David Bowie’s Blackstar Jazz

Released 10 years ago today, David Bowie's Blackstar marked the artist's most intensive and rewarding collaboration with jazz musicians in the span of his six decade career. To commemorate the album's anniversary we dive into how his work with Maria Schneider, Donny McCaslin and other players shaped his final record . . .

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

Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

SIRIUS 875: Intro ++ Dogwood Don Tinsley – A Prairie Song ++ Ben Hackett – Nylon Bell Pot ++ Josh Martin – Goose Creek ++ Cameron Knowler – Sunflower River Blues (Aquarium Drunkard Session) ++ Sam Moss – Dance ++ Dylan Golden Aycock – Lord It Over ++ Daniel Bachman & Ryley Walker – The Bridge of Flowers ++ Ryley Walker – Everybody Is Crazy (Aquarium Drunkard Session) ++ Sam Amidon – Juma Mountain ++ Jake Xerxes Fussell – Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine? ++ William Tyler – The Green Pastures ++ Tobacco City – Blue Raspberry ++ Hayden Pedigo – Brother ++ Rosali – Maybe I’m Right ++ Cass McCombs – Absentee ++ Six Organs Of Admittance – When You Finally Return ++ Nathan Bowles – Elk River Blues ++ Steve Gunn – Dusted Mind ++ Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Your Hard Work Is About To Pay Off ++ Castanets – You Are The Blood ++ Eli Winter – Ida Lupino ++ Pothole – Moon Boot ++ Wooden Wand – Wired To The Sky ++ Steve Gunn & Cass McCombs – Wild Mountain Thyme ++ Bill Callahan – Lonely City ++ Dirty Three – Sad Jexy ++ Phosphorescent – A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise ++ Aux Meadows – Something Creature ++ Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney – What Are You? >> Blood Embrace ++ Blightblack Morning Light – Everybody Daylight

It’s Common Knowledge I’ve Been Doin’ Alright: Dan Bejar on “Destroyer’s Rubies” at 20

Rubies is not always my favorite Destroyer record—that, like favorite Dylan, changes with the day; there is too much brilliance across too many records to firmly settle on one eternal favorite. It is, however, the best Destroyer record: consistent, nuanced, equal parts enervating and energizing. The album sounds effortless, as if these songs were always there, hovering unseen, waiting to be plucked out of the air and given form by Bejar and his murderous band of Vancouverites. Even after twenty years, I would not change a second. This is as close to perfect as rock records get.

Released two . . .

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Elijah Minnelli :: Clams As A Main Meal

After garnering a reputation for his curated global radio mixes, London-based sound alchemist Elijah Minnelli pieces together a singular fusion of folk, offbeat dub and Cumbia rhythms on sophomore album Clams As A Main Meal. The immaculately layered album balances echoing, frenzied instrumental tracks with vocal tracks featuring cameos by Barbadian reggae mastro Dennis Bovell (on the serene, spiritual offering "Canaan Land") and Welsh musician Carwyn Ellis. There's a worldbuilding element to the references, and an enigmatic quality to the righteous mishmash of a musical palette, one best enjoyed floating along and wrapped up in that mystery . . .

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Robert Stillman :: 10,000 Rivers

We live in a world birthed from the techno-utopian visions of people like Apple founder Steve Jobs, who's the subject of East Kent composer and The Smile collaborator Robert Stillman's remarkable new album 10,000 Rivers. Synthesizing a web of jazz, smooth '80s sounds and modern classical into a whole that works as a provocation, humanizing investigation, and critique all at once . . .

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Miguel Góes :: Pequenas Lembranças

Miguel Góes debuts his solo project with one of Brazil's most exciting new cosmic jazz releases, Pequenas Lembranças. In this short but erudite instrumental work, you can hear the post-bop psychedelia of Yusef Lateef and Pharoah Sanders, the pop circuses of Van Dyke Parks and John Cale, the ethnological classical of Bartok and Debussy, as well as figures from the contemporary West Coast scene of atmospheric jazz, alongside Carlos Niño or Fabiano do Nascimento . . .

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Dry Cleaning :: Secret Love

Produced by Cate Le Bon, Secret Love is the London four-piece’s third and best album to date -- a volatile concoction of hot and cold, rough and smooth. Intellectually rigorous and physically moving, there's a simmering tension in even the coolest temperature lyrics . . .

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

New year, new you. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

SIRIUS 874: Intro ++ OCS – Memory of A Cut Off Head ++ Tony Price – Heavy Jasmine ++ Lewsberg – The Corner ++ Brigid Dawson And The Mothers Network – Trixx ++ Modern Nature – Nature ++ Alabaster DePlume – Who Are You Asking For ++ Big Bend – The Exit ++ Loving – On My Way To You ++ Benny Yurco – Moss Roads ++ Okonski – Vista ++ Brigid Dawson And The Mothers Network – Ballet of Apes ++ PAINT – Rousseau’s Lament ++ Air – Alone In Kyoto ++ Boards of Canada – Satellite Anthem Icarus ++ Jim Schoenfeld – Before ++ Vanishing Twin – Planête Sauvage ++ En Attendant Ana – Ces Mots Stupides (Aquarium Drunkard Session) ++ The Soundcarriers – Low Light ++ Julien Gasc – Amour Velours ++ Maston & L’Eclair – Ghost ++ Broadcast – Test Area ++ Rich Ruth – No Muscle, No Memory ++ Rich Ruth – Taken Back ++ Kuunatic – Para Bennyà (AD edit) ++ Smoke Bellow – Fee Fee ++ Jassbusters – B’nD (NY) ++ SML – Taking Out The Trash ++ The Black On White Affair – Auld Lang Syne

Unearthed, Vol. 20 :: New Year’s Eve (1970s)

We’re back with a seasonally appropriate Unearthed mix of dusty live tapes, this one made up entirely of recordings made on various New Years Eves throughout the 1970s. As with any good NYE party, it’s equal parts awesome, boozy and occasionally chaotic. Hit play at 10:30pm on December 31 and you can time it just right to hear JJ Cale welcome you to 1976 . . .

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Oregon/Elvin Jones :: Together

The eclectic instrumental quartet Oregon didn’t have a drummer, and didn’t need one, letting Collin Walcott’s hand percussion punctuate their inventive collective approach to rhythm and timekeeping. But in 1976, they teamed up with one of the most titanic drummers in jazz, Elvin Jones, for an album that could have marked a major departure for each party. Instead, the pairing allowed both to branch out and sample new realms while doing what they did best. Together, recorded in one day, may not be a flat-out masterpiece, but it does capture the unlikely convergence of two disparate . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Radio Holiday Nog Spectacular :: Christmas Eve 2025

Go ahead and dip heavily into that Charles Mingus eggnog. It’s the holidays, you’ll need it. Tonight, suit up, it’s Aquarium Drunkard’s annual seasonal spectacular.

SIRIUS 873: The Black On White Affair – Auld Lang Syne ++ The Debonaires – Crazy Santa Claus ++ Sugar Chile Robinson – Christmas Boogie ++ Oscar McLollie – Dig That Crazy Santa Claus ++ The Moonglows – Hey Santa Claus ++ Mabel Scott – Boogie Woogie Santa Claus ++ Pearl Bailey – A Five Pound Box Of Money ++ Cecil Gant – Hello Santa Claus ++ King Coleman – Blue Grey Christmas ++ Charles Brown – Merry Christmas, Baby ++ Jimmy Butler – Trim Your Tree ++ The Youngsters – Christmas In Jail ++ Sun Ra ++ It’s Christmas Time ++ Lloyd Glenn – Sleigh Ride ++ Big John Greer – We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo ++ Otis Redding – Merry Christmas Baby ++ William Bell – Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday ++ The Ravens – White Christmas ++ Victoria Spikey – I Ain’t Gonna Let You See My Santa Claus ++ Champion Jack Dupree – Santa Claus Blues ++ Debbie Dabney – I Want To Spend Christmas With Elvis ++ Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas ++ Elvis Presley – Santa Claus Is Back In Town ++ James Brown – Go Power At Christmas Time ++ Binky Griptite – Stone Soul Christmas ++ The Staple Singers – Who Took The Merry Out of Christmas ++ The Poets of Rhythm – Santa’s Got A Bag of Soul ++ Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – 8 Days of Hannukah ++ Gene Ammons – Swinging’ For Christmas ++ Duke Ellington – Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairies) ++ John Coltrane – Greesleeves (Take 4) ++ Ahmad Jamal Trio – Snowfall ++ Duke Pearson – Sleigh Ride ++ Vince Guaraldi Trio – What Child Is This ++ Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) ++ John Coltrane – My Favorite Things

Fripp & Eno :: Evening Star

The solstice has arrived and we have entered “Evening Star weather,” in honor of the second collaborative album from pioneering English musicians Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, released in December of 1975. Fifty years on, you can hear large swaths of the ambient genre echoing through Evening Star: The cosmic calm of Steve Roach’s classic 1988 album Structures From Silence. The neo-classical predilections of Eluvium and Stars of the Lid. The billowing atmosphere of Wolfgang Voigt’s music under the name Gas. The cracked nostalgia of Fennesz’s Endless Summer. Kyle Bobby Dunn’s commitment to drones that . . .

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Dave Palmer Trio – Happy Holidays! :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

On Happy Holidays!, The Dave Palmer Trio brings together their collective world-class musicianship to deliver tasteful jazz interpretations of holiday classics. The result is a record that sounds both spontaneous and timeless, performed and arranged with an emphasis on the trio’s penchant for swing-oriented, composition-driven jazz. We spoke with Palmer about the making of Happy Holidays!, his favorite Christmas albums, jazz artists he’s been digging, and the Philadelphia music scene . . .

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Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: December 2025

Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. For the winter solstice, Chad kicks things off with a wintry instrumental mix of jazz, neo-classical & chamber folk. Tyler follows it up with an hour of mostly new jams, with various versions of Eno’s “The Big Ship” floating in between. Sunday, 4-6pm PT . . .

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West Indies Christmas (A Mixtape)

The holidays, West Indies style. With the expansion of record distribution from the UK, the US, and Canada during the 1960s, Christmas music experienced a notable surge, mirroring developments in Jamaica. The following twenty track all vinyl mixtape covers most of that time period, from the early 60s through the late 70s . . .

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