Transmissions :: Chris Forsyth

This week on Transmissions, Chris Forsyth returns to discuss the gleaming power pop and avant-rock of his latest, Evolution Here We Come. Featuring members of Tortoise, Garcia Peoples, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and The Dream Syndicate, it bounds forward with guitar-driven exuberance and sparkle.

Transmissions :: Psychic Temple

This week, we’re joined by returning guest Chris Schlarb of Psychic Temple and Big Ego, his studio in Long Beach. His latest is called Houses of the Holy, a four-sided double-album, featuring a different band on each side: Cherry Glazerr with garage pop, the Chicago Underground Trio with their jazz inflection, psych warriors the Dream Syndicate, and rapper and producer Xololanxinxo. Schlarb took some time out of his holiday season to speak with us about the creative ethos driving his 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.

Lamentations: Twenty-Two Songs about John Coltrane

In the nearly six decades since his untimely passing, musicians from all over the world have never stopped honoring John Coltrane. And not just artists in the jazz tradition, those in rock, funk, prog and soul as well. We put together a compilation of twenty-two of our favorite tributes to the visionary saxophonist. In the extraordinary variety of ways musicians have chosen to honor him, you can see an outline of the magnitude of his impact on modern music.

The Things :: Coloured Heaven

Prior to this fortieth anniversary reissue, you likely never saw The Things or 1984 debut record Coloured Heaven included on canonical Paisley Underground lists. Wearing its influences on its sleeve, the album is emblematic of their Los Angeles roots from Love to their Paisley peers in Rain Parade. Similar to Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, it’s a relic of woozy, melodic neo-psychedelia that stands out across any era or movement.

Aquarium Drunkard :: 2023 Year in Review

Looking back to look ahead. It’s our Year In Review 2023. As always, our list is unranked and unruly. Let it blurb.

Aquarium Drunkard exists because of the passion of its contributors and the support of its generous Patreon community, so consider pledging your support as we ring in the new year. If Aquarium Drunkard improves your listening life, the Patreon is the best way to reciprocate. Only the good shit, now, then, and the unspecified moments in-between.

Bandcamping :: Summer 2023

Summer is rapidly approaching — and if you need some fresh tunes to soundtrack the next few months, we’ve got recommendations, from Ethiopian pop to well-tuned piano minimalism. Be aware: there’s no Bandcamp Friday this month; the next one hits Aug. 4, 2023. But hey, any day can be Bandcamp Friday if you toss a couple extra dollars onto the asking price of any release on the platform.

Guiding Light :: A Tom Verlaine Appreciation

Heartfelt tributes to Tom Verlaine have been pouring in since news broke of his death late last month. A famously enigmatic character, the Television co-founder never went out of his way to make himself lovable — but he was loved all the same. As you’ll see below, Verlaine provided a guiding light for a wide array of artists through the decades. His deeply original approach (to the guitar, to songwriting, to life) went beyond mere influence and inspiration; it seeped inextricably into the DNA of generations of musicians and writers. As a result, this case will likely never be closed …