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On The Turntable

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    Okonski

    Okonski :: Magnolia

    Via Asheville, NC, the pensive piano jazz stylings of Steve Okonski. File under nocturne. 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.

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    Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics

    Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics :: Inspiration Information 3

    Released in 2009, the third installment of Inspiration Information, Strut Records collaborative artists series, paired Ethio-jazz giant Mulatu Astatke with the London based Heliocentrics collective. A sinuous and sublime fusion.

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    Rich Ruth

    Rich Ruth :: Live At Third Man Records

    It’s difficult to pinpoint Rich Ruth’s work as jazz, ambient, komische, or post-rock, as it employs elements of all those genres and more in a way that feels wholly natural. Is it post-genre? Perhaps.

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    Emergency Group

    Emergency Group :: Inspection of Cruelty

    A massive slab of Electric Miles-inspired jams from this new NYC band. Kraut-y rhythms, seething guitar/keyboard duels, rock-solid bass — the good stuff, spread out over the course of two epic-length tracks. Sometimes blown-out and blasted, other times moody and meditative, Inspection of Cruelty is a very bitchin brew.

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    Azymuth

    Azymuth :: Demos 1973-75 1 & 2

    Unearthed in 2019, via Far Out Recordings, raw early Azymuth. Two LP set of organic fusion-funk.

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    V/A

    V/A :: Jesus People Music, Volume 2: The Reckoning

    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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    Miles Davis

    Miles Davis :: Turnaround (Rare Miles From The Complete On The Corner Sessions)

    Blown out electric Miles, two sides culled from the complete On The Corner Sessions….

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    Prince Far I

    Prince Far I :: Under Heavy Manners

    Ital and vital. Produced by Joe Gibbs and engineered by Errol Thompson, Prince Far I, aka the Voice Of Thunder, dropped this slab of essential roots reggae in 1976. His grizzled ropeadope delivery scorching the LP’s ten tracks, Far I’s epic toasting (or chanting, as he preferred) is on full display riding a wave of rumbling bass, subtle dub effects, percussion and organ.

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Keith Jarrett / Jack Dejohnette :: Ruta and Daitya

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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.

RF Shannon :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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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.

Subtle Vibrations: Assorted Beach Boys Cover Oddities

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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”.

Jesus People Music, Volume 2: The Reckoning

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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.

Triptides :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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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.

Videodrome :: Sling Blade (1996)

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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.

Anadol :: Felicita

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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.

Yo La Tengo :: Deeper Into Deep Cuts

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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.

Catching Up With Rose City Band

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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.”