Spacemonkeyz Vs. Gorillaz :: Laika Come Home

Gorillaz Reggae/Dub SpacemonkeyzPosted on

All mouths will be fed. Twenty years ago next month saw the release of Laika Come Home, a complete and total transfiguration of Gorillaz s/t debut as remixed in dub. Spacemonkeyz (dj Darren Galea) is the controller, and the results are nothing short of sublime. At times haunting, at times ethereal, the dozen tracks absolutely float featuring limber contributions from the likes of U Brown, Tina Weymouth and Terry Hall. Not unlike Bill Laswell's ambient-dub interpretation of the Bob Marley catalog, Laika is the rare instance of a remix album feeling as essential as the core material . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Gorillaz Reggae/Dub Spacemonkeyz

Isaiah Collier & Michael Shekwoaga Ode (I AM) :: Beyond

Isaiah Collier Michael Shekwoaga OdePosted on

The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s expression, “Great Black Music: Ancient to the future,” is a program for life and not a mere slogan. It reminds us that we cannot move forward without reference to the past; that we must respect and respond to our elders. On their duo album Beyond, released under the moniker I AM, saxophonist Isaiah Collier and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode invoke two of the heaviest albums in the Free Jazz canon: Interstellar Space, by John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, and Duo Exchange, by Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe.

While it echoes the past, Beyond is . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Isaiah Collier Michael Shekwoaga Ode

Alice Coltrane :: Live At The Berkeley Community Theater 1972

Alice Coltrane JazzPosted on

This is a bootleg, make no mistake! But however you hear it, you gotta hear it (perhaps over on YouTube?). A major addition to the Alice Coltrane canon, this soundboard recording features the pioneering musician and her incredible band (Charlie Haden on bass, Ben Riley on drums, Aashish Khan on sarod, Pranesh Khan on tabla and Bobby W. on tamboura and percussion) journeying fearlessly across the astral plane. Four tracks, fours sides! Tons of AC’s intense organ hijinks – how did she get that crazy sound . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Alice Coltrane Jazz

Sá & Guarabyra :: As Canções Que Eu Faço

Brazil Sá & GuarabyraPosted on

During the 1970s, Brazilian luminaires Sá, Rodrix & Guarabyra invented what they called "rural rock" as a mixture of anglophone folk rock and música caipira (an umbrella term for the Iberian-descending, acoustic-guitar-based musics from the countryside of Brazil). In 1974, Rodrix dropped the band and Sá & Guarabyra continued as a duo, detaching themselves even further from conventional MPB and going simultaneously more regional, towards genres like sertanejo de raiz and xote, and more pop, towards the esoteric country ballads of Van Morrison or JJ Cale . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Brazil Sá & Guarabyra

Wednesday Knudsen :: Soft Focus – Volumes One And Two

Wednesday KnudsenPosted on

Wednesday Knudson describes the glowing set of tracks on her new LP, Soft Focus, as “ambient.” That’s true, to an extent, but that genre is widely used as a label and has grown a messy head of hair lately. Recorded in spring of last year, right around the time most of us felt remotely safe popping our heads out of our pandemic quarters, the Soft Focus recordings capture a musician treating her terrestrial tones with a newfound appreciation . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Wednesday Knudsen

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard On Dublab :: June 2022

Radio Free Aquarium DrunkardPosted on

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard returns for four hours of freeform melodies and modulations this Sunday, June 19, airing this month from 7-11 PM Pacific, following a series of special Juneteenth broadcasts. Up first is New Happy Gathering with an hour of psychedelic dub, drum machine funk, outsider art-rock, subterranean techno-punk, and more. Then Range and Basin, featuring meditative drifts, far-out synth scapes, desert rock, and psych pop. Then, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb offers a mix of sunset sounds from the first half of 2022 . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard

Wagner Tiso :: A Igreja Majestosa

Brazil Wagner TisoPosted on

Legendary composer and arranger Wagner Tiso is one of the most underrated figures in Brazilian music history. Tiso led the Clube da Esquina scene in the 1970s, and although his name is scarcely mentioned in international guides to the movement, his maximalist aesthetics and chamber music influences are deeply engraved in all of Clube da Esquina releases . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Brazil Wagner Tiso

I’ve Been Born a Million Times, But I Am Never Dead: Jim Sullivan (1972)

Jim SullivanPosted on

It was 1972, and Jim Sullivan needed a hit. The 32–year–old singer– songwriter had played around Southern California in any pub or bar that would have him, filling venues with an outsize presence limited to not only his tall stature but also his massive voice. He’d released U.F.O., a privately–pressed, spectral masterpiece in 1969, but the record’s psychedelic folk sound had failed to find an audience, even with a seasoned cast of Wrecking Crew players providing credible backing . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Jim Sullivan

Jeff Tweedy :: On Wilco’s Cruel Country

Jeff Tweedy The AD Interview WilcoPosted on

On Wilco's Cruel Country, Jeff Tweedy takes a dazed look around. He joins us to discuss why it felt important to cut the new album live, the influence of the Grateful Dead, and what it feels like to inhabit Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 20 years later . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Jeff Tweedy The AD Interview Wilco

The Running Kind: David Cantwell on Merle Haggard

Merle HaggardPosted on

David Cantwell is a critic and journalist, and co-author (with Bill Friskics-Warren) of Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles. Last month, he released a revision of his book on Merle Haggard, which originally appeared in 2013. The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard is, as Cantwell writes in his introduction, “not a biography.” Instead, it’s his critical history of Haggard’s performing life and studio work. He joins Aquarium Drunkard to discuss . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Merle Haggard

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

SIRIUSPosted on

Sunshine soul. 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 . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on SIRIUS

Shintaro Sakamoto :: Like A Fable

Shintaro SakamotoPosted on

Fall once again, dear friends, into the warm waters of Shintaro Sakamoto’s musical universe. Ever the maestro of mellow groove, Like A Fable is Sakamoto’s first album in six years, the fourth in a string of idiosyncratic solo albums that include Love If Possible, Let’s Dance Raw, and How To Live With a Phantom, each propagating their own infectious mixture of sly funk, exotica, disco, and deft songcraft . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Shintaro Sakamoto

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird Lagniappe SessionsPosted on

Andrew Bird's virtuosity is no secret. It's a disservice at this point to dip into adjectives of praise and find a new way to say as much. Bird's been around the well-regarded block, with a discography and collection of co-signs to prove it. It's tough to think of a time he wasn't simply out there, doing his talented thing - playing live, popping up on your tv screen, releasing attentive albums . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Andrew Bird Lagniappe Sessions

Ladies & Gentlemen The Rolling Stones

Rolling StonesPosted on

Capturing the Stones in 1972 in the midst of the North American leg of the Exile On Main St. tour, Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones is a raucous document of the band at the top of their live game. Shot on 16mm, and initially presented in quadrasound, the Rollin Binzer directed film first saw its theatrical release in 1974 before virtually disappearing from the market for the next three decades . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Rolling Stones

Transmissions :: Longform Editions

Longform Editions PodcastPosted on

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, we're joined by Andrew Khedoori and Mark Gowing of Longform Editions. It’s tempting to think of Longform Editions as a “record label,” but Andrew and Mark think of it more as an online gallery for musical works.Mark and Andrew have a long history in the music industry and are lifelong record collectors. They joined us to discuss the way Longform works, how they crafted it as a sustainable project for both artists who contribute and themselves, the process of deep listening, and much more . . .

Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.

To continue reading, become a member or log in.

Posted on Longform Editions Podcast