This week on Transmissions, Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss big changes coming to Aquarium Drunkard: AD is transitioning to a membership-based model subscription model on April 8th. Transmissions has a very smart audience and one that’s tapped in—so we likely don’t need to explain to you how much the online landscape has changed, but this decision wasn’t reached lightly, and this conversation will shine some light on the reasons behind our moves.
Category: Podcast
Transmissions :: Roger Eno
Incoming transmission from Roger Eno. This week on the show, he joins us for a freewheeling, friendly chat about art, place, and Dune (1984). Eno began his recording life in 1983, when he joined his brother Brian and Daniel Lanois at the latter’s studio in Hamilton, Ontario, to cut one of our favorite albums of all-time, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. Imbued with country and western ambiance, it suggests the vastness of space and man’s ventures into it. Not only that, but it serves as one of the foundational documents of the “ambient country” subgenre that practically forms its own corner of the Aquarium Drunkard sonic universe.
Transmissions :: The Paranoid Style
This week we’re welcoming Elizabeth Nelson of The Paranoid Style to the show for a conversation about music, writing, ZZ Top, and her new album, The Interrogator. Packed with pub rock charm, punk verve, and rootsy, wide-eyed songwriting, the album finds Nelson and her collaborators, including partner Timothy Bracy and Peter Holsapple of The dB’s, cranking the amps in service of sharp, literary rock & roll. Sitting down with host Jason P. Woodbury, Nelson explores her dual roles as a writer and artist, details her unique and optimistic approach to posting on X (formerly Twitter), and generally indulges in music geek back-and-forth.
Transmissions :: John Lurie
This week on our Transmissions podcast, a freewheeling conversation about television, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Bourdain, his book The History of Bones and Music From Painting With John.
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 :: Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy on R.E.M.
Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions with Jason P. Woodbury. We’re kicking off our 2024 season with two very special guests: Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy, discussing their love of and tribute to R.E.M.’s Murmur. Plus: Lou Reed, Sunny Day Real Estate, and best of all, Michael’s run in with Bob Dylan.
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.