Category: The AD Interview

Makoto Kubota :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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When asked what he’s most proud of in his five decade career in music, the answer doesn’t come easy for Makoto Kubota. The prolific Kyoto-born singer, songwriter, and producer has never been one to look back at his past work, and like his longtime friend and collaborator Haruomi Hosono, Kubota remains eternally humble, preferring to let the music do the talking. Until now.

We had a long, wide-ranging conversation with Kubota, lasting until the wee hours of the morning. Below are excerpts from the four hour chat—one of very few interviews with Kubota that has been translated into English.

God Is Not Your Fault :: An Interview with Alabaster DePlume

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A week or so prior to the US election our pal (and International Anthem founder) Scottie McNiece and I were discussing the nuances of one of our favorite albums of 2020 — Alabaster DePlume’s To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1. A sort of audio balm, the lp’s tones and textures have been a constant companion throughout this pandemic. As McNeice helped birth the project, we asked him to check in with the artist on our behalf…

Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987

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Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983 – 1987 gathers 28 gemlike tracks from bands that are mostly now forgotten. Some of the artists went on to commercial success, but that was clearly never the goal. We caught up with the comp’s curator, Mike Sniper, to learn how he found this music, what it means to him and why the world needs more bands, even now in the age of isolation and self-recording.

Lambchop :: The AD Interview

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Late in 2019, when the world was just starting to hear rumors of a new flu in China, Kurt Wagner of Lambchop had an idea. He was short on material and wanted to bring the band together. Why not make a covers LP?

As November wore on, the song titles drifted in—a couple of Motown tunes, a George Jones classic, an A-side from an obscure garage band, an unreleased tune from James McNew (Yo La Tengo/Dump) and finally, the Wilco song “Reservations.”

Cut Worms :: The AD Interview

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Bursting with melodies and completely unironic passion, Cut Worms latest hits like a golden-hour cigarette on a fire escape, and that won’t change anytime soon. The fact that it’s one of the best records of 2020 feels irrelevant; it could have been one of the best records of 1960, given the vintage production sound created at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, and to some crate-diggers down the line, if there is still such a thing, it should be one of the best records of 2080 too.

Garcia Peoples :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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New Jersey’s own Garcia Peoples open Nightcap at Wits’ End with an arch, vaguely evil-sounding riff that signals what’s to come: a set of songs that would feel equally at home soundtracking a backyard hang, a rousing game of D&D, or a solitary night at home considering the universe. Founding members Danny Arakaki and Tom Malach join us to discuss the band’s progward drift and open source creative flow.

Black to Comm :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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Black to Comm’s Marc Richter has been making electronic music since the early 00s, piecing found sounds into intricate, multilayered compositions.

We caught up with the composer as he talks about his beginnings in music as a young man in the Black Forest region of Germany, the experiences that pointed him towards electronics and the art and artists who have inspired his latest work.

Earl Freeman: Poems and Drawings

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Earl Freeman was a bassist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, and artist. We spoke to Adam Lore from 50 Miles of Elbow Room and Michael Klausman from Wry Press about Earl Freeman: Poems and Drawings, the origin of the project, and the man himself.

Tobin Sprout :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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Tobin Sprout was the other songwriter in early-1990s Guided by Voices.

But, in addition to his historic stint with one of lo-fi’s most exuberant bands, Sprout has done a lot of other stuff. He’s a well-regarded photo realist painter, an author and illustrator of several books and, every few years, a solo artist. In 2020, he released his eighth solo album, Empty Horses, a gorgeous but somewhat unexpected detour into Americana sounds and Civil War imagery. We talked about his new focus on country sounds, his art and his books and the band that started it all for him, all those years ago.

Angel Olsen :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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“They’re very different songs, even though they’re the same songs.” That’s how Angel Olsen puts it regarding Whole New Mess, an alternate timeline vision of the album that would become 2019’s All Mirrors. But the record isn’t a mere collection of demos. It’s a snapshot of Olsen at one point in a ongoing processing of thoughts and feelings, alive in a single moment.