Even when exploring themes of trepidation, the jovial songs of Paradise seem to function as naturally optimistic relics. On the aptly named album, Simi Sohota's Oakland-based Healing Potpourri creates a swirling palette of psych-pop and multi-layered aural exotica . . .
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.
Mapache returned earlier this summer with the release of Roscoe’s Dream, the Los Angeles duo’s third, and tightest, LP to date. Comprised of Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch, we described their sound in 2017 as something akin to “a blazed up Everly Brothers” — something the pair make good on in 2022, via their debut Lagniappe Session. Here, Mapache pay tribute to Don and Phil’s “Always It’s You”, originally cut by the brothers in 1960 as a b-side. Next up is a faithful cover of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ “You Only Have Your Soul”, a . . .
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.
Among new artists digging into the bygone sounds of Pacific impressionism, Molly Lewis is the standout. She has taken her sound to the masses and has been met with praise and approval. In the seventy years since America’s initial Exotica sensation, popular music has been in a state of near-constant upheaval and reformation. Yet, on her forthcoming EP Mirage, Lewis’ sound manages to mystify while remaining accessible to collective taste . . .
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 turned 17 a few months ago, and Zach Cowie (aka Turquoise Wisdom) has been a part of it for 12 of those years, beginning with the third entry in our (then new) guest selector series. A music supervisor by trade, Cowie's mixes span myriad decades, genres, and moods, always aesthetically maintaining an empathetic through line. Now totaling a baker's dozen, we have re-upped each individual mix beginning with the first volume from 2010 . . .
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.
Some albums are meant to be listened to when we’re alone—in an empty living room, in a corner booth of an all-night diner, driving along familiar roads. It’s these reflective environments that help us to enter what Martin Courtney calls the basement of our mind—the liminal space that forms when we reappraise our memories from the subjective vantage of the present day. And it’s this bittersweet spot from which Magic Sign draws its energy . . .
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.
Stringed-thing wizard and tireless sonic explorer Joseph Allred is in the process of moving back to the only place that truly feels like home: The verdant sliver of rural Tennessee that inspired their new album The Rambles & Rags of Shiloh, a collection of 10 gorgeous instrumental works for acoustic guitar and banjo. We recently connected with Allred for a wide-ranging chat about Black Sabbath, Buck Gooter, being a hillbilly in a big city and finding a sense of belonging in 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.
In his sterling new compilation Sharayet El Disco: Egyptian Disco & Boogie Cassette Tracks 1982-1992, archivist Moataz Rageb, aka DJ Arabesquo, highlights the importance of cassettes to the musical culture of 1980s Eqypt. The compilation effortlessly moves through nine tracks, across thirty-seven groovy minutes, filled with classic 1980s production effects, early drum machines and synthesizers tweaked to accommodate Egyptian rhythms . . .
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 hymn of images is difficult to convey. Daughn Gibson has returned. His first new music in six years. We caught up with him to talk about his new EP, Kriminelle Energie. What was difficult now seems easy. He sings for us. Stay tuned . . .
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.
Color Green is the eponymous debut LP from the Los Angeles, via Queens, duo of Corey Madden and Noah Kohll. Released via AD and Org Music, it's an eight track collection of riffing grooves, satisfying harmonies, and skillful micro-jamming . . .
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 Fantasma do Cerrado, Rafael Stan Molina creates sound mosaics that oscillate between pop song forms and exploratory ambient recordings. Nowhere is this dialectic more explicit than in “Catanduva”, where suave folk is suddenly broken by an explosion of strange shapes, and simple melodies alternate with wild and sparse modulations reminiscent of the the unexpected turns of Jim O'Rourke's compositions . . .
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 funk is its own reward. 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.
We’ve found ourselves delving deep into the Habibi Funk series of late and Ahmed Malek’s absolute smoker “Autopsie d'un Complot,” from Habibi Funk 003: Musique Originale De Films, is the most recent to go on repeat. Kicking off with wavy sunshine-psych guitar and giving way to a deeply mischievous bassline and glistening synths, the track stays deep in the pocket for three-and-a-half-minutes of lean, sweltering funk . . .
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.
Dummy, out of Los Angeles, embodies irresolvable contradiction, managing like Schrodinger’s Band to play pogo-happy punk rock songs that are also kosmiche “Astronomy Domini”-esque LSD dreams. It’s not that they alternate between these two things, but manage to be both at once. That bifurcation was noted in our 2021 Year in Review, saying that “Dummy may look like a scrappy, punch-drunk Stereolab or a blissed out, mantra-hypnotized Wire, depending on which way you squint at them, but they’re wonderful either way . . .
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.
Alex Izenberg resurfaced this past May with the release of his third full-length, I'm Not Here. Introspective and impressionistic, it's an album that defies easy categorization. This is both a testament to Izenberg's idiosyncratic pop-craft, and the sonic palette set forth by producer Greg Hartunian, with an assist from Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth. For this, his second Lagniappe Session, the singer-songwriter reflects on the nature of impermanence via a cover of Jim Croce's 1972 hit single, "Time In A Bottle". Fast-forward to present day and we find Izenberg paying tribute to Fleet . . .
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.
With Final Thaw, their debut as Iceberg , guitarist John Kolodij, drummer Jayson Gerycz (Cloud Nothings), and saxophonist Dylan Baldi (Cloud Nothings) engage in a meditative swells of free music that eventually crescendo into ecstatic abandon. We're sharing the video for "Harland Wolff Blues," in which the trio tap into frenzied and deep zones, conjuring up free music that shares a spirit with the rollicking indie rock Gerycz and Baldi are known for . . .
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.