Basic :: Dream City

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Hot on the heels of their thrilling debut, Basic is back with Dream City. The Basic formula remains in place, with percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery’s hypnotic electro-acoustic rhythms providing the sturdy foundation for Chris Forsyth to weave fantastical six-string tapestries. It’s far more than just “shredding over the top,” however — in fact, Dream City features some of Forsyth’s most lyrical and imaginative playing, forgoing flash for melody, fireworks for pure texture. This stuff has a pleasingly neverendless feel, like we’re only hearing choice snippets of an eternal jam. Basically beautiful . . .

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Destroyer :: Dan’s Boogie

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Over the past decade, Destroyer has shifted seamlessly into middle age. Where restless, lesser artists might have manufactured reinvention narratives or settled into the indie oldies circuit (imagine the money to be made from a Kaputt 15th anniversary tour), Bejar and his muse have kept on truckin’: ken, Have We Met, LABRYNTHITIS, and now Dan’s Boogie. Not career-defining statements, but statements out of which a career is defined . . .

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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma :: Gift Songs

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For over 20 years across countless releases and contexts Jefre Cantu-Ledesma has been honing in on the liminal space between sound and silence. His new album Gift Songs feels like the most realized version of this concern. In a time when information overload and short attention spans are at an all time high, Gift Songs feels like a transmission from another place inviting the listener to slow down, take a breath, look around. You'll be glad you did . . .

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Estelle Levitt :: All I Dream

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Bronx-born songwriter Estelle Levitt struck gold in 1968 with “All I Dream,” a slice of psychedelic soul and rustic-tinged funk that grooves with the incantatory cadence of a Lee Hazlewood tune. A stormy platter of unrequited love, Levitt’s silky, kaleidoscopic vocals float over a gritty, stalking guitar, swooning strings, and bright, undulating keys. “All I dream is to be in your dream someday,” she sings to a parting lover, “see my face on your clock as the hands chase you on your way . . .

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Videodrome :: Leviathan (1989)

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Released in tandem with a plethora of other aquatic-based horror/sci-fi thrillers, George P. Cosmatos’ Leviathan (1989) is a prime example of cinematic micro-trends and the old Hollywood adage, “give us the same, but different . . .

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Radiohead :: The Bends… at Thirty

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This month marks thirty years since the release of Radiohead’s sophomore album, and first masterpiece, The Bends. Threatened with relegation to status as one-hit wonders, the Oxfordshire quintet answered the success of Pablo Honey with an album even more infectious and confident than the last, a collection of songs which took the band’s inherent contradictions in stride. In twelve tracks and fifty-eight minutes, The Bends travels the spectrum from oppositional to vulnerable, from artistic to commercial, from alienated to universal and back again—frequently in the same blow . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

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Outré California. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Jeffrey Lewis :: The Even More Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis

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It is probably fitting that Jeffrey Lewis’ visual homage to Dylan’s 1963 second album is a bit of a goof. Lewis remakes the iconic cover in much the same way he’s been remaking literate, ironic folk singing for the last several decades —naked and confrontational and without the slightest instinct for self-protection. The cover, too, is just the beginning. Lewis never saw a cliché or consensus opinion he didn’t want to upend, whether it’s the “do what you love” twaddle of career self-help or the myth of drug-assisted creativity. His venom goes down . . .

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Transmissions :: Lonnie Holley

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This week on the show, a long awaited return visit from Lonnie Holley. The Atlanta artist joins us alongside his manager, Matt Arnett, son of William Arnett, the Southern art curator and collector who brought Holley to the attention of the art world in the 1980s. Lonnie and Matt join us ahead of the March 21st release of Holley’s new album, Tonky. Crafted with Irish producer Jacknife Lee (R.E.M., U2, The Killers) and featuring guests like Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, harpist Mary Lattimore, rappers Billy Woods and Open Mike Eagle, spoken word from Saul Williams, and . . .

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Okonski :: Entrance Music

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Okonski return with Entrance Music, revealing the flipside of the perpetual afterhours reverie of Magnolia. For their sophomore outing, the trio gently open the curtains to find themselves in the light of a new day, unimpeded by anything that isn’t melody or mood. Entrance Music drifts along like a perfect daydream, homey and lived-in, but maintaining a sense of spontaneity that leaves no doubt pianist Steve Okonski, bassist Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery, and drummer Aaron Frazer are attuned to the same ephemeral frequency . . .

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Seán Ó Riada :: The Playboy of the Western World

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Not quite an original score, though not quite a rehashing of trad-folk mythos, Seán Ó Riada’s The Playboy of the Western World is not your typical soundtrack. Much like the scores of Morricone, Greenwood or even Jack Nitzsche’s for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ó Riada’s work moves beyond the film for which it is meant to complement. Though steeped in tradition, the application of modern composition techniques and a healthy dose of heady experimentation takes The Playboy of the Western World well beyond the humble origins of the songs that constitute it. Erin go . . .

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The Cult of Kristofferson

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Kris Kristofferson wasn’t a natural fit to become a Hollywood leading man. But in the misfit era of the 1970s, his rough and edgy all-American charm made him the perfect choice for a number of iconoclastic directors. His star may have fallen in the 1980s but there are a number of cult movies throughout his five-decade career that take advantage of his one-of-a-kind charisma . . .

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Silver Synthetic :: Rosalie

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From the ballads to the effortless melodic hooks, Silver Synthetic's formula is one permeated with a clear sky buoyancy; an aural antidote of glowing laid-back comfort. Described by label Curation as "the album we have been waiting for", Rosalie is best served with the windows open. The perfect companion to the budding springtime breeze . . .

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The Telepathy Is Evident :: Nels Cline on Consentrik Quartet & His Old CD Wallet

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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 . . .

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Sussan Deyhim & Richard Horowitz :: The Invisible Road: Original Recordings, 1985-1990

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The RVNG Intl label comes through yet again with an absolutely uncategorizable, absolutely essential archival collection. The Invisible Road gathers a host of valuable tracks from the duo of Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz, whose adventurous sound blends caffeinated downtown minimalism, traditional Middle Eastern modes, almost Kate Bush-y avant-garde synth pop and more . . .

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Posted on Richard Horowitz Sussan Deyhim