Post-punk veteran Brenda Ray’s breathy chanteuse vox laced in dub/reggae via legendary Jamaican producer Roy Cousins. As surprising collabs go, reminiscent of Serge Gainsbourg’s own 1979 reggae dabble. Bonus: Prince Far I guests!
With a discography as sprawling and diverse as Sun Ra’s, it’s a fool’s errand to rank the master’s works. But Lanquidity from 1978 has got to be placed in the upper echelon. In this “definitive edition,” we get a glorious remaster, plus an entire alternate mix of the LP. The spaceways beckon.
Cosmic ambient jazz for the end times. Harpist and modular synth player Nala Sinephro’s debut lp. One of the best records we missed in 2021.
Melbourne’s cinematic soul & funk outfit Surprise Chef cover Minoru Muraoka’s Japanese jazz, folkloric masterpiece, “The Positive and the Negative”.
A survey of the Yaoundé music scene in the ‘70s, Analog Africa’s compilation of mysterious and varied recordings from a well-equipped church in the bustling Cameroon capital features scorching fuzz, pounding percussion, and swinging horns. Delicious slices of highlife jazz, combustible psychedelic rock, raw funk excursions, and garage-inflected rhythms.
A rediscovered masterpiece overflowing with excellent and infectious songwriting, arrangements, and playing. Recorded in Beirut in 1977 and Paris in 1978, but interestingly recalling some of the best privately pressed American releases of the same era …
Via the Paris based label We Want Sounds, the 2021 reissue of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 1985 synth/ambient LP, Esperanto. First time being released outside of Japan…
It’s winter, aka Clientele season. A near perfect baker’s dozen, Suburban Light rounds up rainy day singles from the London dream pop outfit prior to the release of their proper, more polished, debut.
Welcome to a bonus edition of Transmissions with David Bazan joining Transmissions to discuss Pedro the Lion’s surprise album Havasu, Christian Rock, Fugazi, Tom Petty, and more with host Jason P. Woodbury.
For his fourth and latest album, Good and Green Again, Fussell worked with James Elkington to bring rich, subtle shadings to these reconstructed songs, achieving a melancholy clarity and modern-day resonance in music first conceived centuries ago. We spoke earlier this year about how he finds personal meaning in old songs, why he respects but doesn’t emulate the note-for-note recreators, and how the way you hear traditional music can change as you change over time.
Monde UFO—the LA-based duo of Ray Monde and Kris Chau—put out one of our favorite records last year with 7171, a vibrant collection of free jazz and bossa nova inflected low-key psychedelia. For their inaugural Lagniappe Session, the duo covers three selections from Fugazi, meeting the seminal post-hardcore band’s skeletal manifestos with their own woozy bedroom-pop prescription.
Prior to disbanding in 2010, Tokyo’s Yura Yura Teikoku banged out 10 studio albums, a handful of EPs and a live record. Over the course of their 21 years as a working band, the trio’s sound morphed considerably, stretching from their inception as a garage rock outfit to the lush, considered arrangements of their final LP, Hollow Me — an album that would anticipate the direction vocalist Shintaro Sakamoto would soon explore via a solo career.
Cosmic trigger. 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
After a somewhat, er, “shakey” start, the online home of the Neil Young Archives has hit its stride. The past year has seen an incredible array of previously unavailable material show up for subscribers to enjoy. Outtakes stretching back to the Buffalo Springfield days, full live shows available to stream, rare films … All this and Neil himself regularly answering your questions in the Letters to the Editor column. Suffice to say, if you’re a fan of the man, you should consider signing up for the Archives. Below, we’ve got a small sampler mix of some of the goodies — plus a few things that haven’t made it to the NYA just yet.
Today on Transmissions: Haley Fohr, better known as Circuit des Yeux and Jackie Lynn. Her latest is called iO, and it’s a stunning work of art rock bravado. No one sounds like Fohr—she possesses a four octave voice—and few artists are pushing as intensely as she is these days. She joined us to discuss the evolution of Jackie Lynn, her label buying her a star, and of course, stunt work.
Proceed With Caution is the second two bonafide heaters that guitarist Calvin Keys recorded for Black Jazz Records. Originally released in 1974, Keys’ sophomore session as leader honed the free-flowing spiritual soul-jazz of Shawn-Neeq into more complex and layered compositions, bolstered by the broader instrumentation of a septet that included a mix of session vets and Black Jazz mainstays. As the title implies, all expectations should be checked at the door. While most of the album delivers an eloquent punch, Keys and company aren’t above getting a little dirty if the occasion calls.
Cinematic soundscapes abound. In early October of last year, Maston and L’Eclair traveled to Leysin – a small ski village high in the Swiss Alps, and home to Ritmo Studio. Joined by a small film crew, and engineer Benoit Gerard, the group recorded live versions of selections from the Maston catalog, including songs from the albums Tulips, Panorama and 2021’s Souvenir.
Garcia Peoples have been on the move. Since we last rendezvoused with the band they have expanded to a sextet performing live feats that are leaving audiences in puddles of their own diethylamide daydreams. If that wasn’t enough they still found time to cut a new album, Dodging Dues, with Mr. Auxiliary himself – Matt Sweeney – resulting in a tighter and more concise record that still goes hard on the choogle. For their second Lagniappe Session the group tackles a trio of artists whose influences orbit this new album and beyond.
I Thought Of You marks Julie Doiron’s first official solo release in nine years. Throughout our conversation, Doiron explains what guides her collaborations and projects.
Patrick Lefler is a key figure in Toronto’s new psychedelic scene. As the mastermind behind the revolving doors of ROY, his recent releases have included an extraterrestrial concept album, a trip back to the garage, and a collection of soothing synth waves to coax listeners into slumber. For his latest project, Lefler attempts to unshackle music from the constraints of capitalism itself. To accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he offers the antithesis: a free download.
