There are several standout moments on Golomb’s The Beat Goes On, a record whose DNA is shaped by traits synonymous with Yo La Tengo, the Velvet Underground and Silver Jews. Each influence is applied conscientiously in these dynamic arrangements to demonstrate the Columbus, Ohio trio’s appreciation for those artists rather than resting on the merits of sonic achievements.
Category: The AD Interview
Director Ethan Silverman on AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex
AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex isn’t a typical music documentary. While it does do what a viewer might expect in terms of using talking heads, archival footage, and critical analysis to tell the story of glam pioneer Marc Bolan and T. Rex, it also presents behind the scenes footage of artists like Nick Cave, Joan Jett, U2, Macy Gray, and many more cutting Bolan’s songs in the studio for the late producer Hal Wilner’s T. Rex tribute album (also called AngelHeaded Hipster). The result is a film that puts his songs at the core. Director Ethan Silverman joins us to discuss.
Vish Khanna of Kreative Kontrol :: “The Creative Motivation Remains the Same”
This week, music journalist Vish Khanna published the 1,000th episode of his long running Kreative Kontrol podcast, a fascinating conversation with the ever-prolific Ty Segall. And while lesser broadcasters might take a few weeks off for a leisurely victory lap, Khanna instead just got to work putting the finishing touches on episode 1,001 (also published this week). Khanna joins us to discuss the milestone.
Catching Up With Adrian Sherwood
While collaboration has been a hallmark of Adrian Sherwood’s storied career, he is currently stepping out on his own with a full-length The Collapse of Everything and an EP The Grand Designer, his first solo efforts in 13 years. We recently connected with him to discuss this new work, his ever-evolving set of studio tools, his history in music and his lifelong commitment to learn and grow.
Ryan Davis :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
We caught up with Davis in the run-up to the release of his new LP New Threats from the Soul to discuss his first band State Champion, the different struggles he faced in making the two albums, the comedy in his songwriting, and more.
Floating Action :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Over the last 20 years, Seth Kauffman has quietly released more than a dozen albums of languid, slightly exotic indie rock once clunkily described as “Appalachian Beck.” He plays and sings every note tracked in his basement studio with a DIY touch that renders the hallmark Floating Action sound characterized by slightly-off-kilter groove and woozy warmth. With a new LP dropping next month, we caught up with Kauffman at home in North Carolina to discuss all things Floating Action.
Barry Walker Jr. :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
The Barry Walker Unit’s At the 13th Moon Gravity Well is very much a band effort, with Rose City bandmates Ripley Johnson (guitar) and John Jeffrey (drums) and Mouth Painter bassist Jason Wilmon joining Walker for a loose-limbed, thoroughly exploratory collection of live recordings taped last year at a local pub. With four instrumental tracks clocking in at over 40 minutes, this is deep, transportive stuff, giving Walker and co. a chance to stretch out and get loose, regularly finding moments of collective ecstasy. There’s groove mixed with freedom, melody crashing into dissonance. A total thrill from start to finish. To get a little more background on this magnificent record, we chatted with Barry a few weeks back from his home in Portland.
Sandro Perri :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Sandro Perri is a patient excavator of musical possibilities. For the last three decades, the Toronto based musician has put out meticulously crafted toy adventures marked by hypnotic loops and heartfelt deliveries, in songs that feel refreshingly un-derivative and that carve a distinctive space in the landscape of contemporary experimental pop. What unifies the cerebral techno of Polmo Polpo, the imaginative funk of Impossible Spaces, or the seemingly infinite mosaics of the more recent records, though, is the piecemeal lacing of cell fragments by the game of restraint and discovery of his artistic research.
History Repeats Itself: Guitarist Steve Caton on ‘80s L.A., Electric Minimalism and the Eternal Return of Repetition Repetition
A new compilation excavates the curious history and powerful sound of Repetition Repetition, a 1980s L.A. guitar/keys duo that merged the transcendental dissonance of the avant-garde with the serene pulse of new age and the limber nerves of rock ‘n’ roll. Surviving member Steve Caton recalls the scene, hanging out with a Toto guitarist, meeting with Harold Budd and a wedding-reception run-in with Jon Hassell.
Peter Baumann :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
The universe isn’t hurting for more albums filled with gorgeous waves of melody and pillowy drones produced by synthesizers. But when the person behind said music is Peter Baumann, you’d be right to sit up and pay attention to it. He joined us to discuss Nightfall, his recently-released studio album that sets an appropriately dusky tone over nine tracks of smoldering ambient and gently experimental pop.
Circuit des Yeux :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
We caught up with Haley Fohr in a late spring break between tours to talk about her album, Halo On The Inside, her collaboration with the producer Andrew Broder (aka Fog), her journey in developing her voice and her collaborations with artists including Bitchin Bajas and Bill Nace. Fohr sees her work on Halo as among her most accessible, but it remains an extraordinary document of artistic fearlessness. And that courage and willingness to experiment is at the heart of what she looks for and strives for in music.
Lifeguard :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Lifeguard emerged out of the doldrums of the pandemic period, when Chicago’s artistically-inclined young people found themselves forced to fall back on their own resources. Instead of sitting around, bored out of their minds, kids were forming bands, making zines, booking underground shows and connecting with each other outside the regular commercial channels. The scene became known as Hallogallo, a nod to Neu! but also a reference to the original German meaning of the term, “dance party.” It spawned a raft of scrappy young bands, Lifeguard, Horsegirl, Friko and Post Office Winter to name a few.
Pachyman :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Another place, another time. Raised in Puerto Rico and based in Los Angeles, dub master Pachy “Pachyman” Garcia evokes both across the expanse of his latest platter of tricked out riddims, Another Place. His sound is undeniably rooted in the classic dub techniques of King Tubby, Scientist, and Lee “Scratch” Perry, but with the new album Garcia pushes things into new territory. He joins us to discus paying dues and pushing the genre forward.
Not To Be a Self-Deprecating Guy :: Ty Segall Speaks
Ty Segall has been making records since 2008, and he’s recorded a lot of them — 16 including his latest Possession, out May 30 on Drag City. We caught up with Segall recently to talk about his dense but uncrowded new set of songs, his partnership with the filmmaker Matt Yoka, his love of old soul and California and the revelatory string of acoustic shows he recently performed across the U.S.
Time is Too Precious :: Swamp Dogg Talks Pool, New Doc, and Cooking
You can count on Swamp Dogg to always do the unexpected. Whether crafting album covers that have baffled listeners for decades, pairing autotuned vocals with sleek indie soul, or going country, songwriter, producer, and raconteur Jerry Williams blazes his own path. So tellingly his new documentary, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted eschews typical music doc tropes in favor of psychedelic animation, oddball shorts, poignant interviews, and yes, an overarching artistic project of painting Swamp Dogg’s signature rat image in the pool at his San Fernando Valley home: “That pulled me in, the fact that I was going to finally get my white rat and so forth in the pool.”