Bob Dylan :: Christmas In The Heart

Bob Dylan HolidayPosted on

When Bob Dylan's Christmas album appeared in 2009, it was both totally unexpected and 44 years overdue. In this instance, we're glad he waited. Christmas in the Heart features Dylan singing songs you know by heart in a voice without restraint. There's fun for the whole family, and all for a good cause. It's enough to make a believer out of anyone . . .

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.

Posted on Bob Dylan Holiday

Mythic Sunship :: Light/Flux

Mythic SunshipPosted on

The outstanding new Light/Flux reveals a band that is very much still evolving. It doesn’t really sound much like Hawkwind or krautrock jazz or Scandinavian psychedelia at all. It is a lower, darker affair, steeped in American slowcore and southern California desert rock . . .

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.

Posted on Mythic Sunship

Aquarium Drunkard Book Club :: Chapter 20

Book ClubPosted on

Warren Zevon once said “We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.” But even if your towering “too read” pile can’t guarantee immortality, those pages can make life feel even more worth living. In this month's stack: a comprehensive look at the early years of New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records, the life and work of Chet Baker, kranky records, and the story of Impulse Records . . .

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.

Posted on Book Club

That Last Train Is Back Again: A Conversation with Cindy Lee

Cindy Lee The AD InterviewPosted on

Born Patrick Flegel, musician Cindy Lee walks around Seattle chain smoking cigarettes while his brother’s band, Preoccupations, plays a set for KEXP. He is surrounded by huge concrete slabs and dons an orange ski cap. We spoke via Zoom and for a while, we couldn’t see or hear him. When we do, he sort of looks like someone without a cellphone. Someone who walked into the last Radioshack and stole a few things. He is not in drag. Not yet. He looks like a man . . .

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.

Posted on Cindy Lee The AD Interview

The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson

Alan Wilson Canned HeatPosted on

Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson brought an archaic weirdness to Canned Heat. Obsessed with traditional blues and well versed in the boogie dialect of John Lee Hooker . . .

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.

Posted on Alan Wilson Canned Heat

Aquarium Drunkard :: Mailbag, Vol. III

MailbagPosted on

Long time reader, first time caller? Welcome to Mailbag, our new monthly column in which we dig in and respond to your questions. Got a query? Hit us up at aqdmailbag@gmail.com.

In this month’s bag: Holiday music recommendations, the art of the music documentary, Lee "Scratch" Perry lost treasure, Charles Stepney, and a grip of AD favorites for normals . . .

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.

Posted on Mailbag

No Salt, No Lint, No Cassettes: AD Interviews Author And kranky Co-Founder Bruce Adams

kranky The AD InterviewPosted on

Kranky Records co-founder Bruce Adams recently published a book, You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music, which succeeds as both a memoir and a cultural history of a brief wrinkle in time when a few Chicago neighborhoods seemed to comprise the center of a then-flourishing underground rock universe. Aquarium Drunkard spoke to Adams about kranky kommandments, the ways in which the world of publishing differs from the world of music, and the trappings of “functional” music . . .

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.

Posted on kranky The AD Interview

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

SIRIUSPosted on

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

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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.

Posted on SIRIUS

The Gospel Of Fahey’s Christmas Soli

Holiday John FaheyPosted on

As the Turkey-fare winds down and the boxes of Christmas decor make their way from the basement, a transition is needed. Ringing in the holiday season in subtlety requires a look no further than America’s finest composer and most innovative maestro of steel string. With a discography expanding beyond 40 titles, it’s possible to overlook the holiday offerings among masterworks like Fare Forward Voyagers, The Yellow Princess, and those first five Takoma releases. Smack dab in the middle of John Fahey’s first decade shifting around the tectonic plates of traditional music came The New Possibility . . .

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.

Posted on Holiday John Fahey

Billy Talbot of Crazy Horse :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Billy Talbot Neil Young The AD InterviewPosted on

It’s been more than 50 years since Neil got together with Crazy Horse, but still — nothin’ else matters. Young has just released the Rick Rubin-produced World Record, his third album with the band in as many years, and the heart of the group remains the same as it was back in ’69: drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot, who together have provided the elemental rhythmic bedrock that Neil has relied on for all these years. Aquarium Drunkard caught up with Talbot from his South Dakota home to get the lowdown on the Horse’s past, present and . . .

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.

Posted on Billy Talbot Neil Young The AD Interview

Sylvie :: Up On The Wind

SylviePosted on

Shot in the southern California mountain range surrounding Big Bear lake, "Up On The Wind" serves as a teaser of what's to come next year on the Sylvie front . . .

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.

Posted on Sylvie

Masaru Imada Trio + 1 :: Planets

Masaru ImadaPosted on

Yet another inspired ride in BBE’s masterclass series highlighting the golden age of modern Japanese jazz from the late 1960s – early 80s. Helmed and curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, this installment shines a light on the Masaru Imada Trio + 1 lp, Planets. Originally released in 1977 via private press, the seven track set finds pianist and bandleader Masaru Imada joined by bassist Kunimitsu Inaba and drummer Tetsujiro Obara, along with sympathetic percussion courtesy of Yuji Imamura . . .

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.

Posted on Masaru Imada

Loner Folks :: Robert Lester Folsom, John Fizer, Trevor Beales

John Fizer Robert Lester Folsom Trevor BealesPosted on

The so-called “loner folk” genre has become a bit of a record collector cliché over the past decade or so. The danger of hyperbole when it comes to this music is always near; you know, “unknown genius singer-songwriter makes a masterpiece, only 30 copies ever made!” Caveat emptor, of course! But the attraction remains. When it comes to the best of it, we’re given a glimpse of some alternate timeline where the dreams of these outsiders come true, and the high quality of their tunes is finally recognized and celebrated. History re-written in a small but . . .

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.

Posted on John Fizer Robert Lester Folsom Trevor Beales

Bitchin Bajas :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

Bitchin Bajas The AD InterviewPosted on

We spoke with Bitchin Bajas' Cooper Crain just before Thanksgiving, as the band was preparing for an East Coast tour and moving forward on two new recordings: a second collaboration with Natural Information Society and a 12-hour improvised jam made last spring in the Azores. We talked about how these three make their music and how their audiences receive it, about starting over after a setback and about how music works best when it’s a bit of a mystery . . .

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.

Posted on Bitchin Bajas The AD Interview

Groove Orient: South Asian Elements in Psychedelic Jazz

MixtapesPosted on

Jazz's engagement with South Asian musical ideas and instruments in the 1960s and 70s didn't just make 'spiritual' or 'world' jazz. Out of the extraordinary variety of jazz experiments with Indian musical traditions came all kinds of funky, soulful, groovy, exploratory and just plain far out sounds. We collected some of our favorites . . .

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.

Posted on Mixtapes