Bandcamping :: Summer 2018

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More buried treasure to check out. As a digital institution it’s hard to beat Bandcamp. It’s ridiculously easy to use, it puts money directly into artists’ (and labels’) pockets and there’s a seemingly endless amount of music to discover there – new, old and in-between. Of course, that endlessness can be a little overwhelming. Here are 10 more recommended releases — old, new and in-between.

Bitchin Bajas / DSR Lines — The Encyclopedia of Civilizations vol. 2: Atlantis: A split LP inspired by the lost city of Atlantis! Hell yeah. The contributors here are Bitchin Bajas Chicago’s finest kozmik kosmische collective and DSR Lines, the brainchild of Antwerp electronic music wiz David Eldren. Together, they’re absolutely perfect, plunging into the depths to find a spacey sonic dreamscape.

ABST 005 - BITCHIN BAJAS / DSR LINES "The Encyclopedia of Civilizations vol. 2: Atlantis" Lp by Abstrakce Records

The Fossil Lickers: You could easily call The Fossil Lickers’ debut effort “old-timey” — the trio’s music definitely conjures up visions of front-porch picking sessions from days gone by. But there’s a freshness and liveliness to the 15 tracks here that take it out of the throwback realm. The players (violinist James Trimble, banjo player Cameron Knowler and guitarist Will Csorba) have an easy, joyous rapport; everything flows beautifully from moment to moment.

The Fossil Lickers by The Fossil Lickers

Matthew De Gennaro - Conversation With A Roadside Skull: Not entirely sure what to call the latest effort from Matthew De Gennaro … mystic loner folk? There are moments when I’m reminded vaguely of Vic Chesnutt or Howe Gelb, but De Gennaro has a distinct/unique vibe, accented by his gorgeous viola da gamba and easygoing guitar work. A mix of instrumentals and vocal numbers, Conversation With A Roadside Skull feels personal and deeply felt, a little universe of its own.

Conversation With A Roadside Skull by Matthew De Gennaro

Donnie and Laurie: Who knew that Don Christensen (drummer in James Chance’s Contortions) collaborated with electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel in the late 1970s? Not I! But the Unseen Worlds label has dug up  “Donnie and Laurie” a downright thrilling drum/synth jam. Really cool stuff. It’s paired with an alternate version of Spiegel’s always amazing  “Patchwork,” which bubbles along for almost 10 glorious minutes.

Donnie and Laurie by Laurie Spiegel & Don Christensen

Kyle Bobby Dunn / Wayne Robert Thomas - KBD / WRT: Dig in/bliss out to two deep droners from Kyle Bobby Dunn and Wayne Robert Thomas (both RIYL Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker, etc). Both clocking in at over 20 minutes, these meditative, glacially paced compositions are just the thing to kick the work week off in celestial fashion.

KBD / WRT by KYLE BOBBY DUNN

Spiritual Jazz 7 — Islam: This fantastic comp uncovers the fertile blend of Islam and jazz from the 1950s through the 1980s. Recorded by Muslim jazz musicians (some of which are well-known names and others of which are very obscure), the tracks here avoid Middle Eastern “exotic” clichés, but still manage to conjure up a dreamy landscape of rich, transporting sound worlds.

Spiritual Jazz 7: Islam by Yusef Lateef

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band — Rare Dreams: Live 2.27.18: Recorded at London’s Café Oto earlier this year, this digital-only EP captures Chris Forsyth’s SMB in lean/mean trio mode, tearing through extended/righteous renditions of “Dreaming the Non-Dream” and “The First Ten Minutes of Cocksucker Blues” — the latter of which achieves some kind of unbelievable lift-off in its last few minutes. And don’t miss the choice Neil Young cover, either.

Rare Dreams: Solar Live 2.27.18 by Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band

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

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Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard every Wednesday at 7pm PST with an encore broadcasts on-demand via the SIRIUS/XM app.

SIRIUS 528: Richard Swift - Dressed Up For The Letdown ++ King Tubby & Yabbu U - Conquering Dub (excerpt) ++ Serge Gainsbourg - Javanaise Remake ++ Rikki Ililonga - Fire High ++ Monomono - Give A Beggar A Chance ++ Luiz Melodia - Baby Rose ++ Bob Chance - Jungle Talk   ++ Ryo Kawasaki - Hawaiian Caravan ++ Brian Eno & David Byrne - Regiment ++ Basa Basa - African Soul Power (excerpt) ++ Talking Heads - Fela . . .

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Richard Swift :: 1977-2018

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Richard Swift, songwriter, producer, visual artist, and genuine American weirdo, has passed. A prolific producer and sideman -- known for his work with Damien Jurado, the Shins, the Black Keys/Dan Auerbach, Lî¦titia Sadier, Foxygen, David Bazan, the Pretenders, Starflyer 59, Kevin Morby, and countless more -- Swift was also responsible for a series of difficult to classify solo recordings. Distilling wide-reaching influences, from Prince to Beefheart, Kraftwerk to Randy Newman, Swift's discography serves as a testament to his wide taste and restlessly creative nature.

Following an ill-fated turn in the world of CCM, Swift . . .

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Mary Lattimore :: Hundreds of Days

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It's easy to lapse into cliches when writing about Mary Lattimore's music – her gorgeous harp work practically demands that you use the words "ethereal" or "celestial." But though you may not hear a downright prettier record in 2018 than her new Hundreds of Days, there's more to it than mere ambient drift. Much . . .

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Mamman Sani Abdoulaye :: Kok Kok Kok

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A delightful, hypnotic video clip of Saharan keyboardist Mamman Sani Abdoulaye has surfaced via Sahel Sounds' YouTube Channel. An extract from a 2016 DVD, Sani presides over his double-decker setup with a zen-like cool, backlit in soft red light and sporting a smart, white goatee under his Kufi. In this take of "Kok Kok Kok," Sani piles Chaî¯bou Ayerou's keening theme on top of itself, serenely tapping out a syncopated polyrhythm with a fluty synth. Once the arrangement has fully blossomed, it seems to take on a life of its own as Sani's hands press . . .

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Transmissions Podcast :: Jim James + Cornelia Murr/Talk Show: Robbie Simon

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And we’re back. Welcome to the June edition of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast, our monthly series of features, interviews, and audio esoterica. This month, we have two in-depth conversations. Up first, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and singer/songwriter Cornelia Murr. They've both got new records at the ready. On June 29, James releases Uniform Distortion, a collection of celebratory and clamorous rock & roll jams, via ATO Records. And on July 13th, Murr releases Lake Tear of the Clouds, a spooky set of songs produced by James, featuring guest vocals from Lola Kirke of Mozart in the Jungle and a stunning cover of Yoko Ono's feminist anthem  “I Have a Woman Inside My Soul.” Though the records sound vastly different, they also feel connected and of a piece. Together, the two had fascinating insights about the worlds of social media, David Lynch, and the act of creating -- and sustaining -- the proper mood on a long-player record.

Then, painter and photographer Robbie Simon. Our conversation was recorded live at Gold Diggers in East Hollywood as part of our new monthly series of conversations there called Talk Show, centered around the worlds of music, art, film and beyond. You’ve likely seen Simon’s work with the former Transmissions guests the Allah-Las, and their Reverberation Radio series. His images are bold – referencing the geometric shapes of Alexander Calder – but soft too, evocative of ‘60s West Coast pop art and jazz album illustrations.

Transmissions Podcast :: Jim James and Cornelia Murr/Robbie Simon

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

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Get here, now. Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard every Wednesday at 7pm PST with an encore broadcasts on-demand via the SIRIUS/XM app.

SIRIUS 527: Jean-Michel Bernard — Genérique Stéphane ++  Dr. Alimantado - Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks ++ MonoMono - Give A Beggar A Chance ++ Milton Henry - Gypsy Woman ++ Singers & Players - Thing Called Love ++ Starship Commander Woo Woo - Master Ship (excerpt) ++ Lee “Scratch” Perry - City Too Hot ++ Rikki Ililonga - Fire High ++ Luiz Melodia - Baby Rose ++  Earth . . .

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Charles Mingus :: Live at Montreux, 1975

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These days, when Charles Mingus is remembered, it’s primarily for records like Mingus Ah Um, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus or The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. All great records, but Mingus kept recording and playing for another decade-plus -- indeed, he was recording almost up until his death from ALS in 1979.

Live in Montreux, released earlier this year by Eagle Rock as a two-CD set and as a standalone DVD, is a look at Mingus in his autumn years. He’s older and has less to prove, but he’s still full of fire and outrage. Who else would write a composition about Governor Rockefeller’s decision to send armed police into the Attica prison?

At this juncture, Mingus had been playing with the same core group for some time. Don Pullen was on piano, George Adams on reeds and Danny Richmond was on drums. All three had appeared live with him on the Carnegie Hall record, not to mention studio ones like Mingus Moves or Changes. As such, when they appeared live at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 20, 1975, they were a solid unit.

The set opens with ‘Devil Blues,” where Adams shouts like a preacher and the band wails behind him. Set against a slow, plodding beat, the tune is downright dirty and bluesy, especially with a tasty trumpet solo by Jack Walrath, where he stretches out with a rich, full tone. From there, Pullen takes a nice solo, and Adams alternates between raging vocals and overblown saxophone. Anchoring it all is Mingus’ walking bass line and Richman’s steady beat.

On the next tune, which Mingus pointedly introduces as “Cell Block F Tis Nazi USA,” the band crashes into another later Mingus composition, but one which shows his talent for creating a distinctive melody — with a hook could have fit right into the Ellington songbook — before Adams launches into a twisting solo, where his sax sounds like it’s struggling against the amount of effort Adams is throwing into it.

Charles Mingus :: Cell Block F

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David Darling :: Cycles

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Last year witnessed the opening of the hallowed digital vaults of the ECM label. Long a holdout from digital platforms, the Berlin based ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) was founded in 1969 by Manfred Eicher in Munich, blurring the lines between contemporary jazz, classical and the avant-garde. Stay tuned for our own chap book dedicated to the label's on-going forward thinking output in the near future. But now, a look at David Darling's celestial become a member or log in.

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Barry Walker Jr :: Diaspora Urkontinent

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Given the chance, the sound of any instrument can conjure up the sensation of drifting. But few tools seem as equipped for the job as the pedal steel guitar. On Barry Walker Jr.'s marvelous new album Diaspora Urkontinent, the Corvallis, Oregon-based musician builds compositions around the subtly warping sound of his "tectonic pedal steel guitar," bass, and wooden tongue drum. A sideman who's accompanied Michael Hurley and Marisa Anderson, Walker's also a student of geology, who's dedicated himself to study and research on magma systems in the Western United States and South America. His time in the field informs the slow, patient tone of the lp. It's a record focused on underground layers, about the way the world constantly shifts underneath our feet. At times, these songs suggest the ambient country of Harold Budd's The Serpent (In Quicksilver), the mostly-imagined, pan-Polynesian sound of mid-century exotica, or the laidback licks of Red Rhodes, but on album closer "Llora Yavanna," he steps on the fuzz pedal, tapping into the same blasted serenity as Dead Man-era Neil Young. Released by the fine folks at Driftless Recordings, Diaspora Urkontinent sonically illustrates the concept of a great landmass sliding apart, but perhaps moving toward eventual unification some day far from now. words/j woodbury

Barry Walker Jr :: Accretion

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Dumb :: Barnyard

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Holding down the down-and-dirty post-post-punk line in 2018. More Minutemen than contemporaries, Vancouver's Dumb aren't afraid to teeter on the edge of falling apart, or falling into syncopation. The catchiest moments on their new LP, Seeing Green, come when the band weaves in-and-out of fidelities - and the uncatchiest moments do just the same, as pleasingly. The album's brisk 33-minutes and 14-tracks zip by, with the  discomfort in not knowing which side things will land on making . . .

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Michael Rault

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

On his new album for Daptone Records subsidiary Wick Records, New Day Tonight, singer/songwriter Michael Rault channels Todd Rundgren and George Harrison vibes into something freshly modern. He's not aiming for pastiche -- "I’m definitely not trying to come up with period pieces," he said in his Aquarium Drunkard interview with Ben Kramer, "...I don’t want to be a museum-guy off doing his ‘70s thing" -- but his values are classic values. Songcraft, arrangements, rhythm sections, these are things Rault holds dear, and his Lagniappe Session selections offer insights into what draws him to a song.

Michael Rault :: Give Me Another Chance (Big Star)

This tune is slightly hidden on the back end of Big Star's legendary debut album #1 Record, but it really stood out to me. The chords are really creative and the lyrics are great. I like that it's a sensitive song about being an angry guy in a moment of vulnerability. I always thought that was somewhat unique.

Michael Rault :: Winter Rose (Billy Nicholls)

A new favorite of mine. I was in the midst of working out the parts so my band could cover it live, so when this came up I thought I might as well take a shot at a bedroom-recorded one-man version. A rare cut from Nicholls' second album, it is chock full of great lyrics and great melodies. It was really fun trying to capture some of the vibe of the original as best I could.

Michael Rault :: Here Without You (The Byrds)

I've recently got really into Gene Clark as a songwriter and singer, and this tune jumped out at me on a compilation of his stuff, although it is actually originally off of the first Byrds record Mr. Tambourine Man. Strangely I've owned that album for a long time but never really paid much mind to this tune until hearing it recently on the comp. The two harmony parts throughout the entire song are almost Everly Brothers-esque, but I felt like they went some interesting places with the vocal arrangement within that template. Very fun to learn and attempt to sing.

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

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Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can now be heard every Wednesday at 7pm PST with an encore broadcasts on-demand via the SIRIUS/XM app.

SIRIUS 526: Jean-Michel Bernard — Genérique Stéphane ++ Mulatu Astatke - Emnete ++ Brian Eno / David Byrne - Regiment ++ African Head Charge - Shebeni’s Theme ++ Ebuk Ubong - Black Debtors ++ The Whitefield Brothers - Safari Strut ++ Sunwatchers - Ancestors (Aquarium Drunkard Session) ++ Dara Puspita - Tanah Airku ++ King Khan & The Shrines - Que Lindo Sueno ++ The Michaels - Beach Sleeper (Outtake) ++ The Beatles - Los . . .

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Tonight in Los Angeles: Talk Show / Aquarium Drunkard In Conversation With Robbie Simon

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Los Angeles: Tonight, June 20th, Aquarium Drunkard presents TALK SHOW, an intimate series of conversations centered around the worlds of music, art, film and beyond.

Our second guest in the series is the Los Angeles based artist Robbie Simon, in conversation with Justin discussing background, inspiration, collaboration, music and more. 8pm. Records and revelry to follow. Prints available for sale.

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

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Gillian Welch :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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Few songwriters cut to the core like Gillian Welch. Along with her musical partner David Rawlings, Welch pens songs that feel at once timeless and rooted in the deepest American musical traditions. For the Welch, traditional folk forms offer a language for approaching the human condition, a lens through which to view love, loss, death, and spirit. Emerging with 1996’s Revival, she's merged bluegrass, blues, and Appalachian music into a singular Americana sound. Her subsequent albums – including 2001’s Time (The Revelator) and 2011’s The Harrow & the Harvest – aren't only classics, but stand as some of the finest folk records of the new millennium.

Last month, Welch joined us on the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast in advance of her “An Evening With” tour dates with Rawlings, and the forthcoming vinyl reissue of her 2003 LP Soul Journey, due August 10th. We spoke to Welch via phone about her attention to the long player, album-length statement, and how it’s resulted in such fine lps. That conversation, minimally edited for clarity, is presented here.

Aquarium Drunkard: I want to start off by asking you about one of my favorite songs of yours, "Everything Is Free." When you wrote it, did you have any notion how prophetic that song would end up being? It certainly seems to speak to our current moment.

Gillian Welch: Sadly, it does speak to our current moment. It spoke to the moment I wrote it in. I wrote it in either very late 2000 or very early 2001, I can't quite remember. The whole Napster thing was really starting to have an impact and I just remember I was really, really sad. I just became very afraid that playing music wouldn't be a sustainable career, you know? I thought, "What are we gonna do?" That's kind of in that song. It became really clear to me that I would never stop playing music, but if it was not my career, I would have to do something else to make money. And so music would become something I did for myself, in the privacy of my home. I'm seeing that around me now. It's been really interesting, I have so many friends and acquaintances that are in their 20s and they really don't view music as a viable career. They're kind of giving up or they're not thinking about it in the same way that I did, really. So I don't know, I'm sorry that it's not better than it is now. I don't think it's always gonna stay this way, but it's an ongoing conundrum.

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