Transmissions :: Vijay Iyer

Pianist, composer, and bandleader Vijay Iyer joins us on Transmissions. He joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss his new ECM release, Compassion, his collaborations with Shahzad Ismaily and Arooj Aftab, reflect on the post-pandemic nebulousness in the air, discuss his mentors Greg Tate and Amiri Baraka, and much more.

Transmissions :: Laetitia Sadier

This week on the show: a conversation with Laetitia Sadier. As the main vocalist of Stereolab, her spacey voice shines as the human core in that project’s motorik and dense avant-pop, a blend of electronic music, krautrock, space age lounge sounds, and much more. Her latest is called Rooting for Love, and she joins us to discuss the collective and the individual, and the radical potentiality of love.

Transmissions :: Scientist

Incoming transmission from Hopeton Overton Brown, better known as Scientist. As a protege of dub pioneer King Tubby, Scientist represents dub’s third generation—at least that’s how his 1981 collaboration with Tubby and Prince Jammy, First Second, and Third Generation, puts it. These days he’s living in Los Angeles, where he joined host Jason P. Woodbury for this all-new episode. Prepare to cover a lot of ground, as we move from his origins at Channel One and Tuff Gong to divine messages, run-ins with Lee “Scratch” Perry, aliens and angels, simulation theory, his suspicions about modern cannabis strains, the digital vs analog debate, and much more.

Transmissions :: Ty Segall

For the last decade-and-a-half, Ty Segall has reliably cranked out records that show off his range, ping-ponging from scuzzed out glam rock to chiming folk ballads. He joins us this week to discuss his proggy new album Three Bells, his dogs, the influence of T Rex, and much more.

Transmissions :: Lou Reed Archive (2024)

This week on the show, return guests Jason Stern and Don Fleming of the Lou Reed Archive join us to discuss Lou’s 2007 ambient album Hudson River Wind Meditations, recently reissued by Light in the Attic, and share a bevy of Lou stories and insights. Plus, resident Lou fanatic Tyler Wilcox of Doom and Gloom from the Tomb drops by to discuss Lou’s kung fu fascinations, love of comics, mindfulness, and a few of his favorite Lou pieces at Aquarium Drunkard.

Transmissions :: On Pauline Anna Strom

Welcome back to Transmissions. This week on the show, which brings our 2023 season to a close, we are joined by Matt Werth of RVNG to discuss the life and multi-dimensional sound worlds of Pauline Anna Strom. This month, the label released Echoes, Spaces, Lines, which collects the first three albums from the Bay Area synthesist and composer, as well as Oceans of Time, an unreleased record included in the box set for the first time.

Transmissions :: Penelope Spheeris

This week on the show, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury joins Penelope Spheeris, director of The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy, The Beverly Hillbillies, Little Rascals, Suburbia, and Wayne’s World. Spheeris is the host of Peter and the Acid King, a true crime podcast set in the Los Angeles punk scene of the early ‘80s concerning the unsolved murder of Peter Ivers, host of New Wave Theater.

Transmissions :: Conner Habib

This week on Transmissions: Conner Habib. He’s the author of the Pen/Faulkner award longlisted horror novel, Hawk Mountain, and the host of the weekly podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib. Informed by his practice of Anthroposophy and Christian mysticism, AEWCH focuses on the esoteric and ventures into strange and unusual places, touching frequently on Habib’s spiritual views while also exploring his views on sex work, his interest in art and literature, punk rock ethos, and his singular conversational style.

Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions :: John Carroll Kirby

Make yourself comfortable, on this all-new episode of Transmissions, we’re focusing on the fantastic tunes crafted by John Caroll Kirby. His music exemplifies the current zone where jazz, fusion, new age, soul, R&B, and electronic composition all mingle. He’s worked with artists like Blood Orange, Solange, Frank Ocean, Eddie Chacon, and many more. But it’s his own records, including this year’s Blowout, that demonstrate his compositional chops. The native Angeleno joined us to discuss going far from home to record and much more.

Transmissions :: Moby and Lindsay Hicks (Moby Pod)

Welcome back to Transmissions. This week on the program, we’re joined by electronic musician Moby and Lindsay Hicks. Together, they run Little Walnut, a production company responsible for documentaries like Punk Rock Vegan, music videos, and Moby Pod—a podcast dedicated to offering unique perspectives on music, animal activism, climate change, and beyond. This conversation with host Jason P. Woodbury demonstrates the way Moby and Hicks are brave and open in ways that aren’t common in our culture, rejecting the easy cynicism and guardedness that seems to rule the day. And while this talk does get a little bleak at times, but it’s also a very funny conversation concerning our changing landscape, science fiction, music, and full of a lot of quips and jokes. We hope you enjoy it.

Transmissions :: Buck Meek (Big Thief)

You know Buck Meek from Big Thief and his solo albums, like this year’s Haunted Mountain. Full of near-death experiences and tender but insistent roots-inspired songwriting, it’s an album that finds inspiration in the mysterious Mount Shasta, long a site of high strangeness. He joins us to discuss Jolie Holland, Judee Sill, Bob Dylan, Big Thief and reciprocity this week on Transmissions.

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.

Transmissions :: Maria Elena Silva

We were introduced to the music of Maria Elena Silva via 2021’s Eros, which featured collaborations with previous Transmissions guests Jeff Parker of Tortoise and was produced by Chris Schlarb. Silva is back with a new one, the recently released Dulce. Here, she’s joined by Schlarb once again, as well as Transmissions alumni Marc Ribot, who brings a raw, questing intensity to her new songs, which swell with rock & roll gusto and a newfound display of bravado.