Appearing here at Aquarium Drunkard in 2022 for a Lagniappe Session, Chicago guitarist Eli Winter described one of his cover selections as “Arabian Nightingale” as “arresting, cool, and strange.” The three words come to mind regarding his latest LP, A Trick of the Light. Another full-band outing following his self-titled 20202 LP, the recording drifts even deeper into jazz rock territory, pairing Winter’s snarling electric guitar lines with drifting pedal steel and sax. Aquarium Drunkard caught up with Winter to discuss the record’s genesis and what inspired him to spoof Hot Ones in a music video.
Category: The AD Interview
Lael Neale Wades Into Wild Waters
“I once followed blindly but now I can see,” Lael Neale intones on her fourth record–and third in the space of a fruitful five-year period–Altogether Stranger. This is one of many revelations and reflections on her return to Los Angeles having spent several years away from its stifling chaos in the respite of her family’s farm in rural Virginia. The songs astutely capture this internally fraught period with colloquial eloquence. Altogether Stranger simultaneously confronts the relentless noise of city living and provides a much-needed sanctuary away from it through its comforting intimacy. Neale’s latest recalls the scope of Lou Reed, Connie Converse and Suicide, resulting in her most tonally dexterous body of work.
People Whispering, Or The Strip Mine On The Other Side of The Mountain :: The Experimental Folk of North Carolina’s Magic Tuber Stringband
Magic Tuber Stringband is one of the most arresting outfits to emerge from the American folk tradition in the last five years. While they spring from North Carolina’s venerable old-time music tradition, they are experimentalists, deeply engaged in the methods of free jazz improvisation pioneered by Marion Brown and Don Cherry, and the minimalist strategies of postwar composers like Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley.
Florist :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Emily Sprague knows the end is coming. It’s inevitable and always has been, no matter how good or bad things get. The finite isn’t a source of anxiety for the singer/songwriter, but a catalyst for wonder. Jellywish,, the new LP from Florist, serves to promote “how awesome it is that we basically don’t exist in the grand scheme of things,” according to Sprague. Rather than being a cause for nihilism, it’s a reason to make the world a better place, to tune into the quiet wonder of the day-to-day, to live authentically.
In The Spiritual Kingdom Of Love :: Robyn Hitchcock Dissects The Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight
Forty-five years after it was first released, the Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight sounds better than ever. The glorious chime of Robyn Hitchcock and Kimberley Rew’s guitars, the buoyant rhythm section of drummer Morris Windsor and bassist Matthew Seligman, the interlocking vocal harmonies, Hitchcock’s surreal and bewitching lyrics … it all adds up to a bona fide masterpiece.
To dive deep into the stories behind the songs, we went straight to the source. Below, Robyn Hitchcock walks us through the album’s 10 tracks.
Cooper Crain :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Cooper Crain is a bandleader, band member, producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, improviser, and a player of organs, synths, guitars, and much more. First coming up as a member of the psychedelic, grooved-based Cave and then gaining more prominence with the hypnotic, meditative, and powerful Bitchin Bajas. The Bajas return this month with their new LP
Ken Brown :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Ken Brown ( Gastr del Sol, Tortoise, Pullman, Directions in Music) on the mysteries of Jungle Boogie, how the project fit into Brown’s trajectory as a musician, his interest in food, and more.
Dean Wareham :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
“What they want you to be — yesterday’s hero, yesterday’s ghost,” Dean Wareham sings on his latest record, That’s the Price of Loving Me, released this spring on Carpark Records. But the album’s 10 masterful tracks prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wareham isn’t fading away anytime soon. Bolstered by chiming guitars, sweet string arrangements and gorgeous backing vocals from Luna bassist Britta Phillips, it’s another masterpiece in a career full of them, stretching all the way back to Dean’s days with Galaxie 500.
Mick Turner :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Mick Turner’s guitar playing is instantly recognizable. From his role as the binding agent in the seminal band Dirty Three to his numerous solo albums and now his latest group, the dreamy duo Mess Esque, there’s no other guitar player with Turner’s distinctive sense of rhythm and tone. His sound can be hesitant, composed, jagged, and ragged, yet consistently in command and always compelling. AD caught up with Turner about the artistic blind date that started Mess Esque, how he collaborates with lyricists, his approach for painting versus music, and more.
The Telepathy Is Evident :: Nels Cline on Consentrik Quartet & His Old CD Wallet
With his fourth album for Blue Note Records, guitarist Nels Cline introduces the Consentrik Quartet: Cline on guitar with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Tom Rainey on drums. Gathering noir-ish soundscapes, agile jams, and what Cline dubs “abstract and floaty ballads,” Consentrik Quartet bristles with energetic currents. He joins us to discuss forming Concentrik Quartet, the influence of Jimmy Giuffre and Paul Bley, the unpredictability of Wilco, and the contents of his old CD wallet.
Richard Dawson Is Walking The Path :: On The End of the Middle
“I’m trying to convince people that I’m a wizard and she always helps,” Richard Dawson chuckles, over Zoom, acknowledging the presence of his adorable and aptly named cat Trouble, who has cozily curled herself around the crook of the songwriter’s neck, perfectly poised like a luxurious scarf. She mostly remains in that position while Dawson speaks about the various themes and influences that provided a strong foundation for his excellent eighth studio album, The End of The Middle.
James Brandon Lewis :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis joins us to discuss his riveting new album Apple Cores: “I just operate within my natural being…I’m the person who, the things that people have told me were wrong about my playing, I leaned into harder.”
All Faded Into Dust :: Patterson Hood on Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams
With the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood examines the region he’s called home for most of his life, adding the much-needed edge of his liberal politics to the Southern rock genre. When he moved to Oregon, though, Hood began looking back on his Southern adolescence in a new lens, writing his most personal album yet, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams. Ahead of his third solo release (his first in 13 years), we sat down with Hood, discussing Muscle Shoals, fiction writing, and Vic Chestnutt.
Roedelius :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Featuring 50 tracks from his vast recorded archives, 90 presents kosmische pioneer Roedelius at his most intimate. The result is a collection that feels as meditative as it does personal. “Everything came to me as a gift of the moment,” he explains, opening up about the genesis of his creative practice and how his songs function like prayers.
Ron Geesin :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
In the creative act, is the interaction with others or solitude in a private space more important? While in the past, genius was often described as a solitary artist, distant from society, today more importance is placed on the “creative ecosystem” from which they emerge. The story of Ron Geesin might help to rebalance the issue, highlighting both the collaborative phase and the more secluded one. But could his choice to follow his own path, away from the well-trodden routes, have worked against him in terms of critical reception?