Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain run in the same Chicago circles, MacKay tilting, maybe, a little further towards folk and blues and Crain of Bitchin Bajas and Cave leaning harder into krautish experimental drone. There’s certainly plenty of common ground, however, judging from this four-track collaboration, as both work to find magic in still, pooling reservoirs of sound that do not move so much as they glisten in unearthly light.
Year: 2023
Mark Mothersbaugh :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
On the eve of the new 4-LP Devo retrospective, Mothersbaugh caught up with us from his Los Angeles studio. We discuss the experimental beginnings and future of Devo, the group working with Brian Eno and David Bowie, his fascination with early animation soundtracks, auditioning for Mick Jagger, the NYC scene that brought the band’s breakthrough, the death of the album format and much more…
Bonus Tracks, Vol. 6 :: Talking Heads, Dusty Springfield, John Martyn
We’re breaking out our Case Logic compact disc wallets once again to dig out some of the best bonus tracks from days gone by. This time around, we’ve got visionary Albionic reveries, soothing soul pop and the big band version of Talking Heads burning down the house.
Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell :: Begonias
File under: autumnal albums. Released eighteen years ago, Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell’s sole collaboration continues to pay dividends, and as collections of duets go, Begonias has rightly earned its place as a modern day classic. Mellow and contemplative in approach, the pair’s vocals ache and yearn as Cockrell’s tenor tangles with Cary’s alto. A traditional country album with a capital T. Now if they would only make another …
The Lagniappe Sessions :: H. Hawkline
This week’s installment of the Lagniappe Sessions catches up with Welsh singer-songwriter Huw Evans who, under the guise of H. Hawkline, has released five records over the past thirteen years. Evans most recent effort, the excellent Cate Le Bon produced LP, Milk For Flowers, dropped earlier this year and the following session acts as a sort of companion set. Expect: unexpected covers of covers, hi-fi nods to Cleaners From Venus, and the majesty of Yoko Ono.
Liam Grant :: Amoskeag
Emerging as wood-and-steel road warrior over the last couple years, Liam Grant is a journeyman pupil of the guitar soli dharma emanating from the Takoma school and beyond. With Amoskeag, Grant carves his own path through roving distances of hard-driving, raga-infused guitar excursions, ultimately arriving somewhere that feels like home. Born of a year’s incessant touring, the six extended compositions on his second full-length release are reverent contemplations of time, memory, and place, coursing with the ancestral spirits of Grant’s native New England and the melodic traditions of country bluegrass, ragtime, and blues.
Allegra Krieger :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
New York’s Allegra Krieger has had quite the year. The cosmic folk artist released her fourth studio album, I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane, in July via Double Double Whammy. Across its 10 tracks, Krieger sings measured soliloquies recounting her memories, observations, and curiosities straddling the mortal and divine. Finger-picked guitars float like sunlight, illuminating forgotten corners of the universe where Krieger finds inspiration.
Jonathan Kirby :: Safe To Disconnect II
A dedicated crate-digger, Jonathan Kirby co-hosts Dogpatch, one of the greatest music podcasts going, with fellow traveler Dante Carfagna. Kirby’s music occasionally sounds like something the duo might share on Dogpatch — some well-nigh unbelievable slice of homemade sonic alchemy, with warm vintage keys and drum machines, gentle (if not exactly mellow) oscillations and rippling melodies. Fans of the essential Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984 comp — which Carfagna compiled, not-so-coincidentally — will fall in love with the Safe To Disconnect series at first spin.
Andrew Savage :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Andrew Savage joins Aquarium Drunkard to discuss his new record, Several Songs about Fire, moving to Paris, poetry, and touring with Cate Le Bon.
The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)
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
Alex Sadnik :: Flight
One of this year’s best straight-ahead jazz sessions…though maybe most straight-ahead jazz sessions don’t prominently feature pedal steel guitar. Alex Sadnik’s Flight takes on the work of Charlie Parker—every alto saxophonist’s white whale—and manages to make it all sound fresh again.
Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions :: Mitch Horowitz
This week on our weekly podcast, we’re chatting once again with Mitch Horowitz, occult scholar, practitioner, and historian. We’ve had Mitch on a number of times—once a year or so for the last few years. What can we say? We just love listening to the guy riff. His latest is book is Modern Occultism: History, Theory, and Practice. Our talk? Well, it’s all over the place, covering many of the figures who appear in the book, like Jack Parsons, the pioneering father of modern rocketry—who was also a practicing magician, one-time Marxist, and famously died at 37 in a fiery explosion.
Knoel Scott (feat Marshall Allen) :: Celestial
Celestial finds the Sun Ra Arkestra’s Knoel Scott and Marshall Allen joined by Arkestra alum Chris Henderson on drums, and Scott collaborators Mikele Montolli and Charlie Stacey on bass and piano, respectively. Recorded live in a sweltering heatwave in the Netherlands in the summer of 2022, in just two days, the results are magical.
The Air Music International :: Pass The Santa-Lucia Gate In Manila
Mid-80s Osaka, mutated, experimental pop. Self-pressed at 100 copies, The Air Music International’s 1984 lp, Pass The Santa-Lucia Gate In Manila, is as mysterious as their members, whose credits show up nowhere else save for their only other release, “I’ve Never Had it So Good,” a 7” credited to slightly altered The Air Music International Reggae System. The project is the brainchild of horn-player, vocalist, and sound manipulator Tetsuji Kakuni, whose saxophone, suona, distorted vocals, and tape operation lurk across the record mischievously.
Herbie Hancock :: Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY , October 1, 1973
Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters was released a half-century ago this month — and the funk has never been the same. Oddly enough, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of massive 50th anniversary boxed set celebrating this classic crossover LP. But a compiler looking to expand Head Hunters could certainly consider this well-traveled live broadcast from right around the time the album came out. The grooves are ridiculous, whether Herbie and co. are sliding through a scintillating “Butterfly” or finding electrifying new directions in “Chameleon.”