Matthew Specktor’s Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, & Los Angeles, California blends “autobiographical vignettes and incisive cultural deep dives.” Today, the author joins us with a companion mixtape of songs that helped inspire the book.
Category: Mixtapes
Improvisational Sphere :: A Roy Brooks Mixtape
The following mix is a tribute to the brilliant–sometimes misunderstood–artist, featuring a selection of albums under Brooks’ own name, as well as crucial collaborations. It ends with a blistering version of Woody Shaw’s composition, “Zoltan,” taken from the exceptional new collection, Understanding.
Monster Rally :: Volume III (A Mixtape)
Imminent summer approaches as we check in with with Monster Rally, whose “Imaginary Palms” drops later this week — a balmy dreamscape framed by harps, water, live drums, air and maracas.
This, our third mix collaboration [following Volume I (2012), and Volume II (2013)], finds Monster Rally’s Ted Feighan pulling from an appropriately humid crate. Press play, get lifted.
Natura Morta (A Sven Wunder Mixtape)
Snapping at the heels of last year’s Eastern Flowers and Wabi Sabi lps, prolific polymath Sven Wunder returns this June with his third full-lengh, Natura Morta. In anticipation, Wunder recorded the following vinyl mix for AD, via his home studio in Sweden, leaning into aesthetic influences and inspiration.
Latin Grippe (A Mixtape)
Because it’s only getting hotter… our hermano in sound Mathieu Schreyer’s all-vinyl set from last May. All fire, via the Radio Free archives, previously solely available via our Patreon. Only the good shit.
Unearthed, Vol. 15 :: Demolition Derby
For this Unearthed bootleg mix we’re digging into our decades-spanning stash of unreleased demo tapes. Some of them are exceedingly rough, still searching for the song. Others are fully formed, the finish line in view. Some are recorded straight to a boom box at home, others in a tricked out Hollywood studio….
Kevin Ayers :: Heaven On Earth (A Mixtape)
Presenting Heaven on Earth, a four-hour (!) Kevin Ayers megamix by David Mittleman of Observations of Deviance, a weekly “all-vinyl, freeform program that harkens back to the early days of underground FM radio.”
Threat To Creation :: A Mixtape
Roots reggae is the music of the Rastafarian tradition. It speaks to the spiritual, political, and socially conscious message of God, called Jah by Rastafarians.
Press play for a celebration of roots stylings including the traditional, digital, and dub.
Unearthed, Vol. 14 :: The Boarding House
Consider this one a sequel to the Unearthed series’ two other Bay Area bootleg deep dives — Sausalito Haze and Pacific High. The Boarding House, located at 960 Bush Street in San Francisco, had a good run in the 1970s as one of the city’s premiere nightclubs, presenting a killer mix of music and comedy (such stars as Robin Williams and Steve Martin had early successes here) seven nights a week, in a very intimate setting. For this mix, we’ve gathered together a typically eclectic blend of folk, reggae, jazz, country, punk and rock, all recorded live at the Boarding House.
Sonhos Secretos: Brazilian Private Press & Independent MPB On 7″ (1980-1985)
Sonhos Secretos, or Secret Dreams in English, alludes to the quiet aspirations of those that made these independent and privately released recordings as well as to the fact that many of these tracks have long remained essentially a secret. It’s also, to some extent, a reference to a certain dream-like quality that permeates this collection.
Unearthed, Vol. 12 :: Skating In Central Park
With live music still iffy this year, let’s travel back to some long-ago summers in New York City’s Central Park. For the 12th edition of the Unearthed bootleg mix series, we’re training our ears on Wollman Skating Rink, which hosted some truly stellar al fresco concerts back in the day. These performances span from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and encompass a wide range of freaky fresh air jams: dark funk jazz, ecstatic post-punk, prog epics, Texas boogie — it’s all here
Sentimental Ornament: A Broadcast Rarities Mix
In celebration of what would’ve been the deeply-missed Trish Keenan’s 52 birthday, Aquarium Drunkard presents a survey of rare Broadcast material pulled from a variety of lesser-known sources. Not touching on any of their collaborations, inventive remixes, nor live material (save for a Nico cover from a 2003 Peel Session), Sentimental Ornament finds the inimitable group at the most experimental edges of their galaxy.
The Roses Won’t Tell Your Secret: An August Mixtape
Blown out garage pop & lounge jazz exotica. Chambered folk & only one Dylan cover. With humidity and paranoia at an all-time high, it only felt right to re-visit to the foggy August mixtape. Tranquility is always tempting as an aural axis, but these things always seem to land somewhere in the middle of a torrid zone hypnosis.
In Sheep’s Clothing :: Episode Two
Shortly after lockdown we launched Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard — a 24/7 quarantine companion. After two months on-air, the experiment morphed into a monthly 4-hour program at Dublab. Tune in this Sunday at 4pm Pacific, with AD deejays along with special guest William Tyler.
Here’s a taste from May — episode two of In Sheep’s Clothing. Cole Kinnear is the selector.
It’s Only Life, That’s All (A Nap Eyes Mixtape)
With his “It’s Only Life, That’s All” playlist, Nap Eyes guitarist Brad Loughead created a mix “mainly as a way to occupy myself, [to] get lost in beautiful music and turn my brain off.” It encompasses familiar themes—”of love, mortality, troubled times…’ya know, the light stuff,” but like Nap Eyes’ fourth lp, Snapshot of a Beginner, it achieves a powerful effect by just easing on by.