Bandcamping :: Fall 2018

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Welcome to the third installment of our quarterly Bandcamping roundup. 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. words / t wilcox

Mesmeric Haze / The Spacement Tapes, vol. 1: A Philly group finds an awesome through line between Zuma, Marquee Moon and The Days of Wine and Roses. You know, the good stuff. Brian McBrearty and Jeff White’s crystalline guitars intertwine gorgeously over the course of some lengthy workouts, withdrummer James Aten and bassist Sean McBrearty providing a simple/sturdy bedrock. Totally sweet sounds – highly recommended.

The Spacement Tapes: Volume 1 by Mesmeric Haze

Saariselka / Ceres: Saariselka is a collab between Marielle Jakobsons (Fender Rhodes, organ, synthesizers) and Chuck Johnson (pedal steel guitar and treatments), and this 17+-minute track is pure bliss from start to finish. “Ceres” is part of a thing called Longform Editions out of Sydney, Australia — “an ongoing series of music pieces curated to foster and celebrate immersive listening experiences for the musically adventurous.” Put it on a loop and spend the next few hours in the heavens.

Ceres by Saariselka

Pierre Sandwidi / Le Troubadour De La Savane, 1978-1980: This terrific compilation of tunes from Pierre Sandwidi, a beloved musician from Burkina Faso (formerly known as the Upper Volta), is packed with buoyant synth-guitar-drum machine excursions that will certainly brighten your day and put a spring in your step. William Onyeabor fans will approve. Turn it all the way up.

LE TROUBADOUR DE LA SAVANE 1978-1980 by PIERRE SANDWIDI

Tohru Aizawa Quartet / Tachibana: The liners describe the musicians here as “amateurs” but if these guys are amateurs, to hell with the professionals. Tachibana was recorded in the mid-1970s and released in very small quantities in Japan, soon becoming a sought-after collector’s item. The Tohru Aizawa Quartet seem to have fully absorbed the transcendent/incandescent vibes of Coltrane’s mid-60s period, and they use that classic sound as a launchpad for some roller-coaster fire music.

Tachibana by Tohru Aizawa Quartet

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Mary Lattimore

Lagniappe Sessions Mary LattimorePosted on

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

It's been a busy year for harpist Mary Lattimore so far. She released the immersive Hundreds of Days LP in May. She's criss-crossed the country several times, sharing bills with Iceage, Dylan Carlson, Julianna Barwick and others. And she's just announced Ghost Forests, a collaborative album with Meg Baird (Espers, Heron Oblivion), out in November on Three Lobed Recordings (The duo will be hitting the road with Kurt Vile in the fall, too). Somehow, Mary also found time to record three lovely covers for the Lagniappe Sessions. She expands on her song choices below.

Mary Lattimore :: Blink (Hiroshi Yoshimura)

I first heard this song when I was doing a live performance for Dublab, the great radio station based in LA, which was held in this Rudolph Schindler house, this dreamy historic property. The owner of the house was playing this song from the record and it captivated me with its quiet, deliberate repetition and subtle, measured shifts. I immediately wondered what those tiny keyboard sounds would sound like on the harp, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to try it out. I love the simplicity of this song but it's actually pretty hard to play simply and slowly!

Mary Lattimore :: Nebula (Julianna Barwick)

Julianna is a very close friend of mine and I thought I'd try out this cover, using layers of harp to stand in for her gorgeous vocals. I was a fan of hers before we became friends and I loved getting to deconstruct one of her pieces in an attempt to see where her brain was going with it. I've also had the pleasure of touring with her and hearing this song kind of morph from the recorded version through time and it's one of my favorites.

Mary Lattimore :: By This River (Brian Eno)

I'm a little terrified to share this cover because I definitely am not a great singer or very original with my voice, but I love this song, feel like it fits well with the others and I didn't want to Muzak it by making it all instrumental! I fell in love with this record when I was in college in Rochester, NY and my favorite bud Jason sold one of his copies to a record store and I ended up picking up that exact copy, so it feels extra special to me, like there's kismet and a secret language entwined with it. The ability to convey this far-away, unscratchable-itch melancholia and world-weary wistfulness that Eno buries in this song is really magical to me and I hope that, even if I can't do it true justice, whoever listens can feel the appreciation I have for it.

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Don Cherry & The Organic Music Theatre: RAI Studios, Italy, 1976

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Transcendental. Spiritual. Ritual. Supernatural.  Recorded in 1976, live at RAI Studios in Rome, Italy, we find the chameleonic Don Cherry with the Organic Music Theatre as they run the voodoo down. At forty minutes, the video documents the expansive bouillabaisse of sound Cherry and co. were exploring, mining and expanding. Press play and let the spirit in.

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Richard Thompson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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Time has not dulled Richard Thompson. On his new record 13 Rivers, the 69-year-old's guitar sounds as barbed as ever, ringing with the same rawness that defines past masterpieces like Shoot Out the Lights and Sweet Warrior. What's more, the new lp, his 19th overall, finds the songwriter addressing the spiritual longing that's run like a thread through records like Pour Down Like Silver and Hand of Kindness. "I'm longing for a storm to blow through town/And blow these sad old buildings down," he sings on album stand out "The Storm Won't Come," pining for the kind of destruction that makes way for new creation. "Fire to burn what fire might/And rain to wash it all away," he intones over an insistent stomping rhythm. After all these years, Thompson remains committed to tearing away the superficial to make way for the real.

Following a set of acoustic releases and 2015's Still, which was produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, 13 Rivers was produced by Thompson himself. Recorded in 10 days with familiar collaborators from his live band, the album benefits from a first thought/best thought strategy. "I’m always aiming to get in and out of the studio as fast as possible, without rushing," Thompson says over the phone. "I had a producer slated for this record, but he had to cancel. Everything was booked, so I thought, 'I’ll just do it myself this time.'"

The result is a tough but yearning record, and one of Thompson's best in years. AD rang Thomson from his home in New Jersey, where he's lived about a year since moving out from California, to discuss the record and the energy that's fueled his work since emerging in the late '60s with Fairport Convention, through his '70s and '80s classics with his ex-wife Linda Thompson, and into his long and consistent solo run.

AD: You always play with a tremendous amount of intensity, but 13 Rivers feels especially relentless. In the notes that accompany the album, you talk about how the playing was a reflection of your internal state. What do you mean by that?

Richard Thompson: It’s been a tough couple years for my family, which I can’t really talk about. That kind of stress gets reflected in the music. It’s been intense in that sense, and probably that goes into the playing, songwriting, everything. Hopefully, that emotion comes across. I hope it would.

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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 encore broadcasts on-demand via the SIRIUS/XM app.

SIRIUS 535: Jean Michel Bernard – Générique Stephane ++ David Byrne - Under The Mountain (1981) ++ Wire - Single K.O. ++ Wire - Used To ++ Eno Moebius Roedelius - The Shade ++ Barry Walker - Accretion ++ David Darling - Cycle Two: Namaste ++ Charles Curtis - Ultra White Violet Light - Side B ++ Amedeo Tommasi - Alghe Romantiche ++ Sandro Perri - Everybody's Paris Pt. III (feat. Dan Bejar) ++ Tomasz Stanko . . .

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Sandro Perri :: In Another Life

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Sandro Perri asks our patience. And time and again, he proves worth the wait. This week sees the release of In Another Life, his first proper lp since 2011’s visionary Impossible Spaces (that record arriving four years on the heels of his previous outing, Tiny Mirrors).

Perri asks our patience not only in the waiting between albums, but in the listening to them as well. His songwriting increasingly elliptical . . .

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Daniel T. :: Heliotrope

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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.

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Unearthed, Vol. 1 :: Sausalito Haze

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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 . . .

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AD Presents: Unwise Promises, Unwise Pleasures (A Mixtape)

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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 . . .

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Jim Gavin (Lodge 49) :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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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 . . .

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Talk Show / Aquarium Drunkard In Conversation With Matt Sullivan

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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 . . .

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RAMP :: Everybody Loves The Sunshine

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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

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The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sarah Louise

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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!

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Alice Coltrane :: Jaya Jaya Rama

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The humidity continues to linger, so we’re choosing to sweat it out with this fierce slice of late night free jazz. “Jaya Jaya Rama,” the closing number to Alice Coltrane’s 1969 lp, Huntington Ashram Monastery, is pure, unabashed expression. Featuring Coltrane on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums, the trio takes a nocturnal blues and stretches it way out, with Coltrane blistering away on the keys, entering a deep modal groove. While the gentlemen keep the . . .

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Doug Paisley :: Drinking With A Friend

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Though he's a masterful lyricist, Doug Paisley knows that language has its limits. On "Drinking With a Friend," the first taste of his forthcoming album Starter Home, he confesses over churning upright bass, acoustic guitar, gentle organ, and a resonator guitar: "So many things that I wanted to say/I always found that words got in the way." Set for release via No Quarter Records on November 2nd, Starter Home follows 2014's

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