Yves Jarvis :: The Same But By Different Means

Genre fluid, Jarvis slips as easily into balmy, if broken, r&b as he does sinewy folk. Traces of gospel and homespun funk permeate the record, as its disparate sounds are spliced, screwed and ultimately recombinant. In regard to atmosphere, imagine happening upon a cache of extremely mellow Shuggie Otis demos; if say, Otis had a penchant for hyper-abbreviated 4-track and ambient field recordings. No less fragmented than his 2017 debut, this latest collection again finds the artist in a kinetic state of creativity . . .

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The B-52’s :: The Downtown Cafe – Sept 2, 1978 / Atlanta, GA

The following footage, captured live in Atlanta in 1978, finds the B-52's at their most primal. A Saturday night gig held over Labor Day weekend, the grainy, black & white concert opens with a raw "52 Girls," before sliding into "Dance This Mess Around," "Hero Worship," "Rock Lobster," "The Devil's In My Car," and more. As a testament to the performances, the humidity and funk emanating from the club are almost palpable some 40+ years later . . .

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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma :: Joy

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma returns next month with his third long player for Mexican Summer, Tracing Back the Radiance. The new work finds him in the company of some AD favorites such as harpist Mary Lattimore and pedal steel wizard Chuck Johnson, along with a great many more collaborators . . .

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Maria Usbeck :: Amor Anciano

Maria Usbeck’s 2016 solo debut, Amparo, may go down as one of the great sleeper records of the decade. And now, after a period of considerable quiet, the Brooklyn via Ecuador artist returns with her sophomore lp, Envejeciendo, due August via the Cascine label . . .

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Why Rolling Thunder Revue is a Terrible Documentary But A Great Bob Dylan Film

There’s a lot to love in Scorsese’s film, which repurposes an enormous trove of backstage and concert footage into a representation of the fall 1975 iteration of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Considered as a traditional documentary, Rolling Thunder Revue is fairly embarrassing. Considered as a Bob Dylan movie in the tradition of the films the songwriter has had his hands in over the years, it’s a grand achievement. The project swerves from fact in similar ways that Dylan’s Chronicles swerves from traditional memoir, with fictional constructs serving the biographical needs of the moment, just as . . .

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Fragments du Monde Flottant

A spiritual successor to Golden Apples of the Sun, the recent compilation Fragments du Monde Flottant proves Devendra Banhart's ears fully intact. Released by the Genève, Switzerland based Bongo Joe Records, Fragments again finds the singer-songwriter in a curatorial role, culling demo recordings from his labyrinth of friends, acquaintances and musical compatriots . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Guide To Drag City Records: Volume One

Chicago’s venerable Drag City turns 30 years young in 2019. In perhaps typical fashion, the label doesn’t seem to be doing much in the way of commemoration — no star-studded festival, no limited edition boxed set, no self-congratulatory excess. Instead, Drag City is doing what it’s always done: releasing great records.

But those past glories deserve a little celebration, don’t they? That’s why the Aquarium Drunkard team has put together this eclectic guide to Drag City’s immense catalog: 30 masterpieces for 30 years . . .

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Ryley Walker: The Fivethirteen Sessions

June 22, join Ryley Walker and Aquarium Drunkard to benefit the ACLU at Trans Pecos in Queens, New York, To prep, give this a spin. Recorded at Fivethirteen Recording in Arizona in the fall of 2016, this collection finds Walker, drummer Ryan Jewell, and bassist Anton Hatwich working through a set of new, experimental recordings. In many ways, they presage the direction Walker and co. would take on Deafman Glance and The Lillywhite Sessions—knotty, electric, and searching. We previously shared these recordings, along with a loopy, freewheeling interview, as part of our Transmissions podcast series, but we're presenting . . .

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

Black sand blues. Freeform airwave debris transmitting off the coast of Los Angeles.

SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Joni Haastrup + Ginger Baker & Co. :: 1971 Jam (Lagos, Nigeria)

Afro-psychedelia. This is the heat. Having found ourselves knee-deep in all things Joni Haastrup of late, we were reminded of this incredibly funky, fly-on-the-wall, 1971 footage of the Nigerian musician laying shit down with Ginger Baker. Along with a cache of locals (Tunde Kuboye, Laolu Akins, The Lijadu Sisters, Segun Bucknor & The Sweet Things), the clip finds the group riffing on Tunde Kuboye's "Coming Back Home . . .

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Robert Wyatt :: Rivmic Melodies

"The missing links in my life's work, no less!" – Robert Wyatt

How's that for an endorsement? Though two of the tracks were later re-recorded by the group (appearing on Soft Machine's second and third albums), Wyatt's original renderings provide much more than a cursory, academic glimpse into the nascent material. Loose, intimate and inspired, these nearly forgotten demos document the young artist's muse in motion during an ascendant period of Soft Machine's creative trajectory . . .

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Self Discovery For Social Survival: A Film

8 musicians, 16 surfers, and tucked-away surf breaks in Mexico, the Maldives and Iceland are on full display, as the viewer is taken on a journey that showcases the seamless relationship between wave and sound. As the opening credits state, the surfing was done in real time… the music was created in response . . .

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: The Quiet Temple

The end of July sees the release of left-field jazz ensemble The Quiet Temple's self-titled debut. A collaborative effort, the group’s primary members are Rich Machin (Soulsavers) and multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood; further augmented by Spiritualized's Thighpaulsandra and Doggen Foster, with Stereolab saxophonist Ray Dickaty. An expansive, free and very out affair, for this installment of the Lagniappe Sessions, the ensemble stretch out on the godhead of Coltrane's "Africa", Band of Gypsys' fer-de-lance "Machine Gun", and riff on The Grodeck Whipperjenny . . .

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Norma Tanega: Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog

Tanega's debut was recorded and released in 1966. Twelve tracks in 29 minutes, the album stylistically scans a hybrid of folk and blues traditions, along with erstwhile doses of orchestral-pop balladry. No matter the approach, the entirety of Walkin' is driven by and framed by Tanega's unorthodox vocals, unusual lyrics, and atypical time signatures. Hardly conventional compared to her peers, the album still managed to reach #22 on the charts. Imagine that today . . .

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Tim Bernardes :: Recomeçar

Digging into O Terno spurred a deep dive into the work of the São Paulo band’s jack-of-all-trades, Tim Bernardes, whose 2017 release, Recomeçar, shines exquisitely from head to toe. Bernardes’ voice is truly next level . . .

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