Willie “Loco” Alexander :: Gin

Willie “Loco” AlexanderPosted on

Following a stint in the Glass Menagerie, Willie “Loco” Alexander did time in the Velvet Underground after the exit of Sterling Morrison in 1971. But this isn’t about the Velvets, this is about Alexander’s crystalline slice of new-wave balladry, “Gin”, off the 1980 lp, Solo Loco. Revel in all its breathy/stormy glory, below.

Willie “Loco” Alexander :: Gin

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Sevens (Politiko) :: Ramones / Bonzo Goes To Bitburg

Sevens The RamonesPosted on

(In October of 2008 we flipped the script on our Sevens column with Politiko, focusing solely on political songs until the general election. It's now 2016...and we're back.)

In the spring of 1985, fresh off his landslide re-election to the presidency, Ronald Reagan planned out a visit to a West German military cemetery with then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl. For Reagan, this was a chance to show appreciation for Kohl's continued support in the . . .

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Hiss Golden Messenger :: Heart Like A Levee

Hiss Golden MessengerPosted on

You can't choose your blues, but you might as well own them.

When you've been around the block a few decades you begin to notice life is a series of concurrent rhythms and as you build speed to accelerate to the next path, often blindly, you may be met with a series of new challenges. Joy, guilt, ecstasy and self-loathing all bundle in the bottom of your gut as you prepare for the next unknown turn. Michael Taylor, Hiss Golden Messenger, met those obstacles face-to . . .

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)

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Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can be heard twice every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

SIRIUS 451: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Trailer Trash Tracys - Candy Girl (demo version) ++ Omni - Wire ++ The Vaselines - Son of A Gun ++ Ty Segall - Caesar ++ Indian Wars - If You Want Me ++ Parquet Courts - Paraphrased ++ Les Olivensteins - Fier De Ne Rien Faire ++ The Bellys - Chow Chow ++ Zig Zags - Wastin’ My Time ++ Wire . . .

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Nathan Bowles :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Nathan Bowles The AD InterviewPosted on

In his review of Nathan Bowles' latest LP Whole and Cloven for Aquarium Drunkard, writer Tyler Wilcox asks: "Is banjo futurism a thing? Probably not, but if it was Nathan Bowles would be leading the charge."

Wilcox makes an excellent point. Like his previous solo records have demonstrated -- in addition his work with the Black Twig Pickers, Pelt, Steve Gunn, and the late, great Jack Rose -- Bowles approaches traditional music with an adventurist spirit. Whole & Cloven, released by the sturdy folks at Paradise of Bachelors, takes his elemental clawhammer banjo approach and expands it outward, exploring dynamic minimalism and driving boogie. It's centerpiece, the 11-minute "I Miss My Dog" wordlessly conveys an emotional journey. By the time it's done, you're not only missing your own dog, but Bowles' too.

Recently, AD called up Bowles while he was on tour through Virginia with singer/songwriter Jake Xerxes Fussell. Below, our discussion, edited and condensed for clarity.

Nathan Bowles :: Gadarene Fugue

Aquarium Drunkard: Whole & Cloven is your first record since moving from Virginia to North Carolina, right?  
’€¨
Nathan Bowles: That's correct, yeah. All of Nansemond was written and developed in  Blacksburg. Now that I think about it, the songs on Whole & Cloven were pretty much written in Blacksburg too, and I recorded it last November before moving.

AD: What inspired that move?
’€¨
Nathan Bowles: I have a fair amount of musical friends in Durham. I always liked the feel of the area...it's got a lot of variety culturally, musically.

AD: Did Nansemond feel specifically tied to the setting of Virginia?

Nathan Bowles: Yeah. All of those songs were inspired by thinking back on childhood and how the place where I grew up had changed a lot geographically.

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Ghana 45 Mix :: Highlife and Afro Blues 1969-‘76

Pat ThomasPosted on


Following the release of last year's Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band, Strut Records returns with Coming Home, a career retrospective compilation for the Ghanaian highlife master and " Golden Voice Of Africa”, spanning his late ‘60s big band highlife recordings to the “burger highlife” movement of the early ‘80s. As such, we asked the collection's compiler, Duncan Brooker, to spin some of his favorite records of the era. Brooker's notes, below.

This mix started with Pat Thomas at its core, featuring three tracks from my latest Strut compilation,  Coming Home. I wanted to showcase some of the sounds that were happening across Ghana during the early to mid 70's, selecting music that features some of Pat’s friends and associates, as well as some of the other contemporary highlife groups of the era. I included everything from guitar bands to the post-big band collectives that were around during this time. There are some of the more well known bands from this period, like The Boom Talents and then there is the more bluesier guitar highlife sound, like the F. Micah’s Band track, which was just as popular domestically at that time.  Guitar highlife remained popular throughout this period and remained so after the demise of the larger highlife bands — guitar groups were a more manageable size and format.

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Abstract Truths: An Evolving Jazz Compendium — Volume Two

Abstract Truths Jazz MixtapesPosted on

Volume two of Abstract Truths, An Evolving Jazz Compendium. If unfamiliar with the series, please first read here about the its genesis and intention. As promised, this installment is courtesy of dj/record collector Carlos Nino. Per his selections, Niî±o notes "I was thinking about Bobby Hutcherson and my Father Pablo Niî±o who had just transitioned from the Earth . . .

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Aquarium Drunkard Presents: No Jacket Required: — October 13th — Rough Trade, NYC

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Our annual east coast party returns to NYC, October 13th. Aquarium Drunkard: No Jacket Required. Once again at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. Tickets available, here.

OMNI ++ MUUY BIIEN ++ EZTV ++ GOLDEN DAZE ++ THE SHIFTING SANDS

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The Music of Shangri-La Suite: A Tale Of Three “Hurts”

Shangri-La SuitePosted on

October 28th sees the release of my first feature film, Shangri-La Suite. It tells the story of two lovers-on-the-run during the summer of 1974. Their names: Jack Blueblood and Karen Bird. Their aim: to kill Elvis Presley. It stars Emily Browning, Luke Grimes, Avan Jogia and Ron Livingston (as the King). Burt Reynolds narrates. The trailer can be seen here. Justin Gage, the man behind Aquarium Drunkard (and my good friend), served as the project’s music supervisor. Justin . . .

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SIRIUS/XMU :: Aquarium Drunkard Show (Noon EST, Channel 35)

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Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35, can be heard twice every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST. Danger Mouse is the selector, sitting in with Justin, DJing the full two hours of the AD show this week.

SIRIUS 450: Jean Michel Bernard — Générique Stephane ++ Curtis Knight w/ Jimi Hendrix - Happy Birthday ++ Indian Jewelry - Hello Africa ++ John Cale - Gideon . . .

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Okkervil River :: Live At National Sawdust

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September 9th saw the return of Okkervil River via their first LP in three years, Away, a record principal Will Sheff has described as "me taking my life back to zero and starting to add it all back up again."

Below, we are screening the group's performance at Brooklyn's National Sawdust recorded this past July. "I wanted to get together with a lot of the musicians who recorded

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Kraftwerk :: Live In Soest, 1970 (First Concert)

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Kraftwerk just wrapped up their American tour earlier this month in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. The group's next performances begin early next month in Europe, via an eight night residency at the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. Each evening's performance will be dedicated to a singular album, beginning with Autobahn (1974) on October 7th and ending with become a member or log in.

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Transmissions Podcast :: Daniel Lanois

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As a producer, Daniel Lanois has been instrumental in crafting definitive records by U2, the Neville Brothers, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, and more. His productions have a trademark quality—swampy and percussive, psychedelic but as earthy as the dubs of his noted influence Lee "Scratch" Perry—that he also brings to his records as a songwriter and composer. His latest, become a member or log in.

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Dylan & The Hawks :: Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (Liverpool, 1966)

Bob DylanPosted on

After a few months of rumors, Sony has finally announced another massive Bob Dylan box set --  The 1966 Live Recordings. Weighing in at 36 (!) discs, it collects every known recording of Dylan's confrontational 1966 tour of Australia and the UK  (along with a handful of audience tapes from the US)  with the Hawks, who were soon to morph into The Band. Overkill? Sure. But obsessives (guilty as charged) will . . .

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