In 1985, as digital dancehall was redrawing reggae's map, Jah Shaka and Aswad entered the studio to forge one of British dub's most singular statements—a devotional set of heavyweight rhythms, cavernous mixes, and Rastafarian sonics still resonating four decades on . . .
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Beth Orton's The Ground Above is a free-flowing mixture of electronic funk, spirit walking jazz, and ambient folk. Only Orton can make music as affecting as this, showing off an ear for the haunted and the heavy. Songwriting for Orton has always mirrored a sort of lucid dreaming—a therapeutic space where she can will herself to fly, but cannot control her monsters underground and the spirit to rise above them . . .
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What began as an unhurried songwriting exchange between Greg Cartwright and Scott McMicken has steadily taken on a life of its own. With a second album, Silver, on the horizon, the principals behind The Hypos reconvene with Aquarium Drunkard to discuss instinct, collaboration, recording in sheds and proper studios, and the peculiar freedom that comes from keeping expectations at bay . . .
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It only makes sense that one of Devo's fabled first concerts was a Halloween party. Now, add in the part about how it was opening for Sun Ra and that the band had duped the radio station promoters by advertising themselves as a Bad Company cover band: quintessential de-evolution lore. A modern day rarity preserved only in physical form and absent from streaming via reissue label Futurismo, the raucous unearthed set features the elongated first performances of classic tracks like "Jocko Homo" in all of its grimy, twelve minute glory . . .
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Blue Note President, Was (Not Was) bassist, and legendary producer Don Was joins us to launch the new season of Transmissions to talk about one of his very first recording projects: Ted Lucas’ Impossible Love, an unheard album he cut with the cult Detroit songwriter in 1979, recently issued by Third Man Records . . .
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This Heat ended up being called post-punk for lack of any better options, and though their music has many of the now-familiar hallmarks of that genre -- a heavy dub influence, a fascination with the streamlined metaphysics of German kosmische bands, particularly Can, and complex, heady concepts communicated via primeval methods-- it still stands apart, with something alien and unnamable at its core. Nearly a half-century after its release, This Heat's entrancing, horrifying and ecstatic self-titled debut still lands like a vision of the end of the world, or at least the end of a world . . .
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A deep, unhurried drift through 1970s Accra nightlife, where folk rhythms, electric organ, bright horns, and clinking glassware blur into one long, flowing current. Dr. K. Gyasi & His Noble Kings' Sikyi Highlife moves with uncommon grace—earthy, urbane, and effortlessly sublime . . .
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Carrboro's Verity Den move further from the shoegaze-inflected songcraft of their earlier work on a new album of long-form improvisations, drifting from limpid guitar shimmer into engulfing storms of feedback somewhere between Stars of the Lid, Bardo Pond, and the dreamiest reaches of Sonic Youth . . .
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Freeform transmissions from Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab. Airing every third Sunday of the month, RFAD on dublab features the pairing of Tyler Wilcox’s Doom and Gloom from the Tomb and Chad DePasquale’s New Happy Gathering. This month, Chad kicks things off with his quarterly survey of 2026 digs, both new + archival, and Tyler follows it up with an eclectic hour of ghostly summer jams. Sunday, 4-6pm PT . . .
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The central mystery of Ballads is how an album of standards, recorded during one of the most radical periods in jazz history, feels every bit as profound as Coltrane's more adventurous work. In this installment of the Midnite Jazz column, we explore the mystery of John Coltrane’s Ballads, its place in his discography, and the power of restraint . . .
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Following their role in the celebrated outfit Wax Machine, Lau is the sophomore offering from São Paulo-born musician Lau Ro. An enduring cycle of radiance, the windswept echoes of seminal Brazilian records like Clube da Esquina ripple through the record; a collage as sunny as it is meditative. Like a therapeutic nature walk, the instrumental numbers mixed into the fray offer a cinematic counterpunch, a spry invitation not to overlook the subtleties amidst the bolstering psych-pop haze . . .
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Broadcasting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays. Afro-funk, Caribbean grooves, French incantations, dub drift, radio ghosts, and Sly Stone.
SIRIUS 891: Intro ++ Shin Joong Hyun – I’ve Got Nothing to Say ++ Rodion G.A. – Disco Mania ++ O.R.E.A – Biguine Inferno ++ Les Vikings de la Guadeloupe – Ka Nou Pé Fé ++ Mwoin Ka Songé – Puzzle Pulsion ++ The Groupe NSI – Mandé Moin On Lajan, Pa Mandé Moin Za Fe An Moin ++ Eddy La Viny – Indiano ++ Fela Kuti & The Africa 70 – Lover ++ Synchro Rythmic Eclectic Language – Foukie ++ Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Aya Mood ++ Brigitte Fontaine, Areski Belkacem – Patriarcat ++ Erick Cosaque – L’heureux noir ++ Serge Gainsbourg – Des laids des laids ++ Serge Gainsbourg – Lola Rastaquouere (Dub Style) ++ Ranking Dread – Girls Fiesta ++ Tone Scientists – Tiny Pyramids ++ Brighter Days – High Jazz Reprise (AD edit) ++ Voices Of Conquest – Oh Yes My Lord ++ Art Bell – East of The Rockies ++ Rosebud – Main Theme From More ++ James Last – I Can’t Move No Mountains ++ Makers – Don’t Challenge Me ++ Sly And The Family Stone – Just Like A Baby ++ Sly And The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay ++ Jimmie Stone – Family Affair ++ Little Sister – Stanga ++ Joe Hicks – Life And Death In G & A (Pts. 1 & 2) ++ 6ix – I’m Just Like You
On his first solo album, Total Blue member Anthony Calonico continues to mine the Los Angeles instrumental trio's refined, streamlined take on chilled-out lite jazz and pop ambience. But he also makes some moves, singing on several tracks with a slightly murmurous, no-big-deal felicity. As an exploration of introspective grooves and buttery inner-ear tones, Spacious Heart unsurprisingly delivers; as a subtle reinvention of the once-maligned adult contemporary genre, it may have something new up its sleeve . . .
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Tyler Wilcox has spent season two of All One Song conversing about Neil Young with musicians, writers, and artists. And now, we’ve reached the end of the road for this Neil journey, with a very special guest: Lee Ranaldo, dropping in to discuss “Down By The River.” Lee is a founding member of Sonic Youth. Ranaldo joins us to talk about a Neil classic, one that dips from murder ballad terror to cosmic life affirmation . . .
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This second album from Bitchin’ Bajas’ Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay is more composed and less improvised than its predecessor Foreign Smokes, its ideas worked out not on the fly but over time as the two musicians honed their tunes in the live setting. These tracks pursue intricate, repeated riffs that are more regular, almost geometrical, than the ones on the debut album, which tended towards spreading pools of tone washed sound . . .
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