Herbal Tea :: Hear as the Mirror Echoes

Herbal TeaPosted on

Herbal Tea’s Helena Walker bills herself as a folk artist, but her latest album hews closer to the slowcore 1990s dreamscapes of artists like Mazzy Star, Mojave 3 and Cocteau Twins. The artist, out of Bristol, UK, builds shimmering mirages of sound out of altered guitar, piano, synths and the kind of edgeless, weightless soprano that wafts through ambient visions of heaven.  

Walker worked mostly alone, late at night to create these songs, turning to long-time friend Henry C . . .

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

SIRIUSPosted on

Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. No static at all.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Mark Hollis :: Mark Hollis

Mark Hollis Talk TalkPosted on

The quietly revolutionary Talk Talk singer made one final album before calling it quits: his self-titled solo album debut, from 1998. While often overshadowed by the majestic experimentation of his former project’s late work, Mark Hollis harbors its own secrets and surprises, while building upon the work those albums began. As a final testament, it’s a fitting paradox, full of roaring silences and whispering explosions, a collection of whisper-thin abstractions that have been annealed into something durable and concrete . . .

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Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts :: Denver 2025

All One Song Neil YoungPosted on

We wrapped up the first season of our All One Song podcast last week, bringing to an end a summer’s worth of heady conversations with some great musicians and writers about their favorite Neil Young tunes (and much more). And in a pleasing bit of synchronicity, Neil himself showed up in Denver a few days later to play his first show in Colorado in almost a decade—and we were there to witness it . . .

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Transmissions :: Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords)

Bret McKenzie PodcastPosted on

Welcome to season 11 of Transmissions. This week: New Zealand songwriter, actor, and composer Bret McKenzie. You may know him as one half of the indie pop/comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, but he's back with a new solo album of '70s inspired pop, Freak Out City. He joins us to discuss, divulge about his reggae past, and share a story about one of Ian McKellen's worst acting days . . .

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Anastasia Coope :: Pink Lady Opera

Anastasia CoopePosted on

Over a loosely persistent drumbeat, thumping strings, and bright fantasia synths, Anastasia Coope chants of falling castles and coveted truths on “Pink Lady Opera,” the first song shared from her forthcoming DOT ep, out this Halloween, and her first new piece of music since her excellent 2024 debut, Darning Woman . . .

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Go Kurosawa :: Soft Shakes

Go Kurosawa Japan Kikagaku MoyoPosted on

The post-Kikagaku Moyo universe expands with the release of soft shakes, the solo debut from Go Kurosawa, the disbanded Japanese quintet’s drummer and vocalist. The second solo release from a member of the now defunct band, following Tomo Katsurada’s Dream of the Egg EP last year, soft shakes finds Kurosawa, who is also a co-founder of the excellent Guruguru Brain label, remaining largely true to his former outfit’s sound while also injecting his own sandcastle style of playful eclecticism . . .

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Posted on Go Kurosawa Japan Kikagaku Moyo

Turn My Head Into Sound: A History of Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody ValentinePosted on

While there is no shortage of online scholarship about My Bloody Valentine, Turn My Head Into Sound is the first published biography of the group and its visionary founder, Kevin Shields. Taken with Mike McGonigal’s entry in the 33 1/3 series that focuses strictly on the band’s landmark album Loveless, and the various books and documentaries dealing with the band’s record label, Creation Records, we now have as comprehensive a picture of Shields and his activity between 1985 and the present as we are likely to get . . .

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Jens Kuross :: Crooked Songs

Jens KurossPosted on

While on tour in Boise two years ago, Hayden Pedigo found himself mesmerized by the performance from local opener and Idaho native Jens Kuross. Conjuring thoughts of rarified accomplishments like Arthur Russell's transformative World of Echo, the Woodsist debut of former session musician Kuross is a deliberate attempt to recapture that intimate setting in recorded form. The emotional sparseness and stripped down, electric piano compositions register Crooked Songs as a landing spot for the beginning of a bountiful second act for Kuross . . .

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Chicago Underground Duo :: Hyperglyph

Chad Taylor Chicago Underground Duo Jazz Rob MazurekPosted on

The throughline of their vast body of work is Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor’s commitment to the Chicago Underground project, the origins of which date back to 1998. Sometimes morphing into Chicago Underground Trio, or most recently as Chicago Underground Quartet with guitar player Jeff Parker and saxophonist Josh Johnson on 2020’s jazz-centric Good Days, Mazurek and Taylor inevitably return to each other as simply Chicago Underground Duo with Hyperglyph . . .

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Posted on Chad Taylor Chicago Underground Duo Jazz Rob Mazurek

Videodrome :: The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)

Roy Orbison VideodromePosted on

Just like Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Dean Martin before him, Roy Orbison attempted to cross-pollinate his musical career with screen acting via the western genre. But unlike the aforementioned singers, Orbison's time as a matinee idol would be short-lived, producing only one film: Michael D. Moore's The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967 . . .

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Modern Bible: A Lost Acid Folk Masterpiece from the Japanese Underground

JapanPosted on

As a record collector, some albums exist more like myths than tangible objects. You come across a passing mention, just enough to spark curiosity, and soon you’re chasing shadows, trying to confirm whether the record even exists. About 15 years ago, this happened to me with a record called Modern Bible, a recording deep from the Japanese underground credited to an Angura theatre troupe named Gekidan Buraiha (“Gekidan” being a Japanese word for “theatre troupe . . .

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King Tubby Meets Jacob Miller in a Tenement Yard

Jacob Miller King Tubby Reggae/DubPosted on

An absolutely wicked, top-ranking slab of primo mid-70s dub from King Tubby. Ranging from the hard-driving squelch of “Dreada Dread Dub” and “Roman Soldiers of Dub” to the trailing twinkle of “Suzie Wong Dub” it’s easy to imagine keyboardist Touter Harvey stepping onto the Mothership and tapping in for Bernie Worrell. Filtered through Tubby’s arsenal of echo, flying hi-hat, and other flick-of-the-wrist console wizardry, these dubs are heavier than two tons of high grade in the sunshine, and they’ll linger straight through to next summer . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 35

Book ClubPosted on

It’s Aquarium Drunkard’s Book Club, our monthly gathering of recent (or not so recent) recommended reading. In this month’s stack: the labyrinthian life and career of one Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John the Night Tripper, the rise, fall, and resurrection of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, a deep dive into the revolution in rhythm and sound that is Jamaican dub and reggae, a wild ride through the NYC underground, from Fluxus to free jazz, and the first installment in Rachel Cusk's critically acclaimed trilogy The Outline . . .

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

SIRIUSPosted on

Summer sofrito. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. No static at all.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Posted on SIRIUS