Frequent AD contributor, and one of our favorite selectors, Daniel T. returns this month with Heliotrope, the follow-up to his 2015 EP ,Tetrachromat. Produced by Daniel and Filip Nikolic, Dan told us he wanted the album’s flow “to be something diverse in tempo and mood, but tied together with a common sonic thread — something that would grab the attention of a record digger decades from now combing through used bins for something unique.” The LP is out on the 14th via the NYC based Cascine label; in the meantime stream it below.

Welcome to the first installment of Unearthed, a series of thematic mixes that travel deep into dusty vintage zones to dig up bootleg gold.

First up is Sausalito Haze, a selection of choice live-in-the-studio performances recorded in the 1970s at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California (where many classic LPs were created) and broadcast on KSAN-FM (AKA “Jive 95”). Plenty of stoney and intimate vibes here from the leading lights of the folk / country / rock scene at the time, some on their way up, some on their way down. There’s a fair amount of hiss, a little crackle and the occasional imperfection. But just pretend you’re driving on one of those infamously winding Marin County roads on a moonlit night sometime in 1973, trying to pick up the signal.

Hypnotized – Fleetwood Mac / Border Lord – Kris Kristofferson / Dark End of the Street – Linda Ronstadt / Wintertime Blues in B-flat – Michael Bloomfield / Finders Keepers – Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders / Sugar Babe – Jesse Colin Young / Dark Hollow – David Bromberg / Luna – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers / Under the Falling Sky – Bonnie Raitt / Suzanne – Randy Newman / Katie Dear – Old & In The Way / How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live – Ry Cooder / Ride ‘Em Jewboy – Kinky Friedman 

Unearthed, Vol. 1 :: Sausalito Haze (zipped file)

Jake and Jamin Orrall are JEFF the Brotherhood. Flanked by the addition of some new hands, the group returned last week with Magick Sounds, an lp whose sonics push far beyond their previous output. As part of our guest curated mix series, we asked Jake to expand on some of the sounds gestating before and during the album’s sessions. Enter: Unwise Promises, Unwise Pleasures. Orrall, below.

While we were inspired by many different genres, cultures, and scenes during the making of Magick Sounds, I wanted to focus on Japanese music for this selection because it seems to be enjoying a lot of interest lately in the United States and beyond. We had been listening to a lot of YMO related music and 80’s ambient stuff and I had just released my compilation of Japanese Folk-Rock on Light In The Attic Records (Even A Tree Can Shed Tears, 2017) right as we began the album sessions so I think it was just in the air. There’s a few tracks from the album in this mix, see if you can pick them out! It was mixed live from vinyl late at night at Earthbound Sound HQ.

Unwise Promises, Unwise Pleasures (A Mixtape)

Magic lurks around the corners in AMC’s Lodge 49, a late-summer blur of Pynchionian mystery, beach bum charm, and golden hour SoCal haze. Written and created by Jim Gavin, author of the bleakly funny 2013 short story collection Middle Men, the series follows Wyatt Russell as Sean “Dud” Dudley, a surfer whose life has been turned over following the disappearance of his father and a snakebite that’s left him unable to get in the water. Dud spends most of his time sneaking into his dad’s former pool supply store, getting loaded in the apartment he’s been evicted from, and watching crap TV with his sister Liz (Sonya Cassidy), until he finds himself drawn to the mysterious Ancient and Benevolent Order of the Lynx, a fraternal organization he’s inducted into by Ernie Fontaine (Brent Jennings), a down on his luck plumbing salesman.

From there, things get increasingly surreal. It all adds up to one of the year’s most bewitching summer watches, a sly and funny showcase for evocative sounds, fantastic acting, and esotericism. Gavin sat down with AD to discuss the show’s genesis, alchemical world building, sonic palette, and the influence of Thomas Pynchon.

Aquarium Drunkard: One of the first things that appealed to me about Lodge 49 was how your version of California isn’t an idealized or shined-up version of the place. It’s all strip malls, chain restaurants, and pawn shops. Did you grow up in Long Beach? Were you drawing on familiar environs for the show?

Jim Gavin: Absolutely. I was born in Long Beach and spent a lot of time there as a kid. I mostly grew up in the city of Orange. The milieu of Long Beach and the parts of Orange County I know well, Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, the central part of the county—in the dumbest way possible, I write what I know. I know strip malls, gas stations, drive-thrus; I have a lousy imagination. I’m just trying to present [Long Beach] in a neutral way. I feel like for someone like Dud, he looks at Long Beach like Paris in the ’20s. This is where he wants to be. He’s not looking past it. I think one of his qualities as a character is his ability to appreciate, and see some sort of beauty, in the conurbation of Southern California.

Los Angeles: Wednesday night, Aquarium Drunkard presents TALK SHOW, an intimate series of conversations centered around the worlds of music, art, film and beyond. Our guest this month is Matt Sullivan of reissue label Light in the Attic. With releases by Rodriguez, Betty Davis, and Lee Hazlewood, LITA has stood at the forefront of archival music culture. Sullivan joins Justin Gage discussing the label’s history. 8pm. Records and revelry to follow.

Free and open to the public at Gold Diggers in East Hollywood. 5632 Santa Monica Blvd.

As summer doesn’t officially call it quits until September 22nd, here’s a three and half minute sonic respite; RAMP’s extra languid 1977 twilight take on Roy Ayers “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”. All drowsy synthesizers and celestial vox, if things got any more laid back you’d likely slide right out of your chair. Meditate on that.

RAMP :: Everybody Loves The Sunshine

Lagniappe (la·gniappe) noun ˈlan-ˌyap,’ – 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus.

Guitarist Sarah Louise’s 2018 album Deeper Woods is one of our favorites of the year, a haunted and spectral work that invokes the beauty, and mystery, of nature. The record unites Louise’s Appalachian folk roots with free jazz, drone, and ambient, and her covers for this Lagniappe Session reveal her as an artist intent on constantly inventing and reinventing her sound. Louise is about to head out on a solo tour, but first, she explains her song choices.

Sarah Louise :: Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)

I’m happiest working on things that I don’t fully understand. To say the least, there was a lot of room for discovery in this synthy-disco take on my favorite Fleetwood Mac song. This cover is in honor of my friends who threw a dance party to end all dance parties last New Year’s. I’ve always enjoyed good pop and dance music and am increasingly fascinated by how to make it. I love the idea of making music for a group activity like dancing, where people can feel safe to let it all hang out. I had a lot of fun working to keep the momentum going throughout the repeating three chords and had a chuckle or two about the ’80s Casio disco beat I used on it.

Sarah Louise :: Journey in Satchidananda (Alice Coltrane)

Alice Coltrane is an absolute giant for me. “Journey in Satchidananda” was my gateway, so it will always be close to my heart. I feel deeply touched by the level of presence and surrender all of the performers bring to this record and the spiritual devotion that inspired it. I enjoyed working out elements of the original’s rhythmic underpinning (swapping out upright bass and tanpura for electric guitar and glockenspiel) and wanted to include enough suggestion of the original riffs to make it recognizable. But it felt important to take it in a different direction in deference to the perfect original. I paid a lot of attention to atmosphere, which is on my mind more and more the deeper I get into recording myself. It’s a whole new world!