Stereolab :: Instant Holograms on Metal Film

StereolabPosted on

When it comes to Stereolab, the fact that nobody else can make music quite like them should be justification enough for their return. Instant Holograms on Metal Film is a record for the faithful: stately, relaxed, flush with rhythmic and instrumental detail. To slip inside is to rejoin our previously scheduled program with minimum interruption . . .

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 Stereolab

Weird Herald :: Just Yesterday

Weird HeraldPosted on

OK, so not every northern California band that played the Fillmore West or the Family Dog back in the late 1960s needs to be rediscovered and given a deluxe reissue treatment. But Weird Herald deserves your attention — and anyway, barely anyone heard them during their brief lifespan. On the scene from 1967 to 1969, the group released just one promo-only 45 and didn’t even see too much success on the Bay Area club circuit. But Just Yesterday, a new compilation drawn primarily from ancient, nicely toasted reel-to-reel tapes, proves beyond reasonable doubt that Weird Herald had . . .

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 Weird Herald

Dylan Golden Aycock :: No New Summers

Dylan Golden AycockPosted on

Though he’s released music in a variety of configurations and collaborations over the past few years (not to mention invaluable work behind the scenes with his ever-reliable Scissor Tail Editions label), Dylan Golden Aycock hasn’t released an album solely under his own name for quite some time. But the Tulsa-based guitarist comes back swinging with No New Summers, a seven-song effort that ably shows off his many talents — and even adds some welcome new vistas . . .

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 Dylan Golden Aycock

Lifeguard :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Lifeguard The AD InterviewPosted on

Lifeguard emerged out of the doldrums of the pandemic period, when Chicago’s artistically-inclined young people found themselves forced to fall back on their own resources. Instead of sitting around, bored out of their minds, kids were forming bands, making zines, booking underground shows and connecting with each other outside the regular commercial channels. The scene became known as Hallogallo, a nod to Neu! but also a reference to the original German meaning of the term, “dance party.” It spawned a raft of scrappy young bands, Lifeguard, Horsegirl, Friko and Post Office Winter to name a few . . .

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 Lifeguard The AD Interview

The Bug Club :: Very Human Features

The Bug ClubPosted on

The Bug Club’s fourth full-length (and second on Sub Pop) swerves giddily pop-ward. The two principals, Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris, toss out the previous album’s hard-charging rock sound like last week’s recycling and settle, instead, on a cuddly twee vibe that matches very well with their fanciful lyrics . . .

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 The Bug Club

Car Seat Headrest :: The Scholars

Car Seat HeadrestPosted on

Car Seat Headrest’s 13th album is ambitious in every possible way, from the overarching conceptual framework to the exulting, triumphant sound to the sheer length of the tracks. The new record is that deeply unfashionable thing: a rock opera. Yet the theatricality, the sonic overload, the proggy construction do not, in any way, overburden the tunes, among the strongest and most anthemic of Will Toledo’s hook-laden career . . .

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 Car Seat Headrest

Pachyman :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Pachyman The AD InterviewPosted on

Another place, another time. Raised in Puerto Rico and based in Los Angeles, dub master Pachy "Pachyman" Garcia evokes both across the expanse of his latest platter of tricked out riddims, Another Place. His sound is undeniably rooted in the classic dub techniques of King Tubby, Scientist, and Lee "Scratch" Perry, but with the new album Garcia pushes things into new territory. He joins us to discus paying dues and pushing the genre forward . . .

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 Pachyman The AD Interview

The Circling Sun :: Orbits

Jazz The Circling SunPosted on

New Zealand's cosmic jazz ensemble The Circling Sun comes forth with Orbits, the sequel to 2023's Spirits and, like it, deftly serves up Yusef Lateef vibes on a platter. The group has all the irreverence and joy that makes spiritual jazz so compelling versus its more competitive, virtuosity-obsessed co-genres—especially when delivered by a group this numerous (an undectet!), you can almost hear the musicians having fun . . .

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 Jazz The Circling Sun

W. Cullen Hart and Andrew Rieger :: Leap Through Poisoned Air

Andrew Rieger Elephant 6 Will Cullen HartPosted on

Here's an archival gem for Elephant 6 heads: a collaborative EP from the late visionary Will Cullen Hart and Elf Power's Andrew Rieger. Though very brisk, the timing of this snapshot (culled from recording sessions circa 1999-2000) vividly conjures the opaque psychedelic sweet spot of the Olivia Tremor Control and beginnings of Hart's essential offshoot project Circulatory System . . .

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 Rieger Elephant 6 Will Cullen Hart

Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 33

Book ClubPosted on

Welcome back to the stacks. It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: all things Roxy Music, some narco strung out street-lit by way of east Texas, the infinite puzzle that is the crack in the cosmic egg, the ever erudite and entertaining travels of the late Patrick Leigh Fermor, and more. Your librarians for this installment are Justin Gage, Tyler Wilcox, Ian Everett, and Mark Neeley . . .

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 Book Club

Transmissions :: Justin Gage (2025)

Aquarium Drunkard PodcastPosted on

We close out the 10th season of Transmissions with a special look under the hood with Justin Gage, who founded Aquarium Drunkard 20 years ago in 2005. Initially envisioned as just a place to share cultural recommendations with friends, Aquarium Drunkard blew up as the blog rush began. Suddenly, Gage found himself running a respected media outlet. 20 years later, he joins host Jason P. Woodbury to discuss how Aquarium Drunkard has stayed true to the maxim of only the good shit . . .

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 Aquarium Drunkard Podcast

Not To Be a Self-Deprecating Guy :: Ty Segall Speaks

The AD Interview Ty SegallPosted on

Ty Segall has been making records since 2008, and he’s recorded a lot of them — 16 including his latest Possession, out May 30 on Drag City. We caught up with Segall recently to talk about his dense but uncrowded new set of songs, his partnership with the filmmaker Matt Yoka, his love of old soul and California and the revelatory string of acoustic shows he recently performed across the U.S . . .

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 The AD Interview Ty Segall

The Budos Band :: VII

The Budos BandPosted on

The Budos Band builds a fire with the dry tinder of percussion, cracking and popping on hand and kit drums. It catches in a vaporous pool of keyboards, fuzzy guitar leads and insistent bass, and then jets out in sudden sparks of brass, the heat concentrated in sharp, incendiary bursts. This seventh album from the Brooklyn-born funk/soul/Afrobeat/Ethio-jazz collective rocks a bit harder than some Budos Band offerings but doesn’t mess with the formula. These songs slouch and swagger, grooving from the hip in loose, louche sensuality, but they’re also super on point, the . . .

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 The Budos Band

Time is Too Precious :: Swamp Dogg Talks Pool, New Doc, and Cooking

Swamp Dogg The AD InterviewPosted on

You can count on Swamp Dogg to always do the unexpected. Whether crafting album covers that have baffled listeners for decades, pairing autotuned vocals with sleek indie soul, or going country, songwriter, producer, and raconteur Jerry Williams blazes his own path. So tellingly his new documentary, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted eschews typical music doc tropes in favor of psychedelic animation, oddball shorts, poignant interviews, and yes, an overarching artistic project of painting Swamp Dogg's signature rat image in the pool at his San Fernando Valley home: "That pulled me in, the fact that I was going to . . .

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 Swamp Dogg The AD Interview

Slide On Rainbows :: Early Roxy Music In Focus

Roxy MusicPosted on

A "state of mind" is how Bryan Ferry once described Roxy Music. Born from art school roots, the early era of the band conjures up all sorts of identifiers, undoubtedly anchored by the visionary presence of Brian Eno, postmodern decadence in the seventies rock hierarchy, and the art-rock genre turning itself inside out. Curating all sorts of Pop Art signifiers from film to the avant-garde to classic Americana pastiche, this angular approach to pop music remains quite unlike anything else that came before or after . . .

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 Roxy Music