On Lonnie Holley’s Oh Me Oh My, the visionary bluesman unearths surreal experiences in hallucinatory, stream of consciousness poetry, backed by feverish, impressionistic jazz, funk and gospel music. Jacknife Lee, the acclaimed Irish producer, assembled the musical backing and incorporated contributions from guest artists, giving Holley’s music a shimmering dreamlike depth. A diverse group of collaborators, including Moor Mother, Michael Stipe, Justin Vernon, Sharon van Etten and Rokia Koné added their voices to these revelatory songs. Today, he joins us to discuss.
Category: The AD Interview
Purling Hiss :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Mike Polizze’s acoustic album Long Lost Solace Find was one of 2020’s prettiest and most laid back folk rock recordings. But with Purling Hiss’ Drag On Girard, he resumed his assault on the ampflier with a blistered headlong brilliance. He joins us to discuss.
Doug Paisley :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
We caught up with Doug Paisley on a foggy January night at his home in Toronto. His new album Say What You Like, out March 17th on Outside Music, was recorded over the past few years, with selections pulled from his huge trove of songs in progress. “For me it’s all about recording these little ideas and then they just keep coming back,” Paisley said. “And there’s a question in them and then the answer is somewhere way down the road.”
Hermanos Gutiérrez :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez grew up in two words, splitting time between their father’s native Switzerland and Ecuador, where their mother’s family hailed from. But on El Bueno Y El Malo, the siblings evoke the sound of some sparse and sun-bleached desert. Hermanos Gutiérrez joined us to discuss their origins, filmic inspirations, how the desert influences their recordings, and share a new video for “Hermosa Drive.”
Dougie Poole :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Dougie Poole’s got a clear-eyed view of our modern moment and a country songwriter’s ability to sum it up in a perfect line. The songs on his 2020 album The Freelancer’s Blues concerned themselves with the ennui and indignity of urban 21st century work, life, and work-life – dead-end gig economy jobs, cross-country moves from one coast to another, and the yearning for a “Natural Touch” while cycling through futile first dates. Poole’s new album, The Rainbow Wheel Of Death, finds him doomscrolling even further, and just as before, he finds “troubles stacked like dishes / in a crooked pile.”
Death Valley Girls :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Death Valley Girls’ Islands in the Sky might look from the outside like a celestial new age outing, but it’s something else and all together unexpected: an old fashioned rock & roll album boasting consciousness boosting effects. Today at AD, Bonnie Bloomgarden of the band joins us for a discussion about the radical aspects of creativity.
Jenny O. :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Singer/songwriter Jenny O joins Aquarium Drunkard for a searching talk about Spectra, growing up in rock, jazz and classical music, learning to work within her own unique parameters and she’s through writing love songs and wants to dedicate the rest of her life to communicating about the climate.
Gina Birch (The Raincoats) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
With their jittery harmonies and bounding rhythmic clangor, their insistence on doing it themselves, and their brash disregard of expectations, The Raincoats didn’t just talk about feminism: they enacted it. Nearly 20 years on after The Raincoats last album, founding member Gina Birch has made a solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, her first in a multi-decade career (unless you count a 1994 album by The Hangovers). We talk about her new record, her early days in squats, her love of reggae and the legacy of The Raincoats.
Jared Mattson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Mattson 2 guitarist Jared Mattson joins us for a discussion about his solo debut Peanut, covering Ween and John Coltrane, inhaling tire rubber, and the underrated power of Andy Summers of The Police.
Steve Tilston :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Unsung Britfolk hero Steve Tilston joins us to discuss his sparse early ’70s gem An Acoustic Confusion, the influence of Bert Jansch, and that time John Lennon wrote him a letter…which he never received.
Andrew Broder :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Minneapolis-based producer and composer Andrew Broder joins us to discuss his soundtrack for Alan Moore’s dream-like detective movie The Show, plus his work with luminaries like MF Doom, Joe Rainey, Lambchop, and Alan Sparhawk and the late Mimi Parker of Low.
Old Fire :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
On John Mark Lapham’s second release under the moniker Old Fire Voids, the musician and filmmaker creates a sprawling and meditative odyssey through the darkest corners of the West Texas towns that continues to spark his imagination. A guest-filled journey with vocal and lyrical contributions by Bill Callahan, Adam Torres, Emily Cross and Julia Holter, Lapham pulls elements from post-rock, avant-country, spiritual jazz, and murky drones to soundtrack eroding structures that cast shadows in the desert for nefarious characters to hide.
King Tuff :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
King Tuff’s newest album, Smalltown Stardust, looks back fondly on the place where Kyle Thomas grew up, couching sunny melodies in soft 1960s psychedelia and folk arrangements. In this interview, we talked about small town life Vermont-style and the experiences that shaped Thomas.“ When there’s nothing to do, you kind of make it up. You’ve got to figure out how to fill the time. We would go play music together or just hang out,” he recalls.“I do think that boredom is a huge part of creativity.”
Jon Brion :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
As a prolific producer, composer, and session player, Jon Brion has been involved with some of the biggest movies and recordings of the last three decades. But with the recent archival release of his debut album Meaningless, listeners can finally hear him as a proper solo artist. Brion joins Aquarium Drunkard to discuss the album and what it means to him more than 20 years after its creation.
Meg Baird :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Meg Baird’s latest album, Furling, withdraws itself into small domestic spaces. It explores the partnership the songwriter has forged, both musical and romantic, with the guitarist Charlie Saufley. It meditates on the way that a piano can sit at the center of family life, making any house a home. And yet, it also faces outward, pushing out rollicking grooves and aching, pristine clarity. It makes the case for Baird, once again, as one of the finest singers and songwriters of her generation.