Television have two well-known live albums to their name, both taped in 1978 — the classic ROIR release The Blow-Up, which came out in the early 1980s, and the incendiary Live at the Old Waldorf, emerging about 20 years later. Live at the Academy is much more under the radar; originally sold in unassuming CDR format at merch tables in the 2000s, it’s been available only fleetingly since on various streaming services. This year’s Record Store Day, however, sees the performance getting a well-deserved double LP reissue. It’s a necessary addition to Television’s relatively small discography.
Author: Justin Gage
Rosali :: Bite Down
It is still only April, but Rosali’s Merge debut Bite Down already has the makings of classic summer album. Bursting with singalong choruses, big barroom rave-ups and bleary confessions of both love and doubt, this is one that everyone can find a way into.
Cindy Lee :: Diamond Jubilee
Diamond Jubilee feels like a throwback to a different, weirder, cooler, better era in independent music. An era where a record such as this one — a record not available on streaming services, that can only be listened to on YouTube and via WAV files available for purchase on the artist’s website, and which was birthed into the world with no advanced single or press, that eschewed the long and laborious album rollout, and so felt like an artifact from space crash landed onto Earth — wasn’t so tragically uncommon.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: The Reds, Pinks and Purples
Through some sort of infernal jangle-pop sorcery, the ever-prolific RPP mainman Glenn Donaldson continues to come up with the goods; in fact, the latest LP, Unwishing Well, may well be his best effort yet. It’s a record that blends 16 Lovers Lane shimmer with Felt-like melancholy, heartfelt sentiments with occasionally hilarious barbs. Lovingly crafted, world weary, expertly bittersweet — just like heaven. For this excellent Lagniappe Session, Donaldson takes us on a tour of a few favorites old and new-ish.
Floreana :: Floreana One
Similar to the formative ethos of Les Baxter or Haruomi Hosono’s instrumental take on the Pacific on “The Last Paradise”, Floreana’s grooves are soaked in saltwater like the crashing waves in the outro of “Asilo de la Paz”.
Dana Gavanski :: LATE SLAP
On her third album, LATE SLAP, the Serbian-Canadian musician warbles, coos, and ululates like an art deco songbird. Gliding across meticulously constructed orchestral synth-pop with emotional intensity regulated at a slow simmer, Gavanski combines classic songcraft with a mishmash of hyper-modern motifs, tempering the tragic clown with a sense of stillness. Fans of Cate Le Bon’s manicured post-punk or last year’s excellent album from En Attendant Ana might find another new favorite here.
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
Bruno Berle :: No Reino Dos Afetos 2
Born in Maceió, in the Brazilian Northeast, Bruno Berle gives bossa nova the hyperpop treatment it deserves (should we call it hyperbossa?). No Reino dos Afetos 2 filters Arthur Russell-like melodies through inventive uses of autotune and DAW presets.
Amen Dunes :: Round the World
Sonically ever-shifting, Amen Dunes’ Damon McMahon remains resolute in his intent. On “Round the World,” the latest taste from his upcoming album, Death Jokes, he dances amidst a world ablaze, making an impassioned plea for us to live free—in the moment, free from the shackles of societal expectations and pervasive self-obsession, and perhaps to even realize freedom in the belief that the end may only just be the beginning.
James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
The excellent All Gist, out this week on Paradise of Bachelors, sees James and Nathan taking their musical partnership back to its roots. It’s an album full of gorgeously interlocking guitars, bewitching melodies and a couple of curveball covers. More than anything, All Gist sounds like a conversation between two old friends — one that we’re all lucky we get to eavesdrop on.
Videodrome :: Husbands (1970)
Husbands is the unvarnished truth of masculinity in crisis, as deeply flawed and unflattering as it may be. In the absence of judgment and editorialization of its character’s actions, Husbands becomes one of the most wounded and unflinchingly honest deconstructions of the American male in cinema.
Adrianne Lenker :: Bright Future
Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future is an acknowledgement of all that is transient in life, a releasing of that comes and goes. On her sixth solo album, the Big Thief singer evokes the feeling of a sunrise on a new day—filled to the brim with fresh images and memorable melodies.
Moose Loose :: Elgen er løs
Elgen er løs, it must be said, does not sound like ECM jazz. Instead what we have here is a blast of funky, fuzzed-out jazz psychedelia. The sinewy “Flytende Øye” could easily pass for a straight-up krautrock jam. Honestly, the whole thing hews closer to Soon Over Bamaluma than Return to Forever.
Steven R. Smith :: Olive
Thirty years into his storied career, Jewelled Antler veteran Steven R. Smith remains one of the most distinctive guitarists in American music. Whether observing the flora and fauna or the ruins of imaginary cities, Smith’s music is a form of witness. His newest album, Olive, featuring Kate Wright of Movietone and a micro-orchestra of horns and woodwinds, seasons his funereal post-rock with whimsy and brightness.
Richard Parks :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
There are many areas of literature in which American authors have made an indelible mark. Be it jazz, rock, or any other facet of modern music, Americans can take pride in place of first, if not place of best. Another area in which such commentary and greatness do overlap is in our National Pastime: baseball. Into this moment steps Richard Parks III and his new podcast, Dodger Blue Dream.