhodes. Originally released by Three Blind Mice in 1975, the Masaru Imada Trio’s "Green Caterpillar" is eleven minutes and twenty seven seconds of righteous groove. The LP has once again been made available via reissue, courtesy of the Hemet, California based label Two Headed Dog.
The post Masaru Imada Trio :: Green Caterpillar appeared first on Aquarium Drunkard.
Bandleader, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Jack Cooper continues to push boundaries, expanding upon the breadth, depth and scope of the ever-evolving Modern Nature. Open-ended in approach, Cooper and co. return with their second Lagniappe Session, this time digging into the lovelorn, torch perennial, "Stormy Weather", and the Billie Holiday penned blues lament, "Fine & Mellow".
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Born into a family of musicians, Alberto Continentino made a name for himself playing in backup bands for legendary Brazilian artists like Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso and Marcos Valle. His solo work, however, isn't far below. While 2018's Ultraleve delves deep into the Brazilian jazz tradition of Azymuth, 2015' Ao Som Dos Planetas delivers a modern synthesis of bossa nova and indie pop that sounds like a more grounded version of Stereolab, The High Llamas or Giorgio Tuma.
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“No one medium is fully capable of representing that which we are trying to express.” Loscil (Scott Morgan)
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Dig into a homemade comp of choice Velvet Underground performances at the Boston Tea Party, the club that served as the band's home away from home in the late 1960s. These so-called “Professor Tapes” have circulated for years, but the master reels were made available a while back, and – though they’re still far from an audiophile experience – they’re much more listenable now. And the music here more than makes up for the 50+ year old tape hiss.
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Major on every possible level. Not only do The OZ Tapes present one of the earliest sonic portraits of Les Rallizes Dénudés, it serves as an instant de-facto entry point into the band’s vast, unwieldy catalog. It also marks the first release sanctioned by The Last One Musique, an organization formed by band alumni and family in the wake of Mizutani’s passing in 2019 to oversee the issuing of all future archival material.
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Does buzzy band-of-the-moment Wet Leg have legs? On the strength of the full-length, indeed it does.
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Following up the set she laid down in 2019, Erin Rae returns this month with her second Lagniappe Session. Comprised of live, single mic takes cut at a rehearsal before performing at the Newport Folk Festival, the following four recordings find Rae reflecting on the music of her childhood, the wisdom of a young Kathy Heideman, and the aching blues of Karen Dalton.
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Dropout Boogie. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Floating Action, the ongoing musical masterwork of North Carolina’s Seth Kauffman, defies easy categorization. Kauffman’s heady lo-fi synthesis of folk, surf, blues, funk, and other world (or otherworldly) influences, has yielded a rich back catalog, one worthy of far more attention than it typically garners. Dig in almost anywhere in his 16 years or so of releases and you'll find sturdy gems that are diverse in genre and yet somehow unified by that Floating Action sound.
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Pastor Wylie Champion walked a path tough traveled—he grew up in the Deep South, spending some time on the wrong side of the tracks, before heading west to California. Later on, a saved man, he worked as a carpenter and raised four children. He also took the good word, now equipped with his electric guitar, on the road, visiting congregations and homes from the West Coast to the Gulf.
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Liz Lamere and Jared Artuad join us this week on Aquarium Drunkard's weekly talk show podcast Transmissions to discuss the life, work, and creative philosophies of the late Alan Vega.
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News of Bandcamp’s recent acquisition by Epic Games had some independent labels and artists up in arms. But for now, the platform remains the best game in town — and for the time being, Bandcamp Fridays remain firmly in place for 2022. That means you can lend your support directly to those aforementioned labels and artists, with Bandcamp waiving its usual fees. The next Bandcamp Friday takes place April 1 and — big tech takeovers be damned — we’ve got a seasonal roundup of recommended releases. Fill up that cart.
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To commemorate a pair of remastered reissues of Tinariwen's first albums—2001's The Radio Tisdas Sessions and its 2004 followup, Amassakoul, the desert blues masters drop by with a special mixtape showcasing their influences.
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Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Roll up/that's an invitation...Today on the show, we're joined by a return guest, Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills. He’s appeared here on the show previously to discuss his great Van Morrison book, Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 and now he joins host Jason P. Woodbury for a conversation about Van Morrison, the paranormal, and mystic corners of The Beatles' universe. On April 1st, you're going to want to head over to ESPeatles.com, to discover a truly freaky Beatles project, related to the obscure occultist HX Newhaven.
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A time capsule, indeed. First released in 1992, composer and saxophonist Chris Bowden's debut album remains an essential listen. An idiosyncratic and cinematic bouillabaisse of sound, if anything, the record sounds right on time as it zigs and zags between dub, sinuous funk, orchestral strings, and progressive jazz.
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A blissful reunion of Acetone drummer Steve Hadley and guitarist Mark Lightcap, "Dorothy's On Island Time" sways like a leaf on the air, barely suspended. From it the recently released Volume 1, the song allows Lightcap to get generously far out, playing it woozy and open. Though more compact than the average Dick Slessig Combo joint, it's no less locked into a state of meditative charm.
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Welcome to Videodrome. A recurring column plumbing the depths of vintage and contemporary cinema – from cult, exploitation, trash and grindhouse to sci-fi, horror, noir, documentary and beyond.
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It's Tulsa time. Recorded live in June of 1979 at Leon Russell's Paradise Studios in Los Angeles, this 21 track session burns slow and low. The occasion? None other than the release of Cale's fifth record, and first LP in three years, the aptly titled, 5.
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Following his 2021 lp, Two Years, Whitney K (the recording moniker of Konner Whitney) returns with five new tunes of VU-inspired outsider-avant-blues via Hard to Be a God, due in May on Maple Death Records.
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Tropico impasto. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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After hanging out and recording with Caetano Veloso in his London exile, Jards Macalé returned to Brazil to lay down this slinky slab of progressive MPB. Released in 1972, just as the last embers of tropicália were still giving off heat, Jards Macalé is a stripped-down acoustic outing combining a loose, giddy irreverence with exacting rhythmic interplay.
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Today on Transmissions he joins host Jason P. Woodbury for talking about the perils of making the new record, This Night, the virtues of being a dilettante, nu-metal, Van Morrison, New Order, and much more.
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High five to Don Giovanni Records (on a winning streak this year with new releases from the likes of Swamp Dogg and Lavender Country) for digging up the mid-'90s cosmic country records of Cherokee Rose. Growing up in Minneapolis, the now Santa Fe-residing Rose Moore had occasion to bring her raw, diaristic songs to Paisley Park Studio, resulting in 1993’s Buckskin and 1995’s To All the Wild Horses. The two albums, reissued earlier this month, dazzle in the way they transcend their unadorned, folk origins—Moore having never bothered to learn more than a few basic chords on guitar, but carrying all the music she needs in her heart.
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Transmitting from a ghost station on the other side of Saturn, it’s Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, a four-hour freeform excursion airing every third Sunday of the month.
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After releasing five LPs during their first decade, the emergence of disco thrust WITCH into a funky new direction. Chanda left the band as several new members stepped in, including keyboardist Patrick Mwondela, whose dazzling synth work is a highlight of the overlooked albums from WITCH’s second act.
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Hang your coat, unknot your scarf, kick your boots to the corner and open those windows–spring is almost here. Aquarium Drunkard presents: A Spectrum of Blue- an hour long medley of spring cleaning, dust knockin’ bluegrass ...
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Look Up In The Sky. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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For this episode of Transmissions, Beauty Pill join host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss Instant Night and Please Advise, the influence of Miles Davis, William Eggleston, and collaborations with the Taffety Punk Theatre Company.
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With a framework now shaped around the loosely defined Jesus People Music (and adjacent sounds), it’s fascinating to dig into similar relics from around the globe such as the remarkable new compilation, FRÄLST! – A Selection of Swedish Christian Grooves 1969-1979. A deep, heady dive into the sounds produced from Swedish Christian communities of the era, like many of its North American counterparts, the bulk of the material is sourced from the rarest archival, private press digging.
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A little over four years ago, the underground drumming titan John Colpitts was in a cab heading to the Los Angeles airport, when a drunk driver behind him smashed into the car and sent a carefully arranged, overscheduled life into chaos. Music from the Accident tracks the slow, uncertain progress that starts with a brush with death and ends in a free-squalling avant-garde celebration of life and music and recovery.
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Hardly a stranger to this exercise, in 2008 Vetiver's Andy Cabic released Thing of The Past, a lovingly curated collection of covers paying tribute to a grip of his favorite songs. For this installment of the Lagniappe Sessions, Cabic takes on a favorite from Scottish folk iconoclast Bert Jansch, along with the first track off Pete Dello & Friends' 1971 long-player, Into Your Ears.
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There are very few who can be (consensus) legends--those who not only command a genre, but redefine it and make it their own, while also making it for everyone. You may not know Abdel Karim al Kabli, but you should know that he was a legend for many people for many, many years.
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NYC-based label Palto Flats continues its Yasuaki Shimizu reissue series with Kiren—the Japanese saxophonist and composer’s previously unreleased 1984 “work for experimental dance music.” It follows his previous art-rock ascents on 1982’s Kakashi and 1983’s Utakata No Hibi (his last under the Mariah moniker), and finds him boldly moving forward in ambient-techno-fusion excursions.
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Coming together in an unlikely but harmonious collaboration under their recently bestowed Sanskrit names, Turiya Alice Coltrane and Devadip Carlos Santana recorded Illuminations as a reflection of their newfound spiritual awakening. Released in 1974, the album embodies a deliberate shift for both artists, who had edged closer to explicitly devotional compositions throughout the early seventies...
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Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. This month: underground venues, psychedelic comics, jazz, border towns, and U2.
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Blending modular synth, piano and viola with richly textured field recordings, Chiu and Honer have crafted something exceptional — an immersive sonic environment that harkens back at times to the work of Brian Eno and Terry Riley without bowing at those particular altars. You could call it ambient music, but that genre tag doesn’t quite fit. This is human music — it lives and breathes, filling the air with strangely slanting light and luminous improv.
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Floating in the ether. Transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Welcome to the second installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.” This second entry picks up where volume one left off, including a live recording from a concert compilation (track one), and music from the incredibly rare First Album, by Elf, of which only fifteen copies were manufactured.
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Ahead of the release of the instrumental freak out collection In/Out/In, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth join us to discuss The Simpsons, the Geffen years, stolen (and recovered) guitars, the science fiction of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, and much more on this episode of Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard's weekly podcast.
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On the heels of his sophomore lp, Thorpe's session comes off like an extension of that collection via a pair of seemingly disparate covers. First up is an aching take on George Michael's 1996 pop ballad, "Jesus To A Child", buttressed by a minimalist reinterpretation of Bill Withers' 1972 folk-funk anthem, "Use Me".
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On his latest album of piano, reeds, and percussion, expat composer Robert Stillman probes the notion of American identity. What Does It Mean To Be American? is Stillman's eighth studio album, and like the ones that came before it, it's a beautifully rendered work, laced with pastoral jazz-inspired piano, cooing saxophone and clarinet melodies, and clattering percussion. But it's threaded through with conflict, too. Aquarium Drunkard contributors Chad DePasquale and Jason P. Woodbury recently huddled together to share their thoughts on the album.
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Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. This month, poetic prose, historical fiction, a workplace novel, and a vivid travelogue.
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Now at Aquarium Drunkard, we catch up with Cate Le Bon to discuss her new album, Pompeii, the COVID pandemic, the Tim Presley painting that came to embody her record but which she couldn’t bear to put on the cover, and the way that the artistic process remains instinctual and mysterious, even to Le Bon herself.
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"Transmissions is a lovely name; I think that's a very crucial name for this age." So says mystic musician Laraaji, our guest this week on the show. His Orangeness (AKA Edward Larry Gordon) joins us to discuss his upbringing in the Baptist church, initial entry into meditation, the spiritual qualities of laughter, and much more.
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Dancing Shadows finds Tyler Mitchell and Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra exploring sounds from the spaceways, covering Thelonious Monk, and unfolding a set of stunning original compositions.
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Nora Guthrie joins us for a rambling conversation just after Thanksgiving about Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom, the current that carries Woody’s work forward, and the power of being impulsive for a good cause.
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The Last Tycoon seems to view the fabled “hero’s journey” of Hollywood storytelling as a pandering lie; a disingenuous roadmap to regurgitate while navigating narratives, as phony to the audience as it is to the real life of the people who make the kinds of films that propagate it. It presents a contrarian disposition to the cinematic tradition of happy endings that works on a meta-level, unapologetically concluding itself in sorrow and confusion.
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From the confines of a snowed in cabin, Aquarium Drunkard presents Off-Piste, a 90 minute TDK mixtape. Expect a taut embrace of ice cold synths, nascent drum machines, reverb, echo, ornithology infused Danish funk, and two tracks referencing penguins. Duck the rope.
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Want to hear Brigitte Fontaine spit absolute fire in 1977? Us too. Proto-hip hop, slithering funk, via the synths & drum machine laden, Vous et Nous.
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As a followup to last year's phenomenal Don Cherry archival releases and book via Blank Forms, check out Det Är Inte Men Music (It Is Not My Music), a remarkable 1978 doc on the musician made by Swedish filmmaker Urban Lasson. Over the course of about an hour, we follow Don, his partner Moki and their kids from the pastoral Swedish countryside to the decidedly un-pastoral urban landscape of late-seventies NYC.
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Rare footage of experimental krautrock travelers Agitation Free, captured via the French television program Rock en Stock in the summer of 1973. Shot in black & white, sixteen minutes of sweaty, glassy-eyed improvisation riffing on the track “Laila II” off the band’s sophomore album, 2nd.
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East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon). Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.
34.1090° N, 118.2334° W
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Alabaster DePlume’s To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 was our de facto audio balm in the cursed year of our lord 2020—a sonorous tapestry of strings, flutes, guitars, piano, and gentle percussion, they were largely instrumentals of songs from Gus Fairbairn (DePlume’s) earlier albums. On his ambitious, sprawling, and, ultimately, glorious new double album, GOLD, DePlume returns to us the original gift of those earlier works—his voice.
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Today on Transmissions: Cate Le Bon, who, for the last decade plus, has made some of our favorite modern records, as well as producing great work for other artists, like Deerhunter and John Grant, who joined us last year on the podcast to talk about their collaboration The Boy From Michigan. Her new album is called Pompeii, an art pop gem out this week on Mexican Summer records. "I think the underlying theme of the record is we will forever be connected to everything," she says, joining host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss the album's genesis, the religious quality of the album's art, wood working, and much more.
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Formed and led by pianist/composer Marc Moulin, Placebo were a mellower, funkier, Belgian counterpart to the progressive fusion being cooked up elsewhere across the pond by Nucleus and post-Wyatt/pre-Bundles Soft Machine.
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