One hundred and twenty-seven minutes of strange and mercurial music – slow burning, sprawling, smoggy, and ephemeral. 60s Kenyan folk and Thai garage rock; late 70s drum machine gospel from Inkster, Michigan, and private press psych from the Pacific Northwest; mid 80s Congolese electronic soul and Senegalese art-funk; Zambian highlife circa 1991 and experimental computer music made in a juvenile detention center in modern day Albuquerque. The same Hawa Daisy Moore mp3 files that were used in the inaugural Blue August Moon eleven years ago – the crackling tropical oasis showing signs of increased deterioration. These are just some of the sounds that Up In My Mind—the latest edition of our August mixtape—is steeped in. An irregular late summer tradition, but ever an occasion to look up, zoom in, and zone out.
Category: Mixtapes
You’re Future’s In Space: Eddie Harris on Atlantic (A Mixtape)
From the late 60s through the mid-70s, Eddie Harris indulged in a string of progressively freakier, beautifully executed records that smeared boundaries, blew minds and sold poorly. This mixtape collects two and a half hours of the most adventurous moments from those heady Atlantic days.
Dubwise Summer: An Aquarium Drunkard Mixtape
Summer equals dub. It is the elemental music of the season. And not simply because it comes from a tropical island. Everything in dub feels suspended in the heat and humidity: a little slower, a little hazier—all the elements delayed in the muggy atmosphere. There is something about the laid back languor of dub that feels especially appropriate this time of year, when the sun is high and the stakes are low. In that spirit, we’re serving up a couple hours of some of our favorite cuts from the golden age of dub.
Zandoli :: A Mixtape (Spring 2025)
Step inside Zandoli, a humid TDK embrace spanning 1971-2025. Analog Estonian groove opens the set before sliding into vintage Italian film funk, Grecian honey skronk, imitation Bengalese hypnagogia, and a rousing 1977 exaltation from Fort-de-France, Martinique. And that’s just the first twenty minutes. Press play, let it soak.
Mood Stabilizers: The Post-Rock Era, 1993-2002 (A Mixtape)
We’ve had post-rock on the brain lately. New music from genre pioneers Tortoise and the prospect of a North American tour by Stereolab this fall, not to mention recent archival releases by the likes of Aerial M, Gastr del Sol and Seefeel have many of us revisiting the sound’s 1990s salad days. For those wanting more, we’ve compiled a mixtape of some three hours of the genre’s knottiest groove logistics. For the uninitiated, here’s a crash course in what the end of the twentieth century sounded like.
Pink Cloud Motel :: A Mixtape
Sixteen tracks spread over two continents, it’s springtime at the Pink Cloud Motel. Hyacinth and citrus with the windows rolled down half mast — shades of palm fronds, fresh cut grass, 501 cutoffs, Modelo and watery domestics. Late check-outs encouraged …
Pangaea Deluxe: Live Miles in Japan, 1975 (Mixtape)
Drifting from spiraling psychedelia into frightening soundscapes and ecstatic funk, the Miles Davis septet built a universe unto itself across its 1975 tour of Japan. This tour-spanning mix gathers some of the choicest cuts and most experimental moments from the unissued tapes.
Lamentations: Twenty-Two Songs about John Coltrane
In the nearly six decades since his untimely passing, musicians from all over the world have never stopped honoring John Coltrane. And not just artists in the jazz tradition, those in rock, funk, prog and soul as well. We put together a compilation of twenty-two of our favorite tributes to the visionary saxophonist. In the extraordinary variety of ways musicians have chosen to honor him, you can see an outline of the magnitude of his impact on modern music.
Grey On Gray II :: A December Mixtape
For the darkest time of year, a wintry mix of stark sonic landscapes — jazz, ambient, acoustic and unclassifiable. Instrumental treks through the snow, hopefully with a mug of hot chocolate (or something stronger) awaiting you at your final destination.
Country In The Clouds: Cosmic American Music From The Jesus People Movement
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…
First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 14
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.’
Sufferer’s Time :: Michael Crow At The Controls
Sun is shining. The latest installment in Michael Crow Taylor’s dank reggae mix series, Sufferer’s Time, winds a path through deep devotionals, primo dub and loping, cosmic love jams. Mixed at Dad’s Bar and Grill, Durham, NC. You can find Taylor onstage with Hiss Golden Messenger, and in the studio with Hiss, Revelators Sound System and many other friends …
Light Pollution: The Roots of Ambient Jazz
As Aquarium Drunkard recently reported, ambient appears to be the shape of jazz to come. The newest new thing is cross-pollinating with electronics and minimalism, new age and drone. But even these currents have a history. We dove deep into our favorite space jazz of yesteryear, and put together a mixtape for your astral travelling pleasure.
Pulp Jazz: Twenty-First Century Groove Music (A Mixtape)
Pulp Jazz draws on long-traduced, sometimes crassly commercial, musical forms—jazz-funk, exotica, new age, sci-fi schlock, lounge music and library—and channels it all into deeply funky, low-key psychedelic groove music. More than that, like the best pulp, it somehow comes out sexy as hell, slinky and dangerous. Aquarium Drunkard has been here for it. The world could stand to be a shade groovier. And when we were asked for a mixtape of the primo stuff, we were more than happy to oblige. It’s what we do.
Let’s hope this fresh wave of fusion doesn’t reignite the jazz wars of old. But we’re down to fight if it comes to that.
First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 13
Embrace the dawn of a new year with the thirteenth 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.”