(Sevens, a new feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
I've enjoyed Oakley Hall's work from day one, but for me, the moment that announced their arrival at something truly unique was the opening track from their 2006 album Gypsum Strings
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
As I am sure many of you reading are aware, last week David Byrne and Brian Eno's first collaboration in nearly three decades hit the digital marketplace in the form of their new LP Everything That Happens Happens Today. Besides the obvious reunion of the two icons the release is also notable as it was released via
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support. To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Sure, name checking a band as the West coast heir apparent to Big Star is a bold statement, brave in fact, but that's exactly how I've been hailing The World Record of late. I didn't catch the bands live act until late '07, but their 2006 long player Guitars! Forever would have most likely made my best of 2006 list had I been hip to them at the time. Power-Pop enthusiasts take note, this . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS, channel 26 Left Of Center, can now be heard twice, every Friday - Noon EST and then an encore broadcast at Midnight EST. Below is this week’s playlist.
SIRIUS 60: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ Catfish Haven - Set In Stone ++ Cat Power - Speak For Me ++ The Broken West - House of Lies ++ James Jackson Toth - Banquet . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Off The Record is a recurring feature here on the Drunkard that marries two of my greatest interests; music and travel. Having a locals perspective when visiting a new locale is the difference between experiencing it through the lens of a tourist and of that of a native.
Off The Record gathers some of my favorite artists, asks them to reflect on their city of residence, and choose a handful of places they could not live without, be them bookstores, bars, restaurants or vistas.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Athens, Georgia's perennial rock & roll torch-bearers, Bloodkin, have a new album in the can entitled Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again. Fuck yes; further proof you can never count these guys out. Stay tuned for details regarding a label and release date (looking like late '08) as they leak out.
In the late Summer of 2000 the band recorded their sole, official, live album, All Dolled Up, at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta. Living in town . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Aquarium Drunkard is presenting the upcoming White Denim show at Republic New Orleans , Wednesday, August 27th. I've said it before and I'll say it again; this is one of the best live acts touring today. Those of us stateside have been anxiously awaiting a full-length from the band which is finally on the horizon. It's called Explosion and drops this November (via our friend . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Off The Record is a recurring feature here on the Drunkard that marries two of my greatest interests; music and travel. Having a locals perspective when visiting a new locale is the difference between experiencing it through the lens of a tourist and of that of a native.
Off The Record gathers some of my favorite artists, asks them to reflect on their city of residence, and choose a handful of places they could not live without, be them . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Aquarium Drunkard: Rook is far more thematic than its predecessor Palo Santo. While those songs felt like they could be cohesive, Rook's ongoing chromatic descents seem to hint at a central theme? Is that the case?
Jonathan Meiburg: There's no hidden 'plot' to Rook (as there was, in a way, for Palo Santo), but there's certainly meant to be a feeling of oneness to the songs - I like albums that feel like a complete piece, which these days seems like a dying form. As we assembled the record (and tossed away several tracks that didn't fit), the final order emerged as the one that felt the most 'right', where the songs seemed like they were communicating best with each other, if that makes sense.
AD: The song "Rooks" paints a prescient pre-apocalyptic picture ("feathering pyre") and a very poetic embrace that death may not be too far away is present in many tracks. However, as a whole, some of the smaller images illuminate that this is what living life is all about. Are these, like Palo Santo, more of your meditations on nature?
JM: Palo Santo was mostly, though obliquely, about the life and death of Nico, with some natural landscapes thrown in for good measure. Rook is much more about the landscapes, with people added for color from time to time, since those places get lonely when there's no one there at all. I've been lucky enough, in the course of my bird research and other travels, to visit some places people have very rarely visited (or, in a few cases, may have never been at all).
Continue Reading After The Jump...
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
The Velvet Underground with John Cale in the foreground - April 1, 1966
It's not easy to pin down my favorite Velvet Underground album as it regularly changes over time, yet always rotates between three titles. And really, it depends on what kind of mood I am in and where my head is at while it is rotating on the turntable. One thing that is concrete though is that fact that the groups second LP, become a member or log in.
Fun Fun Fun Fest returns this November at Waterloo Park in downtown Austin with two day passes going for $59.99. The first press release just went out today detailing the majority of the lineup and the stages they will be performing on.
Stage 1: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The National, Atmosphere, Minus The Bear, St Vincent, Trail of Dead, Deerhoof, Rival Schools, Islands, The Annuals, Bishop Allen, Centromatic, Sleepercar, Frightened Rabbit, Spinto Band, Parts and Labor, Colourmusic, Expiremental Dental School, 27, Till We're Blue or Destroy . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
In 2006 , in reference to the bands debut, I wrote that "Catfish Haven take on the trials and tribulations of love and relationships strewn over blues-holler, hand claps, and Dixie rhythms." That statement rings as true today as it did then, but here, on the band's follow-up, Devastator, they've ramped it up to a whole 'nother level.
Devastator is nothing less than a soul revue sounding like an impromptu . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
"Stay on the road, stay away from the Moors and beware of the moon." Sage advice, indeed. Filmmaker John Landis's An American Werewolf In London (1981) is a lot of things; a maverick comedy, a gratuitous horror flick, an Oscar winner, and one of my favorite examples of the juxtaposition of music and it's use in film.
Here Landis, no stranger to irony, uses all manner of odes to the moon to accompany his film. They are all here; most notably: three versions . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
After barely being released, Paul Westerberg's excellent 49:00 was pulled from the digital market last week. The reasons are somewhat unclear, but the almost universal understanding seems to be that it has to do with copyright issues - namely the medley of famous songs that Westerberg runs through toward the end of the album. It does beg the question though - things like this usually only take artist notification and some sort of royalty payment . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
(Sevens, a new feature on Aquarium Drunkard, pays tribute to the art of the individual song.)
"Gun," the opening track off Uncle Tupelo's sophomore LP Still Feel Gone, was the first of the band's . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
